Why Is Everyone So Dumb? - The Confirmation Bias
Channel: Brains Applied
Date: 2019-04-11

Howdy Cowboys,

Another week has gone by and today I'm explaining the reason why you can't have a proper debate on the internet: The Confirmation Bias.

Whenever people look for sources to help themselves in a debate, they will only look for sources that confirm their ideas instead of being a bit more critical about themselves. This is why republicans watch Fox News and liberals like MSNBC.

People also have a tendency to interpret information in a way that benefits them. For example, the youngest self-made billionaire ever: Kylie Jenner. Some people interpret her success as her being a good businesswoman. Others say she just used her family fame. 

Additionally, we remember information in a way that suits ourselves. In an experiment, people had to remember the description of a woman with introvert and extrovert traits. One part of the participants was told the woman worked as a librarian while the other part was told she worked as a sales person. Depending on what group the participants were in, they were more likely to remember the introvert or extrovert traits.

fMRI scans have shown that statements that challenge our beliefs trigger a "pain"-response in our brain. To counter this response, we either try to double down on our beliefs or we try to run from the debate.

The major problem of the confirmation bias is that in our current times, social media creates a "filter bubble". They only show us the things that we want to see, and we will just assume of that those things are, in fact, true. Social media are a confirmation bias on steroids. So get out of that comfort zone and try to doubt what you know from time to time.

Enjoy the ride! Don't forget to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE!

Follow Brains Applied on Instagram (and Twitter):
https://www.instagram.com/brainsapplied/ 
https://twitter.com/BrainsApplied 
 
Music by Bensound.com


References: 
Eyal, N. (2017). Confirmation Bias: Why You Make Terrible Life Choices. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/automatic-you/201710/confirmation-bias-why-you-make-terrible-life-choices
Gale, M., & Ball, L. L. (2002). Does positivity bias explain patterns of performance on wason’s 2-4-6 task?. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (Vol. 24, No. 24).
Harrington, D. F. (1979). A Careless Hope: American Air Power and Japan, 1941. Pacific Historical Review, 48(2), 217-238.
Kaplan, J. T., Gimbel, S. I., & Harris, S. (2016). Neural correlates of maintaining one’s political beliefs in the face of counterevidence. Scientific reports, 6, 39589.
Westen, D., Blagov, P. S., Harenski, K., Kilts, C., & Hamann, S. (2006). Neural bases of motivated reasoning: An fMRI study of emotional constraints on partisan political judgment in the 2004 US presidential election. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 18(11), 1947-1958.