confirmation bias

American  

[kon-fer-mey-shuhn bahy-uhs] / ˌkɒn fərˈmeɪ ʃən ˌbaɪ əs /

noun

Psychology.

1. bias that results from the tendency to process and analyze information in such a way that it supports one’s preexisting ideas and convictions: Unfortunately, their experimental method was proven invalid due to confirmation bias.

   Confirmation bias is a major issue when we get all our news from social media sites.

   Unfortunately, their experimental method was proven invalid due to confirmation bias.

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Etymology

Origin of confirmation bias

Coined in 1960 by English psychologist Peter Wason

Example Sentences

The human brain does not like changing its mind or admitting it was wrong, a design flaw that psychologists call “confirmation bias.”

From MarketWatch

It creates what psychologists call confirmation bias.

From Slate

As Tufts University’s Raymond Nickerson notes, “If one were to attempt to identify a single problematic aspect of human reasoning that deserves attention above all others, the confirmation bias would have to be among the candidates for consideration.”

From Slate

What the Roberson case shows is that the justice didn’t foresee how confirmation bias would keep holdouts locked into their support of capital punishment long after it became clear that the death-penalty system was irretrievably broken.

From Slate

At first, I wondered if I was simply noticing them more — a trick of confirmation bias, maybe, because I spend my workdays steeped in stories about hunger and the policies meant to address it.

From Salon