Timing of Informativeness on Motivated Reasoning *

Abstract

We present the first experimental evidence that the timing of informativeness influences motivated reasoning: Participants place more weight on information that aligns with their desired outcomes when they learn about a signal's informativeness after receiving the signal, compared to when the order of information is reversed. This order effect occurs when prior beliefs are not extreme, regardless of the signal's informativeness. Our findings suggest that revealing informativeness earlier could be a simple yet effective way to mitigate motivated reasoning.