Fallacies and Cognitive Biases: Confirmation Bias ~ by Ransom

 

This article is part of an ongoing series that began with Fallacies and Cognitive Biases.

The above picture is a detail from "50 Cognitive Biases to be aware of so you can be the very best version of you"

"We tend to find and remember information that confirms our perceptions."

This cognitive bias saves energy.  Juggling many competing models of the world takes effort and slows down our thinking.  Besides, no more than one of them can be right.

Humans perceive in patterns.  Patterns are easier to remember than discrete data points.  Things that don't fit patterns are less likely to be noticed at all.

There are an unlimited number of explanations for nearly everything.  When new information is discovered that already fits into our mental model why invent a multitude of alternate explanations?  The potential lost time alone is prohibitive.

There is a lot of data out there.  Contradictory data may actually be a special case or just misperceived.

Our perceptions are generally, if not true, at least reasonable.  We believe what we believe for a reason.  In all likelyhood it has worked out well enough.  Why mess with success?

We receive many of our beliefs through our acquaintances.  The mere fact that we know someone means that we probably have more in common with him than with the average stranger.  People meet each other through each other's networks and networks will tend to share beliefs.

The information we receive from acquaintances will be more confirmatory than that from an average stranger (whom we don't meet or speak with at all) and thus more likely to conform to our existing mental models.

See Groupthink, Availability Heuristic