{"id":13626,"date":"2014-08-12T15:09:31","date_gmt":"2014-08-12T19:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.discovermagazine.com\/collideascape\/?p=13626"},"modified":"2014-08-12T15:09:31","modified_gmt":"2014-08-12T19:09:31","slug":"best-way-combat-confirmation-bias","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.keithkloor.com\/?p=13626","title":{"rendered":"What is the Best Way to Combat Confirmation Bias?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If I was 20 years younger and participated in a certain body art trend<\/a>, I might have a tattoo inscribed on my forearm that said something like this:<\/p>\n

https://growthjourneytherapy.com/methods/ Confirmation bias MT @jayphilips<\/a>: “The assumptions you start with dictate the conclusions you arrive at.” @james_christie<\/a> #CAST2014<\/a><\/p>\n

Order Ambien Online \u2014 Josh Meier (@moshjeier) August 12, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

https://worklivelaos.com/img_8751/ As the Skeptics Dictionary notes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Tramadol For Sale Online Confirmation bias refers to a type of\u00a0selective thinking<\/a>\u00a0whereby one tends to notice and to look for what confirms one’s beliefs, and to ignore, not look for, or undervalue the relevance of what contradicts one’s beliefs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is a very human tendency<\/a>. Public debates on contentious topics, such as GMOs and climate change, are rife with confirmation bias. I know that everything I write on such topics is viewed by most readers with preconceptions, which include strong opinions already held about the topic itself, or even about me. \u00a0I’m not really bothered by this, because I don’t see myself as a persuader. I’m not looking to change minds or win you over to any one side of an argument (even when I aim<\/a> to debunk myths<\/a> and misinformation<\/a>). I’m much more interested in \u00a0chronicling and exploring the contours of a particular scientific dialogue or narrative–how it formed<\/a>, how it’s maintained<\/a>, who is shaping it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If, as a result of this, you come to reexamine some of your own assumptions, well, that’s an added bonus.<\/p>\n

So one of the things that’s fascinating to me about confirmation bias is how it manifests itself in media and in those who probably think they are not infected by it.<\/p>\n

For example, the other day I saw a story<\/a> in a Scottish newspaper that reported:<\/p>\n

Tens of thousands of Scots may be suffering from a hidden sickness epidemic caused by wind farms, campaigners have warned.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Purchase Xanax Online Now where have I seen a story like that before? Oh yeah<\/a>! Anyway, I’ve previously looked into<\/a> this new assortment \u00a0of medical ailments characterized as Wind Turbine Syndrome. It is, as the Colbert Report noted<\/a>, an oddly contagious syndrome. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Daily Caller, a conservative media outlet, picked up<\/a> on the Scottish article. I say unsurprisingly because if you plug in “wind turbines<\/a>” into the Daily Caller’s search engine, you’ll see a gazillion articles about their various dangers and the over-hyped claims from greens about wind energy. So it makes sense that a new story about how wind turbines are sickening thousands of people would find its way onto the Daily Caller website.<\/p>\n

This made me curious how the same media entity would view fracking, which is a form of natural gas extraction that many in the green community regard as harmful to human health and the environment. (Some might say the anti-wind and anti-fracking campaigns are tactically similar<\/a>. Campaigners on both sides have been accused of embellishment<\/a> and scaremongering<\/a>.) If you plug in “fracking” in the Daily Caller’s website, you’ll see a gazillion articles downplaying or casting doubt on any studies that found fracking to be harmful.<\/p>\n

Tramadol For Sale Online In sum, the glories of fracking are celebrated at the Daily Caller, while the hazards of wind power are played up. What is going on here?\u00a0Again, from<\/a> the Skeptics Dictionary:<\/p>\n

http://masterfacilitator.com/trainingoverview/ Motivated reasoning is\u00a0confirmation bias<\/a>\u00a0taken to the next level. Motivated reasoning leads people to confirm what they already believe, while ignoring contrary data.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Order Klonopin Online Examples of this abound on Twitter, such as the one case I\u00a0discussed<\/a>\u00a0about the energy writer who has become fixated on wind turbine syndrome (and seemingly unmoved by any concerns about fracking).<\/p>\n

Buy Soma Online To be sure, confirmation bias is not exclusive to any one political persuasion. Prominent skeptics with a liberal worldview can be just as credulous<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Order Ativan Online Of course, it’s always easier to see this in others and not ourselves. I freely admit that I have my own biases and assumptions that I struggle to keep in check. But as a journalist it’s incumbent on me to be mindful this. One way of combatting biases, I’ve found, is to stay in a constant state of intellectual flux, so I can be open to new information and perspectives. Another way is to have expert sounding boards that I trust. These are people whose scholarship I (and many of their peers) respect and whose even-keeled disposition I admire.<\/p>\n

Buy Tramadol 100 Mg Online I’d be curious to hear how you combat your own biases and assumptions on topics that have become ensnared in highly charged debates.<\/p>\n

Order Hydrocodone Online UPDATE: <\/strong>This 2013 essay<\/a> is a thoughtful take on wind turbine syndrome. The author, who has left a comment<\/a> on my post, is employed by the renewable energy industry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diazepam Online Purchase If I was 20 years younger and participated in a certain body art trend, I might have a tattoo inscribed on my forearm that said something like this: Confirmation bias MT @jayphilips: “The assumptions you start with dictate the conclusions you arrive at.” @james_christie #CAST2014 \u2014 Josh Meier (@moshjeier) August 12, 2014 As the Skeptics… https://prosthodontistlasvegas.com/contacts/ Continue Reading…<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2553,2698,2724,2961,2964,2965,3060],"tags":[883,908,1068,1250,1371,1581,1771,1775],"class_list":["post-13626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate-change","category-fracking","category-gmos","category-science","category-science-journalism","category-science-literacy","category-wind-turbines","tag-confirmation-bias","tag-daily-caller","tag-fracking","tag-journalism","tag-natural-gas","tag-science","tag-wind-energy","tag-wind-turbine-syndrome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithkloor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithkloor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithkloor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithkloor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithkloor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithkloor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.keithkloor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithkloor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.keithkloor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}