Which of the following is an example of confirmation bias?
A. A pharmacologist is studying the effect of certain drugs on humans, and tells the test subjects that the drug may cause headaches. Some of the subjects are given the drug, and some are given placebos (sugar pills) instead. Then the number of headaches is counted.
B. An oil company has research done on the effects of drilling on the environment. It is found that in 87% of cases, there is a negative effect. The oil company only publishes the 13% that show a positive effect, or no negative effects.
C. A researcher is studying the college readiness of American teens. He interviews 200 urban male teenagers from Philadelphia and finds that 85% say they are ready for college. The researcher concludes that 85% of all teenagers in America are ready for college.
D. A journalist who does not think climate change is real is writing an article about climate change. In his article he cites one article that discusses how humans cannot be causing climate change, and ignores several other articles that discuss how humans can cause climate change.

D is an example of confirmation bias because confirmation bias involves people looking for information to support their opinions and beliefs, the person confirms their already existing biases and beliefs when they seek out information to support these biases and beliefs whilst ignoring contradicting information. The journalist is confirming his belief that climate is not real when he cites an article discussing how humans cannot be causing climate change and when he ignores several other articles that discuss how humans can cause climate change so as a result he is confirming his own bias and belief.

Oseni Oseni · Answer 2 · 2021-08-04T18:22:02+02:00

The correct option that exemplifies a confirmation bias would be option B.

Confirmation bias refers to the practice of presenting or interpreting an event, data, or result in such a way that it favors or reinforces an existing belief, view, or idea.
In science, it is the practice of collecting and or interpreting data in such a way that it conforms with a particular hypothesis.

From all the options, only B reported the outcome of a research in such a way that one of the outcomes that align with the aim of the research was deliberately ignored.

Effects can be positive or negative. When the aim of a research is to determine the effects of drilling on the environment, both the positive and negative effects should normally be reported. However, reporting the negative effects of drilling on the environment may jeopardize the business of oil companies. Hence, the oil company that conducted the research decided to report only the effects that favor them - a confirmation bias.

Therefore, an oil company that conducted research on the effects of drilling on the environment, found that in 87% of cases, there is a negative effect, but only published the 13% that show a positive effect has committed a confirmation bias.

The correct option is B.

More on confirmation bias can be found here: https://brainly.com/question/16376682