Unintentionally interpreting results to align with preconceived beliefs is known as which bias?

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Confirmation bias is the tendency to interpret, search for, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions. When this bias is at play, people unconsciously tilt the evaluation of results toward what fits their beliefs, giving more weight to data that supports a hypothesis while discounting or rationalizing away data that contradicts it. This can show up in how a study’s results are interpreted or in everyday judgments, even without intentional manipulation. For example, a researcher who believes a treatment works might highlight positive outcomes and read ambiguous data as supportive, while ignoring contrary evidence. This differs from anchoring (relying too heavily on the first information encountered), hindsight bias (seeing events as predictable after they occur), or sampling bias (errors from non-representative data collection).