Confirmation Bias

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“Is a bitch!” “Why, you’re saying?” Because it predisposes us to see things in accordance with our beliefs, beliefs are our reality, and even if false we see relationships that promote our beliefs and we even adjust them to validate said beliefs. 

Go ahead, go out to google and do a “define: confirmation bias” and read what it means too and for yourself. Don’t take my word for it, do the search!

Ok, herein lies the philosophy on the subject, we humans no matter our evolutionary status still go all the way back to the time we rose out of the primordial ooze to walk the Earth, we have a sole drive given to us by nature and encoded in our very DNA to … wait for it … you are expecting it right? … “Survive!”

Even today, although we are no longer hunted by nature’s natural predators we still deal with things that relate to that very nature, survival. It may not be about actual life vs. death but when stresses and anxieties hit it relates to that same triggered mental and physical effects from the monkey-mind, i.e., “The boss threatens your job status because you made a mistake,” and you are hit with things from the monkey-mind saying to the lizard-mind, “Oh shit, I am going to die!” This, even with the knowledge and understanding that if you lose your job it is not resulting in your death. That job is gone but you’re still alive and able to keep right on kicking. 

Now, that I have that out and in your mind, consider that confirmation biases are about survival. The only way we drop a belief is if it fails enough that you actually change your ways until the anxieties, fears and and reality change the way of it till you achieve enough successes in both training and experiences that the monkey-mind begins to believe that this new way means you live for another day to do things. 

Ever challenge a person on their beliefs in the dojo and find that even in the face of irrefutable proof, even from that persons respected elders, they just refuse to believe what you put right in front of their face? Yes, and just to set the record, I still find myself questioning and “initially” refusing to believe it when it goes against my grain and yet I have managed to achieve a state where I can let it mull in my mind, giving it it’s due and then changing to allow it to change my belief therefore my reality. 

Do you like magic? I do and I can tell you that most of the magic is about influence, compliance and misdirection that is successful in part because of our natural nature driven drive toward confirmation bias. 

Here is a way to learn how to not interfere with CB, but to recognize it when it hits so you can mull it over, contemplate it and then test, test, test it out to see if it can fit into your beliefs, i.e., reality. 

When you encounter information that triggers anxiety or fear or resentment or indignation or any one or all of,  that you feel in your body and experience in your mind then tell your monkey-mind to hold it, tell it to wait a minute and then consider it or part of it with the question, “In order to fully and completely understand what the other person is saying, writing or presenting in media, etc., you must assume it is true and try to imagine what it could be true of.” Then remember, even if the whole triggers angst in your, curb your knee-jerk responses and then live up to this quote to see if it or any part of it would be true.

Let me close by adding a quote from a professional violence expert:

“If your monkey/tribal brain is working your human/thinking brain is not. If you are feeling emotion, you are not thinking; that part of your brain is turned off. If it is about who did or said it and not what was said, you are in your tribal brain. If you label anyone, it is a tactic to put that person in another tribe specifically so that you don't have to listen to the content.”

“People who disagree with you are rarely stupid. If you cannot effectively, compassionately and convincingly argue the other side's point of view, you are the one in your tribal brain. You are the stupid one.” - Rory Miller at Chiron Blog "Silly Season"

Oh, and if you didn’t look it up: 

Confirmation Bias - the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or strengthens one's prior personal beliefs or hypotheses. It is a type of cognitive bias.

For reference and sources and professionals go here: Bibliography (Click the link)