Ziva Kunda

Ziva Kunda was a social psychologist renowned for her research on motivated reasoning, stereotyping, and social cognition. She demonstrated how human goals, emotions, and preferences can influence the cognitive processes behind belief formation. Her work helped bridge the gap between cognition and motivation in understanding human bias.

According to Kunda's research, motivated reasoning is the phenomenon where our desires and goals influence which beliefs, memories, and inferential strategies we use. However, she emphasized that even when motivated, people are still constrained by rational conclusions; we do not just believe anything we want. We search for evidence that feels objective but aligns with our preferred outcome.

Ziva Kunda spent her academic career as a professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada. She was a highly influential figure in the university's Department of Psychology. Her time there established the institution as a hub for cutting-edge social cognition research.

Yes, Ziva Kunda authored the highly regarded textbook "Social Cognition: Making Sense of People," which was published in 1999. The book synthesizes decades of research on how humans perceive, process, and store information about others. It remains a foundational text for students and researchers in the field.