Final EOTO: Confirmation Bias

    Every individual has a unique view, a different perspective, and different beliefs that filter what side they may choose to see in different situations. A term most commonly thought of when viewing this is confirmation bias, broadly known as a “tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing belief or theories.” When viewing the layers of confirmation bias, individuals can refer to times within their life when perhaps they made a decision based on their beliefs or had a disagreement with someone who believed differently from them. Regardless of the case, or if an individual was even aware of the fact that they were using confirmation bias, there remains an interesting psychology behind the reasoning of people believing so strongly on something that gives them a sense of comfort when that belief is made true. In life, people need beliefs and opinions to make up their identity, to have a confidence in feeling prepared or predicting an outcome. Psychology plays a huge rule in human nature as far as how they may think in certain ways or perceive things differently from one another, which can all be viewed when exploring the theory of confirmation bias. However, though this term can be sought as a way of life used every day, it can also present problems when individuals become overly confident in their beliefs or opinions that they are blind to the reality of a situation and as a result blind to the facts. For example, my friends and I could have completely different views or interpret things in different ways, on occasion this could lead to a good debate based conversation, in other cases a potential conflict. A person’s beliefs, values, opinions are what builds their own character, so when ideas are brought to question their thoughts, a person may result to a form of defense. This theory can also be brought to discussion by viewing different social classes, genders, races, and generations. Individuals grow up, are raised, value, trust, and communicate differently from one another, this in the end will affect how they choose to side on a particular situation. In my generation, I have grown up receiving much of my news from social media, communicating with my friends over social media sites and embracing new innovative trends. I view my generation as being creative, future focused, skilled in technology and using this to better help our world. However, a view of my generation from an older generations perspective could believe that we spend too much times on our phones, lack necessary skills for future employment, and strayed too far from a traditional way of doing things. In the past months, I experienced confirmation bias by an older generation having certain opinions upon my generation, but when Covid-19 virus broke out, schools were moved to online only. This member from an older generation had younger children, but had no idea of how to successfully assist them with their school work online, struggled to do their own work from online as well, but I was able to assist them and therefore it gave me a sense of confirmation in the idea that I knew my generations skills of technology would be beneficial. In some situations, a person may have a set idea or expectation for how an event will play out, therefore this may cause that person to act differently or make a decision based on their expected outcome. Therefore, regardless of the situation, the individuals involved, confirmation bias can appear, perhaps without you even knowing, but all the same it supports the ideas upon which a person will hold onto their beliefs ever so strongly to have it confirmed and support their thoughts.

https://www.britannica.com/science/confirmation-bias

https://examples.yourdictionary.com/confirmation-bias-examples-in-real-life.html

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/07/190701144324.htm