Confirmation Bias: You’ll Believe It When You See It

Confirmation Bias is one of the most pervasive levers of persuasion.

Confirmation Bias significantly affects how your brain sees the world.

Thanks to this psychological error, your brain searches for, interprets, and remembers information that confirms your pre-existing beliefs and opinions.

How Confirmation Bias Works

Confirmation Bias works in two ways:

• Your brain seeks out information that confirms its existing views and beliefs, and
• Your brain interprets new information in a way that confirms your pre-existing beliefs.

In other words, thanks to Confirmation Bias:

(1) We seek out inputs that make us feel our current views are right and

(2) We interpret information–including information that disproves our views–in a way that supports our views.

Confirmation Bias explains how two people can look at the same exact event and interpret it differently. It’s why the same events can be reported to support opposing conclusions by conservative and liberal news outlets.

Our brains definitely don’t like encountering anything that challenges their existing beliefs. Hell, your brain would rather be paid less money just to avoid having to read something it disagrees with.

Confirmation Bias is a way for your Homo Sapiens brain to avoid cognitive dissonance. And as you know, your brain will default to the path of least resistance.

Counter Evidence Doesn’t Matter

Confirmation Bias is so strong that when the human brain is presented with evidence that disproves its beliefs…it won’t matter. Sometimes, it even makes pre-existing beliefs stronger, something known as the Backfire Effect.

For example, in a 2018 study, when people had to follow Twitter accounts that posted opinions different than their own found, those people became more polarized.

Confirmation Bias in Action

How can you use Confirmation Bias to increase your influence? Some ideas:

• Point Out Your Credentials — If you cite credentials before starting a job, your customers will be more likely to notice evidence that you’re professional when you do the work.
• Use Stereotypes to Your Advantage — Find a good stereotype to associate your idea with. For example, if you’re trying to convince a friend to go to concert X instead of restaurant Y on Friday, remind them of that other time you went to a concert and had such a great time. Your friend’s brain will more readily find evidence that a concert on Friday would be so much more fun than a restaurant.
• Frame Your Preferred Path — If you want to convince a co-worker that your path is correct, then frame your viewpoint positively before you dig into it. Introduce it by saying, for example, “this approach will increase sales, decrease churn and increase productivity.” Then, as you’re presenting your idea in more detail, your listeners will more readily soak up the good reasons for choosing that path.
• Reduce Buyer’s Remorse — After a customer has purchased your product, remind them of its benefits. Doing this will increase the odds that customer notices the good aspects of your product more than any blemishes or drawbacks.
• With Yourself — If you want to change your personal narrative, come up with examples where you have acted or done something that aligns with the new narrative. If you want to convince yourself to write more, remind yourself of this and that time I wrote and it was totally painless and so much fun. This will trick your brain into looking for evidence of how you are, indeed, a writer, as you go through your day. And that, of course, will build moment so you actually change your narrative and actions.

Share your insights and tell us how you’ll use Confirmation Bias in the comments!

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