The Power of Confirmation Bias

I've heard people say that bias-training is stupid; because they don’t have any biases (sounds a little biased to me).  Such things are often contextualized.  If we can disarm whatever is…arming us, we might recognize that there are some important (and helpful) things to know and learn about ourselves.

I think this is one of those things:

We all have filters: What do I already believe? Does this new idea or piece of information confirm what I already think? Does it fit in the frame I’ve already constructed? 

If so, I can accept it. 

If not, in all likelihood, I’m simply going to reject it as unreasonable and unbelievable, even though doing so is, well, unreasonable. 

I do this, not to be ignorant, but to be efficient. My brain (without my conscious awareness, and certainly without my permission) makes incredibly quick decisions as it evaluates incoming information…continue here.

-- Brian McLaren