Confirmation Bias

Do you ever get those tiny nudges from the universe; those little feelings that let you know something additional needs to be considered? I get those, occasionally, with guidance, which gives me that clue to investigate further, if I choose. It generally occurs when I'm currently reading or hearing something that may not be actual or factual for whatever reason. I'm glad guidance does this, even though I feel I'm always in training to understand the whys and wherefores of personalities and "truth."

Lately, over the last few months, it seems guidance has been showing me what it really means to be open minded; seeing both sides of a situation and basing an opinion on the totality of that knowledge; using this to choose what we feel is right for us. Yet, there is also what's right for another or others. This may not always be right for the individual, because of our preconceptions. This is what we see daily in any form of discussion or debate, especially the political or religious commentary we often see on social or news media that tends to express what I call bias cherry picking from the bigger picture. 

As I told a friend: "I find cherry picking seems to be a common thing in many situations." It's because we pick what fits our awareness due to being comfortable with it. We present a point of view that agrees with our point of view and we ignore anything else that may dispute it. This allows us to keep our security blanket and all else becomes immaterial. Our ego may stubbornly reject additional, factual information that may change our mind.

Recently, I read a friend of a friend's comment (quote below), regarding political party ideology, and it pretty much stated what guidance had been showing me. However a terminology was also given that sums up what I've been reading, and intuitively sensing, regarding months of political rhetoric. It was: confirmatory bias.

Quote: For every opinion or belief someone may hold, there will be another party who just as strongly oppose that idea.  Both sides usually claim to sit with the best arguments, the real facts, and the correct world view; and, ironically both sides regard the other as being indoctrinated, blind to the obvious, and outright stupid.  Most people only expose themselves to information that matches their own worldview. It is uncomfortable to do otherwise. This is what is known as confirmatory bias."

I looked into these two words and the proverbial light bulb went off in my mind. "In psychology and cognitive science, confirmation bias (or confirmatory bias) is a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions, leading to statistical errors."

As I mentioned above, it showed me the meaning behind all these little nudges that I've been receiving from guidance to make sure I didn't fall into that trap. Below is a video link which explains more. I hope everyone takes the time to watch it. More importantly, I hope it helps explain why we're often willing to only confirm our beliefs, our comfort zone, instead of taking the effort in looking for data that may logically refute them.

Confirmation Bias
https://youtu.be/B_YkdMwEO5U