Confirmation Bias: Difference between revisions

From BurnZero
(Created page with "'''Confirmation bias''' is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values<ref>https://pa...")
 
No edit summary
Line 1: Line 1:
'''Confirmation bias''' is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values<ref>https://pages.ucsd.edu/~mckenzie/nickersonConfirmationBias.pdf</ref>. People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring contrary information, or when they interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing attitudes. The effect is strongest for desired outcomes, for emotionally charged issues, and for deeply entrenched beliefs. Confirmation bias cannot be eliminated entirely, but it can be managed, for example, by education and training in critical thinking skills.
[[File:Confirmation bias.png|alt=Confirmation bias|thumb|Reinforcing what we already think.]]
'''Confirmation bias''' is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values<ref>https://pages.ucsd.edu/~mckenzie/nickersonConfirmationBias.pdf</ref>. Confirmation bias is the big one. The bias that leads us to live in a world of our own choosing, finding the information that already fits with our beliefs and ignoring or discounting what doesn't. It's the bias that makes two sides get further apart rather than closer together.
 
Edward De Bono in Water Logic suggested a metaphor for thought as channels of water. As water runs through the channels the channels get deeper, and as they get deeper it pulls more of the water into the main channels until there is only one way. Confirmation bias can act like that.
 
It's important to work to understand different opinions, not discount them upfront. To use our empathy to understand why others feel the way they do. And when we deliberately seek out information that challenges our point of view we will usually find a richer, more nuanced world that helps build bridges with others rather than drive us apart.
 
'''References'''

Revision as of 01:03, 20 April 2022

Confirmation bias
Reinforcing what we already think.

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values[1]. Confirmation bias is the big one. The bias that leads us to live in a world of our own choosing, finding the information that already fits with our beliefs and ignoring or discounting what doesn't. It's the bias that makes two sides get further apart rather than closer together.

Edward De Bono in Water Logic suggested a metaphor for thought as channels of water. As water runs through the channels the channels get deeper, and as they get deeper it pulls more of the water into the main channels until there is only one way. Confirmation bias can act like that.

It's important to work to understand different opinions, not discount them upfront. To use our empathy to understand why others feel the way they do. And when we deliberately seek out information that challenges our point of view we will usually find a richer, more nuanced world that helps build bridges with others rather than drive us apart.

References

Share your opinion