Watch for
Selective reading habits, rapid dismissal of disagreement, and feeling "obviously right" before checking evidence.
Belief & ConfidenceBias #01
Confirmation Bias
Favouring information that supports what we already believe.
The tendency to search for, interpret, favour, and recall information in a way that confirms existing beliefs or hypotheses, while giving disproportionately less attention to information that challenges them.
Why it matters: The most cited bias in decision research. It shapes how we consume news, argue online, and interpret scientific data.
Try this
Ask what evidence would change your mind, then deliberately read the strongest opposing case.
Real-world example
Someone reads only news sources that reinforce their political views and scrolls past contradictory headlines without clicking.
Key researchers
Peter Wason
First described in 1960
Psychological mechanism
Cognitive Economy and Schema Preservation. Rewriting our foundational worldview requires a massive expenditure of neural energy and induces uncomfortable cognitive dissonance. It is metabolically cheaper to filter reality to fit the pre-existing map.
Seminal research
Peter C. Wason (1960), "On the failure to eliminate hypotheses in a conceptual task" (The famous 2-4-6 number pattern experiment).
Related Biases
Below is a realistic scenario. Read it, then choose what you would do. The feedback will show whether a cognitive bias influenced your choice — not to judge, but to reveal the pattern in action.
Thought Experiment
This experiment places you in a realistic decision. Your instinctive choice will reveal whether bias is at work.
STEP 1 → ReadSTEP 2 → ChooseSTEP 3 → Reveal
Debrief
Confirmation bias is about the brain's efficiency drive. We have limited attention, so we prioritise information that feels consistent. The cost is that disconfirming evidence gets filtered out before evaluation. Before reading any report, write down one thing that could prove your current belief wrong, then go look for it.
Sources
Original ResearchWason (1960) — Original study on confirmation
EncyclopediaBritannica entry