What Is Confirmation Bias In Psychology, And How Can You Overcome It?
The American Psychological Association defines confirmation bias as “the tendency to gather evidence that confirms preexisting expectations, typically by emphasizing or pursuing supporting evidence while dismissing or failing to seek contradictory evidence.” Confirmation bias might be thought of as an inclination to believe information supporting one’s existing beliefs while discounting opposing beliefs.
Researchers believe that everyone experiences some degree of confirmation bias, whether they are conscious of it or not. Confirmation bias is a cognitive bias that supports a person’s personal beliefs or feelings. It is the mind's way of ignoring everything that does not support our ideas or views.
In social psychology, confirmation bias, also sometimes called myside bias, is an unconscious tendency not to judge new information objectively. In other words, confirmation bias is a psychological phenomenon in which people tend to seek evidence and information that supports their existing beliefs and discount anything that contradicts those beliefs.
The psychological advantage of confirmation bias is that it effectively allows individuals to process information and minimize cognitive dissonance that occurs when encountering conflicting viewpoints or information. In other words, confirmation bias can make it simpler to think about the world. However, unexamined biases can prevent you from seeing and acting on important information or connecting with people who think differently than you. This may limit your opportunities or lead to poor decision making.
Examples of confirmation bias in psychology
There are many ways in which people display confirmation bias. For example, two friends might hold different views about the best solution for climate change. One supports solar power and reads articles affirming her belief about the need for more investment in solar power. The other believes more in the importance of wind power and gravitates toward online articles that prove his position. While they both read new stories about climate change, they interpret the news through the lens of their confirmation bias. This can make it difficult to see the strengths of opposing arguments.
Another example might be found in politics. During election time, many people notice positive things about their chosen candidate and negative things about the candidates they do not support. Confirmation bias can be difficult for them to see any incoherence in their perspective.
Myside bias and intelligence
Even if a person is generally highly skilled at problem-solving and reasoning, they may be just as likely as everyone else to fall into my side bias and miss crucial realities about the world around them.
Heuristics: Why the mind is susceptible to confirmation bias
If you regularly wonder why others cannot see what seems obvious to you, it may help to examine your biases. People who believe everyone else just doesn’t get it may be experiencing myside bias. Although we all tend to experience a desire to be correct about our beliefs, it is impossible to be right all the time. If you always think you are right and everyone else cannot see the truth, you might be experiencing confirmation bias.
Confirmation bias can reduce our ability to consider alternative hypotheses. Instead, our mind automatically tries to take mental shortcuts called heuristics to make its job faster and easier. For example, the mind often blocks opposing views and only lets you see what you want to see. In this way, you do not have to spend time and energy trying to make sense of contradicting ideas. If you constantly follow this shortcut, you may miss important realities in the world around you.
How confirmation bias can cloud our judgment
It can be difficult to stop using confirmation bias unless you can see it is there. If you think you may be experiencing confirmation bias, you’re not alone. Research demonstrates the widespread prevalence of confirmation bias and shows that it has nothing to do with intelligence. It’s one of several cognitive biases that can shape our thinking even if we don’t know it.
When we let confirmation bias have its way, we can go through life with a skewed version of the truth about our experiences. Research suggests that it can be challenging to escape confirmation bias because it is so natural for the brain to take this shortcut when looking at information.
Studies continue to evaluate the impact of cognitive bias on scientific discovery and decision-making, and researchers are studying how to reduce the influence of confirmation bias in different settings. Continued research in social psychology might help us determine the impact of confirmation bias and the challenges it presents to us as individuals and society as a whole.
Help for overcoming confirmation bias
If you think that you may be discounting information that goes against your existing beliefs, it may help to speak with a psychologist or licensed therapist about confirmation bias. One form of therapy that may help is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). In CBT, people typically learn to challenge their inaccurate beliefs and think in new ways. Also, therapy helps individuals to build self-awareness. This allows them to recognize when they are looking for information that confirms their existing beliefs.
If you feel hesitant to see a psychologist or therapist in person, you might consider online therapy. CBT is a type of therapy you can engage in remotely, and numerous studies confirm that online CBT is as effective as seeing a counselor in person.
With online CBT at BetterHelp, you can connect with a licensed therapist via audio, video, or live chat at a time that works for you. You can also message your therapist at any time through in-app messaging, and they’ll respond as soon as they can. This may be helpful if you encounter instances of bias and want to write down your thoughts in between sessions.
Takeaway
Also, it may help to speak with a psychologist or therapist who has knowledge of various cognitive biases and strategies for reducing the effects of confirmation bias. Take the first step toward curbing the effects of confirmation bias in your life and reach out to BetterHelp.
What is an example of confirmation bias?
Evidence and examples of confirmation bias can be seen stretching back for thousands of years, with the Greek historian Thucydides commenting on the phenomenon by saying, “...it is a habit of mankind to entrust to careless hope what they long for, and to use sovereign reason to thrust aside what they do not fancy.”
