User:WriterArtistDC/draft

Motivated reasoning

Accuracy

Public opinion

Seeking information from a greater variety of sources serves not only the goal of accuracy, but allow for greater understanding of how widely a belief is shared by others.

Social media

The sharing of misleading or false information on social media has become a concern in recent years for both practitioners and academics. Misinformation may affect beliefs even when it is implausible or inconsistent, the intent being to attract attention rather than inform. However, research indicated that it is possible to restore concern for accuracy by posing questions regard to the information being presented.

Religion

While there have explanations of religious beliefs in terms of psychological needs, there have been few empirical studies of any link to motivated reasoning. Two studies found a link between thinking about death and the belief in God and the afterlife. A neuroscience study found a relationship between religion and a decrease in brain activity associated with distress.

Bullshit

Inspirational bullshit is defined as self-help messages based upon platitudes, as opposed to messages based upon evidenced supported by psychological research that require time and effort. In several studies, some individuals were found to be more receptive to bullshit than others.

Conspiratorial epistemology dismisses any information that contradicts pre-existing beliefs as having been manufactured by a conspiracy; evidence for which is not presented. Bullshit is speech intended to achieve a goal regardless of the truth. Post-factual political discourse erodes the epistemic basis of democracy, not allowing social problems to be identified and solved, resulting in increasing polarization and tribalization.

References

• Graham, Jesse; Haidt, Jonathan; Nosek, Brian A. (2009). "Liberals and Conservatives Rely on Different Sets of Moral Foundations". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 96 (5): 1029–1046. doi:10.1037/a0015141. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
• Horgan, Mervyn (2024-04-25). "Moral Landscapes and Morally Meaningful Encounters: How Interaction Ritual Connects Conversation Analysis and Cultural Sociology". Frontiers in Sociology. 9. doi:10.3389/fsoc.2024.1251164. ISSN 2297-7775. Retrieved 2025-02-28.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
• Jost, John T.; Glaser, Jack; Kruglanski, Arie W.; Sulloway, Frank J. (2003). "Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition". Psychological Bulletin. 129 (3): 339–375. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.129.3.339. ISSN 0033-2909.
• Jost, John T.; Banaji, Mahzarin R.; Nosek, Brian A. (2004). "A Decade of System Justification Theory: Accumulated Evidence of Conscious and Unconscious Bolstering of the Status Quo". Political Psychology. 25 (6): 881–919. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9221.2004.00402.x. ISSN 1467-9221. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
• Jost, John T. (2006). "The End of the End of Ideology". American Psychologist. 61 (7): 651–670. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.61.7.651. ISSN 0003-066X.

• Kahan, D. (2016). The politically motivated reasoning paradigm, part 1: What politically motivated reasoning is and how to measure it. In R. Scott & S. Kosslyn (Eds.), Emerging trends in the social and behavioral sciences. John Wiley & Sons.

• Kunda, Z. (1990). "The Case for Motivated Reasoning". Psychological Bulletin. 108 (3): 480–498. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.480. ISSN 0033-2909.
• Miller, Joanne M.; Saunders, Kyle L.; Farhart, Christina E. (2016-10-01). "Conspiracy Endorsement as Motivated Reasoning: The Moderating Roles of Political Knowledge and Trust". American Journal of Political Science. 60 (4): 824–844. doi:10.1111/ajps.12234. ISSN 1540-5907. Retrieved 2016-12-06.
• Pennycook, Gordon; Cheyne, James Allan; Koehler, Derek J.; Fugelsang, Jonathan Albert (2019-05-24). On the Belief That Beliefs Should Change According to Evidence: Implications for Conspiratorial, Moral, Paranormal, Political, Religious, and Science Beliefs. PsyArXiv. Retrieved 2020-07-22.
• Schunk, Dale H.; DiBenedetto, Maria K. (2020-01-01). "Motivation and social cognitive theory". Contemporary Educational Psychology. 60: 101832. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2019.101832. ISSN 0361-476X. Retrieved 2023-12-20.

Civil inattention

Civic inattention, a concept developed by sociologist Erving Goffman, refers to the practice of individuals acknowledging each other's presence in public spaces while deliberately avoiding direct engagement. In the complex and dynamic environments of modern cities, individuals constantly navigate spaces filled with strangers. While direct interaction is essential for building relationships, an equally important yet often overlooked social practice is civic inattention. This term describes the subtle balance between recognizing another person’s presence and refraining from unnecessary engagement, a behavior that contributes to social order by reducing unwanted confrontations and preserving personal autonomy. Goffman introduced civic inattention as part of his broader work on social interactions and public order. His research suggests that individuals use this practice to maintain a respectful distance from strangers while signaling mutual awareness. Unlike avoidance, which implies a deliberate effort to ignore someone, civic inattention involves a brief acknowledgment followed by disengagement.

