Epistemic Motivation Research Articles

Re‐examining the ancient roots of the concept of intellectual virtue

AbstractContemporary scholars working in virtue epistemology profess to take inspiration and build on the ancient Greek conception of intellectual virtues. In this paper, I show that, despite their claim, contemporary models of intellectual virtue differ in notable ways from the ancient Greek account of the concept. I pinpoint two major differences between the ancient Greek conception of intellectual virtues and the contemporary understandings of the term. These amount to (a) what the term of intellectual virtues includes and (b) the location of the value of intellectual virtues. I argue that re‐examining the philosophical history of the concept of intellectual virtue can have significant positive implications for contemporary virtue epistemology. Indicatively, I show that it could lead to the development of theories that maintain that intellectual excellences are conducive to leading a good life because their activity is constitutive of the human good—instead of locating their value, as contemporary virtue epistemologists currently do, in the epistemic goods that they enable the agent to acquire and/or in the agent's epistemic motivations.

The Impact of Online Pandemic-Related Information on Prosocial Behavior among Healthcare Students: The Role of Emotional Contagion and Epistemic Motivation.

Prosocial behavior is fundamental for healthcare students, shaped by their traits and the external environment. Online information seeking is the most commonly used way for healthcare students to access pandemics; however, it is unclear whether the willingness of healthcare students to help others will be affected by pandemic information via the Internet environment. The current study takes the COVID-19 pandemic as an example, investigating how 81 healthcare students with varying prosocial tendencies behaved helpfully after being exposed to pandemic-related pictures online. Study 1 measured the influence of emotional contagion (positive emotion/negative emotion) from online information on students' prosocial behavior; Study 2 examined online information's influence on prosocial behavior by controlling individuals' epistemic motivation (goal-directed task/no-goal-directed task) to gain pandemic information. The results indicated that negative pandemic information was more likely to influence students with low prosocial tendencies, which would then lead to a decrease in prosocial actions (F = 7.842, p = 0.005). Further, students with low prosocial tendencies were more likely to engage in prosocial behavior when they did not aim goal-directed attention to the pandemic-related information, compared to those with goal-directed attention (F = 9.159, p = 0.003). Participants with high prosocial tendencies did not differ much in helping others (p > 0.05). The results indicated that only healthcare students with limited prosocial tendencies were less inclined to assist others after receiving negative information about the pandemic. Thus, reducing their deliberate approach to online information related to the pandemic will increase their chances of taking prosocial behavior.

Exploring the influence of need for closure on anti-immigrants collective actions: The mediating role of binding moral foundations and desired cultural tightness

What drives individuals to participate in collective actions against immigrants? A substantial body of research has identified the epistemic motivation (i.e., the need for cognitive closure) as one of the key motivational factors of outgroup hostility. Starting from this theoretical framework, across one cross-sectional study (n = 313), we tested the role of the need for closure in explaining the intention to engage in collective actions against immigrants. Our hypothesis posited that an intensified need for cognitive closure would be a catalyst, indirectly and positively shaping individuals' intentions to participate in collective actions against immigrants. Moreover, we believed that the process determining this outcome would involve sequential mediation through binding moral foundations and the aspiration for cultural tightness. The empirical findings substantiate this hypothesis, revealing a complex psychological pathway that links cognitive needs to anti-immigrant dispositions.

How groups manage conflict when using model-driven decision support: An epistemic motivation lens

In this study we investigate whether the preference for deliberate and deep information processing, also known as epistemic motivation, affects an important feature of model-driven decision support practice, namely, to serve as an aid to surface and manage cognitive conflict within the group. We report on an experimental study that adopts a process-oriented methodology to examine the conflict management behaviours and trajectories of groups high and low in epistemic motivation. Our findings reveal that groups exhibited a variety of patterns of conflict management despite using the same model-driven decision support approach. In addition, three facets of epistemic motivation (discomfort with ambiguity, decisiveness, preference for order and structure) were significant co-variates of the variance in groups’ conflict management trajectories. Notably, only a small proportion of groups high in epistemic motivation were able to confront their conflict and resolve it in positive ways. Our findings have significant implications for the theory and practice of model-driven decision support.

