Evolutionary Psychology (the podcast) Reasoning and Epistemic Vigilance with Hugo Mercier
Dec 9, 2025
Hugo Mercier, a researcher at Institut Jean Nicod, specializes in reasoning and epistemic vigilance. He explains how reasoning evolved for social purposes, highlighting its role in persuasion and argument evaluation. Mercier dives into biases like confirmation bias and the social dynamics that influence justifications. He also discusses the importance of disagreement in sharpening arguments and introduces the concept of epistemic vigilance to assess information. With insights on cultural narratives and the interplay of intuitive and reflective beliefs, this conversation is a deep dive into the cognitive processes behind our reasoning.
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Reasoning Is Socially Evolved
- Reasoning evolved primarily for social exchange: to produce and evaluate arguments with others rather than solitary truth-seeking.
- This explains confirmation biases as adaptive for persuasion, not as cognitive failures to find truth.
Confirmation Bias Fits A Persuasion Role
- People show a robust my-side confirmation bias when generating reasons, producing arguments that favor their initial view.
- Mercier argues this bias makes sense if reasoning's goal is persuasion rather than unbiased self-correction.
Survey Swap Shows Instant Confabulation
- A Swedish study swapped survey question wording and found participants confidently produced arguments for either position without noticing the change.
- Only ~5% noticed the trick, showing how people fabricate supporting reasons on the spot.
