Confirmation Bias

"Everybody knows [insert random statement that agrees with the speaker here]!"

Posted by PK Fusselman on May 3, 2019

The Dangers of Cognitive Bias

Cognition is how we see the world and process information we receive. It has been a subject of great interest to me for over a decade, but more so in the years following the election of Donald Trump as president (2+ years as of this article). Confirmation bias is:

"... the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one's preexisting beliefs or hypotheses. It is a type of cognitive bias and a systematic error of inductive reasoning."

Or in comic form:

CNN hates Trump and FoxNews is in love with him. Do you believe that? It sure is easy to believe, isn't it? Is Trump a racist? Why? Do you have first-hand knowledge of any event that proves he’s a racist? If so, can you remember a time when you did something that could be considered racist but you know full well you're NOT racist? Of course, you can - that's called bias. You can't escape it.

I regularly watch both CNN and FoxNews. I like to see what both sides are saying and what agendas they are pushing. I like to try to figure out what they are trying to convey in their wording, delivery, and graphics for each story. It's fascinating. Try it yourself.

According to https://mediabiasfactcheck.com, CNN leans left (Democrat) and Fox News leans right (Republican). They also have a lot of ads on their site, which makes me not trust them. Bias alert! Occam's Razor? Sure, I'll go with that one.

Occam's razor (also Ockham's razor or Ocham's razor; further known as the law of parsimony) is the problem-solving principle that essentially states that "simpler solutions are more likely to be correct than complex ones."

    I call bullshit. Quietly. And only to myself and anyone who agrees with me.

    I try not to criticize other people's beliefs. Who is to say I'm right? Who is right? Who is left? Who is wrong? Where are the facts? I decline to say anything because I can't fully believe either side anymore.

    I had a conversation with a close friend of mine. She said she doesn't watch either news station anymore because she can't believe either one is telling the whole truth. She's right. I still watch Fox News more though. Just one show now - "The Five" - https://www.foxnews.com/shows/the-five. Competing ideas from both sides. Four Republican and one Democrat. So the odds aren't equal, that's okay. At least you're getting something from both sides. Heavy sigh. 

    There is hope!

    I found this site. I'm pretty excited about it. I think it's the most accurate (so far in my review of some TRUTH-O-METER™ judgments). I'm not getting any accolades or money from them, so don't write this off. 

    https://www.politifact.com

    Even https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/ says they're the least biased. So I guess their insane amount of ads doesn't mean what I thought it meant, eh?

    Being able to change your mind based on new facts is human. Give it a shot. Try questioning the groupthink in your clan and take some individual responsibility for your decisions.

    Oh no, https://www.politifact.com/ has a ton of ads, too. Now, what do I do?

    Screw it, "The Five" is on.

    Some interesting links.