Cognitive Scaffold

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MENTAL MODEL · M3906

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation Bias
BehaviorHigh supportPsychology
Included
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

People tend to seek, interpret, and remember information that supports their existing beliefs or assumptions, while ignoring or devaluing information that contradicts them.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

A reminder for critical thinking. It prompts us to actively seek disconfirming evidence, challenge our own assumptions, avoid falling into information cocoons, and make more objective judgments.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

People automatically selectively attend to, remember, and interpret information that supports existing beliefs, and devalue counterexamples; this reduces cognitive dissonance but reinforces errors, making it one of the most stubborn biases in reasoning.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

  • link
    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_biasZH · Explicit
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