Do You Have 'Confirmation Bias'? A Psychologist Breaks Down How To Overcome It

Debates are no longer limited to politicians, high school clubs and awkward Thanksgiving conversations. You probably know we just stated the very obvious unless you've gone sans social media for the last decade (props to you, honestly). While it's challenging to consider other people's opinions—who doesn't love to be right?—it's crucial. However, confirmation bias might be getting in your way, and the kicker is that you may not even know it.

"With confirmation bias, we basically see what we want to see," says Dr. Craig Kain, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist.

Making an effort to recognize confirmation bias is especially important, albeit more complicated, because of algorithms. 

"We live in a world where most if not all of our information comes to us in the form of a feed—Instagram, Facebook, Linked In [and] news aggregators," Dr. Kain explains. "Each of these platforms has its own proprietary algorithm that exists to show us more posts and stories based on what we’ve already seen or what the algorithm determines we will agree with and like. The more we watch what the algorithm suggests, the more it suggests more of the same."

The more we watch, the more similar content the platform pushes our way. It's nice (and perhaps entertaining) to feel validated. However, Dr. Kain shares that confirmation bias can influence how we vote, what we purchase and our opinions of people who are different from us—and not always for the better. So, here are some telltale signs of confirmation bias and tips for overcoming it.

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What Is Confirmation Bias?

"Confirmation bias is basically our mind's tendency to look for evidence to support theories, ideas and beliefs that we have already," Dr. Kain explains. "This is done instead of seeking out information that might challenge our pre-established beliefs."

For example, say you purchase a new car and adore it.

"Suddenly, we see our make and model everywhere," he shares. "It’s probably not because everyone went out and bought the same car we did last weekend. It’s just we are now far more aware of cars that are the same as ours. Seeing them everywhere helps us feel good about our choice to buy one."

However, there could be a less expensive one that's just as good or a more fuel-efficient vehicle that could help you save on gas long-term.

Yet, maybe one is just as good but less expensive or fuel-efficient and saves on gas. Nobody likes buyer's remorse, and doing the heavy lifting of researching a car is yet another item on your to-do list. However, it could benefit you long-term.

"We all carry mental maps in our heads that explain why things happen—our brains like these maps because they require little effort to employ," Dr. Kain explains. "Most of the time, these maps work out well for us because—most of the time—the facts as they are do fit into our map."

However, there's a significant caveat: "Sometimes, our maps are off, and there are things they haven’t accounted for," he adds. "Ignoring information that doesn’t fit our map can lead to deleterious consequences."

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What Are the 3 Types of Confirmation Bias?

Dr. Kain says the most common types of bias center around how we pay attention to, interpret and recall information.

"These biases are deeply rooted in our brain’s evolution-based need to pay more attention to things it perceives as important as opposed to those things our brain determines are not," he explains, sharing that the top three types of confirmation bias are:

• Attention bias. Dr. Kain says this bias involves paying selective attention to things that support our beliefs rather than things that don't. "This includes hearing, seeing, and even smelling things that fit into our belief system and ignoring those things that do not fit," Dr. Kain says.

• Interpretive bias. We fall victim to interpretive bias when we attempt to fit facts, ideas and stimuli that aren't readily apparent into our belief systems rather than asking questions.

• Memory bias. This bias is essentially selective memory. "With memory bias, we remember things that fit into our views and forget those that don’t," Dr. Kain says.

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3 Signs of Confirmation Bias, According to a Psychologist

1. Frequent use of "always" or "never"

"These are 'absolute terms' and block any possibility of things being other than what we already believe," Dr. Kain explains.

2. Bucketing things as either "good" or "bad"

This line of thinking is also black and white.

"Most things in life are grey—not all good nor all bad," Dr. Kain says. "If we find that we only see a person or situation one way, confirmation bias is a real danger. We are likely to only pay attention to information supporting the blackness or whiteness of our belief."

3. Having cloudy memories of past events

Memory can actually make us prone to confirmation bias.

"If we are remembering something from our past, we need to be cautious when we add new details to an old story—especially when it involves filling in gaps we can't recall," Dr. Kain warns.

Related: 8 Common 'Dark Empath' Phrases in Relationships and How To Respond, According to Therapists

How To Overcome Confirmation Bias

1.  Consider the opposite

Dr. Kain suggests having an internal debate with yourself.

"If we are in a situation where we think confirmation bias may be at play, take some time to consider what might happen if the opposite were true," he suggests. "Can we intentionally find data to support a position that is different from our own?"

He recalls teaching an undergraduate statistics class, and most of the students predicted on day one that they wouldn't do well because they "weren't good" at math in high school.

"When I asked students to consider what it would be like if they turned out to be better at statistics than they think, students were puzzled," he continues. "How could that be if they had evidence to support how bad at math they were?"

Simply taking time to reflect on this question was an important first step to rooting out confirmation bias. 

"By beginning to consider there may be another way of looking at things, the students became a bit more willing to accept they might do better in my class than they anticipated when they first walked in the door," Dr. Kain says.

2. Provide an alternative explanation

Is there another reason something might be happening? Dr. Kain spent years asking a client this question. The client believed that people wouldn't like him. He used that as proof whenever he said hi to someone and they didn't respond.

"Of course, they ignored the many people they knew who loved seeing them and were always willing to return a smile," he explains. "When collecting evidence for how unlikable they were, they only focused on strangers or people they barely knew."

Dr. Kain worked with him to come up with another explanation for why someone didn't return the hello. Maybe they were preoccupied or not feeling well.

"Any explanation besides the predetermined one would do," Dr. Kain shares. "The more we practiced creating alternative explanations, the better my client was to consider their theory that people didn’t want to say hi because something was wrong with them wasn’t true."

3. Run your ideas by someone else who can see it from a fresh perspective

Sometimes, it's best to get out of our heads. 

"This is especially advisable when the ideas have to do with self-perception," Dr. Kain explains.

While running a men's support group, Dr. Kain says one of the single members spoke about feeling unnoticed when he went out.

"One night, the whole group decided to go for drinks," Dr. Kain shares. "At the next group meeting, the client, who thought no one noticed him, reported that once again, he didn’t see anyone look his way."

The rest of the group laughed.

"[The members] told him plenty of people were 'checking him out' because they were there to see it," Dr. Kain says. "Oftentimes, the people who know us the best also know better than we do where our confirmation biases lay."

4. Expose yourself to different people

Get out of your echo chamber.

"One of the best ways to avoid confirmation bias is to seek out people, opinions and sources of information that are different from the ones you normally go to," Dr. Kain says. "As we expose ourselves to other people’s beliefs and open up to hearing others out, we become less rooted in the absolute unwavering belief we are right—the basis for confirmation bias."

This step might look like:

• Watching a different news network

• Reading a different newsfeed, paper or website

• Making friends with people from different cultures

"All of these will help shake out the unconscious biases we all carry around that allow us to confirm what we already know and discard anything that may not fit in, even if it might also be true," Dr. Kain shares.

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Source:

• Dr. Craig Kain, Ph.D., licensed psychologist