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Views on confirmation bias

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“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

Aristotle’s words still resonate in 2016.

I, just like countless other Americans, vividly remember watching the turmoil in Ferguson, Mo. in 2014 on television. Liberals like me probably tuned in to CNN; conservatives probably flipped to Fox News. While the streets of Ferguson became a literal battleground — with armor-clad riot police, Molotov cocktails and even tanks — there was, and still is, a larger battle happening in America.

The struggle between conservatism and liberalism is not a new one at all: the conservative Loyalists during the American Revolution wanted to stay with Great Britain, while the Patriots yearned for independence (shout-out to the greatest Advanced Placement United States History teacher: Jon Harris at East Meadow High School). However, the ideological divide has certainly deepened in recent years. Unfortunately, this sectarian rift has led to liberals turning to liberal pundits and conservatives turning to conservative pundits to confirm their own pre-set beliefs on a certain issue.

It was in discussing (OK, arguing) this issue with a conservative friend that I first understood that we both also fell prey to listening to arguments we agreed with. After going back and forth for a considerable length of time, I realized that we were both making the same points over and over, heedless of what the other was saying. We did not even bother to examine each other’s points, to assess the validity of statements. Upon doing research, I found that my friend and I — just like countless other Americans — suffered from a mental block of sorts: confirmation bias.

Confirmation bias, or favoring information that confirms deeply held beliefs and ignoring data that disproves or even questions said beliefs, is rampant in contemporary America. Both liberals and conservatives alike are guilty of turning to their trusted news outlets and viewpoints as their only source of receiving information.

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