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Positive confirmation bias in the acquisition of information

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Abstract

An experiment is reported which tests for positive confirmation bias in a setting in which individuals choose what information to buy, prior to making a decision. The design – an adaptation of Wason's selection task – reveals the use that subjects make of information after buying it. Strong evidence of positive confirmation bias, in both information acquisition and information use, is found; and this bias is found to be robust to experience. It is suggested that the bias results from a pattern of reasoning which, although producing sub-optimal decisions, is internally coherent and which is self-reinforcing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economic and Social Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Martin Jones & Robert Sugden

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  1. Martin Jones
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  2. Robert Sugden
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Jones, M., Sugden, R. Positive confirmation bias in the acquisition of information. Theory and Decision 50, 59–99 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005296023424

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005296023424

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