What is CONFIRMATION BIAS?

March 3, 2021

by Julianna Rigoglioso

Where do your opinions, beliefs, and values come from? If you're like most people, your beliefs and values form from experience and your personal knowledge. When forming these opinions, as humans we tend to be found guilty in a way where we only listen to information that suits our interests or beliefs. This is called confirmation bias—"the tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one's existing beliefs" (Brittanica). This was first described by Peter Wason in 1960. Confirmation Bias can be completely unintentional; it is human nature to be most interested in information that suits one's beliefs. Nonetheless, confirmation biases result in ignoring inconsistent information because the person is gathering or recalling information selectively. It is hard to change or open one's mind up to opposing information once one has developed an opinion on the issue; the human should be emotionally distant from the issue. In turn, all biases are removed because one is able to take a step back, interpret the information and situation, and make a judgment.

How Confirmation Bias Works:

Instead of seeking all information and listening to counterarguments, one instead chooses to avoid looking for objective facts. They interpret information that only supports their existing belief. Rather than learning all the facts, they ignore all information that challenges their belief. Now is this something that sounds familiar?

Sometimes we don't notice, but confirmation bias always has an opportunity to be present in our everyday lives. It is important as a society to notice when you're thinking this way. With the countless news outlets available, we must fact-check our information because let's face it, the media cares more about public reaction than the truth. We must not strictly rely on Instagram or Twitter for our news. I follow political accounts on Instagram; however, I always ensure to research about it elsewhere before I form an opinion or make a claim—and you should too!

Example of Confirmation Bias

We are all culprits of confirmation bias whether we notice it or not; humans lack a sense of self-awareness sometimes. One example is sorority and fraternity recruitment in college. When students pick between sororities and fraternities, some already have their ideal sorority/fraternity choice—maybe their mom was in that same sorority 30 years ago. Now, say one girl hears a rumor that her top choice sorority hazes and abuses alcohol. She then hears that the school was involved in a conflict with that same sorority regarding a hazing issue years back. However, she claims that's an untruthful rumor and proceeds to rush that sorority, dismissing all negative statements about her top choice. Now, someone completely different, with no knowledge of college Greek life, wants to join and hears those same rumors. Immediately, she is turned off by that group and chooses to not visit the house and meet the girls. This is confirmation bias! First, these two girls are making judgments before even knowing the truth; neither of them has first-hand experience or knowledge. Second, they avoid any other judgments or values other than their own.

How Confirmation Bias Affects the World:

Confirmation Bias can be positive and negative. It is negative because it creates stereotypes where people will form pre-made judgments based on one's appearance or what they have heard about them. People create judgments about race, ethnicity, religion, social status, wealth. This affects society as a whole; creating a division in our community. Confirmation Bias is judging a book by its cover without not knowing the full story. Your judgments could make you close-minded—unaware of other information or experiences. However, this could also be seen as a positive. These pre-existing judgments could save you from making poor decisions. If someone offered me to smoke pot, I would say no because I don't know how my body will react, to my knowledge it's unhealthy and can cause lung damage. There are people, however, who argue that it helps their anxiety. Now, I don't have any first-hand experience with smoking, nor do I live with anyone who smokes. I don't research about it; however, by my own knowledge, I think it is bad. With this, I form a bias against it.

I think confirmation bias affects society today more than it's ever had in history: we can thank technology for this. There are countless platforms to receive news and information; therefore, it is important to be aware of the credibility of the sources who created that post. Social media platforms love to encourage confirmation bias. To keep us entertained on their platform, tech companies create algorithms to display content that supports our bias, encouraging stronger and deeper opinions to form. This negatively impacts society and our political system. The media interprets a political issue on way and releases information to the public. The public takes it and runs with it, no matter how truthful it is or not.

In the end, people like to be right. It can lower one's self-esteem when one is proven wrong. This is another reason people display confirmation bias: to protect their self-esteem and ego. People like to feel good about themselves and knowledge gives people confidence. They want to feel as if they know everything, and their information is always correct. However, life isn't about being correct all the time. Sometimes you need to be wrong so you can recollect your thoughts, find the truth, and become educated. Society must accept this and become more open-minded to issues and values in opposition to their beliefs.