Threats to Hope: Effects on Reasoning about Product Information

Three studies find that when individuals become less confident that what they yearn for is possible (i.e., when hope is threatened) they engage in motivated reasoning related to products that purport to enable goal attainment. Specifically, they (a) selectively search for information from a product-favorable information source, (b) regard this information as more credible, and (c) are less discriminating of low-credibility message arguments. They also (d) require more negative information before they feel that they are able to evaluate a product's effectiveness and (e) are more likely to judge the product as effective at helping them attain their goal.