Matt Sheehan

This theory explores how people adapt to situations and information that threaten their sense of self. If people focus on the values that are personally meaningful to them when faced… Continue Reading Self-Affirmation Theory

People predominantly assess risk intuitively, or by their feelings. In day-to-day life, most people judge the risk quickly and make decisions based on those immediate appraisals. We normally do not… Continue Reading Risk Perception

The way someone reacts when they feel that their personal choice is being taken away or that their choices have been limited. People are motivated to protect their freedom of… Continue Reading Reactance

This term refers to our perceived cognitive distance between ourselves and other instances (people, events, times).  When we perceive the psychological distance to be large, we focus on the big… Continue Reading Psychological Distance

Prospect theory comes from behavioral economics and is credited to Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky and their 1979 paper “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk,” in which they… Continue Reading Prospect Theory

A technique used to help people deeply examine their behavior and beliefs about a subject in an effort to have them change a behavior or belief. The interviewer frames questions… Continue Reading Motivational Interviewing

Motivated reasoning moves people to justify decisions, actions or outcomes that they most desire in spite of contradictory evidence. We tend to find arguments to support the outcomes we want… Continue Reading Motivated Reasoning

Moralization is the degree to which moral relevance is attached to issues, actions or entities and the changes within their relevance. Morals can change at a personal level or a… Continue Reading Moralization

With roots in sociology and social psychology going back to Emile Durkeim, scholars in the 1990s and 2000s coined the term “moral foundations theory,” which proposes that several innate and… Continue Reading Moral Foundations Theory