So it’s not a hypothesis about their observed behavior, but their clearly expressed reasoning.
But expressed reasons are often not true confession of real reasons. It is risky to put a great deal of store in people’s explanations of their actions. Edit: to clarify, by “real reasons” I don’t even necessarily mean conscious or mentally present reasons. Our real reasons may be “reasons” in the sense that the “reason” we have eyes is to see. This is of course an evolutionary “reason”. Similarly, our behavior may have evolutionary “reasons” which we have no access to whatsoever, forcing us to make something up in order to fill in the gaps. We do seem to have a strong tendency to do that—to fill in the gaps, to explain ourselves, both to others and to ourselves.
But expressed reasons are often not true confession of real reasons. It is risky to put a great deal of store in people’s explanations of their actions. Edit: to clarify, by “real reasons” I don’t even necessarily mean conscious or mentally present reasons. Our real reasons may be “reasons” in the sense that the “reason” we have eyes is to see. This is of course an evolutionary “reason”. Similarly, our behavior may have evolutionary “reasons” which we have no access to whatsoever, forcing us to make something up in order to fill in the gaps. We do seem to have a strong tendency to do that—to fill in the gaps, to explain ourselves, both to others and to ourselves.