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

Think Tank:
Confirmation Bias
James Dunn and Hiroshi Nakagawa
Confirmation bias: Why we should seek opposite
views
Confirmation bias. What is that? How can it impact our lives? How can we avoid it?
The definition of confirmation bias in social psychology is observations of others
based on individual prejudices and collecting only information fitting those
prejudices, thereby reinforcing your own preconceptions. This happens everywhere
in our society. People look for information to make sure what they think is true.
Likewise, people tend to disregard evidence that is counter to their views and rarely
try to seek it out. For this reason, adjustments to a view are made only with
information that reinforces the initial judgment, and help people assume, “My ideas
are NOT wrong." In other words, confirmation bias is the tendency to look for, and
accept, information that confirms our already held beliefs.
This is what is known as a logical fallacy, or a
way of thinking that precludes good logic and
strays into the realm of bad arguments and
unsupported beliefs. This way of thinking is
dangerous as it can lead us into areas of
information that are increasingly erroneous
or manipulative (or both!).
During the 1960s, Peter Cathcart Wason, a
cognitive psychologist, conducted experiments later known as the Wason's Rule
Discovery Test. During these experiments, he showed that people have a tendency to
gravitate toward information that confirms their existing beliefs. If we are not at least
a little apprehensive of our belief in a piece of information, it can be used to further
someone else’s agenda. When someone cherry picks information and presents it to
you to make you feel good, it reinforces your beliefs and pushes you into acting or
thinking in a way that may not be in your, or society’s, best interest.
During an election season, as an example of a type of confirmation bias that almost
everyone may fall prey to from time to time, people tend to pursue positive
information that paints their candidates in a virtuous light. They will also look for
information that shows the opposing candidate in a negative light. Take this