Seeing what we want to see Even if we pride ourselves on being independently minded we can still fall prey to cognitive biases. Part of this is due to overconfidence in our own decision-making skills. This isn’t just the result of the phenomenon known as the Dunning-Kruger effect – in which we tend to overestimate our competence in areas in which we are incompetent. Highly intelligent people are also susceptible to believing highly irrational ideas, as demonstrated by the list of Nobel prize-winning scientists who have embraced scientifically questionable beliefs. Part of it also has to do with believing what we want to be true.