You have confirmation bias, believe me

Have you felt this? In the last decade or so, we have all become more and more opinionated on almost all matters humanly possible, particularly in the political arena.

In many democracies across the world, from the UK and the US to India, conservative governments have come to power by the so-called populist vote. The jabs and counter jabs on social media have become increasingly sharper and bitter.

The bickerings — one can hardly call them discussions — on these mediums are hostile and uncivil. There is almost no basis for these arguments on facts and even if facts are used they are used in a manner so as to prove one’s point of view. There is no convincing either side; with each new piece of evidence the sides only dig deeper into their trenches. The outcome of this continually increasing discord is clear to those who want to see it.

I was reading an interesting article on the human distrust of artificial intelligence. Like all things, this too has its proponents and opponents but the funny thing is that when a group of people consisting of both these types were shown multiple films on AI, some showing it as helpful to humans and some as the cause for the fall of our civilisation, the backers became surer of the usefulness of AI and the detractors were convinced that AI was evil.

This phenomenon where we use any data to further cement our own views is called as confirmation bias.

We are all affected to some degree by this bias and if you don’t believe me, then there’s a simple way to find out the truth.

Just think about something (possibly your company or job or government) or someone (possibly your manager) that you adore or detest with ferocity. Done? Good, now take a pen and paper and write down positive things about that who/which you detest or negative things about that which/who you adore.

Take five minutes for this task.

Time’s up.

If your paper is blank, then you have an incurable confirmation bias. More points you can provide, more in control is your bias. Simple!

Do you believe me now? This bias affects every part of our lives from our jobs to our relationships and it is in our interest to keep it in check.

How, you ask? Well, acceptance is the first step and that’s a start. After that, you’ll find a way yourself.

Have fun. Keep reading, keep growing.