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Chapter 8 - Confirmation Bias

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 October 2021

David A. Lagnado
Affiliation:
University College London
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Summary

In Chapter 8 I look at the strategies that people use to gather and interpret evidence, focusing on the classic confirmation bias. I argue that this ‘bias’ covers various different strategies, some of which are reasonable, whereas others are genuine biases. One danger is when investigators misinterpret evidence and these errors cascade undetected through the evaluation process, distorting the evidence presented to the ultimate decision-makers. I argue that, without meta-level insight into the way evidence is gathered and assessed, we risk distorting the impact of that evidence, sometimes with disastrous consequences.

Type
Chapter
Information
Explaining the Evidence
How the Mind Investigates the World
, pp. 172 - 185
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Confirmation Bias
  • David A. Lagnado, University College London
  • Book: Explaining the Evidence
  • Online publication: 20 October 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9780511794520.009
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  • Confirmation Bias
  • David A. Lagnado, University College London
  • Book: Explaining the Evidence
  • Online publication: 20 October 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9780511794520.009
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Confirmation Bias
  • David A. Lagnado, University College London
  • Book: Explaining the Evidence
  • Online publication: 20 October 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9780511794520.009
Available formats
×