CONFIRMATION BIAS AS A KIND OF THINKING ILLUSION

Abstract

Nowadays people need to navigate the information flow. We process and evaluate a large amount of data. The ability of individuals to process objectively and analyze the obtained information plays an important role in modern society. The important characteristics of a modern person are unbiased beliefs and opinions of others and a critical attitude to one's own thoughts and views. Are we able to evaluate our own thoughts impartially? It is known that there is an obvious difference between an unbiased evaluation of evidence in order to come to an impartial conclusion and building a case to justify a conclusion already drawn. In the first case, the individual seeks evidence on all sides of a task, evaluates the information objectively, and draws the conclusion that the evidence, in the aggregate, seems to dictate. In the second case, the individual selectively, gives undue weight to evidence that supports one's position while neglecting evidence that would tell against it. The article provides a theoretical analysis of the concept of «confirmation bias» («myside bias») in cognitive psychology. It considers the approaches that lead to confirmation bias, identifies confirmation biases in the process of forming a hypothesis, and highlights the characteristics of confirmation bias that distinguish it from other heuristics. Keywords: confirmation bias, heuristics, thinking, positive test strategy, information hypothesis.