“The seeker has a confirmation bias, looking for positive signs and discounting the negative ones,” Baumeister said. “If there’s ambivalence, it’s going to prolong the hope, because there are enough positives to seize on and overinterpret. The negatives you can brush aside.” Janey’s bond with her ex sporadically rewarded her desire for love, increasing his allure and spurring her to look for more. Behavioral psychologists call this “intermittent positive reinforcement.”
