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The tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values.
Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek, interpret, and remember information that confirms what you already believe while ignoring or dismissing contradictory evidence.
One of the most robust and well-documented cognitive biases. It affects how we seek information (preferring confirming sources), interpret ambiguous data (seeing what we expect), and remember events (recalling confirming instances).
Demonstrated through experimental tasks showing preferential processing of belief-consistent information. Information search studies show biased question selection.
Nisbett, R. E. (2015). Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Sternberg, R. J. (2020). The Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek, interpret, and remember information that confirms what you already believe while ignoring or dismissing contradictory evidence.
It's cognitively efficient to maintain existing beliefs rather than constantly re-evaluating. Our brains are prediction machines that resist updating established models.
Actively seek out opposing viewpoints, ask "what would change my mind?", steelman opposing arguments, and cultivate intellectual humility.
Yes, it's universal. Intelligence doesn't protect against it—in fact, smart people may be better at rationalizing biased conclusions.
It leads to overconfidence, poor risk assessment, and failure to update beliefs with new evidence. It can trap you in suboptimal strategies.
