How badly do you allow confirmation bias to shape your world view?

_John_

?

Motorsheen

Conformation Bias? I don't at all.

I develop all of my own thoughts and beliefs strictly on their own merits.






.... unless Rush Limbaugh tells me to think differently.

usmcmp

FireTurtle75

It's my life's goal to have other people dictate my every thought. I once decided to give up my turtley ways, abandon my shell & join a colony of lemmings... They seems to be able to tell me what to think & what to do. After I concluded it was the right idea I headed off toward Lemming Gulch where they all lived. I'm pretty slow, so when I got there I was them all running toward the crevasse. I thought I heard some distance screams, but they were so far away that I couldn't tell which direction they were going. By the time I got there, I couldn't find any of them. I still don't know where they went.

LAT1963

I've decided not to read this thread because the whole concept conflicts with my belief that people cannot be cognizant of their own confirmation bias.

Vikka_V

I have never heard that term before "conformation bias", I looked it up...I don't think I allow it to shape my world view very much at all...I am always open to new ideas and concepts, and I enjoy entertaining them, thinking about them.

fromaquasar1

Lol. Confirmation bias is a unconscious bias. Like all unconscious biases most people think they are not affected. Every person claims it doesn't affect them, they think for themselves, they are free of it. And every person is wrong. It's part of how our brains are wired. It takes enormous awareness and cognitive load to shake off any unconscious bias for even a short period of time. It would take decades of work to do it consistently. You probably can't end your initial confirmation bias responses, but you can know that it's always happening and think "hmmm could I be experiencing confirmation bias now?" And then your confirmation bias will tell you you're fine.

fromaquasar1

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe this is a good explanation in pictures!

JeromeBarry1

Is there a way to measure confirmation bias, which affects everyone all the time?