EOTO: Are Confirmation Bias Winning You Over Right Now?

Britannica.com defines the theory of confirmation bias as “People’s tendencies to process information by looking for or interpreting, information that is consistent with their existing beliefs” (Britannica.com).  

 

    The need to find people similar to oneself dates back for ages, interrelation is a subliminal yet crucial survival instinct in mankind's ability to prosper. Much of the world has adopted a hypersensitivity to unfamiliar values that stray from our own. Few of us have a conscious gauge of how our world is influenced by the people around us. According to Patrick Healy who wrote for Harvard Business School “One of the most common cognitive biases that humans face is known as confirmation bias” (online.hbs.edu). After doing secondary research of my own I felt compelled to share my findings. Starting with some preliminary background, a cognitive bias in my own words is; an error in cognitive propensity in human thinking and justifications that differ from the logical probability reasoning and plausibility that one would otherwise have. Cognitive bias can be applied to the theory of confirmation bias founded by English Psychologist  Peter Watson. For more information on cognitive bias click here.

    I see confirmation bias happen subconsciously every day. Open the TikTok FYP (for you page) and you find an echo chamber constantly repeating the user's interests. The illusory truth effect is structured around repetition until we see something as true… even when we know for a fact it is not. From the compelling echo chamber to the deceptive illusory truth effect, social media users face a one-sided algorithm dependent on confirmation biases. Now take that a step further and immerse yourself into your day-to-day life; how often are you influenced by those around you in the classroom, workplace, or sidewalk? Confirmation bias gives humans confidence to feel uneasy and entertains a high-alert defense mechanism around whomever made them uncomfortable or disagrees. All it takes is a few others with similar feelings to act or not act then we do the same. We are subjected to confirmation bias ALL THE TIME. If I had my definition for confirmation bias, I would say it is an umbrella term for the many facets of influence around our behavior and preexisting beliefs for someone in both social and political elements of our daily life.

All this condescending talk about why confirmation bias limits reactive conversation can be a buzz kill...yet on the plus side, it allows us to rationalize and be picky about what we choose to retain and or how much we remember which in turn causes less conflict. It also encourages security and confidence in our views. So the two extremes impact the world in a profound way, in some perplexing universe we have an over-sensitive society that isn’t comfortable hearing disagreements or we have an emotionally disconnected neutral world that can't be bothered to disagree. Think of this theory as an invisible radar that can read the feelings of those around us and assume how to react and when to tune into what. Everyone would live in a world without outside-the-box thinking, less contrastive criticism, and less innovation or growth as a society. There would be a great impact on social and political extremism and polarization. The Decision Lab concluded in a study that "This bias can lead us to make poor decisions because it distorts the reality from which we draw evidence. Under experimental conditions, decision-makers have a tendency to actively seek information and assign greater value to evidence confirming their existing beliefs rather than entertaining new ones" (thedecisionlab.com).

I think it really takes from society’s ability to blend in areas that have harsh boundary lines resulting in a more copy-and-pasted circle. It raises long-term concerns for me because you look at the minimalism wave and everything has lost all color all design any individuality. It will end up making us socially unavailable to dissonance. People who are not accepting of the minority will only circulate the information that they want to see. Where there is money there is power and if the powerful people are constantly confirming there aren’t really people struggling imagine the detrimental divide our society will see. Gender inequality can get a little too involved in disagreement as a result of confidence-building confirmation bias. It also takes away from the people who want to change the opinions that surround them. Confirmation bias is choosing what you want to believe in order to validate your own values and opinions, if you never choose to see other perspectives the world is going to become a non-accepting cold place.

Personally, I try to choose the right view that is neutral and do my fact-checking before I preach about something. Especially in the world today I see it happen all the time in my friend groups, I will be talking about something and I actively see the listeners either tune out or turn off. Meaning they either are biting their tongue because they don’t want to create a frenzy or because they are arguing only their point of view. We are losing our backbone literally and figuratively, especially with the rise of social media and instant gratification. Future generations will live in a soft world where people aren't comfortable with opinions of any kind.