Confirmation Bias

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

Getting at the "Truth"

Last week, we began looking at the link of journalism and the truth.  We rely on journalists to report information that is accurate, reliable & true. 

But how do we know, "what is fact/true?"

We first need to look at what circumstances affect how we interpret information - do we hear what we want to hear? Or can we handle the "Truth"?

Learning Objectives

At the end of today's lesson, you will be able to

• recognize how we believe what we want to believe,

• why this can create polarization and prevent agreement

• how it's important to come to fact/truth based on evidence

• reflection is a key element to knowing our own biases

• why learning/acquiring fact affects journalism

How willing are we to be wrong?

We all love to be correct.  Yet, sometimes, when we hear information that doesn't align with what we "just know", we aren't willing to consider the new information as reliable, or factual.  Why?

Because we all are susceptible to biases.

Confirmation Bias

Today we are going to look at the way get stuck in patterns of thinking, despite hearing facts or reliable information, and look at how we can continue to develop our critical thinking skills so that we can challenge ourselves to look behind our biases, and evaluate evidence that challenges us to be open to change.

What do you think the following statement means?

“Once you have built up a perception of the world, you will ignore any information that is opposed… changing the way that you think is going to be quite cognitively costly.”

(Hannah Critchlow)

What do you think  are the implications of her point? Put your answers on your paper!

What you need to do:

Get a piece of paper you can hand in.

Put your name on it.

Read the following/watch and answer the questions carefully. 

WRITE IN FULL SENTENCES!

Watch the video; answer the questions

What happened to the strong believers with information that fell in line with their beliefs?

What happened with the weak believers when they got information that opposed their beliefs?

What happened with strong believers with information that opposed their beliefs?

What happened with the weak believers with information that confirmed their beliefs?

Question:

What happened to the brains of two people who were speaking with each other and they were agreeing on the point they were discussing?

Answer on your paper.

In the video it was said more intelligent people are more likely to change data at will.

Yes

No

At the end of the video...

When people were asked to consider vaccinating their children, and they wouldn't, because they feared their children contracting autism, a different solution was found.  The solution was based on finding a common motive.

On your paper, what did you think of this solution? Why? Is this an easy way to get people to change their ideas?

What does bias mean to you now? Explain your answer.

Watch the next video; answer questions

The video talks about intrinsic bias, which is another form of bias.  Confirmation bias, or the selective collection of evidence, is our subconscious tendency to seek and interpret information and other evidence in ways that affirm our existing beliefs, ideas, expectations, and/or hypotheses. Therefore, confirmation bias is both affected by and feeds our implicit biases.

Pay very close attention to the chart

If low quality evidence is opinion, what

If low quality evidence is equal to opinion, what is high quality evidence equal to?

We tend to discard any evidence that goes against our preconceived ideas
(what we think before we know).

My example: I'm not good at math. I say this easily.
Fact to prove it wrong: I can score above a 7.5 on math exams.
I still say I'm not good at math. What example do you have?

So what's the point?

Why do we need to be aware of our own biases?

Why do we need to know about how to interpret information?

How can we share information "we know" so that our information is regarded as valuable & true?

What relationship does this have to journalism?????

Answer the above questions on your paper.

Finally....

Hand in your paper - if you are done, to my postbox. If you are not yet done, you need to hand it in to my postbox before Friday!