What do these cards have to do with critical thinking?

Most of us don’t like being wrong! When possible, we’ll try to avoid information that proves us wrong or that we disagree with (1,2,3). We are also generally more ready to accept information that confirms our opinions without checking the source’s quality (1,4).

This tendency is called confirmation bias or selection bias, where we look mostly for information that confirms our existing beliefs, and ignore things that contradict us (1,5,6). Confirmation bias also impacts whether we accept ‘fact checks’ or not (1,2), and can even twist contradictory evidence into proof that we were right all along (1).

The Wason selection task is a quick way of showing how you might unknowingly look only for information that proves you right, and how this can lead to you missing important details that prove you wrong (5). While this is a very low-stakes example, confirmation bias also guides us in more important situations, such as evaluating political policies or public health measures like masking or vaccination (2,3,4,6).

The best way to outsmart your confirmation bias is to stop and think about accuracy! When you’re motivated to find the most accurate information, you’re more likely to evaluate all the evidence equally (6).

Looking to puzzle through the Wason selection task at your own pace? Check out https://www.philosophyexperiments.com/wason/Default.aspx for more examples of the problem!

Sources: https://tinyurl.com/SUFConfirmationBias