Confirmation Bias

Definition

Let:

• $P$ : A proposition or belief
• $E$ : Evidence
• $\text{Supports}(E,P)$ : Evidence $E$ supports proposition $P$

Then an argument exhibits Confirmation Bias if and only if:

$$\text{Seeking only }E\text{ where }\text{Supports}(E,P)\text{ while ignoring }{E}^{\prime }\text{ where }\neg \text{Supports}(E^{\prime },P)$$

Interpretation

This is the tendency to seek, interpret, and remember information that confirms existing beliefs.