Lay standards for reasoning predict people's acceptance of suspect claims

People vary between each other and across contexts with respect to how important it is to them to think in logical, impartial, and evidence-based ways. Recent studies demonstrate that this variation in people's personal standards for thinking predicts the nature and quality of their beliefs. Strong commitments to epistemic virtues motivate careful thinking and protect people from suspicious claims. At the same time, people are more likely to knowingly hold biased or evidentially unsupported beliefs when they think that they are justified to think in biased or evidentially poor ways. People's personal standards for reasoning likely play an important role in shaping how suspect or unreasonable information is received.

Automated summary

Individual variations in personal standards for thinking influence the nature and quality of beliefs. Strong commitments to epistemic virtues encourage careful thinking and protect against suspicious claims. However, individuals are more likely to hold biased or unsupported beliefs when they think that biased or evidentially poor reasoning is justified.