EOTO Presentation Reflection 2

 Blog #11

Nathaniel Bryant

April 28th, 2021

EOTO Presentation 2: Confirmation Bias

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Group 3 did a post about 5 Theories including Illusory Truth Effect, Confirmation Bias, Gatekeeping, Agenda Setting, Overton Window, and Spiral of Silence. Of these 5, I chose to evaluate Confirmation Bias and its impact on us and our society. 

Confirmation Bias is an the concept that we, as people, will look for information that will confirm what we already believe about about people, a topic, or an idea. Confirmation Bias has existed for many years and is something that goes hand and with information, disinformation, and misinformation. 

The impact of Confirmation Bias affects just all individuals. This concept reaches all age groups, race groups, and mindsets. Confirmation Bias works everyday through all people who feel the need to have their beliefs proved to themselves. Wanting to check the facts to prove if you are right is a common and rational thing to do and is important for holding beliefs. Confirmation Bias comes in where it becomes a toxic need, for example, citing a hate crime by a particular race or group as a basis of justified hate towards the race or group. This type of bias is extremely dangerous and radicalizes people while making them feel justified. This impact is mostly detrimental is just about every scenario because of how negatively it affects people. This can span from white to black, gay to straight, and old to young. With increased polarization it becomes harder to rationalize and reason with people, driving up tension with others.