What a great article in today's Wall Street Journal about the power of confirmation bias in our investment decisions. For more on confirmation bias, check out the classic study by Lord, Ross, L., and Lepper: "Biased Assimilation and Attitude Polarization: The effects of Prior Theories on Subsequently Considered Evidence," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

... experiencing hail, horizontal rain and even the odd sunbeam. We also discussed ‘confirmation bias‘, or the tendency to make your observations fit your preferred hypothesis. ... half a dozen natural clues to direction before setting off. The next minute was fascinating as I watched two approaches clash due to confirmation bias. Russ’ analysis of the directional clues was excellent ...

... a terrible thing to change. n short, your own mind acts like a compulsive yes-man who echoes whatever you want to believe. Psychologists call this mental gremlin the "confirmation bias." A recent analysis of psychological studies with nearly 8,000 participants concluded that people are twice as likely to seek information that confirms ...

... than they are to consider evidence that contradicts them. Wall Street Journal Intelligent Investor columnist Jason Zweig tells Kelsey Hubbard how this “confirmation bias” can influence their financial decisions. Source: The Wall Street Journal, November 13, 2009. Did you enjoy this post? If so, click ...

We’re all mentally lazy," says psychologist Scott Lilienfeld of Emory University in Atlanta. "It’s simply easier to focus our attention on data that supports our hypothesis, rather than to seek out evidence that might disprove it. (I like to think of confirmation bias as “relentless optimism in face of constant disappointment” )

... Journal, Jason Zweig writes about the specific application of a general issue: confirmation bias. It is a never-ending battle that affects all of us and is worth reading for the ... short, your own mind acts like a compulsive yes-man who echoes whatever you want to believe. Psychologists call this mental gremlin the "confirmation bias." A recent analysis of psychological studies with nearly ...

Brendan Scott’s Weblog: "Don Dodge, a former VP of product development at Napster maps out what happened to the company, how they pleaded with the music industry to provide a better solution to them ... and how the music industry had put itself in such a position as to be literally unable to act in its own best interests, or the interests of its artists."

... or lends credibility to your views and values and ignore any information that contradicts your views or values. This is a “Confirmation bias” exemplified by an irrational tendency to search for, interpret or remember information in a way that confirms your preconceptions. <span lang="EN" style="font- ...

... roasters of specialty coffee rather than the big supermarket brands. Is this shift towards selecting specialty coffee a general trend? or are my observations a form of confirmation bias? Am I just noticing it more because I am looking for it, in the same way as you start seeing a certain model of car everywhere once you buy one or think about ...

... average, on base percentage, and doubles, but instead focused on their bias — which they are not supposed to have, being “objective” ... Pujols. It looks like Haudricourt voted on his NL Central bias. This year brings us back to Detoit, where Steve ... victim to the base rate fallacy. It also looks like a case of confirmation bias. The decision looks even worse because Verlander pitches ...