This chapter explores the concept of desirability bias and its relationship to confirmation bias. It discusses a study conducted with supporters of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to examine how desires and beliefs influence perception of evidence. The findings suggest that desirability bias plays a more influential role in shaping beliefs than confirmation bias.
Confirmation bias is our tendency to seek evidence that supports our beliefs and confirms our assumptions when we could just as well seek disconfirmation of those beliefs and assumptions instead.
Confirmation is such a prevalent feature of human cognition, that until recently a second bias has been hidden in plain sight. Recent research suggests that something called desirability bias may be just as prevalent in our thinking. When future desires and past beliefs are incongruent, desire wins out.
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