Humans actively sample evidence to support prior beliefs.
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Publication Date
2022-04-11Journal Title
Elife
ISSN
2050-084X
Publisher
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Volume
11
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Kaanders, P., Sepulveda, P., Folke, T., Ortoleva, P., & De Martino, B. (2022). Humans actively sample evidence to support prior beliefs.. Elife, 11 https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.71768
Abstract
No one likes to be wrong. Previous research has shown that participants may underweight information incompatible with previous choices, a phenomenon called confirmation bias. In this paper, we argue that a similar bias exists in the way information is actively sought. We investigate how choice influences information gathering using a perceptual choice task and find that participants sample more information from a previously chosen alternative. Furthermore, the higher the confidence in the initial choice, the more biased information sampling becomes. As a consequence, when faced with the possibility of revising an earlier decision, participants are more likely to stick with their original choice, even when incorrect. Critically, we show that agency controls this phenomenon. The effect disappears in a fixed sampling condition where presentation of evidence is controlled by the experimenter, suggesting that the way in which confirmatory evidence is acquired critically impacts the decision process. These results suggest active information acquisition plays a critical role in the propagation of strongly held beliefs over time.
Keywords
Humans, Bias
Sponsorship
Wellcome Trust (102612/Z/13/Z)
Identifiers
35404234, PMC9038198
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.71768
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/337057
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