Confirmation Bias

Confirmation Bias is a psychological phenomenon where individuals tend to favor information that confirms their pre-existing beliefs or values. It is a type of cognitive bias and a systematic error of inductive reasoning. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs.

Overview

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses, while giving disproportionately less consideration to alternative possibilities. It is a type of cognitive bias and a systematic error of inductive reasoning. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs.

Causes

Confirmation bias is caused by the tendency to rely on immediate examples that come to a given person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method or decision. It is a systematic error of inductive reasoning.

Effects

Confirmation bias can lead to overconfidence in personal beliefs and can maintain or strengthen beliefs in the face of contrary evidence. It can also lead to poor decision making and faulty reasoning.

See Also

• Cognitive Bias
• Inductive Reasoning
• Psychology

References

Confirmation Bias Resources
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