A tendency to confirm is a cognitive distortion when a person perceives, interprets and remembers information that only confirms their beliefs. This trend is widespread in many areas of life, influencing how people make decisions and shape their beliefs. It even contributes to the development of different problem models of thinking. For example, when in a dialogue our interlocutor refuses to listen to us and ignores facts that contradict his or her point of view
There are four main areas of perception where the tendency to confirm influences people:
- A biased search. Searching for information that reinforces previous opinions and ignoring information that contradicts them.
- Biased approval. A tendency to give more weight to the information that supports beliefs.
- Biased interpretation. We interpret information in a way that supports our viewpoint.
- Biased response. We remember what supports our beliefs and forget what contradicts them.
Here are some examples of this effect:
- Policy. A person usually prefers to spend more time watching news that supports their political position, ignoring the opposite.
- Science. The tendency to confirm has an impact on the conduct of scientific research. Scientists often demonstrate bias in research when selectively analyzing data in a way that allows them to confirm their hypotheses
- Beliefs. The effect affects how people assess their pseudoscientific beliefs. For example, a person who believes in pseudoscientific theories is inclined to deny refuting these theories
- Investing. For example, investor decisions based on evidence supporting their knowledge of the value of certain shares
- Medicine. Physicians often look selectively for information that will allow them to confirm their initial diagnosis while ignoring signs that it may be incorrect
- In general, this effect affects people in different ways and in many areas of life. Various examples show how common this cognitive distortion is and that it can affect anyone.
Why do we tend to confirm
There are two main cognitive mechanisms that are used to explain why people are prone to confirmation:
Avoiding problems - people don't want to know if they're wrong.
Searching for backup - the person wants to know that he is right.
Both of these factors are related to the desire to minimize our cognitive dissonance - the psychological stress that arises when we hold two or more conflicting beliefs simultaneously. For example, avoiding problems helps to cope with cognitive dissonance by ignoring information that is not consistent with our beliefs.
On the other hand, the search for reinforcements encourages us to find support for our original position when confronted with contradictions. Essentially, we try to focus on one hypothesis and ignore any alternative judgments when trying to explain something. This leads to an attempt to simply prove that the original idea is correct, rather than actually being tested.
For example, a doctor who makes an initial diagnosis to a patient, in an attempt to prove that he is right, dismisses other options as meaningless. This is why we have an unmotivated tendency to confirm in situations where there is no emotional reason to favour certain assumptions.
However, this contrasts with a motivated tendency to confirm when we are exposed to this effect under the influence of emotional perception. Our brain suppresses nervous activity in areas related to sensual regulation and emotionally neutral reasoning, leading to the processing of information based on feelings rather than logic.
How to reduce the bias of confirmation
Here are examples of several methods that can be used to reduce the effect of this effect on others:
Encourage people to avoid making assumptions too early. Encourage attempts to process as much information as possible before formulating the first thought.
Hint at various reasons why the other person's thought may be wrong or why alternative hypotheses may be correct. In fact, such a request encourages the person to be more receptive to information that is contrary to their point of view.
Encourage the person to be an active participant in the discussion process and to rely on conscious and emotionally neutral processing of information rather than intuition.
But how can we reduce our own inclination to confirm it? The methods here are very similar to those described above. The first and most important step in overcoming one's own preconception of confirmation is to be aware of one's own process of reasoning.
When thinking about it, you have to constantly ask yourself: "Am I distorting the perception of information by trying to confirm my beliefs? You should avoid prematurely formulating assumptions and force yourself to look for reasons why your initial hypothesis may be wrong.
This kind of work on yourself, in addition to helping you overcome the bias of the confirmation, has another important additional advantage: you are better able to understand the opposite viewpoint. And this, in turn, is crucial for the ability to defend your own position and to communicate constructively on various topics with others, which is quite rare in our time.
So we advise you to be more conscious not only about what you think, but also about how and why you do it. We assure you that this approach will allow you to avoid a huge amount of trouble and achieve much better results in lif