Alonzo, the president of his high school's senior class and honor society, has been very busy and did not study for an important
history test. Although Alonzo is very confident, he realizes that he probably will not do well on the test. He has talked himself into cheating because he believes that cheating will help him maintain his strong GPA, which he will need to be accepted by a good college. He tells his friend, "I don't usually cheat, but I really have to do it." How would you explain Alonzo's behavior?
Answer: Alonzo's behavior would be called "motivated blindness."
Explanation:
When a person has motivated blindness, they are behaving in a way they normally would not. The person is making bad decisions and not thinking of the long term consequences of their cheating.
This person, who is doing the cheating, is overlooking what he is doing wrong, to further his interests and stay on the honor society.
In psychology, the confirmation bias concept is used in order to describe the group of beliefs that people may have without a solid scientific base as reliable fact about a certain topic. It is normally a trend that leads people to believe and confirm certain pre-established theories leading them to increase or reassert their misconceptions.
