@TechReport{iza:izadps:dp15682,
            	author={Drobner, Christoph and Goerg, Sebastian J.},
            	title={Motivated Belief Updating and Rationalization of Information},
            	year={2022},
	month={Oct},
            	institution={Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)},
            	address={Bonn},
            	type={IZA Discussion Paper},
            	number={15682},
            	url={https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp15682},
	abstract={We study belief updating about relative performance in an ego-relevant task. Manipulating the perceived ego-relevance of the task, we show that subjects update their beliefs optimistically because they derive direct utility flows from holding positive beliefs. This finding provides a behavioral explanation why and how overconfidence can evolve in the presence of objective information. Moreover, we document that subjects, who received more bad signals, downplay the ego-relevance of the task. Taken together, these findings suggest that subjects use two alternative strategies to protect their ego when presented with objective information.},
	keywords={motivated beliefs;optimistic belief updating;overconfidence;direct belief utility;Bayes' rule;ex-post rationalization},
            }