EOTO 2 Reaction

After reading through a couple of my classmates Each One Teach One presentations, I have decided to my reaction on confirmation bias.

So, what is confirmation bias? Confirmation bias is people's tendency to confirm their beliefs by only

looking at the information that supports their side of the argument. An example of this that effects this class would be only looking at news sources or mainstream medias that align with your political views.

As you can imagine, confirmation bias comes with a multitude of disadvantages. First, it can contribute

to groupthink. Groupthink is when a group of people prioritizes harmony and conformity over critical thinking, which leads to poor decision making. 

Another disadvantage of confirmation bias is that it has and will likely continue to lead to flawed decision making. This can be seen in almost all careers. 

The list of disadvantages that come with confirmation bias can go on and on, but there is also a positive. A positive aspect of confirmation bias is that it eases psychological stress. This is because people don't have to confront the beliefs of others when engaging in confirmation bias.  

According to Tyra's presentation, men tend to engage in confirmation bias more often than women because they are often overconfident. This means that they are more likely to refuse to look at other sides of the argument because they must be right. Women, however, are more likely to focus on the accuracy of the information. However, stereotypes that women have for women can influence their beliefs.

Those that are in the majority tend to experience a false uniqueness effect. This definition is pretty much how it sounds. They believe that their thoughts and ideas are individual to them, but in reality, they are very common. On the other hand, those in the minority tend to experience the false consensus effect. This means that they believe that most others share their same thoughts and ideas, but in reality, they do not.