Confirmation bias...
...is the tendency to only see, or seek out, information that supports something you already believe.
This is a particularly
pernicious type of
cognitive bias - we all like that which "agrees with us" and dislike that which doesn't. Or, put another way, we move
towards that which we like and
away from (i.e., avoid or dismiss) that which we dislike (e.g., people we know or things that we read or hear)...
This means you will remember - or only pay attention to - the hits (i.e., the likes) and dismiss/forget the misses (i.e., the dislikes).
And this results in flawed human reasoning.
People will cue into things that matter to them and dismiss the things that don’t...which can lead to the “ostrich effect” (so named because ostriches bury their heads in the sand); i.e., one "seeks to avoid" information that may disprove their original point.
________
Haidt explains what could be a very useful critical thinking skill in rooting out unhealthy confirmation bias:
When
we want to believe something, we subconsciously (i.e., here the work of
bias) ask ourselves, “
Can I believe it?”
We then search for supporting evidence, and if we find even a single piece of evidence (or often pseudo-evidence[!]), we can stop thinking,
for we now have "permission to believe." And we have a justification, in case anyone asks.
But when we
don’t want to believe something (again, this is subconscious
bias), we ask ourselves, “
Must I believe it?”
So we search for contrary evidence, and if we find a single reason to doubt the claim, we can dismiss it.
The critical challenge here is to be mindful of:
Is it "Can I...?" or "Must I...?"
