← all facts
cognition
Your brain ignores facts that contradict your beliefs.
Motivated reasoning and biased assimilation lead people to evaluate contradictory evidence more critically than supporting evidence, causing them to perceive opposing data as less credible.
Participants in the 1979 Lord, Ross, and Lepper study did not 'only' accept confirming evidence or 'discard' the rest; they engaged in a biased evaluation of the methodological rigor of the studies provided.
You are a lawyer for your beliefs, not a judge.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Lord, Ross, and Lepper, 1979
- What the check found
- The study exists and is seminal, but the description of its findings is hyperbolic. It described a tendency to view confirming evidence as more credible, not a complete rejection of opposing data.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.