Am I Right, Or Am I Right?
An idiom gifted by myside bias
“There are three sides to every story: your side, my side, and the truth. And no one is lying. Memories shared serve each differently.”
― Robert Evans, The Kid Stays in the Picture
Has your long-held belief been brought into question out of the blue? How can it be wrong? It is what you always thought it to be. Wait, now that you think about it, your belief really had nothing backing it except your take on data. Not a very objective take on the data either.
Don’t worry. You are not alone. Just one of the many victims of the protagonist of this blog — Confirmation bias.
Confirmation bias was first explained by the English cognitive psychologist Peter Wason in 1960. Confirmation bias or myside bias is the tendency to look for or recall only that information which supports one’s beliefs or opinions on a subject.
Types of Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias manifests in three ways. One is ‘Biased Search for Information’, where people search for facts and figures in a manner that will support their beliefs or hypotheses (an idea or explanation of something that is based on a few known facts but that has not yet been proven to be true or correct).
For example, say my favourite colour is blue. Now in order to find other people whose favourite colour is blue, I could ask either of the following questions: “Is your favourite colour blue?” or “What is your favourite colour?”. If I choose the former question, I have engaged in a biased search for information. The funny thing is that the answer to either of these questions will help me reach the same conclusion.
The second manifestation of confirmation bias is ‘Biased Interpretation’. When people are given some data about an existing belief of theirs, they may interpret it in a way that reconfirms their belief. And even if the data justifies that their belief is baseless, they may stand by their beliefs more strongly. In fact, they will come up with points that question the validity of the given data.
And lastly, we have ‘Biased Memory’, where people selectively remember facts and incidents that support their beliefs and ignore (or simply forget) evidence that does not confirm these beliefs. Sometimes the confirming information makes an imprint in our minds while the disconfirming information just goes over our heads. The takeaway is that we process these two kinds of data differently. This is us bending facts, which makes us lose track of the original message. We remember and attend to positive information differently than we attend to negative or disconfirming information.
Why Confirmation Bias Happens
Now the question is, why are we victims of confirmation bias? Why is it that we choose to be ignorant?
Well, our mind thinks it is worth it, and evolutionary scientists (Evolutionary psychologists presume all human behaviours reflect the influence of physical and psychological predispositions that helped human ancestors survive and reproduce) back this idea. They say that our minds are not armed to handle today’s world as it is. In the past, that is most of human history, people came across very little new information during their lifetime. But in today’s world, we are constantly receiving new information which overwhelms the mind. Hence, it is natural for the mind to seek comfort, which it does by looking for ways to confirm its existing beliefs.
“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
Anaïs Nin
Another explanation for confirmation bias is wishful thinking and how it leads to us wanting to enforce our ideas and beliefs. Once we feel our perspective is right, confirmation bias makes us hang on to the data that reaffirms our perspective while ignoring the data that does not. Sometimes, after a few interactions in passing with a person, if you’re convinced that they do not like you, you will soon be a victim of confirmation bias. Your mind will not register the times when they did try talking to you or make you feel included in a conversation during a gathering.
Where Can We Observe Confirmation Bias
1. In the Science Community
Scientific thinking involves the search for supportive evidence and inductive reasoning, as well as for falsifying evidence and deductive reasoning. The former reasoning is where confirmation bias strikes. A number of studies carried out on this issue have concluded that scientists rate studies that align with their prior beliefs more favourably, than those that do not.
Therefore, if the experimenter is biased, it can affect the data reported to the masses. To check this, a system of experimental designs of randomised controlled trials and peer reviews is kept in place. But again, peer reviews can be biased as well.
2. Social Media
On social media, the filter bubble (a situation in which someone only hears or sees news and information that supports what they already believe) from one’s search engine makes sure that people only see results that they are interested in. So, if two people search for a word simultaneously, it is possible that the Internet’s individualised algorithms will give different results to each of them.
Apart from the fact that we are given selective results for our searches on the internet, one needs to know that these results have variable credibility (It was never Becky but always Taylor Swift). And we tend to cope with this by reading news that aligns with our views and hunches.
Overcoming Confirmation Bias
There are many ways to fight confirmation bias. Firstly, do not be rigid with your views on a particular situation. Interact with people having different mindsets and beliefs, people that challenge your opinions. In other words, collect information from a range of sources. Having an open mind will not only let you avoid bias but also make it easier for you to understand what makes your perspective wrong or right.
Secondly, look at a problem objectively. For this, one needs to consider situations from multiple perspectives. One technique to achieve this is by using the Six Thinking Hats approach. This approach, created by the Maltese psychologist Edward de Bono, makes you look at a problem in six different ways.
The Theory of Falsifiability, proposed by the famous Austrian-British philosopher Karl Popper, gives structure to the above two ways of avoiding confirmation bias. The theory simply asks us to attempt disproving beliefs we already hold or are beginning to hold, especially if they are closely related to our identity.
For example, before adopting the belief that climate change is a hoax, look for evidence for climate change, not against it. Play the devil’s advocate to yourself and challenge evidence that seemingly supports your beliefs. Soon, you’ll have inculcated the scientific temper and be closer to the truth than you were before.
Lastly, try to focus on things that you can control. Building opinions on topics that do not concern us or on situations that are unlikely to occur is equal to wasting our time and energy on opinions that do not have a function. By having such opinions, we are giving our mind data to be biased towards.
For example, during my summer break, I know that I am not going to return to college until the end of July. So, no matter what opinions I have about the traffic in Trichy, I do not have to make any decisions about commuting to Trichy till July ends. Moreover, I really cannot do much to improve the traffic situation. Would it not be better to use my mental energy to have opinions on those piled-up chores of mine?
Conclusion
Robert Evans was right in saying, “Memories shared serve each differently”, because your memory is solely yours. It is subjective; an experience of reality, not reality itself. Accepting the significant impact confirmation bias has in our day-to-day life and making an effort to overcome it is important. To make an error is human, but why choose to make the error of being biased?