The details matter: SEC regulatory guidance and informativeness in non-GAAP disclosure decisions

Purpose This paper aims to examine how managers make non-generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) exclusion decisions depending on the regulatory guidance provided and their motivations. Guidance detail is a double-edged sword: resolving uncertainty but risking rule-based compliance over principled judgment. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses the context of non-GAAP measures in reporting, given the history of Securities and Exchange Commission changes in guidance detail. Drawing on theories of epistemic motivation and process accountability, this paper manipulates the goal of management (informativeness vs. opportunism) and guidance detail to examine effects on management decisions to exclude an ambiguous charge. Findings The 2×2 between participants experiment with 132 managers reveals that more detailed guidance increases likelihood of exclusion of an ambiguous charge. This paper further finds that this exclusion is more likely when management is given an informativeness goal, a result of a mediating effect of epistemic motivation. However, these findings only hold at low levels of process accountability. Practical implications The findings regarding the psychological concepts recognize the influence of perceived decision uncertainty by suggesting how managers respond to the level of regulatory guidance detail, offering regulators and auditors a basis for understanding and anticipating managerial reporting choices. Also, awareness of heightened epistemic motivation under the informativeness goal provides a nuanced practical understanding of non-GAAP decision drivers. Finally, the finding that effects are more pronounced for managers with lower process accountability highlights the significance of organizational accountability structures in guiding managerial choices, which can inform board-level governance and control decisions. Originality/value Pragmatically, this paper finds that detailed guidance leads to more appropriate exclusion decisions under a goal of informativeness but finds no such evidence where the goal is opportunism. No prior study has examined how the level of detail in guidance affects managers’ disclosure choices.

On the Intellectual Vice of Epistemic Apathy

ABSTRACT Our aim in this paper is to characterize epistemic apathy as an intellectual vice. The agent who possesses this character trait is led not to intervene to prevent another epistemic agent from forming a false belief when it would be appropriate to intervene. Following the motivational viewpoint on vice, we conclude that epistemic apathy can be cashed out in terms of imperfect epistemic motivations. The apathetic agent possesses bad (or, at least, lacks good) epistemic motives. We show, however, that motivationalism has difficulties accounting for the excess-vice: epistemic paternalism. Following the obstructivism understanding of intellectual vice, we highlight the fact that epistemic apathy does not get in the way of knowledge for the agent who possesses this trait. This goes against our intuition that epistemic apathy is an intellectual vice. To remedy this, we argue that epistemic vices do not necessarily harm the vicious agent.

The epistemic value of doombehaviour: beyond the prudential consequences of doomscrolling, doomchecking, and doomsurfing

This paper analyses a novel and increasingly prevalent category of epistemic behaviour: doombehaviour, constituted by the popular phenomena of doomscrolling and doomsurfing, as well as doomchecking, which is introduced in this paper. Doombehaviour, referring to the frequent or immersive online consumption of negatively valenced news, became ubiquitous during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. As this behaviour has since then been found to negatively impact mood and mental health, advice has been to minimise doombehaviour or even limit news consumption altogether. Yet, as I argue, this assessment overlooks the importance of the epistemic motivation instantiating the behaviour. By presenting an analysis of doomscrolling, doomsurfing, and doomchecking within the context of our socio-technical environment, arguing for the distinct instrumental epistemic values of these categories of doombehaviour, this paper provides more nuanced advice for individuals seeking to balance the potential epistemic benefits and prudential costs of this behaviour. Epistemically motivated individuals should refrain from doomscrolling due to the risk of consuming sophisticated misinformation. However, within the parameters presented in this paper, the epistemic goods obtained through doomchecking and doomsurfing may justify the prudential costs for individuals motivated to acquire knowledge of, or be informed about, current events. This discussion opens the door to further explorations of these increasingly prevalent and potentially harmful epistemic behaviours that have, so far, been ignored by the discipline.

