Behavioral Analysis and Confirmation Bias: Examining the Effects of Meaningful Tasks and Explanatory Feedback

Abstract

This study investigates whether meaningful tasks and explanatory feedback can reduce confirmation bias in participants solving abstract tasks inspired by Wason's (1968) selection task. Two research questions guided this study: (1) Can tasks with meaningful content reduce confirmation bias, and (2) Can meaningful tasks with explanatory feedback improve performance on subsequent abstract tasks? Using an ABAC design, twelve participants were divided into two groups. Group 1 completed meaningful tasks without feedback, while Group 2 received explanatory feedback during the intervention phase. Results showed that meaningful tasks alone did not significantly influence participants' response patterns. However, combining meaningful tasks with explanatory feedback significantly improved performance, with 55.56% correct responses in Group 2, compared to 0% in Group 1 after the intervention. Explanatory feedback acted as rules directing behavior and facilitated stimulus generalization, allowing participants to apply learned rules to new contexts. This study highlights the importance of explanatory feedback in reducing confirmation bias and suggests further research on real-world applications to enhance reasoning skills. Keywords: confirmation bias, meaningful tasks, explanatory feedback, stimulus generalization, ABAC design