Humans love to be right and I’m included in that sentiment. There is nothing better than arguing with a friend about the name of that actor who plays that weird guy in that late 90’s movie, you know the one, right?
Anyway, I get it. People have a subconscious desire to be the “winner” of these silly, little conversations. But what happens when we are talking about important conversations. Politics, human rights, religion, race, etc. That’s when our desire to be right starts to get a little more dangerous.
I came across the term confirmation bias at some point in the last few years. It struct me as important to combat as someone interested in developing her own individual spiritual practice and philosophy. I did not want confirmation bias to lead me down any roads that were not in line with my true beliefs.
What exactly is confirmation bias?
Confirmation bias is the way humans seek out information in order to solidify the preconceived opinions they have already decided to believe.
When people encounter a new concept that they do not understand, we try to use our own experience and prior knowledge to make sense of the situation. This a universal phenomenon that is useful to keep us safe and make decisions quickly.
However, the problem with confirmation bias is that we will only ever seek out evidence that will back up our own opinions. When we never criticize our own thoughts and behaviors, it’s more difficult to realize when our thought process may be flawed.
So what’s the big deal?
All humans go through this when processing new information or situations, it can be used for decision making, and it is a safety mechanism for our survival. That doesn’t sound too bad.
The problem is that we are all human beings. We are flawed and self-centered. We will refuse take look at new evidence if it means it will destroy our world views. Or if we do take in the new evidence, our brains will twist it to fit our own narrative. Even better, sometimes the brain will completely ignore the new evidence if it is compelling enough to possibly change our opinion.
Confirmation Bias IRL
It is my opinion that the majority of people who experience confirmation bias is not doing so intentionally. I believe so many individuals were not taught to think with reason which leads us to an echo chamber of people all believing the same information that could be incorrect.
However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t people using confirmation bias to move forward with their own agenda and we should each do our due diligence when trying to compile our own opinions on a given topic.
Potential Consequences
Confirmation bias is particularly important to notice when it comes to matters involving health opinions. People are much more likely to search for and find research that will support their already formed opinions when it comes to health information found online.
This can be dangerous because not all research is developed the same or backed by scientific data. There are a few ways that researchers have tried to mitigate confirmation bias as well as to collect the most accurate information about their subjects.
In scientific studies, they do what is called “blinding”. Blinding is when the researchers intentionally hold back information from the study participants that may influence the results of the study. So if someone is participating in a drug trial, the participant will not know if they are taking the placebo dose or the actual medication.
Checks and Balances for Us “Normies”
There are ways for us non-scientific folk to make sure that we are not only making informed decisions for ourselves but also analyzing the information we receive as fact.
According to an article from VeryWellMind, there’s a few different ways to combat confirmation bias.The first step the article mentions, and is most important to me, is being aware of potential confirmation bias. We all have our own personal bias that could be affecting our judgement when receiving new information.
How I navigate my own biases is by being as patient as I can when making decisions but also making sure I have all the information that I need. Unless there is a life or death situation occurring, most decisions can take a few extra minutes to make.
Another option for me, if I am put on the spot, will be to simply say “I don’t have enough information to make an opinion/decision” or some variation of that sentence. This will usually happen if someone I’m having a conversation with presents me with a topic I am not familiar with and wants an opinion (or truly they just want me to agree with their opinion).
The article’s second suggestion is to “consider all evidence available”, not just the ones that align with already made opinions. This can also be a little more challenging in our current technological age as search engines have begun to show their own biases. Seeking out different perspectives is the third suggestion from the article which in my opinion will also happen when we consider all evidence available.
The final suggestion from this article was to be willing to change your mind. I find this to be the most underutilized skill in the world. I encounter people every day who are so focused on their own believes that they can’t fathom a world in which they are not absolutely correct about their opinion. To be quite honest, I find it to be such a limiting way of life.
Closing
Thich Nhat Hanh wrote an article for Lion’s Roar, a non-profit foundation offering Buddhist teachings, called Don’t Always Trust Your Perceptions. In the article, he describes not being able to see situations clearly because of our own perceptions. This is an over simplification of his wonderful writing. Please read the full article!
But this is what I fear and try to avoid in my spiritual and philosophical ideals. I don’t want to be clouded by confirmation bias when forming my opinions. And I certainly don’t want to be so fixated on one idea/theory/philosophy/etc that I am obscured to other possibilities. I would implore anyone who reads this post to not only question your own belief systems but why you believe it.