Modeling informational faultlines: Team epistemic motivation, team behavioural integration process, and team innovation stages

Based on the social information processing theory, our paper constructs a dual-channel mediation model in which informational faultlines affect team innovation in two stages (idea generation and idea implementation) through the process of team behavior integration (team joint decision and team mutual collaboration) under the moderating effect of team epistemic motivation. Based on empirical analysis conducted on a sample of 50 teams collected from multiple sources and time points, our study reveals that team joint decision and team mutual collaboration respectively mediate the relationship between informational faultlines and idea generation and idea implementation. Team epistemic motivation has differential moderating effects on the relationship between informational faultlines and team behavior integration (team joint decision and team mutual collaboration) and team innovation in two stages (idea generation and idea implementation). The research conclusions enrich the theoretical achievements in the field of team faultlines and innovation, and have important guiding significance for diversified team innovation management practices.

Fluency, prediction and motivation: how processing dynamics, expectations and epistemic goals shape aesthetic judgements.

What psychological mechanisms underlie aesthetic judgements? An influential account known as the Hedonic Marking of Fluency, later developed into a Processing Fluency Theory of Aesthetic Pleasure, posits that ease of processing elicits positive feelings and thus enhances stimulus evaluations. However, the theory faces empirical and conceptual challenges. In this paper, we extend it by integrating insights from predictive processing frameworks (PPF) and the epistemic motivation model (EMM). We propose four extensions. First, fluency of a stimulus depends on perceivers' expectations-their internal model of the world. Second, perceivers also form expectations about fluency itself and thus can experience surprising fluency. These expectations can come from the individual's history, their current task and their environment. Third, perceivers can value fluency but also disfluency, reflecting their non-directional epistemic goals. Fourth, perceivers also have directional epistemic goals, preferring specific conclusions or belief content. Consequently, affective reactions depend on whether the stimulus satisfies those goals. These directional epistemic goals may override concerns about fluency or change the value of fluency associated with specific content. We review supporting evidence and introduce novel predictions. By integrating insights from PPF and EMM, our framework can better capture established fluency effects and highlights their limitations and extensions. This article is part of the theme issue 'Art, aesthetics and predictive processing: theoretical and empirical perspectives'.

Right vs. Left: Ideology and psychological motives in the Chinese cultural context

This research examines the content as well as underlying psychological motives of ideology in East Asia. Adopting a mixed methods approach utilizing data from national samples in mainland China (N = 509) and Taiwan (N = 417), qualitative content analysis and correlation analysis results reveal that in both samples: (a) overall, participants had some understanding of the left-right ideological spectrum; (b) notwithstanding, most participants placed themselves at the Center; and (c) elective affinities between epistemic motives and political ideology exhibited the most consistent association. Findings shed light on the political psychology of ideology in authoritarian regimes as well as in new democracies. Findings were also discussed in the cross-cultural psychological context. Altogether, they contribute to our understanding of the nature of ideology beyond the West, which could be a first step toward reducing political polarization and avoiding conflict.

The Motivation Problem of Epistemic Expressivists

Many philosophers have adopted epistemic expressivism in recent years. The core commitment of epistemic expressivism is that epistemic claims express conative states. This paper assesses the plausibility of this commitment. First, we raise a new type of problem for epistemic expressivism, the epistemic motivation problem. The problem arises because epistemic expressivists must provide an account of the motivational force of epistemic judgment (the mental state expressed by an epistemic claim), yet various features of our mental economy seem to show that they can’t do so. Second, we develop what we take to be the most promising response to that problem for expressivists. We end by noting that this response faces an important challenge pertaining to the psychology of epistemic criticism and praise.

Need for cognitive closure and prosocial behavior in high school students: The role of perspective taking and empathic concern

What impact does a strong desire for cognitive closure have on an individual's social competence? The need for cognitive closure has been examined in conjunction with a broad spectrum of psychological constructs, encompassing empathy as well. However, there have been few studies that have investigated how the need for cognitive closure affects social competence, particularly prosocial behavior. For this reason, the present study examines the impact of individuals' dispositional need for cognitive closure on prosocial behavior. Specifically, it explores the role of empathy, including perspective-taking and empathic concern, in explaining this relationship. The hypothesis proposed that a higher level of need for closure would be negatively related to prosocial behavior due to its negative association with perspective-taking and, consequently, empathic concern. Our findings provided support for the hypothesis in a sample of high school students (N = 332). The current study underscores the importance of epistemic motivation for closure in affecting social competence behaviors, highlighting the significant roles played by cognitive and affective empathy within this framework. These findings are particularly important, especially in educational settings, because these behaviors have the potential to influence students' relationships, school well-being, and other educational outcomes.

