“Confirmation bias” is the tendency to ignore evidence that disagrees with our currently held belief, and to notice evidence that reinforces our belief. That is the rough definition of it. You can read a lot more about it by doing a simple Google search, or you can get more info at Wikipedia.
Why am I bringing this up? Well, for several reasons. First, it is incredibly easy to fall into this trap ourselves. And this can be dangerous because we might miss reality and therefore hurt our businesses and/or our lives.
Second, you need to understand this because your customers, clients, friends, prospects, and well—just about the whole world will fall victim to it. If you bring up an idea that is contradictory to their previous experience they will, at times, discount it without giving it a proper thought or acknowledgment.
Another thing you’ll hear people say is, “we tried that and it didn’t work.” I’ll address that mistake later, which is closely related to “small sample size.”
Anyway, I highly recommend you study and learn about confirmation bias. It really is fascinating and a good conversation starter.
Tags: confirmation bias
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