Motivated scepticism is highly related to the term ‘confirmation bias’, which you’ll definitely have heard of. In his book, The Righteous Mind, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt describes it like this: when we want to believe something, “we ask ourselves, ‘Can I believe it?’ Then … we search for supporting evidence, and if we find even a single piece of pseudo-evidence, we can stop thinking. We now have permission to believe.” Whereas if we don’t want to believe something, “we ask ourselves, ‘Must I believe it?’ Then we search for contrary evidence, and if we find a single reason to doubt the claim, we can dismiss it.”
When you allocate your capital for your future and your family’s future, how can you force yourself to look at things with a new perspective? If you can, as the old saying goes, ‘It will pay dividends’
The solution is being able to articulate your thoughts in a safe environment. without someone wanting to sell you some form of financial product or investment. Let’s have a conversation…