Have you looked at your friend group and seen that all of your friends had the same belief system as you? Do the news stories on your feed always fit your values? This is probably because of confirmation bias.
The American Psychological Association defines confirmation bias as “the tendency to gather evidence that confirms preexisting expectations, typically by emphasizing or pursuing supporting evidence while dismissing or failing to seek contradictory evidence.”. More simply this means that we are more willing to accept information that validates our ideas while dismissing information that goes against it.
Confirmation bias leads people to surround themselves with things that support their ideas. From the news they read to the people they hang out with. This means that people are not aware of all the information on a topic so they can’t make well-informed decisions. This also reinforces their attitudes making it harder for them to change their minds.
Confirmation bias incorporates multiple biases. Bias attention is when you only pay attention to things that support your ideas while ignoring information that goes against you. Bias interpretation is when you interpret data in ways to validate your feelings. Bias memory says that you are more likely to remember things that reinforce your beliefs and forget things that undermine those beliefs.
This bias is caused as there is too much information for our brains to process. This causes our brains to use a small amount of data to make these decisions. This helps us make decisions faster while also boosting our confidence.
A side effect of confirmation bias is groupthink. Groupthink is when individuals tend to accept ideas based on the ideas of the group they are in. This is something that can be positive or negative. It can lead to finishing tasks and projects quickly or it can lead to the groups having too much confidence leading to poor choices.
News apps can curate articles from several sources in one place. This sounds like a good thing as you can see pieces from numerous places but this site uses cookies and algorithms to show you what you want to see. These sites want you to continue to use their site so they want to make a feed that you will enjoy even if that means that they only show you stories that validate your views. It is not just the news sites that use your data to promote things you will like. Social media networks and marketing sites will provide stories or products based on the things that you like. This will trap people into only seeing the content they desire. It also makes it easier for people to belive in fake news. It is important to look at all points of view but just the ones that websites promote for you.
One way this bias affects our society through our elections. Then looking at the candidates, voters may look for news articles that put their favorites in a good light. People will not read articles that slander their party or the policies they agree with. This will lead them to make uneducated choices. On the other hand, if they took the time to look into the other side of the argument they may have recognized that another politician was a better fit.
Confirmation bias is something that affects everyone. It is just a part of our brain so there is no way to avoid its effects completely.
When reflecting on a decision look at the signs of confirmation bias: Looking for only information that proves your point and overlooking the disprove it, relying on personal bias and stereotypes, and having strong emotional reactions to the information you find.
We can combat bias with a few tricks. We should ask more neutral questions. For example instead of asking "Why should I vote for candidate A?", ask "What are candidate A's policies?". Explain your ways of thinking and listen to others' reasoning for their thinking.
We all want to be right, but this is not an excuse to be uneducated. Confirmation bias affects all of us but we should work on fighting it so we can make informed decisions.
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