Emotion, beliefs, and self-deception: The influence of emotional devotion in a belief on self-deception
Summary
The availability of information is greater than ever before. However, choosing what
information to use in our decision making has become more and more complicated, due to this
quantity of available information. Emotions influence our beliefs and research shows that
biases exist to preserve these beliefs, even though, rationally, beliefs should be revised based
on new information that is presented, even if it contradicts prior convictions. Self-deception is
the process of disregarding this rational process of updating beliefs based on new rational
information to protect an emotional belief. In this research the emotional devotion of a belief
and the dismissal of rational information was measured using a novel online questionnaire
(N=80). It was hypothesized that emotional devotion in a belief (emotional belief) was
positively correlated with the dismissal of rational argumentation (self-deception). The results
showed no significant effect of emotional devotion in a belief on self-deception. Emotional
thinking explained most of the variance in self-deception. These results could imply that the
dismissal of rational arguments that are inconsistent with one’s belief is predicted by how
threatening new information is perceived to be.