EOTO 2: Confirmation Bias

Confirmation Bias

Ladies and Gents:The Man Himself Mr. Peter Watson

Confirmation bias, according to the Oxford Dictionary, is “the tendency to interpret evidence as one’s existing beliefs or theories.” Confirmation bias is unintentional and usually results in ignoring information that is inconsistent with previous beliefs. For example, I am more likely to ignore information that supports conservative beliefs because I, myself, am not a conservative. It is easier for people to not have confirmation bias if they are emotionally distant from the issue. The phrase “confirmation bias” was first used by Peter Watson in the 1960s. He wanted to see how far people would go to back up already formed hypotheses, even if new information came out that disproved the original hypothesis.

 “In the initial experiment that led to the development of the concept, psychologist Peter Wason gave subjects a group of three numbers, 2-4-6, and asked them to identify a rule the sequence was following by testing their own groups of numbers. The rule was extremely simple: three increasing numbers. But he found that subjects would fixate on guessing sequences that confirmed their initial hypothesis.” (Bouygues)

 There are multiple types of confirmation bias. Bias information sourcing is seeking out information that only supports your belief (AKA the example mentioned above, This is something we do every day on social media when we read articles or posts from people with beliefs that are similar to ours and tend to ignore the true source that might have another point of view that doesn't coexist peacefully with our beliefs). Another form is data interpretation bias. Data interpretation bias comes from perceiving data unevenly which can cause incorrect results. For example, using someone else's data in a research study and only including the data that supports your research. A third type of confirmation bias is memory bias which is subconsciously recalling information in a different way so one’s own beliefs seem supported. One example of this is reinforcing a stereotype. (Indeed)  For example, I may or may not do this by preferring to wear a more traditionally “Feminine” color palette (pinks and purples) 

You can “debias” or lessen your personal confirmation bias by testing your hypothesis to make sure that alternatives or negatives (from the original bias) are factually correct. This is called “consider-the-opposite” strategy. An example of this is when we are asked to see someone convicted of a crime, “innocent until proven guilty.” (Morewedge) I personally think that we as humans subconsciously create confirmation bias to help us cope with the uncomfortable feelings of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is when your actions go against your beliefs.  What does this have to do with confirmation bias?  The more somebody reinforces something you already believe the less likely your actions are going to go against that belief, hence no more dealing with cognitive dissonance…or so we thought. Unfortunately, people still deal with cognitive dissonance on a regular basis as many people do actions that go against their beliefs daily, (ex: Someone who is pro-life going to get an abortion)

References

Bouygues, H. L. (2021, April 16). Confirmation bias: What you need to know. REBOOT FOUNDATION | Promoting and Developing Critical Thinking Tools and Resources. https://reboot-foundation.org/confirmation-bias/

Casad, B. J., & Luebering, J. E. (2023). confirmation bias. In Encyclopedia Britannica.

Morewedge, C. (2022, June 6). Confirmation bias in journalism: What it is and strategies to avoid it. The Journalist’s Resource. https://journalistsresource.org/home/confirmation-bias-strategies-to-avoid-it/

The curious case of confirmation bias. (n.d.). Psychology Today. Retrieved September 25, 2023, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/seeing-what-others-dont/201905/the-curious-case-confirmation-bias

What is Confirmation Bias? (n.d.). Indeed.com. Retrieved September 25, 2023, from https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/what-is-confirmation-bias