Confirmation bias is the cognitive bias that causes people to place greater value on information that confirms their own preferences and hypotheses. In addition, confirmation bias leads people to place less value on information that contradicts these preferences and hypotheses.

Confirmation bias means you are not open to information that might contradict your expectations. Unconsciously, we ignore or distort information so that it aligns with our ideas and viewpoints. Of course, everyone hopes to have the right idea and hypothesis. This bias is the main problem with confirmation bias. A high degree of emotional involvement or deep-seated prejudices influence your confirmation bias.

Pitfalls of confirmation bias

• Misusing data to validate your own ideas. In other words, looking for connections that aren’t there or collecting data in a way that leads to a specific conclusion.
• Thinking from your own perspective while wanting to prove yourself right.
• Testing quickly without using all the information objectively.

Avoiding confirmation bias

• Accept that you can be wrong and learn to live with this. This can be tricky, but you often have to be wrong to often be right when it comes to conversion optimization.
• Look for a different perspective. Ask other people on your team for their ideas.
• Break from routine and seek new insights using data-driven research.

Conversion Hotel

During Conversion Hotel 2018 Michael Aagaard spoke about confirmation bias. According to him, we as humans instinctively seek out information that confirms our hypotheses. His insight was that as soon as people find something that confirms their ideas, they tend to stop looking for other answers. We sometimes even dismiss information that contradicts our hypotheses and ideas.

Michael Aagaard points out that we often apply confirmation bias not only in research but also in everyday life. For example, blocking certain friends and sources on social media. This limits our ability to analyze things objectively.

So always keep an open mind, challenge yourself, ask others for their perspective, and test alternative hypotheses as much as possible.

Want to learn more about confirmation bias?

View the summary of the Presentation by Michael Aagaard on the Conversion Hotel website.