Confirmation Bias Research Paper
Confirmation biases are the tendency to notice information that confirms one’s beliefs, and to ignore information that disconfirms one’s beliefs. They can be found in those who are anxious and who view the world as a dangerous place, they interpret neutral behavior as something negative. Seeking to confirm our beliefs comes naturally, so confirmation bias can be considered a form of selection bias. For those who can overcome confirmation biases, seeking out people and publications with different opinions than our own can sometimes help them make better, and well informed decisions. Confirmation biases can also make someone have a one-sided view of a situation. Confirmation bias can be seen pretty much everywhere in life such as in TV shows
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When they search online to read the latest news about the company, they tend to only read the stories and/or articles that confirm the likely bankruptcy, so they don’t read a story about the new product the company just launched that is expected to perform extremely well. The investor sells the stock at a substantial loss instead of keeping it, the stock ends up climbing to an all-time high after it is sold. Another example is, a man that has a girlfriend that goes out every night, to volunteer at an orphanage, and comes back exhausted. The man doesn’t know that his girlfriend volunteers at an orphanage, but based on what he’s seen, he believes that she is cheating on him, so he contemplates breaking up with her. His friends have told him that they’ve seen her out at night, and that she hasn’t done anything wrong, but he holds strong to his belief, so the next time the girlfriend goes out he breaks up with her.
Some examples of confirmation biases seen in TV shows are, Lois from family guy denying that her brother was the criminal that was murdering obese people despite the evidence provided to her. Another example could be when the Griffin house was being haunted because of a skull that was found buried in their yard, although the evidence was present, Lois didn’t believe her house was haunted until it got to the point where her family couldn’t live in the house
When they search online to read the latest news about the company, they tend to only read the stories and/or articles that confirm the likely bankruptcy, so they don’t read a story about the new product the company just launched that is expected to perform extremely well. The investor sells the stock at a substantial loss instead of keeping it, the stock ends up climbing to an all-time high after it is sold. Another example is, a man that has a girlfriend that goes out every night, to volunteer at an orphanage, and comes back exhausted. The man doesn’t know that his girlfriend volunteers at an orphanage, but based on what he’s seen, he believes that she is cheating on him, so he contemplates breaking up with her. His friends have told him that they’ve seen her out at night, and that she hasn’t done anything wrong, but he holds strong to his belief, so the next time the girlfriend goes out he breaks up with her.
Some examples of confirmation biases seen in TV shows are, Lois from family guy denying that her brother was the criminal that was murdering obese people despite the evidence provided to her. Another example could be when the Griffin house was being haunted because of a skull that was found buried in their yard, although the evidence was present, Lois didn’t believe her house was haunted until it got to the point where her family couldn’t live in the house