Functions

Preserving Personal Space: Urban environments require individuals to coexist in close proximity. Civic inattention allows for the smooth functioning of public spaces by preventing overcrowding from leading to excessive social demands.

Reducing Social Friction: By limiting unnecessary interactions, civic inattention minimizes potential conflicts and misunderstandings. It establishes an implicit social contract where individuals respect each other’s boundaries.

Enabling Autonomy: Civic inattention permits individuals to navigate public life without constant social obligations, fostering a sense of independence while still existing within a collective society.

While civic inattention contributes to social harmony, it has its drawbacks. It may lead to social isolation, discourage community engagement, and reinforce social divisions, particularly along lines of race, class, and gender. For instance, marginalized groups may experience exclusion or heightened surveillance due to selective civic inattention. Additionally, in situations requiring intervention—such as witnessing an accident or a crime—civic inattention can contribute to bystander apathy.

Civic inattention plays a vital role in managing social interactions in urban spaces. It serves as a means of balancing personal autonomy with collective order. However, its implications must be critically examined, especially in contexts where excessive detachment can lead to social alienation or reinforce systemic inequalities. Future research should explore ways to foster a more inclusive and conscious approach to public engagement without undermining the benefits of civic inattention.

Definition

Civil inattention is the respectful recognition of a stranger in a public space without treating them as an object of curiosity or intent. Civil inattention establishes that each recognizes the other's personhood without engagement. For example, persons passing on a street will typically glance at each other, noticing and then withdrawing their attention. This minimal recognition is contrasted with other interactions such as the "hate stare" of the racist or the refusal to notice a begger. Civil inattention is one of Irving Goffman's most celebrated concepts in his analyses of the rituals of public conduct in everyday life.

Civil inattention is required to avoid the otherwise problematic encounters between strangers in an urban culture, to behave with courtesy while maintaining strangeness. Situations often studied are those in which strangers must share a public space in closer proximity than normal, as do the passengers using mass transportation, riding an elevator, or in a waiting room. The typical behaviors observed to maintain strangeness include not staring or talking.

The wearing of masks in public poses challenges for civil inattention, since they conceal many of the facial nuances and expressions that convey such inattention by acknowledging the presence of another while signaling a lack of untoward interest. Without the signifying presence of the rest of the face, such messages can be obscured.

• Mondada, Lorenza; Peräkylä, Anssi (2023-08-17). "The Social Organization of (In-)attention". New Perspectives on Goffman in Language and Interaction: Body, Participation and the Self (1 ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-00-309411-1. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Sharon, Tamar; Koops, Bert-Jaap (2021-09-01). "The Ethics of Inattention: Revitalising Civil Inattention as a Privacy-Protecting Mechanism in Public Spaces". Ethics and Information Technology. 23 (3): 331–343. doi:10.1007/s10676-020-09575-7. ISSN 1572-8439. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Igbinedion, Ofurhe (2021). Sidewalk Interactions: A Study of Urban Interpersonal Moments (Thesis). United States -- California: University of California, Davis. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

Ritual

• Kádár, Dániel Z.; House, Juliane (2020-03-13). "The Pragmatics of Ritual: An Introduction". Pragmatics. 30 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1075/prag.19016.kad. ISSN 2406-4238. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Horgan, Mervyn (2020-03-13). "Urban Interaction Ritual: Strangership, Civil Inattention and Everyday Incivilities in Public Space". Pragmatics. 30 (1): 116–141. doi:10.1075/prag.19022.hor. ISSN 2406-4238. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Tavory, Iddo; Hoynes, Nicholas (2025-03-01). "Order and Potentiality in Interaction Ritual Theory". Sociological Theory. 43 (1): 52–66. doi:10.1177/07352751251315940. ISSN 0735-2751. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Horgan, Mervyn (2024-04-25). "Moral Landscapes and Morally Meaningful Encounters: How Interaction Ritual Connects Conversation Analysis and Cultural Sociology". Frontiers in Sociology. 9. doi:10.3389/fsoc.2024.1251164. ISSN 2297-7775. Retrieved 2025-02-28.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)

Crowded spaces

In a series of experiments, groups of students stood silently in busy streets, breaching normal behavior, while the reaction of passers-by were recorded. Reactions included becoming an audience by slowing or stopping to watch, or joining the performance. Rather than being a breach of norms explained by civil inattention, the events were assumed to be demonstrations, protests or "flash mobs".

