Confirmation bias

The search for and use of information to support an individual’s ideas,

beliefs or hypotheses.

Background Cite as
Confirmation bias occurs when an individual looks for and Catalogue of Bias
Collaboration. Spencer
uses the information to support their own ideas or beliefs. EA, Heneghan
It also means that information not supporting their ideas or C. Confirmation bias.
beliefs is disregarded. In: Catalogue Of Bias
2018.
www.catalogueofbiases.org/biases/confirmationbias
Confirmation bias often happens when we want certain [https://catalogofbias.org/?
ideas to be true. This leads individuals to stop gathering post_type=biases&p=9734&pre
view=true]
information when the retrieved evidence confirms their
own viewpoints, which can lead to preconceived opinions  
(prejudices) that are not based on reason or factual
 
knowledge. Individuals then pick out the bits of information
that confirm their prejudices.  

Confirmation bias has a long history. In 1620, Francis Bacon Related biases
described confirmation bias as: “Once a man’s Outcome reporting
understanding has settled on something (either because it is bias
[https://catalogofbias.org/biase
an accepted belief or because it pleases him), it draws s/outcome-reporting-bias/]
everything else also to support and agree with it. And if it One-sided reference
encounters a larger number of more powerful countervailing bias
[https://catalogofbias.org/biase
examples, it either fails to notice them, or disregards them, or s/one-sided-reference-bias/]
makes fine distinctions to dismiss and reject them, and all this
with much dangerous prejudice, to preserve the authority of its
first Conceptions.” (Bacon 1620 [http://www.jameslindlibrary.org/bacon-f-
1645/] )

Example
In 2015, the former president of the National Lipid
Association advocated for statin use in the elderly (Toth
2015 [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26493658] )  He cited one RCT
of statin therapy (the PROSPER study), which reported a
reduction in cardiovascular events in the elderly. However,
he ignored the other published RCT of statins in older
patients (CORONA), which  reported no significant
reduction in cardiovascular events  (Dubroff 2017
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29106692] )

Mendel [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21733217] and coworkers

investigated whether confirmation bias among doctors and
medical students leads to poor diagnostic accuracy. He
found that 13% of psychiatrists and 25% of students
showed confirmation bias when searching for new
information after having made a preliminary diagnosis.
These participants were significantly less likely to make the
correct diagnosis.

Impact
The impact of confirmation bias can be at the level of the
individual all the way up to institution level. DuBroff
showed that confirmation bias influenced expert guidelines
on cholesterol and was highly prevalent when conflicts of
interests were present (DuBroff 2017
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29106692] ). He found that
confirmation bias occurred due to a failure to
incorporate evidence, or through misrepresentation of the
evidence, which had the potential  to skew guideline
recommendations

[https://catalogofbias.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/02/confirmationbias01.jpg]

Preventive steps
Methods to avoid confirmation bias include rigorous
protocols for searching for and reporting relevant
information.

As opposed to literature reviews, systematic reviews search

for, appraise and where relevant summarise the results of
ALL available relevant evidence on a particular research
question. Following a protocol for executing the literature
searches and pre-specifying inclusion and exclusion criteria
can avoid confirmation bias.

Editorial review of papers submitted for publication should

include consideration of whether the authors have been
biased in their inclusion or reporting of information
relevant to their research study (of any kind). In addition,
taking account of conflicts of interest is important to
prevent confirmation bias.
 Sources
Bacon F. Novum Organum. New Organon [http://www.jameslindlibrary.org/bacon-f-1645/] , 1620 Book 1, XLVI

DuBroff R. Confirmation bias, conflicts of interest, and cholesterol guidance. Can we trust expert opinions?
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29106692] QJM. 2017 Nov 2. doi: 10.1093/qjmed/hcx213

Mendel R,  et al. bias: why psychiatrists stick to wrong preliminary diagnoses [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21733217] .
Psychol Med. 2011 Dec;41(12):2651-9. doi: 10.1017/S0033291711000808

Toth PP. Treatment of dyslipidemia in elderly patients with coronary heart disease
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26493658] . J Am Coll Cardiol 2015; 66:1873–5

PubMed feed
The following resources are dynamically retrieved from PubMed:

Fouad Atallah.
Confirmation Bias Affects Estimation of Blood Loss and Amniotic Fluid Volume: A Randomized
Simulation-Based Trial
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32485753/?
utm_source=WordPress&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=None&utm_content=1tyP_Q3NRDkoDSywmaEWNEO-
_D6qeKCq_WN6zJ1ZquwHC3xQn8&fc=None&ff=20220901021953&v=2.17.7]

Donald R Miller.
Confirmation Bias as a Factor in Pharmacy Student Assessment of Research Study Quality
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31333252/?utm_source=WordPress&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=None&utm_content=1tyP_Q3NRDkoDSywmaEWNEO-
_D6qeKCq_WN6zJ1ZquwHC3xQn8&fc=None&ff=20220901021953&v=2.17.7]

Stefan Schweiger.
How Confidence in Prior Attitudes, Social Tag Popularity, and Source Credibility Shape Confirmation
Bias Toward Antidepressants and Psychotherapy in a Representative German Sample: Randomized Controlled Web-
Based Study
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31012865/?
utm_source=WordPress&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=None&utm_content=1tyP_Q3NRDkoDSywmaEWNEO-
_D6qeKCq_WN6zJ1ZquwHC3xQn8&fc=None&ff=20220901021953&v=2.17.7]

Bharath Chandra Talluri.

Confirmation Bias through Selective Overweighting of Choice-Consistent Evidence
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30220502/?utm_source=WordPress&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=None&utm_content=1tyP_Q3NRDkoDSywmaEWNEO-
_D6qeKCq_WN6zJ1ZquwHC3xQn8&fc=None&ff=20220901021953&v=2.17.7]

Brittany Balsamo.
Confirmation bias affects user perception of knee braces
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29724537/?
utm_source=WordPress&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=None&utm_content=1tyP_Q3NRDkoDSywmaEWNEO-
_D6qeKCq_WN6zJ1ZquwHC3xQn8&fc=None&ff=20220901021953&v=2.17.7]

View more → [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/clinical?term=confirmation%20bias%20[ti]]

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