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The evidence for motivated reasoning in climate change preference formation

Druckman, James N., McGrath, Mary C.·2019·Nature Climate Change

DOI 10.1038/s41558-018-0360-1

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The case for motivated reasoning.
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“…support for various mitigation and adaptation policies, and found that those identifying as conservative/Republican are typically less supportive, and those identifying as liberal/Democrat are more supportive (Druckman and McGrath 2019; Hui et al. 2022; Mildenberger et al. 2017; Ray et al. 2017).”
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“…Tappin et al. (2020a, 2020b) explain, the problem with exclusively inferring the effects of directional motivations in this case is that people’s identities are often correlated with their exposure to and learning of what they consider “high quality” information (see also Druckman & McGrath, 2019).”
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“Motivated reasoning is the way in which an individual's pre- existing goals, values or motivations affect cognitive processing (thinking) and can impact how their opinion is updated when presented with new information (Druckman & McGrath, 2019).”
Background
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Authors: Druckman, J. N., & McGrath, M. C.
Affiliations: Northwestern University (US)
Corresponding author: Druckman, James N.
ORCID: Druckman, James N.
McGrath, Mary C.
Venue: Nature Climate Change
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published: 2019-01-21
Volume: 9
Issue: 2
Pages: 111-119
ISSN: 1758-678X (ISSN-L)
1758-6798
DOI: 10.1038/s41558-018-0360-1
OpenAlex: W2902092972
Cited by: 733
References: 98
Citations by year: 2026: 105 · 2025: 100 · 2024: 105 · 2023: 102 · 2022: 101 · 2021: 103 · 2020: 92 · 2019: 21
FWCI: 159.48
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations: Nature Climate Change (publishedVersion)
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Climate Change Communication and Perception
Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Risk Perception and Management
Keywords: motivated reasoning, climate change beliefs, belief updating, Bayesian updating, information credibility, partisanship, belief accuracy, science communication

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The evidence for motivated reasoning in climate change preference formation

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