Confirmation bias
Topics: Cognitive bias
Confirmation Bias is a Cognitive bias that seeks to confirm our knowledge or view of our world, regardless if it's our perceived or desired view.
"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him.”
--Leo Tolstoy
If a situation threatens us directly, wishful thinking can also lead us to rationalise objectively bad developments. For example, populations experiencing economic distress or an external threat throughout history supported authoritarian leaders because of their promises of security and stability.
Another example is the resistance many people put up against the scientific consensus on climate change. This behaviour is not explained by a lack of information or cognitive sophistication. It is an emotional reaction rooted in our social and cultural affiliations. Since our sense of self is tied up with our identity group's status and beliefs, we engage in Confirmation Bias when information threatens this group's worldview. This even happens in topics with a strong scientific consensus such as COVID-19, climate change or vaccination. Science denial is resistant to facts because it's not about facts in the first place. It is an expression of identity, a mental circling of the wagons.
That's why James Clear says:
"The way to change people’s minds is to become friends with them, to integrate them into your tribe, to bring them into your circle. Now, they can change their beliefs without the risk of being abandoned socially. [...] Facts don't change our minds. Friendship does."