Facts, Friends, and Fake News

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)

Bridges, T. (2017, February 27). Why people are so averse to facts. Sociological Images. https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2017/02/27/why-the-american-public-seems-allergic-to-facts/

Van der Linden., S. & Lewandowsky, S. (2015, April 28). How to combat distrust of science. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-combat-distrust-of-science/

Singal, J. (2017, March 21). Fake news spreads when people trust their friends too much. Intelligencer. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/03/fake-news-spreads-because-people-trust-their-friends-too-much.html