September 23, 2015

Confirmation Bias

A comic about confirmation bias.

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

I have been inundated with confirmation bias examples of late, or at least it seems that way. It could just be... (wait for it) confirmation bias.

For the uniniated, confirmation bias is described like so:

In psychology and cognitive science, confirmation bias is a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors.

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I think my favorite anaology of confirmation bias is a screw: every time your bias is reinforced, the screw gets turned tighter, but nothing seems to ever turn it back and unscrew it.

The point is that whoever you are, whatever you do, whether you're a scientist, a politician, or a sage grouse, you can't rely on your gut feelings and perceptions alone. You may need some actual data, evidence, numbers--you know, stuff that isn't filtered through all your brain's weirdness. Are you hearing me, people? Don't fall victim to the bias of the confirmation. It's all too easy to do.

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