Confirmation Bias

This article over at Shrinkwrapped is the best, clearest explanation of confirmation bias using real-world examples that I have ever read.

We all suffer from confirmation bias. That is, we all look for evidence to support our views. We all tend to discount evidence that would undermine our views. The truly honest, and I would add, more highly evolved person recognizes his or her biases when evaluating information.

Many people, however, like to imagine that they have no biases. It reminds me of people saying, "Ah don't have an southurn accent", "Ah don't have an accent t'all". Right. Surrre ya don't. And I don't possess a Midwestern accent. I don't. My language usage is absolutely neutral.