Hindsight Bias - Function

Function

The hindsight bias is defined as a tendency to change an opinion from an original thought to something different because of newly provided information. Since 1973, when Fischhoff started the hindsight bias research, there has been a focus on two main explanations of the bias: distorted event probabilities and distorted memory for judgments of factual knowledge. In tests for hindsight bias a person is asked to remember a specific event from the past or recall some descriptive information that they had been tested on earlier. In between the first test and final test they are given the correct information about the event or knowledge. At the final test he or she will report that they knew the answer all along when they truly have changed their answer to fit with the correct information they were given after the initial test. Hindsight bias has been found to take place in both memory for experienced situations (events that the person is familiar with) and hypothetical situations (made up events where the person must imagine being involved). More recently it has been found that hindsight bias also exists in recall with visual material. When tested on initially blurry images the subjects learn what the true image was after the fact and they would then remember a clear recognizable picture.