The Problem of Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias occurs when an individual only seeks information that is consistent with a working hypothesis with no concern for information that may disprove the hypothesis. Confirmation bias is relatively harmless in artificial settings, such as the present experiment, but it can have significant real world implications. A scientist who suffers from confirmation bias will only look to confirm their theories, not refute them, even though attempting to falsify theories is critical to good science. Thousands of replications of the 2-4-6 task have demonstrated that most people have a tendency to confirm their current hypothesis but not try find evidence to discredit the hypothesis. Confirmation bias is one of many biases that can impede effective problem solving.