Adviser’s Note: The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this opinion article belong solely to the author and do not reflect the views of The Colt Chronicle Staff, Kinnelon High School, or its students and staff members.
Controversy, when is it bad? When is it good? Well, it seems to be only good when it is not so controversial. The truth is, people are going to hear what they want to hear, which is… their own opinion. When did people become so defensive of their own opinions? Why do people never look at the two sides of the same coin? It is called confirmation bias.
Confirmation bias is seeking information that applies to preexisting beliefs, without listening to contrasting opinions and evidence. Examples of confirmation bias include: restricting what people read for news to what aligns with their political opinion, criminal investigations, and even optimistic people can be involved in confirmation bias because of their lack of acknowledgment of the negative.
Although it is argued that confirmation bias is normal and not a problem in decision-making, it is a threat to everyday life. Gary Klein from Psychology Today provided a hypothetical situation about an Emergency Department physician to prove that bias can happen anywhere: “The staff suspects that the man is seeking prescriptions for pain medication…The physician does give the man a new prescription for a pain reliever and sends the man home—but because he was only looking for what he expected, he missed the subtle problem that required immediate surgery.”
When people experience confirmation bias, it is normal to feel threatened by evidence opposing their own opinion. It is hard to realize the power of being thoughtful when it comes to opinions and their rarity. When someone meets a conflicting opinion, why do they refuse to listen when they can gain new information?
People have a tendency to stick with those who hold the same opinions as them, which may be the cause of this. People are used to being surrounded by others who stay within their beliefs and ideas; they are not used to being challenged. Familiarity means safety; it is a way to avoid conflict. So, when one finally goes toe-to-toe with someone with a contradicting belief, they freeze up and feel intimidated. This is proven by the New York Post, saying that only a quarter of friends disagreed on issues like gun rights, abortion, and immigration.
Confirmation bias is known to occur in politics as well. Keith Bellizzi from UConn Today proved this through the 2016 Gallup poll, where republicans and democrats held a contrast on how the economy was doing: “What had changed was that a new political leader from a different party had been elected. The election outcome changed survey respondents’ interpretation of how the economy was doing – a confirmation bias led Republicans to rate it much higher now that their guy would be in charge; Democrats the opposite.”
Confirmation bias is everywhere, and it is normal for us to try to paint our opinions in a good light. However, when meeting a conflicting opinion, people should be thoughtful rather than defensive.
