What is the name of the tendency to seek out and pay attention only to information that confirms pre existing beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence?

From:  https://www.verywell.com/what-is-a-confirmation-bias-2795024

Where do your beliefs and opinions come from? If you are like most people, you probably like to believe that your beliefs are the result of years of experience and objective analysis of the information you have available. The reality is that all of us are susceptible to a tricky problem known as a confirmation bias. While we like to imagine that our beliefs are rational, logical, and objective, the fact is that our ideas are often based on paying attention to the information that upholds our ideas and ignoring the information that challenges our existing beliefs.

What Is a Confirmation Bias?

A confirmation bias is a type of cognitive bias that involves favoring information that confirms previously existing beliefs or biases. For example, imagine that a person holds a belief that left-handed people are more creative than right-handed people. Whenever this person encounters a person that is both left-handed and creative, they place greater importance on this "evidence" supporting their already existing belief. This individual might even seek "proof" that further backs up this belief while discounting examples that do not support this idea.

Confirmation biases impact how people gather information, but they also influence how people interpret and recall information. For example, people who support or oppose a particular issue will not only seek information that supports their beliefs, they will also interpret news stories in a way that upholds their existing ideas and remember things in a way that also reinforces these attitudes.

Examples of Confirmation Biases in Action

Consider the debate over gun control. Sally is in support of gun control. She seeks out news stories and opinion pieces that reaffirm the need for limitations on gun ownership. When she hears stories about shootings in the media, she interprets them in a way that supports her existing beliefs.

Henry, on the other hand, is adamantly opposed to gun control. He seeks out news sources that are aligned with his position, and when he comes across news stories about shootings, he interprets them in a way that supports his current point of view.

The Impact of Confirmation Biases

A number of experiments conducted during the 1960s demonstrated that people have a tendency to seek information that confirms their existing beliefs. Unfortunately, this type of bias can prevent us from looking at situations objectively, can influence the decisions we make, and can lead to poor or faulty choices.

During an election season, for example, people tend to seek positive information that paints their favored candidates in a good light while looking for information that casts the opposing candidate in a negative light. By not seeking out objective facts, interpreting information in a way that only supports their existing beliefs, and only remembering details that uphold these beliefs, people often miss important information that might have otherwise influenced their decision on which candidate to support.

WRITTEN BY PAUL BOYCE | Updated 26 October 2020

Confirmation bias occurs when people ignore information that contradicts their existing beliefs. At the same time, they search for information that re-affirms those beliefs and views – thereby rejecting new information that is contradictory. In other words, they search for information that confirms they are right and ignore information that suggests they are wrong.

Confirmation bias tends to occur because existing information has been stored in our sub-conscious memory – which is difficult to over-write. In some way, it’s a bit like uploading an image onto the internet. Once it’s out there, it’s difficult to remove it.

1. Confirmation bias is where we ignore information that contradicts our existing beliefs.
2. We also seek our information that re-enforces our beliefs.
3. Confirmation bias is partially driven by ego. Nobody likes to be wrong after believing is something after so long.

Confirmation bias is also driven by ego and self-esteem. After all, nobody wants to acknowledge that they were ignorant enough to have believed in something for years or decades. For example, this might be something like the world is flat or the moon is made from cheese. If you have believed something for so long, it is embarrassing to admit you were wrong all along.

We have two parts of our brain, our sub-consciousness, and our consciousness. Our consciousness is the active thinking we do. For instance, when we process information and learn about new things.

By contrast, our sub-consciousness is the core memory hub that our brain uses to speed up our processing. In other words, it’s the information we have learned. It is stored there so we don’t have to use our mental capacity to consciously think every time we do something.

If we think about typing, walking, or talking, we had to use the conscious part of our brain to learn them. However, once learned, it becomes second nature. That’s when it is stored in our subconscious – where we don’t even need to ‘think’ about it. This includes us remembering the route to work, the journey to school, or the usual way we greet someone on the phone.

Simply put, the sub-consciousness is a shortcut that our brain uses to access information that has been previously stored. In turn, it leaves a greater ‘processing capacity’ to concentrate on other tasks.

As we grow up, we take in information. We learn to walk, to run, to talk, to write. There are also other factors that we don’t consciously learn. For instance, someone may have grown up in a very conservative household. So their views get shaped from a conservative point of view. So issues such as tax, immigration, and healthcare may be skewed towards their upbringing and environment.

Political beliefs may be very skewed as a result. For instance, unrestricted immigration may be seen as a bad thing. If we are taught that point of view from a young age, those views can get stored deep into our sub-consciousness.

These can get shaped through adulthood, but are generally fully formed into an individual’s mid-20s. After this point, our views have generally formed and are difficult to erase from our subconscious. As a result, confirmation bias can occur.

Political views or other beliefs have developed throughout our life. So when we see the information that contradicts these beliefs, we tend to reject them. They cannot be accepted because the information already stored in our brain is wrong. That would require the subconscious information to be erased before the new information can be processed. Instead, it is far easier to reject new information and confirm the status quo, therefore resulting in confirmation bias.

