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decision making
You feel more confident in a decision after it is made.
Choice-supportive bias drives the brain to emphasize the positives of a chosen option and ignore its drawbacks post-selection.
Once a choice is finalized, memories are altered to favor that selection. A 2008 study found that participants misremembered the details of an option to make their choice appear superior to the one they rejected. We rewrite our preferences to match our past actions.
You are not choosing based on merit; you are justifying your choice.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Henkel and Mather, 2007, Memory & Cognition
- What the check found
- The cited study and the definition of the bias match the claim. While the phrasing is slightly mechanistic, it accurately reflects the psychological consensus.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.