I introduce and discuss an underappreciated form of motivated cognition: motivational pessimism, which involves the biasing of beliefs for the sake of self-motivation. I illustrate how motivational pessimism avoids explanatory issues that plague other (putative) forms of motivated cognition and discuss distinctions within the category, related to awareness, aetiology, and proximal goals.

中文翻译：

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动机悲观主义和动机认知

我介绍并讨论了一种未被充分认识的动机认知形式：动机悲观主义，它涉及为了自我激励而对信念产生偏见。我阐述了动机悲观主义如何避免困扰其他（假定的）动机认知形式的解释性问题，并讨论该类别内与意识、病因和近期目标相关的区别。