Dr. Ken Vail, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, recently published a paper in the journal Motivation and Emotion titled "Motivated reasoning: Election integrity beliefs, outcome acceptance, and polarization before, during, and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election." Dr. Vail and colleagues observed that prior to the election, Biden and Trump supporters generally reported mild skepticism as to the fairness of the upcoming election; however, once the election results were finalized, a partisan divide emerged: Trump supporters strongly rejected notions of election integrity and supported recourse efforts (e.g., legal challenges, legislative overhauls, etc.). Conversely, Biden supporters strongly affirmed the election results and accepted them as fair. Dr. Vail and colleagues discuss how these results reflect "motivated reasoning biases" across time based on the perceived desirability of the election outcome. 

You can find the full article here.

Congratulations to Dr. Vail and his colleagues!