Cognitive Bias Essay

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“Sometimes our brain is so good at finding patterns, it finds patterns that aren’t even really there.” Psychology research provided the reason that it’s all thanks to our cognitive makeup. Our brains are hardwired to recognize patterns, and it is so good at it that sometimes it finds randomness patterns. We take in the chaotic mess of information, and we try to find dots that seem to connect. Our active minds are able to find loopholes in every situation and we ask ourselves ‘why?’. So we seek or create an explanation that provides an answer. The appeal of believing in unlikely things may stem from a number of cognitive biases that characterize the way we process information. One of them is our confirmation bias. It is the tendency to search for, and recall information in a way the confirms our preexisting beliefs while giving less consideration to alternative possibilities. This pervasive cognitive bias causes us to have an natural inclination to support what we already believe and ignore information that contradicts our beliefs. When scrutinized, you would realize that you would surround yourself with people and information that you already believe. And with our pre existing ideologies, we subconsciously filter information to suit a narrative we’ve already created instead of processing information in a logical or reasoned way. This selective thinking leads us to believe in unlikely things that better portrays our …show more content…

For example, even if it was established that John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, we choose to believe that there’s something bigger behind that. There’s no way that such a simple lone mad would kill POTUS, right? There must be someone, or an organization bigger behind that assassination. This cognitive bias is another reason why people choose to believe in unlikely

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