• Benediktsson, Mike Owen; Tuckel, Peter; Milczarski, William; Caruso, Farimata; DeCurtis, Michelle; Gadtaula, Prahelika; Herman, Matt; MacDonald, Nicholas; Silipo, Nicholas; Singh, Daniell (2020-05-03). "The Subway as Fourth Place: Anomie, Flânerie and the "Crush of Persons"". Applied Mobilities. 5 (2): 103–121. doi:10.1080/23800127.2018.1426522. ISSN 2380-0127. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Luna, Erick Serna (2022). "Das Geistesleben Unter Die Großstädte: The Socio-Affective Order in the Subway from a Simmelian Perspective". Digithum (29): 1–9. doi:10.7238/d.v0i29.396391. ISSN 1575-2275. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Sträuli, Louise (2023-10-26). "Negotiating Difference on Public Transport: How Practices and Experiences of Deviance Shape Public Space". Urban Planning. 8 (4): 89–98. doi:10.17645/up.v8i4.6456. ISSN 2183-7635. Retrieved 2025-02-28.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)

• Zviadadze, Sophie (2024). "Code of the Passenger and Situational Sociability in Public Transport in Tbilisi". In Lakić, Sonja; Pereira, Patrícia; Índias Cordeiro, Graça (eds.). The Everydayness of Cities in Transition: Micro Approaches to Material and Social Dimensions of Change. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. pp. 203–230. ISBN 978-3-031-63414-7. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Earl, Catherine (2022-04-28). "Social Distancing, Interaction, and (Un)crowded Public Space in Mass Transit in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam". Medicine Anthropology Theory. 9 (2): 1–26. doi:10.17157/mat.9.2.5375. ISSN 2405-691X. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

Unwanted attention

Harassment

Integrate with Street harassment

• In feminist scholarship, there is no consistent term for “public-space sexual harassment" (PSH). An early approach identified PSH as a breach of rules of civil inattention by strangers in public spaces, which places women as low status individuals. Sexual harassment of women and girls in public spaces is often trivialized. Responses to questions about twelve specific forms of harassment indicate that PSH experience is ubiquitous. Women who experience PSH are not only unable to lead lives free of harassment but also deprived of the ability to enjoy emotional well-being, be physically mobile, seek educational opportunities, earn a living, and be free of restrictions overall.

• McDonald, Lucy (2022). "Cat-Calls, Compliments and Coercion". Pacific Philosophical Quarterly. 103 (1): 208–230. doi:10.1111/papq.12385. ISSN 1468-0114. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Lewis, Sian; Saukko, Paula; Lumsden, Karen (2021-02-01). "Rhythms, Sociabilities and Transience of Sexual Harassment in Transport: Mobilities Perspectives of the London Underground". Gender, Place & Culture. 28 (2): 277–298. doi:10.1080/0966369X.2020.1734540. ISSN 0966-369X. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Fileborn, Bianca; O’Neill, Tully (2023-01-01). "From "Ghettoization" to a Field of Its Own: A Comprehensive Review of Street Harassment Research". Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. 24 (1): 125–138. doi:10.1177/15248380211021608. ISSN 1524-8380. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Brockschmidt, Eva; Wadey, Ross (2022-05-04). "Runners' Experiences of Street Harassment in London". Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health. 14 (3): 345–362. doi:10.1080/2159676X.2021.1943502. ISSN 2159-676X. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Fairchild, Kimberly (2023-06-01). "Understanding Street Harassment as Gendered Violence: Past, Present, and Future". Sexuality & Culture. 27 (3): 1140–1159. doi:10.1007/s12119-022-09998-y. ISSN 1936-4822. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

Surveilance

• Rampton, Ben; Eley, Louise (2021). "Goffman and the everyday experience of surveillance1". Security, Ethnography and Discourse. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-00-308090-9.

Goffman (1963) defines civil inattention as when strangers quickly glance at each other and then withdraw their gaze. By this civil inattention, we acknowledge each other’s presence, showing that we have no hostile intentions and that we are not seeking further interaction. Several of my interviewees claimed that perhaps the one aspect they found most challenging in working covertly was not to be able to breach the norm of civil inattention in relation to gaze (Dahl, 2019). This was difficult because it meant they had to stop having staring contests when meeting a known or suspected criminal in a public space. The ‘winner’ of such competitions was the one who did not lower his eyes. According to my interviewees, this was a test to see whether a person is a criminal. When conducting such staring contests, the police officers know they are breaking social codes. Apparently only two groups, police and criminals, prolong their gaze and refuse to lower their eyes, and thereby breach this social code of civil inattention (Dahl, 2019).

