Examples Of Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is a common bias among individuals. The textbook defines Confirmation bias as “ the tendency to notice and search for information that confirms one's beliefs and to ignore information that dis-confirms one's beliefs.” (Baumeister) Like many biases can be beneficial as well as detrimental to ones future. The textbook uses an example of someone who is told by a phychic that he will become a famous astrologer. He most likely had an interest in this topic, and quite possibly could have been his dream job. He chose to follow this path, most likely because he wanted to in the first place. The psychic just gave him confirmation that his dreams were obtainable. This happens so often in life from a young age. People who are naturally gifted at something are told that they should do this professionally.
A lot of the times people do what they love anyway, so being told they are good at a certain thing, just reinforces the idea that they could continue to do such a thing, and excel at it. We all know that practice makes perfect, and those that believe they are capable of something have a much greater chance of success than one who does not. Like many biases, there are reasons why they are not good as well. If someone focuses all their time, effort, and funds on being a pro ball player or a musician, they neglect to accrue other experience or fail to acknowledge opportunities along the way. Someone pursuing a career in music may pay on a great job offer that may provide an excellent future, because it conflicts with their music schedule. That person may have been told his whole life that he is a great musician, spends his entire life focusing on that, and goes nowhere. On the other hand though, maybe money and fame really had nothing to do with success. Maybe success to them was spending their lives doing something they truly