Confirmation bias occurs when people ignore new information that contradicts existing beliefs. For example, voters will ignore information from news broadcasters than contradicts their existing views. This leads to many on the left only watching CNN, whilst those of the right stick to Fox. Other examples include eye witness accounts, religion, and social media.

• Confirmation Bias in Politics
• Eyewitness Accounts
• Religion
• Social Media

Politics is naturally divisive, with voting habits notoriously hard to break. In the US for example, states are usually referred to as ‘Red’ or ‘Blue’, depending on whether they are Republican or Democrat. Most states stay that way for years and years.

Most people don’t change their political leanings. They will vote one way or another their whole life, although there are some ‘swing voters’ that are more open to new candidates. Yet they are in the minority as confirmation bias takes hold.

We can see the confirmation bias on what people watch. For example, Republican voters tend to favor Fox News (a right-leaning media company) than CNN (a left-leaning media company). The opposite views that CNN broadcast does not conform with existing beliefs, so are naturally rejected. In the same fashion, Democrat voters tend to favor CNN for the same reasons.

Confirmation bias also exists among politicians. We very rarely see them change their position, which is driven by confirmation bias. For example, over 100 members of Congress have rejected the notion of man-made climate change. Despite the new evidence, it is usually instantly rejected as it doesn’t conform to existing beliefs.

There are also other areas in politics such as rent controls. A large number of left-leaning politicians believe they work, even though the vast majority of economists agree (something extraordinary in itself) that they are counter-productive.

The role of eye accounts in the criminal justice system has started to make way for more accurate evidence such as DNA. In turn, many previously imprisoned individuals have been deemed innocent as DNA evidence exonerates them.

Eye accounts are notoriously problematic. We don’t often remember precise details and can be influenced by various factors. One of them is confirmation bias.

For example, there may be a witness to a homicide whereby an onlooker spots the perpetrator. The problem is that the witness and the perpetrator are siblings. In turn, the witness cannot comprehend their sibling possible of doing such a thing.

Their belief is that they are not capable of such, so, therefore, they reject the notion. It cannot be true. The new information is rejected in favour of confirming the existing belief.

Those who are religious will have a bias towards their existing beliefs. If something unexpected happens, it is a ‘miracle’. At the same time, a disaster is just a ‘test of faith’. Both seek to confirm the existing belief.

By contrast, we have those who do not have a religion. A miracle is just seen as a rare event that happens once in a lifetime and therefore doesn’t provide evidence of a higher power. At the same time, disasters such as tsunamis and hurricanes that kill thousands are seen as a justification of how a god cannot exist.

Both believers and non-believers tend to use events to justify their existing beliefs. Whether those are positive or negative events, they take an angle that re-affirms such beliefs.

Social media has become a hotbed for fake information to spread. People tend to ‘share’ information or news articles that reinforce their existing beliefs. Often, catchy headlines are used to attract attention, offering unsubstantiated claims.

There are news articles that claim ‘facts’, yet are not ‘facts’, but biased perspectives that align with the reader’s own. In turn, the unverified claims that are not supported by the evidence are seen as ‘factual’, just because they align with existing beliefs.

In turn, such news is spread across platforms, gaining more and more traction as it confirms millions of people’s existing beliefs.

The first way by which we can avoid confirmation bias is to first admit that exists. Only once we are aware of when it happens can we look to address it.

In order to avoid confirmation bias, we must look at other points of view and listen to the other side of the argument. However, this must be done with an open mind.

It is also important to surround ourselves with people whose opinions differ from ourselves, even if that makes us uncomfortable. Only then will our existing ideas be challenged. However, we must also acknowledge that we do not necessarily know everything. Therefore, any new information is new knowledge which can help us understand the world around us.

With that said, the best way to avoid confirmation bias is to understand that we cannot know everything. We are only humans and only have access to a limited amount of information at any one time. In turn, it is only logical that our views should and could change over time.

Only when we become open to change and different ideas can look to avoid confirmation bias.

How do you identify confirmation bias?

Confirmation bias is where people ignore information that contradicts their existing beliefs. You can often identify it when people are unwilling to listen to new information or use that information in a way that confirms their belief.

What’s an example of confirmation bias?

A heavy smoker comes across a study that states smoking causes lung cancer. Yet they reject it stating that the study is flawed. However, they later come across another study stating that smoking can cure lung cancer. They state that this study is accurate, thereby aligning with their belief that smoking doesn’t cause harm.

How does Confirmation bias affect our thinking?

Confirmation bias makes us think inside an echo chamber, thereby restricting our ability to think outside the box. It makes it difficult for us to comprehend ideas or beliefs that are outside of our own. Therefore, it can reduce the amount of innovation and progress we make as a society.

On an individual level, it can stall career progress if we cannot adapt to new scenarios. By challenging our existing thoughts and beliefs, we are able to progress, grow our knowledge, and become more rounded individuals.

What is the tendency to seek out and use only confirming evidence called?

What term refers to the tendency of people to choose to pay attention to information that supports what they already believe?

What is it called when we pay attention to only information we think is important or is like that which we already know?

What is an example of confirmation bias?