Personal Research vs. Confirmation Bias

[careful]

i think we should do our own research so we know why we believe what we believe.

[Shawnster]

4 minutes ago, careful said:

i think we should do our own research so we know why we believe what we believe.

Which is hard to do when people start showing conflicting articles from supposed learned people.  It seems that, as with many things today, one can find a website that supports their already formed opinion.  Don't want to wear masks?  Feel masks are unhealthy or make it harder to breathe?  Here is a website with facts to support your position.  Feel masks are important in the fight against Covid?  Feel the claims that it's harder to breathe with a mask are blown out of proportion?  Here is a website with facts to support your position.

 

It seems like, and not with just Covid but with everything, people form an opinion first, then look for websites or facts to support their opinions.  

 

It is funny to see on Facebook how this mask and lockdown debate has fallen along party lines.  There are a few exceptions but, for the most part the pro-mask/pro-lockdown people have the same feelings about Black Lives Matter, LGBT rights, Confederate flags, etc...  Likewise, the anti-mask/anti-lockdown people seem to have the same feelings about Black Lives Matter, LGBT rights, Confederate flags, etc...  It's as if someone has told all these people "If you want to be liberal minded these are the things you must be for and must be against.  If you want to be conservative minded, you must feel the exact opposite on every political matter."  

 

We live in a world where, via social media, everyone has their own echo chamber.  They can voice their opinion and get their opinion fed right back to them.  This emboldens them to continue to be vocal and feel the way they do.  They close their minds to any intellectual conversation and refuse to budge from their point of view.  They are not open to any agreement.  They are polarized on every topic.

 

But they will all claim to be doing research. 

[Bob]

5 minutes ago, Shawnster said:

Which is hard to do when people start showing conflicting articles from supposed learned people.  It seems that, as with many things today, one can find a website that supports their already formed opinion.  Don't want to wear masks?  Feel masks are unhealthy or make it harder to breathe?  Here is a website with facts to support your position.  Feel masks are important in the fight against Covid?  Feel the claims that it's harder to breathe with a mask are blown out of proportion?  Here is a website with facts to support your position.

 

It seems like, and not with just Covid but with everything, people form an opinion first, then look for websites or facts to support their opinions.  

 

It is funny to see on Facebook how this mask and lockdown debate has fallen along party lines.  There are a few exceptions but, for the most part the pro-mask/pro-lockdown people have the same feelings about Black Lives Matter, LGBT rights, Confederate flags, etc...  Likewise, the anti-mask/anti-lockdown people seem to have the same feelings about Black Lives Matter, LGBT rights, Confederate flags, etc...  It's as if someone has told all these people "If you want to be liberal minded these are the things you must be for and must be against.  If you want to be conservative minded, you must feel the exact opposite on every political matter."  

 

We live in a world where, via social media, everyone has their own echo chamber.  They can voice their opinion and get their opinion fed right back to them.  This emboldens them to continue to be vocal and feel the way they do.  They close their minds to any intellectual conversation and refuse to budge from their point of view.  They are not open to any agreement.  They are polarized on every topic.

 

But they will all claim to be doing research. 

Yep, two words to sum up your point: Confirmation Bias. 

Edited July 16, 2020 by Bob

[Tortuga]

Sounds like 2 Timothy 3:1-5...

[Bob]

1 hour ago, careful said:

i think we should do our own research so we know why we believe what we believe.

And to add to what Shawn said, we prefer I think, to be told what to do instead of taking the time to research it, in general. I am like that too myself sometimes. So I am not pointing the finger. 

 

Its just easier and less time consuming. Researching stuff takes time. Since we live in an age of "google it" and instant gratification, if we cannot find answers for an issue in a short period time, we just look for an "expert" to tell us what to believe. 

Edited July 16, 2020 by Bob

[Shawnster]

^ This.  How many times on Facebook (or some other social media) do we see someone ask a question they could have easily found on their own?  I am often tempted to reply with "In the amount of time it took you to post that question on Facebook, you could have looked it up and found the answer yourself."

 

Case in point - I'm on a Facebook group for Witnesses called "Our International Brotherhood."  Someone this week asked the group for a picture of a gadfly.  My initial thought was "You could have typed the same thing into Google and gotten your answer.  Why are you asking for others to do your own research?"

 

Sadly, we see the same thing here.  We love our members but we would rather you do your own research first before asking here.  wol.jw.org has a search feature.  It also has our publication index.  All the research tools are right there for anyone to use.  Instead of relying on a fellow member to do the research for us, we should first take the time to try to look on our own.  Who knows, maybe our members here might not know or they might give the wrong answer.  Some of us remember the old ways and we haven't quite figured out some of the changes and adjustments.  

 

It's quicker, easier, and more seductive to simply ask someone else what the answer is.  It's more beneficial to do the research for ourselves.  

[Tortuga]

Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information that confirms or supports one's prior beliefs or values. It is an important type of cognitive bias that has a significant effect on the proper functioning of society by distorting evidence-based decision-making. - Wikipedia

 

I knew I was right..I just had to look.😁

[Sheep]

1 hour ago, Shawnster said:

^ This.  How many times on Facebook (or some other social media) do we see someone ask a question they could have easily found on their own?  I am often tempted to reply with "In the amount of time it took you to post that question on Facebook, you could have looked it up and found the answer yourself."

