Wishful Thinking

Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence.

Charles G. Lord, Lee Ross, Mark R. Lepper · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 1979 · 4.4K citations

Social Sciences, Psychology, Social Psychology +14

Motivated skepticism: Use of differential decision criteria for preferred and nonpreferred conclusions.

Peter H. Ditto, David F. Lopez · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 1992 · 1.3K citations

Business, Decision Sciences, Psychology +13

Accepting Threatening Information: Self–Affirmation and the Reduction of Defensive Biases

David K. Sherman, Geoffrey L. Cohen · Current Directions in Psychological Science · 2002 · 433 citations

Social Sciences, Psychology, Social Psychology +14

Attribution bias: On the inconclusiveness of the cognition-motivation debate

Philip E. Tetlock, Ariel Levi · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · 1982 · 358 citations

Social Sciences, Psychology, Social Psychology +12

A new look at motivated inference: Are self-serving theories of success a product of motivational forces?

David Dunning, Ann Leuenberger, David A. Sherman · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 1995 · 200 citations

Social Sciences, Psychology, Social Psychology +14