Cognitive dissonance. In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time, or is confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values.[1][2] Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance focuses on how humans strive for internal consistency.
When inconsistency (dissonance) is experienced, individuals tend to become psychologically uncomfortable and they are motivated to attempt to reduce this dissonance, as well as actively avoiding situations and information which are likely to increase it.[1] Relationship between cognitions[edit] Individuals can adjust their attitudes or actions in various ways. Adjustments result in one of three relationships between two cognitions or between a cognition and a behavior.[1] Magnitude of dissonance[edit] The pressure to reduce cognitive dissonance is a function of the magnitude of said dissonance.[1] Reducing[edit] E. Confirmation bias. From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium Confirmation bias is a type of selective, wishful thinking, and an example of cognitive dissonance, where a person searches for or interprets evidence or information that matches their existing beliefs or predictions and ignores information that contradicts this.
In short: cherry picking your evidence to match your conclusion. It is at the root of many types of pseudoscience and pseudohistory. The technique of cold reading, combined with the Forer effect, is an example of how a person may use someone's confirmation bias - a person who goes to a psychic or spiritualist session is going to want, often desperately, to hear from their deceased friends and relatives, and are quite willing to suspend their disbelief and ignore mistakes because of the emotional importance the 'hits' have. Confirmation bias. Confirmation bias refers to a type of selective thinking whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one's beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or undervalue the relevance of what contradicts one's beliefs.
For example, if you believe that during a full moon there is an increase in admissions to the emergency room where you work, you will take notice of admissions during a full moon, but be inattentive to the moon when admissions occur during other nights of the month. A tendency to do this over time unjustifiably strengthens your belief in the relationship between the full moon and accidents and other lunar effects. This tendency to give more attention and weight to data that support our beliefs than we do to contrary data is especially pernicious when our beliefs are little more than prejudices. Numerous studies have demonstrated that people generally give an excessive amount of value to confirmatory information, that is, to positive or supportive data.
Reader comments. Confirmation bias. Tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or values Confirmation bias, also known as myside bias, is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values.[1] People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring contrary information, or when they interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing attitudes.
The effect is strongest for desired outcomes, for emotionally charged issues, and for deeply entrenched beliefs. Confirmation bias cannot be eliminated entirely, but it can be managed, for example, by education and training in critical thinking skills. Confirmation bias is a broad construct covering a number of explanations. A series of psychological experiments in the 1960s suggested that people are biased toward confirming their existing beliefs. Definition and context[edit] Confirmation biases are effects in information processing.
Confirmation Bias. The Misconception: Your opinions are the result of years of rational, objective analysis.
The Truth: Your opinions are the result of years of paying attention to information which confirmed what you believed while ignoring information which challenged your preconceived notions. Have you ever had a conversation in which some old movie was mentioned, something like “The Golden Child” or maybe even something more obscure? You laughed about it, quoted lines from it, wondered what happened to the actors you never saw again, and then you forgot about it. Until… You are flipping channels one night and all of the sudden you see “The Golden Child” is playing. What is happening here? Since the party and the conversation where you and your friends took turns saying “I-ah-I-ah-I want the kniiiife” you’ve flipped channels plenty of times; you’ve walked past lots of billboards; you’ve seen dozens of stories about celebrities; you’ve been exposed to a handful of movie trailers. “Be careful. Sources: