Confirmation bias is becoming an increasingly large problem in our world, and the vast amounts of data at our fingertips is making it worse.
Confirmation bias is generally thought of as “the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values.” In other words, if you hold a belief about something, whether you’re right or wrong, you can find information online to support that belief. We’re seeing that a lot these days regarding masks and vaccines, where people on both sides of the argument can find a never-ending list of “facts” to prove their side of the debate.
You might be wrong
The challenge then becomes critical thinking, though perhaps more importantly is being willing to accept that your beliefs might be wrong. The second half of that has really been showing up a lot lately, where people dig in their heels when shown contradictory information rather than using that new information to suss out the truth.
That’s not to say you should give up. If you firmly believe you’re right, you should continue to fight for it. While fighting, though, be open to new ideas that might shift your view so that you continually fight for the truth rather than just defending your existing beliefs.
