Motivated Stopping
Eliezer Yudkowsky · 2007
"When you want to believe something, you stop looking for evidence at the first confirming fact. When you don't want to believe it, you demand impossible proof."
Humans are not impartial truth-seekers; we are lawyers arguing for a predetermined verdict. This manifests in two behaviors: Motivated Stopping and Motivated Continuation.
If you want to buy a shiny new car you can't afford, you will Google 'is the new car reliable?' You find one positive review, experience 'Motivated Stopping,' and close the browser feeling justified.
What triggers 'Motivated Stopping' in human psychology?
Read more about the topic
The explanation above is written with AI assistance. These are the originals — go to them to check it.
- Motivated StoppingLessWrong
Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases (Availability)
"People estimate how frequent or likely something is by how easily examples come to mind — which means vivid, recent, or heavily-reported events get judged as far more common than they actually are, while common but unremarkable events get systematically underestimated."