Beliefs as Social Games

Motivated reasoning is often driven by strategic social incentives—persuasion, reputation, and status competition—rather than by a simple desire for comforting falsehoods. People may accept or amplify claims because those claims help them win social contests, not because the claims make them feel better about reality. — Shifting the model from 'wishful thinking' to social-game thinking implies different interventions for misinformation, political polarization, and belief change: change the social incentives, not just supply facts.