Confirmation Bias
What is Confirmation Bias?
"Confirmation bias occurs from the direct influence of desire on beliefs. When people would like a certain idea/concept to be true, they end up believing it to be true. They are motivated by wishful thinking. This error leads the individual to stop gathering information when the evidence gathered so far confirms the views (prejudices) one would like to be true."
Source: Hesham, S. (2015, April 23.) What is confirmation bias? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/science-choice/201504/what-is-confirmation-bias)
Fact Averse?
- Why People Are So Averse to Facts' As a rule, misinformed people do not change their minds once they have been presented with facts that challenge their beliefs. But, beyond simply not changing their minds when they should, research shows that they are likely to become more attached to their mistaken beliefs."
- How to Combat Distrust of Science"A recent study showed that people are more likely to cling onto their personal ideologies in the absence of “facts.” This suggests that in order to increase acceptance of science, we need more “facts.” We agree but suggest that this is particularly true for an underleveraged but psychologically powerful type of fact — expert consensus."
Friends Don't Let Friends Share Fake News?
- Fake News Spreads Because People Trust Their Friends Too Much“People who see an article from a trusted sharer, but one written by an unknown media source, have much more trust in the information than people who see the same article from a reputable media source shared by a person they do not trust."
Two of the most influential factors on how we think about news are "facts" and "friends." Surprisingly, friends have a greater influence than facts.