Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is the pull toward information that supports our existing beliefs and away from information that challenges them. It works in three quiet ways: we search selectively (googling the case for our side), interpret ambiguous evidence in our favour, and remember the hits while forgetting the misses.^[1] It's why two people can watch the same debate and each walk away certain their side won. It also feeds cognitive dissonance avoidance — clinging to disconfirming evidence is uncomfortable, so we quietly look away. The countermeasure is deliberate: actively hunt for what would prove you wrong.