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Belief Bias Vs Confirmation Bias

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Gurleen Sekhon Essay Submission Number Two Many individuals trust in their reasoning to insist in making logical and justified decisions. In court cases; however, individual reasoning can be less logical or justified due to belief bias and confirmation bias. These two patterns, belief bias and confirmation bias, affects every individuals’ abilities to adapt and alter their beliefs according to newly acquired knowledge and face evidence. These patterns state that we tend to accept evidence or information that confirms what we already know. More specifically, belief bias is accepting an outcome if it conforms to what we believe to be true. Confirmation bias, on the other hand, is accepting evidence that goes along with and confirms our belief system. Media coverage is one of the many factors that can insinuate biased beliefs into a juror. The media coverage of any court case will insist on who …show more content…

This is the only logical and justified method that can appear in a court case. An attempt needs to be made to reach the correct verdict at the end of a trial using solely case evidence; however, this is highly unlikely. Each individual is unique in his or her knowledge and experience. Though attempts can be made to limit prior experiences and influences, such as media coverage, to a court case, no individual is abstained from it. Life experiences, gender stereotypes, education level, socioeconomic status can all influence what an individual believes in, and believes to be the correct conclusion of the given court case. This obstacle can easily be overcome by having a diverse group of jurors, that have different life experiences. This will ensure that one set of beliefs will not predominate within the jurors. Additionally, it will also ensure that media exposure, if exposure did occur, will not influence each juror to the same

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