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confirmation bias

zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifelessin a dry wasteland Veteran
edited September 2010 in General Banter
hello all, hope everyone is having a fantastic day today. i am 1.5 hours away from leaving for a much needed vacation with a bunch of very dear friends that i have fallen out of touch with over the years due to distance. very excited :grin:

on topic, i read a really interesting article in a blog on confirmation bias the other day. basic premise, the general public doesn't seek out information that challenges us, we seek out information that confirms our already held opinions. even more interesting is that they noticed that our brains are actually wired to remember information that supports our beliefs and forget those that challenge them. it certainly explains why there are so many racists.

i found it interesting and noted that i myself, have been guilty of this on quite a number of occasions. so, i am making it my new policy to not only read books/articles that support my theories, but ones that challenge them as well.

http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/06/23/confirmation-bias/

on a side note, the whole blog of http://www.youarenotsosmart.com is pretty fun to read.

Comments

  • ThailandTomThailandTom Veteran
    edited August 2010
    That would explain an awful lot lol. I think the brain needs a good re-wire job and service :) We should all see it from every possible point of view I guess. Ajahn brahm always goes on about how even if you are correct and find yourself in an argument, the wise thing to do is admit you are wrong. That is in fact being correct :)

    Have a great time on holiday with re-found friends, where are you off to if I may ask...??
  • zombiegirlzombiegirl beating the drum of the lifeless in a dry wasteland Veteran
    edited August 2010
    hah, i like that little bit of advice. interesting perspective.
    i spent years studying nichiren buddhism, but i am currently studying several different forms of buddhism so that i can better understand. i'm trying to get different perspectives. with buddhism, i think this is easy... much more difficult to try to do this with other topics i find interesting. like... evolution vs. creationism, for example.

    my friends own a cottage in the northern part of michigan near lake michigan. i had been there before when i was younger, but it's been years since then. it was a pretty great time :)
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited August 2010
    That article is very interesting... Thanks for posting..


    Now I'll be seeing stuff for selection bias all over hehe
  • lightwithinlightwithin Veteran
    edited August 2010
    Very interesting. I admit I'm reluctant to absorb or even give certain kinds of new information a chance sometimes. I think people are more close minded and more conditioned than they think and it would be wise of all of us to approach things with a fresh outlook instead of a fixed and unmovable one and do our best to show true willingness to learn instead of just going around, confirming and re-confirming our deeply held beliefs over and over again.
  • kaytekayte
    edited August 2010
    zombiegirl wrote: »
    on topic, i read a really interesting article in a blog on confirmation bias the other day. basic premise, the general public doesn't seek out information that challenges us, we seek out information that confirms our already held opinions. even more interesting is that they noticed that our brains are actually wired to remember information that supports our beliefs and forget those that challenge them. it certainly explains why there are so many racists.

    i found it interesting and noted that i myself, have been guilty of this on quite a number of occasions. so, i am making it my new policy to not only read books/articles that support my theories, but ones that challenge them as well.

    http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/06/23/confirmation-bias/

    on a side note, the whole blog of http://www.youarenotsosmart.com is pretty fun to read.

    I was introduced to something similar to this in the movie "What the Bleep" and in talks by Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra. Yeah, I wandered over from the new age camp years ago. It can be a fun and enlightening exercise. I had experienced a lot of deception from people that I should have been able to trust. It was painful but it did teach me to challenge beliefs and get rid of some of the useless ones that I hung on to.

    Thanks for the links and have a great vacation.:)

    Namaste

    Kayte
  • username_5username_5
    edited August 2010
    One of the best series of books I ever read was 'Opposing Viewpoints'. It presented hot topic issues like abortion, gun control etc. and didn't just give two viewpoints, but 4 or 6 viewpoints. The books were just an intro to the topic and then reprinted articles by various thinkers with well reasoned arguments in support of their viewpoint. I found myself constantly challenged by each book as there were really good arguments for viewpoints I had previously dismissed out of hand.

    It really opened my eyes to the idea that even the dumbest of views may be held by someone smarter than I am and with more/better reasons to hold that viewpoint than I do mine.
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    edited August 2010
    Confirmation bias is a well known, and very real phenomenon. It explains a lot of things, including racial or ethnic hatred that goes back centuries (Turks vs. Armenians springs to mind, as does most of the rest of the Balkans). It's the basis for most of politics in fact.

    A cottage by the lake sounds wonderful! I was just in Michigan a couple of weeks ago (southern), and enjoyed it, although it was still pretty hot then. Should be gorgeous right now. What part of Michigan specifically? We used to go up to Antrim County near East Jordan to a small lake when I was a kid. Positively heavenly.
  • dennis60dennis60
    edited August 2010
    Confirmation bias is very normal. We seek peer approval all the time. It keeps us sane on a social level. But, if we are to mature, we begin to not need confirmation from an outside source. If one has had an experience of knowing ones own mind directly, it can not be confirmed by any outside source. But it is its' own confirmation. Knowing is knowing from within. Then we have the ability to say and do what is really spontaneous. We no longer need to rely on scriptures and other peoples views of life. But, it definitely takes a personal experience of knowing ones' own mind, without that it is futile to pretend.
  • DogStarDogStar
    edited September 2010
    The following quote from Descartes has always appealed to me -

    "If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things."

    Oddly enough I came across that quote not in a book on philosophy but in a book on telescope maintenance. :)
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