The Fake News Effect: Experimentally Identifying Motivated Reasoning Using Trust in News
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
vol. 16,
no. 2, May 2024
(pp. 1-38)
Abstract
Motivated reasoning posits that people distort how they process information in the direction of beliefs they find attractive. This paper creates a novel experimental design to identify motivated reasoning from Bayesian updating when people have preconceived beliefs. It analyzes how subjects assess the veracity of information sources that tell them the median of their belief distribution is too high or too low. Bayesians infer nothing about the source veracity, but motivated beliefs are evoked. Evidence supports politically motivated reasoning about immigration, income mobility, crime, racial discrimination, gender, climate change, and gun laws. Motivated reasoning helps explain belief biases, polarization, and overconfidence.Citation
Thaler, Michael. 2024. "The Fake News Effect: Experimentally Identifying Motivated Reasoning Using Trust in News." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 16 (2): 1-38. DOI: 10.1257/mic.20220146Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C91 Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual
- D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
- D72 Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- D91 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
- L82 Entertainment; Media
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