Confirmation Bias

A typical error that we all are guilty of at one time or another is that we believe in some phenomenon and then look for evidence to support it. We are also less critical of the evidence if want the belief to be true. This is called the confirmation bias. Our challenge as thinkers is to be conscious of this pitfall. Conspiracy theory plays into this bias. People want to believe that there is some grander conspiracy so they look favourably on evidence that points in that direction and ignore or downplay conflicting information