Confirmation bias: Understanding its effect and how to overcome it

By: Esther Hadassa de Lima

Essay provided by a student in Ben Clark’s Grade 12 English class with a special focus on the study of Psychology.

What is Confirmation bias?

Have you done diets or a specific skincare routine, even if there was evidence that it didn’t work, just because you trusted more in your own beliefs? Do you ever fully believe in your own perspective and point of view, even when there is evidence that your beliefs are wrong? Have you ever made a wrong decision to fully believe and understand your own perspective, instead of trusting other evidence to prove you’re wrong? If you have found yourself in similar situations, you were probably blindfolded by this bias.

Maybe it is your first time hearing about Confirmation Bias, and you might be  wondering what it is. Well, according to the Myers Psychology for AP Textbook, “confirmation bias is a tendency to search for information that supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence.” Essentially, when people do this, they tend to prioritize their own beliefs when encountering evidence that conflicts with them. When listening only to our beliefs, we can have conflicting problems with our friends, make mistakes easily, and make bad choices.

How does this bias affect day-to-day life?

This bias affects people in different ways, which can harm their ability to analyze situations, think critically, and solve conflicts. According to the article “What Is Confirmation Bias and When Do People Actually Have It?” by Koslowski, and Maqueda, “the term has been applied to several different behaviors, including:

1. It can affect people’s ability to analyze data.

People often do not accurately perceive data unless their theory predicts that the data should be there.

1.  It hinders the ability to see negative results.

People with this bias cannot describe what disconfirming results would look like. 

1. It prevents the ability to see results that do not align with their perspective.

Cognitive bias makes people unable to generate disconfirming rather than confirming tests. 

1. This bias makes people continue believing in its point of view, even when contrary information is shown.

When faced with disconfirming data, people continue to maintain rather than relinquish their theory by modifying it to take account of the disconfirming results. 

      5. It can affect the ability to test hypotheses.

In testing their hypotheses, people do not adequately consider alternative hypotheses.”

In short, this bias affects every aspect of a person’s life when making a decision.

Trusting too much in your own views and beliefs can lead to overconfidence. According to Mercier’s book, Cognitive Illusions, trusting in this bias, can impede the formation of well-founded beliefs, reduces people’s ability to correct their mistaken views, and leads them in becoming overconfident people. This overconfidence can increase making mistakes, where a person does not feel the need to prepare for a test, study for the SAT, or even prepare for a job interview. This point of view can interfere with the growth and  success of a person, as their own beliefs hinder their ability to fully analyze the situations.

How to overcome this bias?

There are simple things we can do to stop being blindfolded by confirmation bias.

1. Awareness

The first step to overcome this bias is to understand what it is, its effects, and be aware that you  have this bias. It is important to understand that you have this bias and it impairs your ability to fairly judge the environment, friendships, schoolwork, or even the community around you, so by researching and being aware of it the process to end this behavior is easier. 

     2. Find different points of view.

By getting different points of views and perspectives, you will be able to see from different lenses. Listening to different perspectives can help to counteract this bias. This can be accomplished by listening to other people’s opinions, analyzing, and trying to understand their point of view. By doing this, it is easier to see that it doesn’t need to exist only one “right” perspective, but other perspectives can also be right.

    3. Critical thinking

Cognitive bias can hinder a person’s ability to develop critical thinking, so fostering and practicing critical thinking skills can help individuals recognize and change their biased perspective. Today, critical thinking is highly important when it comes to making decisions, choosing careers, nurturing healthy relationships, and developing soft skills. All these things can affect different aspects of a person’s life and can be hindered when cognitive bias takes place.

    4. Accountability

Establishing relationships that will help you grow is highly important throughout the process of overcoming this bias. Having friends who will hold you accountable can be an additional step to provide an external check on decision-making. These people can help you grow and allow you to see different perspectives, which is something important to overcome this prejudice.

In action

Now, let’s think that an 18 year old girl named Amy has a cognitive bias. She is a high school senior, in the process of applying for college. However, this bias has been affecting her ability to wisely choose the best fit university for her to attend, she believes that only Ivy League colleges will have the best programs for her major and will give her the college social experience that she desires. When talking about it with her AP Psychology teacher, the woman disagrees with Amy and tells her that there are multiple universities that would be good for her to attend, rather than Ivy Leagues, and that maybe this prejudice is cognitive bias, which is harming her ability to analyze all the possibilities available. Amy was conflicted with this conversation and decided to research more about this bias. She talks with her parents and peers, and together they realize that she has this bias. In order to overcome this prejudice, Amy follows the 4 steps to stop being harmed by this bias, and with the help of her friends and family, she defeats this mentality. Now, she realizes that going to Ivy league schools is not the only option for her to spend the next four years of  her life. Now, if you have this bias, it is your opportunity to overcome it, just like Amy did.

References

Hoffman, Bryce. “Confirmation Bias: What It Is and How to Overcome It.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 1 Aug. 2024, www.forbes.com/sites/brycehoffman/2024/07/20/confirmation-bias-what-it-is-and-how-to-overcome-it/. 

        Koslowski, Barbara, and Mariano Maqueda. “What Is Confirmation Bias and When Do 

        People Actually Have It?” Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 1, 1993, pp. 104–30. 

        JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23087302. Accessed 14 Aug. 2025.

Mercier, Hugo. “Confirmation bias–myside bias.” Cognitive illusions. Routledge, 2022. 78-91.

Myers, David G. Myers’ Psychology for AP. Worth Publishers, 2014.