Gaze

• Arminen, Ilkka A. T.; Heino, Anna S. M. (2023-09-05). "Civil Inattention—on the Sources of Relational Segregation". Frontiers in Sociology. 8. doi:10.3389/fsoc.2023.1212090. ISSN 2297-7775. Retrieved 2025-02-28.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)

References

• Alloa, Emmanuel (2021). "Transparency, Privacy Commons and Civil Inattention". In Berger, Stefan; Fengler,, Susanne; Owetschkin, Dimitrij; Sittmann, Julia (eds.). Cultures of Transparency: Between Promise and Peril. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-32693-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)

• Mondada, Lorenza; Peräkylä, Anssi; Bergmann, Jörg R.; Peräkylä, Anssi (2023-08-17). "The Social Organization of (In-)attention". New Perspectives on Goffman in Language and Interaction. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-00-309411-1. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
• Blonk, Laurine; Trappenburg, Margo; Bredewold, Femmianne (2022-05-01). "'I Can't Just Go up to a Person to Ask What's Going on.' How Dutch Urbanites' Accounts of Non-Engagement Enhance Our Understanding of Urban Care". Urban Studies. 59 (6): 1185–1201. doi:10.1177/0042098021997013. ISSN 0042-0980. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Arielli, Emanuele (2020). "Spheres of Action. The Technological Shift of Control". img journal (3): 40–53. doi:10.6092/issn.2724-2463/12246. ISSN 2724-2463. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Endreß, Martin (2022). "Civil Inattention". In Lenz, Karl; Hettlage, Robert (eds.). Goffman-Handbuch: Leben – Werk – Wirkung. Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler. pp. 219–222. ISBN 978-3-476-05871-3. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
• Crossley, Nick (2022). "Goffman and the Sociology of the Body". The Routledge International Handbook of Goffman Studies. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-00-316086-1.
• Grant, Aimee (2021-04-29). "Breasts and the City: An Urban Ethnography of Infant Feeding in Public Spaces Within Cardiff, United Kingdom". International Breastfeeding Journal. 16 (1): 37. doi:10.1186/s13006-021-00384-2. ISSN 1746-4358. Retrieved 2025-02-28.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
• Dolezal, Luna (2020-07-24). "Intercorporeality and Social Distancing: Phenomenological Reflections". The Philosopher.
• Horgan, Mervyn (2021-02-01). "Sacred Civility? An Alternative Conceptual Architecture Informed by Cultural Sociology". Journal of Politeness Research. 17 (1): 9–33. doi:10.1515/pr-2020-0031. ISSN 1613-4877. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
• Cousens, Chris (2024-04-24). "Catcalls and Unwanted Conversations". Hypatia: 1–17. doi:10.1017/hyp.2024.30. ISSN 1527-2001. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
• Heidegren, Carl-Göran (2022). "Varieties of Social Invisibilization and Non-person Treatment". The Theory and Practice of Recognition. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-00-325997-8.
• Griera, Mar; Burchardt, Marian (2021-08-09). "Urban Regimes and the Interaction Order of Religious Minority Rituals". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 44 (10): 1712–1733. doi:10.1080/01419870.2020.1849754. ISSN 0141-9870. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
• Carlin, Andrew P. (2022). "Erving Goffman's Systematic Sociology of Information". Przegląd Socjologiczny. 71 (4): 39–62. ISSN 0033-2356. Retrieved 2025-02-28.
• Costa, Jonas Faria (2022). "On Gregariousness". Philosophy. 97 (4): 435–460. doi:10.1017/S0031819122000316. ISSN 1469-817X. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Ferreira, Tatiana de Albuquerque; Paraizo, Rodrigo Cury (2022-03-04). "Re-thinking public spaces at night through the plurality of nocturnal experience: a case study of Liberdade Square, Brazil". Journal of Urban Design. 27 (2): 225–244. doi:10.1080/13574809.2021.1971962. ISSN 1357-4809. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Rini, Regina (2020-02-01). "Contingency Inattention: Against Causal Debunking in Ethics". Philosophical Studies. 177 (2): 369–389. doi:10.1007/s11098-019-01397-8. ISSN 1573-0883. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Koo, Sang; Koo, Sang (2020-05-31). "The Pursuit of the Origins of Mobility Design Changing Factors through Observing Mobility Concepts". Archives of Design Research. 33 (2): 123–135. doi:10.15187/adr.2020.05.33.2.123. ISSN 2288-2987. Retrieved 2025-02-28.

• Stevanovic, Melisa; Inglis, David; Koskinen, Emmi; Peräkylä, Anssi (2024-08-12). "Editorial: Conversation Analysis and Sociological Theory". Frontiers in Sociology. 9. doi:10.3389/fsoc.2024.1466130. ISSN 2297-7775. Retrieved 2025-02-28.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)