“Confirmation bias is a cognitive bias whereby one tends to notice and look for information that confirms one’s existing beliefs, whilst ignoring anything that contradicts those beliefs. It is a type of selective thinking.”
I don’t know about you guys but I like to think that I’m pretty objective most of the time. I’m a pretty passionate individual so when I think something, it’s usually with a sense of conviction. I have always found it easy to write papers and can generally find support for the argument I’m making regardless of how ridiculous that support might be.
I came across the idea of confirmation bias and it really stuck out to me. Just to give you an example as to how this could work, I’ll give you a personal example. I tend to struggle with a fear of rejection so I have a heightened sense of awareness when it comes to rejection. Because I believe that rejection is much more likely in any given situation than it actually is, I will see rejection in what someone says or doesn’t say to me even if that’s not what they intended at all. I take the data that others would view in a totally different way and spin it to confirm my existing beliefs.
The reality is that we do this a lot as people. We need to really ask ourselves if we are aware as to how we do this. If we are not, then it is quite possible that we will think that we are being objective when that is not the case at all. I have seen confirmation bias come into play in different situations but one common one is when it comes to depression. Some people just have an ingrained sense that nothing is going to work out. These people will look at data that others may see as hopeful and spin it to confirm what they wholeheartedly believe to be true. Pride can also cause a certain confirmation bias. If you believe that you are smarter and better than everybody else, you will find information throughout the day to support your incorrect assumptions.
Confirmation bias should cause us all to take a step back. We all are prone to this in different ways which means that we cannot always trust our thinking. This is tough because it is really easy to trust our own brains. As we confront the reality that our own minds can lead us in the wrong direction, we will be forced to look to a different source for direction. For people who believe in Christ, this can be a liberating revelation but for those who have no source outside of themselves…this can be very unsettling.
Jesus came into the darkness of this world to be the light. The only thing that prevents people from being led by Jesus is the wrong belief that we can see just fine on our own. The reality is that you cannot see just fine on your own but you have every right to believe that you can. My hope for all of us is that we will gradually develop a deeper sense of our need for a source outside of ourselves. My encouragement to you would be to look to Jesus as he is the One who came to lead the blind in ways they have not known. (Isaiah 42:16 “And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground.”)
