One common bias that investors must overcome is known as confirmation bias. It comes into play after we have researched and analyzed a potential investment and made a decision regarding its relative merit. If our impression is that the investment is worthy of purchase and do so, confirmation bias will cause us to only seek out additional information about the investment that confirms our initial positive opinion. Likewise, we will ignore or downplay any new information that contradicts our initial impression. Confirmation bias also works against us when our first research conclusion is negative. If we initially decide not to make a purchase, we will continue to seek out only information that reinforces the original negative assessment.