2023 Q3 | Edition 3 | Article 3
Motivated reasoning
The idea behind data driven insights is that we’re going to remove the personal subjectiveness from our analysis and make decisions based on cold hard facts. That is always easier said than done, though. A set of statistical results can be a cold, hard wakeup call to a situation that we’ve been ignoring, but what we do next with that data can depend on other things.
Whenever we have any kind of investment in the situation that we are trying to analyse, we will find it impossible to judge the results from a neutral and independent perspective. It’s a cognitive and social response that we have to work hard at to overcome.
What does motivated reasoning look like?
A common example would be an indiscretion made by two politicians. If you support one party over the other, it’ll be almost impossible to have an equal reaction to the same evidence. It’ll be almost impossible to reach the conclusion that they were both equally wrong and deserve the same fate.
Perhaps there are some early signs that there isn’t enough demand among our neighbours for our cupcake business to take off, but we’re so wedded to the dream of our own warm bakery, and spending our days producing cupcakes shaped like animals that we just don’t want to believe that our business won’t be viable. Perhaps we had to get through 4 stages of interview to land our dream job, and now we’ve started, it’s quickly becoming clear that our new boss seems rather emotionally damaged and likely to make our work very challenging indeed. We’ll probably stay anyway.
Once we acknowledge that we bring some powerful motivations to the work that we do, we become more conscious of just how hard wired we are to ignoring warning signs.
Creating a declaration of interests
When we have anything to gain from the outcome of a situation that we are trying to analyse, our motivations will prove a very powerful, seductive force on our analysis. Our perception, judgments and beliefs will likely impact on our choices unless we take action.
Luckily, the world of business has already provided a tool for this situation – the declaration of a conflict of interests. If you join a committee with decision-making powers, you will be required to formally declare any pre-existing relationships you have that might impact on your recommendations.
We too can write down a list of all the ways that we personally stand to gain or lose before we begin the analysis. Referring to this list doesn’t guarantee that we’ll avoid all errors, but it may help to retain a little neutral distance if we can see our interests in black and white on a piece of paper.
We might also take time to think about our general motivations. There are many theories on motivation but here are a few powerful motivators to start you off. Click on the ideas below for more information.
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Some of us just feel the burning need to excel at whatever we’re doing, whether that’s winning sports medals or building a personal fortune.
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To be motivated by power doesn’t necessarily mean that we want to control others, but we would like to be influential on others and become popular.
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Most of us enjoy social connection, but for some, the need to feel that they are part of a team is paramount. They will tolerate injustices or poor choices if it avoids damaging harmonious relationships that they enjoy with others.
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Many people hate change and will view anything that threatens consistency and predictability as a negative thing.
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There are also others who need change and challenge and the chance to do something new. Doing nothing simply isn’t an option.
Our next edition will be released October 1st, 2023.
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