Latest Issue of the MindBrainEd Think Tank + (ISSN 2434-1002) 4 MindBrained Bulletin Think Tank Conf Bias Apr 20 | Page 11

our reasoning, the way we construct the world in a way that benefits us. In fact,
Burton who researches the “feeling of knowing” says that our belief that certainty
comes from conscious deliberation is wrong. It comes from a part of the brain we can
neither access nor control, originating from feelings. For my friends, authority has a
negative affect attached to it, so they are already primed to believe the government
blew up the World Trade Center. For me, one who trusts social convention, giving it a
positive affect, the notion of government as perpetrator is discomforting, so I am
primed to reject that theory even before I know what it is. The brain does not like to
restructure its massive predictive system every time a little difference shows up –
that is risky – so the negative affect of cognitive dissonance drives us to preserve it.
Confirmation Bias, then, is simply that, a means of self-prese rvation and self-
propagation.
So once we understand the role emotion plays in our belief system, why we are prone
to so many logical fallacies also becomes clear. For example, consider the seemingly
irrational backfire effect. McRaney describes it as:
The Misconception: When your beliefs are challenged with facts, you alter your
opinions and incorporate the new information into your thinking.
The Truth: When your deepest convictions are challenged by contradictory evidence,
your beliefs get stronger.
Emotion is the culprit here too. Discarding a belief is disruptive, so we look for ways
not to, surrounding ourselves with similar thinkers and making a kind of belief-
system cocoon.
Confirmation Bias might protect us, but at some point we must pay for wrong beliefs,
especially in this day and age. We cannot rid ourselves of confirmation bias, but there
are tools we can use to mediate it, tools we should also be giving our learners.
1. Reject absolutes, especially when dealing with scientific findings. Nothing is