Evaluating Scientific Research in the Context of Prior Belief: Hindsight Bias or Confirmation Bias?

When there is a mismatch between new evidence and prior beliefs, do people reject the conclusions from this evidence because of confirmation bias or do they support them because of hindsight bias? Ninety-four participants expressed a belief about a study's outcome before reading a research report. When belief was confirmed, the study's methodology was subsequently rated more positively and findings (whether presented with or without an explanation) were rated as more obvious, important, and interesting than when beliefs were disconfirmed, However, the presence of an explanation for the reported findings affected ratings of obviousness and interestingness but not of methodology. These results indicate that judging a research finding to be obvious involves more than a simple hindsight bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)