confirmation bias

Examples of confirmation bias in the following topics:

• Problem-Solving

  • The way we solve problems can be influenced by algorithms, heuristics, intuition, insight, confirmation bias, and functional fixedness.
  • These spontaneous decisions are often associated with functional fixedness, confirmation bias, insight and intuition phenomenology, heuristics, and algorithms.
  • Confirmation bias arises when a person makes decisions based upon what he or she already believes to be true.
  • Some of these mental processes include functional fixedness, confirmation bias, insight and intuition phenomenology, heuristics, and algorithms.
  • Examine how algorithms, heuristics, intuition, insight, confirmation bias, and functional fixedness can influence judgment and decision making.

• Personal Biases

  • Confirmation bias: This is probably the most common and the most subliminal, as many people naturally exhibit this bias without even knowing it.
  • Often times called selective search for evidence, confirmation bias occurs when decision makers seek out evidence that confirms their previously held beliefs, while discounting or diminishing the impact of evidence in support of differing conclusions.
  • Overconfidence bias: This is another potentially disruptive personal bias and occurs when a person subjectively overestimates the reliability of their judgments versus an objectively accurate outcome.
  • Groupthink: This is a bias within group decision making that leads the group toward harmony rather than a realistic evaluation of alternatives.
  • Other personal biases can take on a variety of forms and may extend to either the holder of the bias or to external parties.

• Causes of Poor Listening

  • It can result from various psychological or physical situations such as visual or auditory distractions, physical discomfort, inadequate volume, lack of interest in the subject material, stress, or personal bias.
  • Listeners often engage in confirmation bias, which is the tendency to isolate aspects of a conversation to support one's own preexisting beliefs and values.
  • First, confirmation bias tends to cause listeners to enter the conversation before the speaker finishes her message and, thus, form opinions without first obtaining all pertinent information.
  • Second, confirmation bias detracts from a listener's ability to make accurate critical assessments.

• Cognitive Biases

  • Bias arises from various processes that can be difficult to distinguish.
  • Confirmation bias - Simply put, humans have a strong tendency to manipulate new information and facts until they match their own preconceived notions.
  • This inappropriate confirmation allows for poor decision-making that ignores the true implications of new data.
  • Self-serving bias - Another common bias is the tendency to take credit for success while passing the buck on failure.
  • Belief bias - Individuals often make a decision before they have all the facts.

• Cognitive Biases as a Barrier to Decision Making

  • The most common cognitive biases are confirmation, anchoring, halo effect, and overconfidence.
  • Confirmation bias: This bias occurs when decision makers seek out evidence that confirms their previously held beliefs, while discounting or diminishing the impact of evidence in support of differing conclusions.
  • Overconfidence bias: This bias occurs when a person overestimates the reliability of their judgments.

• Expect Selective Exposure

  • Media forms such as the internet, television, and paper sources are also inclined to selective bias.
  • This article suggests that confirmation bias is prevalent in decision making.
  • Throughout the four experiments, generalization was reliably considered valid and confirmation bias was always present when test subjects sought new information and made decisions.

• Heuristics and Cognitive Biases

  • When interpreting data, a researcher must avoid cognitive bias and be aware of the use of heuristics to avoid drawing incorrect conclusions.
  • A cognitive bias is the mind's tendency to come to incorrect conclusions based on a variety of factors.
  • Hindsight bias occurs in psychological research when researchers form "post hoc hypotheses."
  • The confirmation bias leads to the tendency to search for, or interpret, information in a way that confirms one's existing beliefs.
  • Confirmation bias is especially dangerous in psychological research.

• Analyzing Data

  • EDA focuses on discovering new features in the data and CDA focuses on confirming or falsifying existing hypotheses.
  • The validity of the results is also assessed to confirm how well the data measures what it is supposed to measure.
  • Just because results fail to confirm original hypotheses, does not mean the research results are useless.

• Media Bias

  • Media bias is the bias of journalists and news producers in the selection of events and stories that are reported, and how they are covered.
  • Media bias is the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media, concerning the selection of events and stories that are reported, and how they are covered.
  • The term "media bias" implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening the standards of journalism, rather than the perspective of an individual journalist or article.
  • The direction and degree of media bias in various countries is widely disputed.
  • The most commonly discussed forms of bias occur when the media support or attack a particular political party, candidate, or ideology; however, other common forms of bias exist, including advertising bias, corporate bias, mainstream bias, sensationalism, and concision bias.

• Evaluate the Results

  • Doing so confirms whether the decision actually led to the desired outcomes and also provides important information that can benefit future decision making.
  • This type of bias can limit an honest assessment of what went right and what didn't, and thus reduce what can be learned by carefully evaluating outcomes.
  • How the decision maker dealt with uncertainty or bias can be examined in the face of the results that have transpired.