It would be surprising if you were not. It’s very human.
Confirmation bias distorts our decisions and leaves us scratching our heads when other people interpret the same events in what seem weird ways. It also makes us unreliable witnesses in court.
Let’s say a dog bites a child. Someone who fears dogs might decide that the dog is vicious. A dog lover might decide that the dog was only defending itself. It’s the same event, but the witnesses would be interpreting it in ways that confirm their existing beliefs about dogs.
Social media’s algorithms encourage us to immerse ourselves in opinions that confirm our beliefs, experiences or values. If you like a post expressing anti-mandate views, you’ll be offered more. If a conspiracy seems plausible, there are plenty of believers ready to offer you more evidence. Even intelligent people can find absurd ideas plausible, then seek out evidence that confirms them.
Ever find yourself selecting YouTube videos or free-to-air television news channels that match your view of current events? Would you watch both CNN and Fox news?
My step-son is a journalist and has been interviewing residents of Kharkiv and other bombed cities in Ukraine. One couple stood amongst the wreckage of their city and told him, ‘If you call to Moscow, they don’t believe any of it.’ A woman in Russia who was sent a video of her wounded Ukrainian brother in hospital responded, ‘You did this to yourself. You are fighting a war among yourselves.’ For both Russians and Ukrainians, the same evidence confirms very different beliefs.
There is a solution, but it takes determination.
For better decisions, we have to deliberately seek out contrary evidence. For our relationships, we need to reframe our first responses. Is it possible that our friend or colleague didn’t reply to our voicemail because she didn’t check it, rather than she doesn’t want to know us? (If we lack confidence, the lack of response confirms our belief that we are not worthy of friendship or our colleague’s cooperation.)
Does believing that we should always be positive mean we can only see reasons a project will succeed? Maybe we’ve missed evidence that the project could fail. If so, we’re missing the opportunity to prepare ways to overcome setbacks.
Let’s develop a healthy skepticism about our beliefs and what others say.
