IMHO: Confirmation Bias can only be minimized but can never be eradicated

I was getting updates from my Facebook account when one of those Facebook Questions appeared at the right side of my webpage: "How can you remove confirmation bias?" This got me thinking.

So I read on confirmation bias and Wikipedia says:

Confirmation bias (also called confirmatory bias or myside bias) is a tendency for people to favor information that confirms their preconceptions or hypotheses regardless of whether the information is true. As a result, people gather evidence and recall information from memory selectively, and interpret it in a biased way.

Before I reached the end part of the article, I felt so sad to almost depressed. I realized I haven't really actively sifted and operated my thought processes in such a way that I put effort in dealing with my prejudices and biases. Most of the time, I resort to heuristics in solving problems without realizing it. I felt so sad that I had to call in a masseuse to get a relaxing body massage (did-I-just-want-to-hear-all-that-I-want-to-hear-all-this-time-drama, naks).

Before I wallow too much in that newly found depression, I wikipedia'd cognitive therapy and it says that it "seeks to help the patient overcome difficulties by identifying and changing dysfunctional thinking, behavior, and emotional responses. This involves helping patients develop skills for modifying beliefs, identifying distorted thinking, relating to others in different ways, and changing behaviors." I need to be reminded of this again so I can process these feeling and thoughts on a rational, cognitive level. Confirmation bias is similar to self-fulfilling prophecy in that a conclusion you have nurtured so well in your mind will lead your actions to achieve that conclusion. Confirmation bias is your tendency to favor those information that support your conclusion.


This reminded me of one book of Coelho, Like the Flowing River, where there is one essay where he talked about "The importance of the cat in meditation". It read:

Having recently written a book about madness, I was forced to wonder how many things we do are imposed on us by necessity, or by the absurd. Why wear a tie? Why do clocks run “clockwise”? If we live in a decimal system, why does the day have 24 hours of 60 minutes?

The fact is, many of the rules we obey nowadays have no real foundation. Nevertheless, if we wish to act differently, we are considered “crazy” or “immature”.

Meanwhile, society continues to create some systems which, in the fullness of time, lose their reason for existence, but continue to impose their rules. An interesting Japanese story illustrates what I mean by this:

A great Zen Buddhist master, who was in charge of the Mayu Kagi monastery, had a cat which was his true passion in life. So, during meditation classes, he kept the cat by his side – in order to make the most of his company.

One morning, the master – who was already quite old – passed away. His most adept disciple took his place.

- What shall we do with the cat? – asked the other monks.

As a tribute to the memory of their old instructor, the new master decided to allow the cat to continue attending the Zen-Buddhist classes.

Some disciples from the neighboring monasteries, traveling through those parts, discovered that, in one of the region’s most renowned temples, a cat took part in the meditation sessions. The story began to spread.

Many years passed. The cat died, but the students at the monastery were so used to its presence, they soon found another cat. Meanwhile, the other temples began introducing cats in their meditation sessions: they believed the cat was truly responsible for the fame and excellence of Mayu Kagi’s teaching, and in doing so forgot that the old master was a fine instructor.

A generation passed, and technical treatises began to appear about the importance of the cat in Zen meditation. A university professor developed a thesis – which was accepted by the academic community – that felines have the ability to increase human concentration, and eliminate negative energy.

And so, for a whole century, the cat was considered an essential part of Zen-Buddhist studies in that region.

Until a master appeared who was allergic to animal hair, and decided to remove the cat from his daily exercises with the students.

There was a fierce negative reaction – but the master insisted. Since he was an excellent instructor, the students continued to make the same scholarly progress, in spite of the absence of the cat.

Little by little, the monasteries – always in search of new ideas, and already tired of having to feed so many cats – began eliminating the animals from the classes. In twenty years time, new revolutionary theories began to appear – with very convincing titles such as “The Importance of Meditating Without a Cat”, or “Balancing the Zen Universe by Will Power Alone, Without the Help of Animals”.

Another century passed, and the cat withdrew completely from the meditation rituals in that region. But two hundred years were necessary for everything to return to normal – because during all this time, no one asked why the cat was there.

With these thoughts now in my mind, I now have a running question in my head: How many of my decisions have largely involved confirmation biases? Probably a lot.

But my life is so happy now that I realized, maybe pragmatism and confirmation bias work for me. But is that all that is important? Relativity of two coordinates--my life and my happiness.

See the bias?

Blog #18 - Excess Baggage