Impact of responsible leadership on sustainable performance: a moderated mediation model

PurposeThe increased interest of the industrial sector in sustainable concepts and leadership has lagged behind conceptual advancement. Leaders are increasingly being pushed to encourage sustainable performance. In order to examine the relationship between responsible leadership and sustainable performance, this research creates a model based on the logic of RL performance, with the concurrent mediation of epistemic motivation and moderating role of sustainable climate.Design/methodology/approachThe current research analyzed a sample of 520 respondents from employees recruited from public sector organizations in Pakistan who were full-time employees in Punjab province in three waves with an interval of two weeks in each wave. To collect data, the scales are adapted from past studies that were relevant to this study. The data received from the survey questionnaire are analyzed using SEM.FindingsThe study's findings demonstrate a significant as well as positive association between RL and SP with β = 0.298 and p < 0.001. Further, a significant mediating impact of epistemic motivation on the relationship between RL and sustainable performance with β = 0.238 and p < 0.001 is also evident. Epistemic motivation is an important mediator because transparency in knowledge held massive importance to get sustainable outcomes and is predominant factor to exert his/her efforts.Practical implicationsThe research shows some theoretical and practical implications. To achieve the aims of sustainable development, organizations should first encourage responsible leadership behaviors. By establishing a shared vision and goals, top management can encourage responsible leadership techniques within their jurisdiction. In order to encourage responsible leadership behaviors, organizations should seek to create capacity at both organizational and social levels. It will change employee attitudes and provide the knowledge needed to achieve sustainable development objectives.Originality/valueThis is one of the initial studies to examine the relationship between responsible leadership and sustainable performance. Further, the concept of social exchange theory is used to understand sustainable performance from a comprehensive standpoint.

Inspiring, Yet Tiring: How Leader Emotional Complexity Shapes Follower Creativity

Moods and emotions are an important influence on creativity at work, and recent developments point to emotional complexity as a particularly relevant influence in this respect. We develop this line of research by shifting focus from emotional complexity as an intrapersonal influence to emotional complexity as an interpersonal influence between leader and subordinate. Specifically, we integrate the social-functional approach to emotions with theory on self-regulation to shed light on the effects of leader emotional complexity (LEC), operationalized as alternations between leader displays of happiness and anger, on follower creativity. Three studies, two video experiments (Studies 1 and 2) and a multisource experience sampling study (Study 3), revealed that, on one hand, LEC stimulated creativity by enhancing the cognitive flexibility of followers; on the other hand, LEC led to heightened self-regulatory resource depletion, which compromised follower creativity. Our results also showed that trait epistemic motivation strengthened the positive effects of LEC on creativity via cognitive flexibility, the negative effects via self-regulatory resource depletion were also stronger for followers with higher trait epistemic motivation. Combined, results suggest that leader displays of emotional complexity can be tiring but are even more inspiring. Supplemental Material: The online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2019.13152 .

Believing and Sharing False News on Social Media: The Role of News Presentation, Epistemic Motives, and Deliberative Thinking

ABSTRACT How vulnerable are we to misinformation on social media? To address this question, this study examines not only how well (or poorly) individuals discern true and false news on social media, but also how contextual factors in news presentation and individual’s cognitive and motivational tendencies might shape the patterns of their beliefs in and likelihood to engage online news. We conducted an online survey experiment on a sample of Chinese social media users recruited from a national panel (N = 481). The results show that, first, people generally perceived social media news as accurate and were better at correctly identifying truthful news than false news, revealing both a truth bias and a veracity effect. Second, social endorsement cue and news content slant could affect how individuals judge the veracity of a news post and engage it online. Third, evidence was mixed on how individuals’ deliberative thinking propensity and epistemic motive operated. While our primary goal is to present evidence from a non-Western society to shed lights on the psychology of false news on social media, we also strive toward teasing out some implications specific to the China context.

