Abstract

This article discusses four fundamental issues in the relation between motivation and reasoning in light of several decades of research on this topic. The first issue is wether there exist authentic motivational effects on reasoning. The second is wether motivational accounts of resoning are distinct from purely cognitive accounts. The third refers to the process whereby motivation impacts reasoning, and the fourth is wether motivational effects are limited to special cases of reasoning or are universally present. It is concluded that 1) all reasoning is motivated, hence that motivational effects on reasoning are universal rather than restricted, 2) although motivational variables (e.g. goals or discrepancies) have a definite cognitive aspect, it is possible, nonetheless, to distinguish between motivational and cognitive effects on reasoning, 3) the process whereby motivation affects reasoning is not well understood at this time and its exploration constitutes, therefore, a major challenge for the next generation of research on this topic.