Decision Biases Reconsidered: Symbolic–Functional Reweighting in Human Motivation

This paper proposes a structural reinterpretation of decision biases through a symbolic–functional model of motivation. Rather than treating biases as cognitive errors or deviations from rational choice, the study argues that many behavioral patterns emerge from dynamic reweighting between functional and symbolic motivational components. Loss aversion, present bias, cognitive dissonance, and status quo bias are examined as structural outcomes of asymmetrical weighting, temporal reconfiguration, and stability-seeking dynamics within a motivational field. The paper develops a quasi-formal conceptual framework that reframes bias not as irrationality, but as an emergent property of motivational composition. This perspective provides an integrative bridge between motivational theory and decision science.