Sandy, a true believer in astrology, reads in her horoscope that today is her lucky day. She gets so excited that she spills coffee all over herself, which necessitates a change of clothes, which makes her late for work and for a very important meeting, which in turn gets her into serious trouble with her boss. Later that evening, in the hospital parking lot, on her way to the emergency room where her brother has just been taken, Sandy finds a dime on the ground. What does research on the confirmation bias suggest that Sandy will do?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The confirmation bias suggests that Sandy will interpret the dime she found as further evidence that her horoscope was correct about it being her lucky day. This bias causes people to selectively attend to and remember information that supports their beliefs and ignore or discount evidence that contradicts them. In this case, Sandy is likely to focus on the positive event (finding the dime) and ignore the negative events that happened earlier in the day.

Sandy, a True Believer in Astrology, Reads in Her Horoscope