People have a tendency to interpret new facts as being consistent with their strongly held beliefs. This propensity, known as confirmation bias, is well known. What is not generally appreciated, however, is that confirmation bias is not just a mild affliction. It is a dominating factor in human thinking — especially with matters distant from one’s direct personal experience.
Nobel prize-winning cognitive psychologist Daniel Kahneman explained that “confirmation bias comes from when you have an interpretation, and you adopt it, and then, top down, you force everything to fit that interpretation.” And Karl Popper noted that “if we are uncritical we …read more
Source:: National Newswatch