Epistemic motivation facilitates advice seeking and utilization by groups

AbstractDrawing on a motivated information processing model, we tested the hypothesis that groups' receptivity to outside advice is facilitated by their epistemic motivation—the desire to gain an accurate understanding of the world. Epistemic motivation was measured by proxy in Study 1 using a team task reflexivity measure, and was experimentally manipulated in Studies 2 and 3 by varying, respectively, either the amount of time allotted to complete the task or whether a consensus judgment was required before receiving advice. Receptivity to advice was operationalized as group advice seeking in Studies 1 and 2, and as advice utilization in Study 3. In support of our hypothesis, groups with higher levels of epistemic motivation consistently sought out and utilized advice more than those with lower levels of epistemic motivation. Moreover, epistemic motivation affected judgment accuracy via groups' receptivity to advice.

Addressing the effect of concern with COVID-19 threat on prejudice towards immigrants: The sequential mediating role of need for cognitive closure and desire for cultural tightness

The link between threat and anti-immigrant prejudice is well-established. Relatedly, recent research has also shown that situational threats (such as concern with COVID-19 threat) increase anti-immigrant prejudice through the mediating role of desire for cultural tightness. This study aims to further our understanding of the psychological processes underlying the relation between concern with COVID-19 threat and increased negative attitudes towards immigrants by considering the mediational role of an individual epistemic motivation (i.e., the need for cognitive closure). A study was conducted on a large sample of Italian respondents covering all the Italian regions. Findings revealed that high concern with COVID-19 threat led to increased negative attitudes towards immigrants through the sequential mediating role of higher need for cognitive closure, leading in turn to higher desire for cultural tightness. Implications of these findings for a timely contextualized study of anti-immigrant prejudice will be highlighted.

MENGKAJI RELASI AGAMA DAN MOTIVASI EPISTEMIK

Religion functions adaptively and helps provide a sense of coherence, control, and reduces ambiguity. Some Muslims are described as believing in and understanding Islamic teachings as a comprehensive (total) guide in all aspects of life including political and state life. The research aims to determine the relationship between Islamic totalism and epistemic motivation (need for cognitive closure). Through a non-experimental survey of 376 Muslim students in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi (Jabodetabek) with measuring instruments of Islamic totalism and need for cognitive closure. The results of the study show that there is a significant positive correlation between Islamic totalism and empirical motivation. These results illustrate that Muslims with a high need for cognitive closure have a need to reduce uncertainty, perfect Islamic teachings are considered as epistemic authorities that can provide certainty and help navigate a social world that threatens to be ambiguous and complex

"I feel it in my gut:" Epistemic Motivations, Political Beliefs, and Misperceptions of COVID-19 and the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.

This project examines the intersection of political constructs and epistemic motivations as they relate to belief in misinformation. How we value the origins of knowledge - through feelings and intuition or evidence and data - has important implications for our susceptibility to misinformation. This project explores how these epistemic motivations correlate with political ideology, party identification, and favorability towards President Trump, and how epistemic and political constructs predict belief in misinformation about COVID and the 2020 election. Results from a US national survey from Nov-Dec 2020 illustrate that Republicans, conservatives, and those favorable towards President Trump held greater misperceptions about COVID and the 2020 election. Additionally, epistemic motivations were associated with political preferences; Republicans and conservatives were more likely to reject evidence, and Trump supporters more likely to value feelings and intuition. Mediation analyses support the proposition that Trump favorability, Republicanism, and conservatism may help account for the relationships between epistemic motivations and misperceptions. Results are discussed in terms of the messaging strategies of right-wing populist movements, and the implications for democracy and public health.

The ripple effect: How leader workplace anxiety shape follower job performance.

Although the dominant view in the literature suggests that work-related anxiety experienced by employees affects their behavior and performance, little research has focused on how and when leaders' workplace anxiety affects their followers' job performance. Drawing from Emotions as Social Information (EASI) theory, we propose dual mechanisms of cognitive interference and emotional exhaustion to explain the relationship between leader workplace anxiety and subordinate job performance. Specifically, cognitive interference is the mechanism that best explains the link between leader workplace anxiety and follower task performance, while emotional exhaustion is the mechanism that best explains the link between leader workplace anxiety and follower contextual performance. Additionally, we examine how follower epistemic motivation serves as a boundary condition for the effect of leader anxiety on follower performance outcomes. Results from a 2-wave study of 228 leader-follower dyads in a high-tech company mostly supported our theoretical model. We conclude the study with a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.