Confirmation bias
Edited November 15, 2021
Image: The Far Side (Bonus early Christmas art)
Photo: Copenhagen, Denmark Chris Harris, Facebook
Preface
I mentioned this concept in a conversation with my Dad. I then looked it up...
'Noor, I. (2020, June 10). Confirmation bias. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/confirmation-bias.html'
A recent related article on my second website...
Review of General Psychology: Confirmation Bias: A Ubiquitous Phenomenon in Many Guises,Raymond S. NickersonFirst Published June 1, 1998 Research Article
Events in life today, have me focus once again on the need for researched facts that fuel worldviews
Cited from...
Abstract
'Confirmation bias, as the term is typically used in the psychological literature, connotes the seeking or interpreting of evidence in ways that are partial to existing beliefs, expectations, or a hypothesis in hand. The author reviews evidence of such a bias in a variety of guises and gives examples of its operation in several practical contexts. Possible explanations are considered, and the question of its utility or disutility is discussed.'
Comments
I reason that rational, thinking people, even the highly rational people, have confirmation bias. Even academics like myself that seek significant objectivity. It is natural to interpret new information with a premise/premises that leads to a conclusion, in agreement with premises and conclusions, already held to within a worldview and related paradigms.
Author: Bettina J. Casad
Cited
'confirmation bias, the tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with one’s existing beliefs. This biased approach to decision making is largely unintentional and often results in ignoring inconsistent information.'
Comments
A significant problem is ignoring contrary premises that could possibly lead to contrary conclusions, especially to one's own worldview and related paradigms. Philosophically and academically, a reasonable, significant pursuit of truth requires a reasonable, significant evaluation of available, relevant, information that is in disagreement with held beliefs.
(The British MPhil/PhD system emphasizes this in particular; depth and breadth in research and presentation, as my one tutor would state; leading to ten to twenty citations per page)
Cited
'People are especially likely to process information to support their own beliefs when the issue is highly important or self-relevant.'
Comments
In particular in regards to worldviews issues and related paradigms.
Cited
'Confirmation bias is one example of how humans sometimes process information in an illogical, biased manner. Many factors of which people are unaware can influence information processing. Philosophers note that humans have difficulty processing information in a rational, unbiased manner once they have developed an opinion about the issue. Humans are better able to rationally process information, giving equal weight to multiple viewpoints, if they are emotionally distant from the issue (although a low level of confirmation bias can still occur when an individual has no vested interests).'
Cited
'Human decision making and information processing is often biased because people are limited to interpreting information from their own viewpoint. People need to process information quickly to protect themselves from harm.'
Comments
Premises and a conclusion (s), can still be confirmed as reasonably, significantly true, with a certain amount of bias. There is no such thing as complete objectivity. However, objectivity in general is required for a significantly, good evaluation of what information is true. It is possible, in my view, to fortuitously (without intention) believe what is true, without deep analysis of information. For example, a person is taught a true worldview and/or true paradigms, by his/her parents from childhood.
Cited
'Confirmation bias is strong and widespread, occurring in several contexts. In the context of decision making, once an individual makes a decision, he or she will look for information that supports it. Information that conflicts with the decision may cause discomfort and is therefore ignored or given little consideration. People give special treatment to information that supports their personal beliefs.'
Cited
'It is not that people are incapable of generating arguments that are counter to their beliefs but, rather, people are not motivated to do so.'
Comments
Mental fatigue and what I call 'mental laziness' can also contribute to embracing confirmation bias. This may be done with various amounts of intention.
Cited
'People may be overconfident in their beliefs because they have accumulated evidence to support them, when in reality much evidence refuting their beliefs was overlooked or ignored, evidence which, if considered, would lead to less confidence in one’s beliefs. These factors may lead to risky decision making and lead people to overlook warning signs and other important information.'
Comments
Unchecked confirmation bias can lead to error in worldview and related paradigms.
(Error but not necessarily in moderation, fatal intellectually, if views are basically correct)
Cited
'Confirmation Bias is the tendency to look for information that supports, rather than rejects, one’s preconceptions, typically by interpreting evidence to confirm existing beliefs while rejecting or ignoring any conflicting data (American Psychological Association).'
Cited
'This type of bias explains that people interpret evidence with respect to their existing beliefs by typically evaluating confirming evidence differently than evidence that challenges their preconceptions.'
Comments
Emotionally charged approaches to information can lead to a blind rejection of contrary data and embracing confirmation bias, with various amounts of intention.
In my opinion, it is the significant embracing of confirmation bias which is an intellectual danger.
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Many informal fallacies referenced by Pirie, are influenced by confirmation bias, I reason.
BLACKBURN, SIMON (1996) Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
PIRIE, MADSEN (2006)(2015) How To Win Every Argument, Bloomsbury, London.
