CONFIRMATION

BIAS
 INTRODUCTION
◦ Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and
recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's
prior beliefs or values.
◦ Peter Cathcart Wason (22 April 1924 – 17 April 2003) was a
cognitive psychologist who coined the term
“confirmation bias”.
 Explanations of Confirmation Bias
Information Processing
Protect Self-esteem
Minimize Cognitive
Dissonance
Examples of Confirmation Bias
Types of Confirmation Bias

◦Biased Search for Information

◦Biased Interpretation
◦Biased Memory
Wason Rule Discovery Test

Peter Wason conducted series of experiments in the 1960s to demonstrate that people
are indeed biased towards confirming their existing beliefs. Another view of the
phenomenon suggests that people show confirmation bias because they are
pragmatically assessing the costs of being wrong, rather than investigating in a neutral
and scientific way.