In modern times, one example you may commonly see of confirmation bias relates to horoscopes. These astrologically-based predictions use an individual’s zodiac sign to give vague descriptions of their future. Because these interpretations are vague, a person may interpret information provided by horoscopes in a way that supports their current perspective.
What is confirmation bias and is it bad?
Confirmation bias is a term in psychology that refers to the tendency for individuals to only seek out information that supports a specific idea. In many cases, this leads people to accrue evidence that supports a position they currently hold without considering facts or figures that oppose that idea.
Confirmation bias can be negative in many cases because it can lead to poorly informed decisions. In some cases, these may cause challenges in interpersonal relationships. For example, if a person is certain their partner is cheating on them, they may ignore all evidence that goes against this belief. As a result, they may accuse them of infidelity or break up with them, even if that person was never having an affair in the first place.
Why confirmation bias happens?
There are multiple reasons that confirmation bias may occur, including the following.
- Desire To Be Correct: Many people will fall prey to confirmation bias in order to affirm their ability to make proper decisions or show their intelligence. Because we tend to value those that are correct, the quest for this trait may lead some to only search for information that confirms their previously held ideas.
- Processing Efficiency: Our brains are constantly taking in information from a variety of sources, and it may be difficult to discern what is relevant and what isn’t. In order to reach our objectives, some may succumb to confirmation bias subconsciously in order to reach a conclusion.
- Fear Of Losing Respect: Being wrong may lead someone to looking foolish, or it could cause people to challenge their expertise in a specific field. As a result, individuals may choose to ignore viable information and focus on the information points that confirm existing beliefs.
What is the difference between confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance?
While confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance can be related phenomena, they have their own distinct definitions and differences. Confirmation bias refers to the tendency for people to place importance or seek out information that supports their deeply entrenched beliefs, while cognitive dissonance is the discomfort one may encounter when having an inconsistency between their beliefs and their behavior. While a person experiencing cognitive dissonance may use confirmation bias as a way to reduce this discomfort, they are not intrinsically linked, as a person may employ other strategies to combat these uncomfortable feelings.
What are the 3 types of confirmation bias?
The three types of confirmation bias are selective recall, selective search, and selective interpretation.
- Selective Recall: Through the process of selective recall, Information that we identify as matching our current position on a subject will be more easily recalled than information that counters our previously held notions.
- Selective Search: This form of information confirmation bias involves only looking for evidence that works in favor of our argument. Selective search allows us to support our theories while disregarding or refusing to interpret evidence that may lead to the contrary.
- Selective Interpretation: Selective interpretation involves looking at the facts of a specific situation and choosing to interpret the outcomes to favor one’s argument.
What's the opposite of confirmation bias?
The opposite of confirmation bias is falsification bias. This type of bias involves looking for information or evidence that works against your previously held view or position. While adapting this in every situation may be difficult, having a falsification mindset can help to avoid the pitfalls associated with confirmation bias by making someone more skeptical and analytic. For example, if you are looking to prove a theory and everything you find supports your view, it may be beneficial to start looking for some level of evidence that disproves your theory.
What is another word for confirmation bias?
Another name for confirmation bias is “myside bias,” so named because it implies that someone will conduct a biased search for information that supports their side instead of considering all evidence. This search can subsequently lead to a biased interpretation of the facts in order to reach the conclusion a person wants or needs to be true. In some cases, a person experiencing myside bias may also be prone to ignoring evidence, particularly if it does not fit their narrative.
One example of myside or confirmation bias can be seen in the paper Biased Assimilation and Attitude Polarization: The Effects of Prior Theories on Subsequently Considered Evidence. This study took a group of 48 undergraduate students and had them support and oppose capital punishment using two studies, one that confirmed their preexisting beliefs and one that opposed them. The results confirmed what researchers predicted, as a majority of the students rated the source that confirmed their beliefs as more convincing.
Can confirmation bias be good?
While confirmation biases can often impede human understanding, they may be effective in situations that involve overwhelming amounts of information. Because the information surrounding a specific subject may involve hundreds or thousands of articles, videos, and files, it may be hard to reach any conclusion when one is sorting through this information. As a result, it may be helpful to filter information once someone has a somewhat clear idea of what their conclusion might be. However, even this form of confirmation bias can be harmful, and in most cases, it's better to closely analyze the same evidence with an unbiased perspective (even if it may disprove your point.)
How do you break confirmation bias?
One way to avoid the potentially negative implications confirmation bias can have is to cultivate elements of a falsification mindset. This involves looking for evidence that disproves your current position in order to ensure you are considering all sides of the subject. By doing so, you may be able to ensure that the conclusions you reach have a higher level of validity and will be less likely to be disproven. In some cases, you may find flaws in your initial evidence or position that may make you change your mind.
What is an example of the Dunning Kruger effect?
An example of the Dunning-Kruger effect, the psychological bias that may lead individuals to overestimate their competence, can be seen in academic settings. Students may believe they have a strong grasp of a certain subject, even if they haven’t been attending class or studying frequently. As a result, they may not realize their actual skill level until they receive a failing grade; even then, a person under the influence of the dunning kruger effect may believe the fault lies with the instructor or course than in themselves.
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