We are all always eager to verify our beliefs, but less inclined to look for evidence that can refute them, a phenomenon called confirmation bias. What is confirmation bias in psychology? It is precisely this tendency to seek information that confirms our impressions that helps us explain why our self-image remains extraordinarily stable.
According to Ramon Nogueras (2020) this bias “is the solution to cognitive dissonance and is what matters most when we explain why we believe in shit and, above all, why we continue to believe in shit, even if they show us that it is not true.” Furthermore: as Nogueras himself reminds us, confirmation bias can lead us to believe that the lack of evidence of something is, precisely, proof of that something.
With this Psychology-Online article we will see what is confirmation biaswith some examples that describe it more clearly.
What is confirmation bias?
How does confirmation bias work? We believe in what we want to believe, like all other human beings. But are we sure that our vision of reality corresponds to reality? When we make a decision, it is as if our brain does not even take into account everything that can discredit our hidden beliefs: data in line with our way of thinking, on the other hand, gains much more credibility in our eyes.
What is bias? He bias In psychology, in fact, it indicates a thought distortionand in this case it represents our automatic tendency to look for information that confirms the convictions we already have. We are rarely aware of this distortion: our mind activates autopilot, searching the environment for information that proves us right. For example, if we have an ingrained belief that we are boring, we will automatically see proof when someone yawns; If someone changes the subject, we deduce that we are not saying anything interesting; We only become aware of information consistent with what we are convinced of.
Memory also remembers, above all, the information that confirms our convictions. Depressed people selectively remember failures, rejections, and disappointments; Their memories are influenced by the mood of the moment and by the negative beliefs they have about themselves. Likewise, based on their prejudices, they will selectively remember information consistent with the idea that they are not desirable or interesting or capable of keeping the person they love with them. They do it not because they want to suffer, but simply because their mind works automatically.
The same confirmation bias is at play when we think about others. For example, if we believe that others are untrustworthy, we observe and we selectively remember information that confirms who deceive, lie and manipulate.
In this article you will find all the.
The most common confirmation biases
It is very easy to fall into errors such as confirmation bias, and we should be very careful to avoid them. It is but human nature to focus on a few relevant achievements and ignore all failures, when one strongly wants something to be true. Confirmation bias is most likely to be observed in the following situations:
- Political debatesparticularly during encounters/confrontations between different highly polarized factions.
- Topics of public interestsuch as euthanasia, the legalization of soft drugs, civil union…
- Diagnosiswhen for example a doctor who is reading our symptoms under a certain diagnostic picture tends to exclude others, and seeks to confirm his or her initial hypothesis.
- Risk management and entrepreneurship, when, for example, an entrepreneur convinced of his or her idea will tend to carry it forward even in the face of resounding failures.
- Choice of books and newspapers to readbecause we can hardly imagine a reader from the left reading a newspaper from the right.
- Conspiracy theoriessuch as those related to chemtrails, flat earth, vaccines, 9/11, and the man on the moon.
- Astrology or clairvoyance, because those who believe in horoscopes, for example, tend to consider them predictive, regardless of the extremely generic language used to make them adaptable to a multitude of personal interpretations. He explains why there are people who believe in horoscopes.
This cognitive error is so common that, even in English-speaking countries, it is also spoken in everyday language and there is a nomenclature that is used precisely in reference to the way in which we select information and sources according to our convictions: “cherry-picking“.
Examples of confirmation bias
We have already talked about some everyday examples of confirmation bias. Below we will see confirmation experiments that exemplify and illustrate this more clearly:
- People tend not to seek out information that could refute their beliefs.. Walson (1960) demonstrated this by giving some subjects a sequence of three numbers—2, 4, 6—that fit a rule he had in mind, and the rule was simply “every ascending triple.” To allow participants to discover the rule, Walson invited each person to create sequences of three numbers; Each time, Walson told the person whether or not the sequence was according to his rule, and as soon as the participants were sure they had figured it out, they had to stop and announce it. The result? Rarely correct, but never doubted: 23 of the 29 participants were convinced of a wrong rule. Erroneous beliefs were formed about the rule (e.g., counting by two) and then looked for confirmatory evidence (e.g., testing 8, 10, 12) rather than trying to refute their intuitions.
- In experiments at the University of Austin, Texas, William Swann and Stephen Read (1981) found that Students search for, deduce, and remember comments that confirm their beliefs. about themselves. People seek out as friends and spouses those who support their view of themselves, even when they have low self-esteem.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- HCE University (2020). Cognitive bias: confirmation bias. Retrieved from: https://www.hce.university/blog/bias-cognitivi-confirmation-bias/
- Leahy, R.L. (2019). The jealousy cure. Learn to trust, overcome possessiveness, and save your relationship. Oakland: New Harbinger
- Myers, D. G. (2008). Social Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Nogueras, R. (2020). Why do we believe in shit? Madrid: Kailas Editorial.