Confirmation Bias - How it gets reinforced and how to reduce it

This post is somewhat related to the previous one.  It has to do with how we all experience confirmation bias, what is wrong with that and how to reduce this bias in our thinking.

Confirmation bias is what happens when we tend to look for evidence or "confirmation" that something we think or believe is actually the truth.  It can happen both consciously and subsonsciously.  We can actually look for sources of information that agree with us by, for example, typing a question into an internet search engine.  Say we type in "the earth is flat" into a search engine and sure enough we will see information pertaining to the idea that the earth really is flat (spoilers - it's not).  However, we could get the impression and confirmation that we are right in thinking the earth is flat simply because we have looked for articles that "confirm" what we have already thought.

We tend not to look up "what's wrong with the idea the earth is flat" which will present to you the articles that can show you what is wrong with what you have been thinking.  We seldom want to know that we are wrong.  It is our nature to want to feel that we are right in what we think or believe and will automatically look for this confirmation.

There is also a way we subconsciously reinforce confirmation biases.  We do it simply by associating with people of "like minds."  This can be based on any subject and some of it can be unintentional simply because we "like" people who agree with us and tend to distance ourselves from people with whom we might have disagreements.  This can be based upon religious beliefs, gun control, politics, or even such mundane things a music preferences (rock, country western, hip hop, new age, etc).

So is confirmation bias a bad thing?  In short, yes.  Why?  Because confirmation bias causes us to develop a blind spot with regard to our thinking and beliefs with regard to the truth.  It does this in two ways.  By only looking at or gravitating to the confirmation situations we tend to only see and hear the things that agree with what we are already thinking and remain relatively unexposed to alternatives.  This makes it very difficult to see in what ways our ideas may fall short of being the truth. This can insulate us from seeing actual evidence that our beliefs are not in accordance with reality.  Worse yet it gives those who "confirm" our idea the ability to easily misrepresent the other side of the issue.  It makes us gullible.

Let's take a look at a political example.  If you are a Republican and only listen to or watch Republican sources of news you are getting a biased source (the same goes for Democrats).  In addition you will constantly be exposed to those Republicans who tell you what Democrats are thinking or what Democrats want.  Again the converse is also true.  The end result is you can be easily manipulated into thinking you know what "the other side" thinks and wants which may be completely wrong.  You can even be driven by fear into making voting decisions for really bad reasons.  You also will think that only Republicans (Democrats) actually see the whole truth because you never actually hear the whole story.  You only hear a misrepresentation of the other side of the story.

So, what can you do about this?  Well, it's not easy and it's not comfortable.  You have to look at sources of information that you automatically find irritating, infuriating in some cases, and at least argumentative.  Are these actually telling you the truth?  Actually they are just telling you the story from another biased point of view and that is why this is difficult.  However, in the process you become sensitive to the biases you see from the other side.  For example, if you are a Democrat and you see a Republican source saying Democrats want "X" yet you know you really don't want "X" you now know what a biased statement this is.  Indeed "Democrats" (inferring ALL Democrats) want "X" is a biased presentation and you recognize this because you know Democrats who don't want "X" at all.  So now when you as a Democrat see a statement that Republicans want "Y" you know that this is a suspect statement.  Sure some Republicans may want "Y" but probably not all of them and you don't even really know if any of them want "Y".

When we see statements only from sources that agree with us we don't recognize the potential for manipulation and misrepresentation.

The same thing happens when we look at political advertisements.  You see an advertisement from the political group you tend to align with which says Joe Smith voted against helping Veterans with mental health care system improvements.  So clearly Joe Smith is a bad person.  What you never see is why Joe Smith voted against a certain proposition.  You never hear why Joe Smith voted against the proposal, when in fact it turns out he found it necessary to vote against it because of an amendment that was added that had nothing to do with Veteran's health care and did something very harmful or even unconstitutional.  Joe Smith, it turns out, is a veteran himself and is highly in favor of providing them with better care, but the proposal in question contained a problem that was completely unacceptable.  You don't get to vote against only parts of a bill, so he was forced to vote against the whole thing.

Another way to reduce confirmation bias is to do the same sort of thing in a more personal environment.  You literally put yourself in what you might consider the "enemy camp."  You interact directly with those you believe you have a disagreement with.  You listen to them and talk to them.  You look for areas where you agree or where they may point out issues with your beliefs.  You prepare yourself to be able to admit weaknesses in your position and find ways to respectfully point out where you have issues with the other side of the issue.  You avoid the "Republicans are idiots" or "Democrats are crazy" (us versus them thinking) and deal with the actual substance of issues without all the ad hominem attacks.

Too often right now, we are dealing with each other like this is WWI and we just sit in our respective trenches and lob artillery shells at each other and accomplish nothing.  It's not until we have a dialog that is not replete with idiot, moron, redneck, Nazi, bible thumper and other such comments will we make real progress.