It’s our way of being right, even when we’re not.
We humans are a strange lot. We cling to security, stability, and a sense of sanity in a world that is anything but certain. And to achieve that fragile stability, we filter the millions of bits of information that stream into our lives every single day, shaping them into proof that what we believe must be correct and reasonable.
Enter the confirmation bias.
Have you noticed that you tend to ask Google to confirm what you already believe?
It’s like typing into Google: “Why is red wine so good for you?” instead of “What are the health risks of drinking red wine?”
We do not want neutral truth. We want reassurance. We prompt the machine for the answer we already believe to be true, just to receive emotional support for a decision we have already made.
And when the search engine obligingly spews out thousands of results claiming that red wine is not only good for you but practically a life-saving elixir to be consumed by the gallon, curing everything from the sniffles to bubonic plague, it feels like undeniable proof.
And that is the trick. Proof is not always proof. It is often just our bias nodding back at us.
It is human nature to want to be right.
Even scientists fall prey to confirmation bias - although rarely with bad intentions. It is simply too tempting to cherry-pick research results, sliding inconvenient findings under the rug while highlighting those that support a cherished theory.
Ancel Keys, the nutrition researcher whose work influenced decades of dietary advice, remains a striking example of how selective vision can reshape public policy and collective health. He famously promoted low-fat diets while downplaying data that linked sugar to heart disease.
Back in the mid-1970s Uri Geller burst onto the scene with his supposed ability to bend spoons and keys with his mind. He was a sensation. He was mysterious. A supposed psychic with mind-bending powers..
Except… he wasn’t.
I met Geller in 1975 and watched this sleight-of-hand artist badly fool some True Believers at a book launch in Toronto. When I straightened the key he had just “psychically bent,” he was not a very happy con man.
But because of confirmation bias, even respected laser physicists Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff were deeply taken in.
“But they’re physicists!” some people will cry. “There’s no way Geller could fool them!”
But that is precisely my point.
Physicists are not magicians. They are brilliant in their field, but fraud detection is not their expertise. Deception thrives when we want to believe, and their desire to validate Geller’s supposed gifts blinded them to the obvious trickery. Confirmation bias ruled the day, even when he was repeatedly caught using familiar magician’s tools of misdirection and manipulation.
“He only cheats when his powers won’t cooperate,” one scientist explained.
Which, of course, was all the time.
And that is the problem. It is painfully difficult for any of us, myself included, to escape the filter in our heads that tells us we are right, even when we are clearly wrong. That filter is comforting. It makes the world seem less chaotic and unpredictable.
I see it everywhere. I see it in sports, for example, when my favourite teams are trounced by what I am absolutely certain is bad officiating.
It is amazing, almost comical, how many bad calls are made against the Toronto Blue Jays, while every team they face seems to benefit from umpires who have clearly been bribed to look the other way.
But of course, that is confirmation bias again, because fans of other teams feel exactly the same way about those nasty, cheating Blue Jays. Every fan base believes the calls are always stacked against them.
And it goes deeper. This bias seeps into every corner of human life. It colours the way we view politics, religion, money, even the way we judge people of different races or ethnic groups. If I believe group X is evil or dishonest, the most ordinary behaviour will be twisted to match that belief. A person shopping becomes a thief. A polite smile becomes a smirk hiding sinister intent.
The human brain has a sneaky habit of serving as its own cheerleader, whispering constantly: You were right all along.
Even when we were wrong from the very start.
So what is the answer to this stubborn, natural pull toward what we already accept as true? To paraphrase one of my brilliant teachers, Dr. John Grinder:
It is perfectly fine to strongly believe something, as long as you also make it your mission to search for overwhelming evidence that the opposite is true.
You might be surprised to discover that you have been right all along.
Or that you have been wrong all along.
Either way, at least you will know you are dealing with reality, not just the comforting echoes of your own bias.
Try it this week. Challenge one belief you hold dear. See what happens.
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