Confirmation bias has always surrounded us, as simple as politics on Fox News. They are a conservative news outlet, which means that most of what is presented to the public will better the Republican party. Furthermore, what they put out in the news is based on their views and beliefs. Britannica's definition of confirmation bias states, “People’s tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with their existing beliefs. This biased approach to decision making is largely unintentional, and it results in a person ignoring information that is inconsistent with their beliefs.”
But then comes the question of what are the positive and negative outcomes from this? First, looking at the bad, the impression of others can become inaccurate and biased. For example, if something has a different political belief, this doesn't make them bad. Secondly, looking at the good, it can be efficient to look for specific things because it takes too long to evaluate information while creating decisions that are unbiased.
beliefs, they block out everything else they don’t believe in. “Individuals with confirmation bias operate in an echo chamber, limiting their ability to think outside the box. It makes it harder for people to understand thoughts or beliefs that differ from their own. As a result, it may limit their ability to innovate and flourish as a society.”
How is this affecting others? For the rich and the poor, those who are well off, some might look into helping others get off their feet to one day achieve the success they have, but it’s not seen very often. While those who are less fortunate tend to hate those more well-off. An example of this is to tax the rich and not the poor. For the old and the young, my generation, in comparison to older generations is more flexible with different viewpoints and beliefs. But from what I’ve seen throughout my life, it’s hard to even talk to older generations about things today because they feel no need to change their beliefs. Like you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, or if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. For males and females although in this century, equality between men and women has made large changes to be equal. There are still issues with women being stereotyped as weaker and letting the men do the work. But it has become more normalized for women to be in the workplace and be in higher positions, unlike 50 years ago when it was looked down upon.
How does this affect my life? I have definitely had confirmation bias on certain that’s what my parents
believed in and what I heard growing up. But now, I try not to let that interfere with my thoughts on the other side of politics. For my friends, I could see someone overlooking/ignoring something to protect me. Or not letting our beliefs affect our friendship because, in my mind, it truly doesn’t matter. For my family, our beliefs are what I grew up around and were some of my first beliefs. Although they were not my own, I was not old enough to understand that concept. For example, my family went to church every Sunday, and I went to Sunday school, too, while I was growing up. After I stopped Sunday school because sports got in the way, I didn’t go to church anymore until I joined a club in high school that made it enjoyable for me. I was biased in how my parents' beliefs on learning about religion differed from mine in that I needed to learn in a more interactive and fun way that made it no longer feel like a chore.
How does this affect my generation? Social media is the largest part of my generation's upbringing. Growing up while having everything online, from real to fake news, has created a takeover of confirmation bias. An example of this is the non-smoking ads popping up on social media due to it being an epidemic for my generation, and those seeing it with real statistics and ignoring it, saying it's not true. Or, going back to politics again, those will repost or share information that confirms their beliefs, which can spread fake news or mess with one's opinion, creating this information to spread even more when it is simply not true or biased.
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