 

Case in point - I'm on a Facebook group for Witnesses called "Our International Brotherhood."  Someone this week asked the group for a picture of a gadfly.  My initial thought was "You could have typed the same thing into Google and gotten your answer.  Why are you asking for others to do your own research?"

 

Sadly, we see the same thing here.  We love our members but we would rather you do your own research first before asking here.  wol.jw.org has a search feature.  It also has our publication index.  All the research tools are right there for anyone to use.  Instead of relying on a fellow member to do the research for us, we should first take the time to try to look on our own.  Who knows, maybe our members here might not know or they might give the wrong answer.  Some of us remember the old ways and we haven't quite figured out some of the changes and adjustments.  

 

It's quicker, easier, and more seductive to simply ask someone else what the answer is.  It's more beneficial to do the research for ourselves.  

Ditto. Proverbs 2:4, 5 points out it takes effort to find answers. "Oh, but it's so much easier to just ask someone." True, but how can Jehovah bless our efforts to find answers when there are no efforts to bless?

[EccentricM]

1 hour ago, Shawnster said:

Someone this week asked the group for a picture of a gadfly.  My initial thought was "You could have typed the same thing into Google and gotten your answer.  Why are you asking for others to do your own research?

I've come across that a few times and have been on the receiving end personally, it's quite bewieldering.

[Dustparticle]

3 hours ago, careful said:

i think we should do our own research so we know why we believe what we believe.

We need to have balance in our research and give Jehovah credit where it belongs. Who created our brain?

[Miss Bea]

I’m thinking of bible gems. 
For that, I love this site. It’s like having a big ol get together, and, discussing this weeks bible reading. 
I do my own research, then come to this site. “Wow, I’d never had thought of that.” Like after the part in the meeting, then my brain kicks in. 
Some comments here, hit home.
Then there are the times, I do the Bible reading, read all the research, and nothing has dawned on me. Hit home. Then, I’m not to proud to admit, I will come to this site, looking for something that makes sense to me. 

I just have the best association here! 

[carlos]

I like the idea of researching things before forming an opinion. I try to do that most of the time.

 

But on many subjects I find contradictory statements, all coming for renowned experts. So I often don't know who to believe. I guess many experts are more interested in promoting a political viewpoint than in providing accurate information. Depending on the subject, sometimes the indepth research is word it, other times it simply isn't.

 

For example, with covid19 masks. You will find all kinds of contradicting opinions, all from apparently renowned scientists. We know so little about the virus that probably nobody on earth has the answers right now. But in the end, does it matter? Jehovah says obey the authorities. The authorities say we must wear a mask, I wear it. End of the matter. Or conspiracy theories. Some webs present you with certain evidence. Other webs debunk that evidence. Still others debunk the debunkers. So what should I believe? In the end, no matter if they are true or not, can I do anything to change them? No! So I can better invest my time researching something more useful.

 

Of course I am not saying we should not do research, I'm just saying we need to be realistic and choose our fields of research well.

Edited July 16, 2020 by carlos

[TheCplan]

People are not born as scientists but engineers/problem solvers. We are bias to the information that works. 

[Thesauron]

Confirmation bias has been a problem with Biblical archaeology in the past. So many archaeologists set out to prove that the Bible was right, instead of taking the healthier approach of challenging their dearly held beliefs, and thereby learning something while also, incidentally no doubt, confirming that the Bible was right all along. And some took the opposite approach - believing the Bible to be wrong, they set out to prove it, instead of challenging their beliefs.

[Pjdriver]

Even after you’ve examined both sides Of a matter, it may boil down to how you “feel”,   because the answer may not be conclusive.  Like when someone says, “I can’t prove it, but it has the ring of truth.”

Our backgrounds and personality will influence what “feels right or wrong”. That is why we sometimes have situations where it becomes a matter of conscience....and our “feelings” often differ, even among Christians.

 

In regard to researching subjects, I think that some, not all, but some find research a challenge. I’ve seen this several times when I was trying to encourage some to do their own research instead of asking me every time. I notice they had a hard time understanding where to start on certain topics.  They understood better when the answer was explained to them verbally. I think most can overcome that problem with more effort and help. Not everyone is willing to put forth that effort. 

 

[Pjdriver]

We see confirmation bias in both the religious and political setting.
I guess it boils down to,.....people believe what they “want” to believe. 

We even see that in the case of the first 3 sinners. Satan, Adam and Eve.
 

[Katty]

When it comes to things that are not directly related to Jehovah and his purposes (and even some things that are, because some things won't be revealed until the new system), we have to admit to ourselves that there's a lot that we simply do not know. When it comes to current events all worldly news media has a political agenda. I would even go as far as to say that it's pretty much all propaganda in some form. It presents events in a manipulative way that try to craft how you feel about world events. It only cherry picks stories that back up their narrative, while ignoring stories that contradict it. Sadly, many victims of police brutality have been completely ignored by the media, because they're white, and many black victims of violent crime have been ignored by the media because the perpetrator was black. So many victims have gone without justice, because no one was told be outraged in some cases like they were in others.
When it comes to science, we can't trust many of their results, because scientific research is conducted at Universities, which have become political echo chambers, meaning you can't trust some of the outcomes they present to you, especially when it comes to subjects such as sex or gender, and sexual orientation. Also research has to be funded, and I'm sure those funding research want particular results for their funding. Also, we can't even always trust the historical narrative, as univiersities, again, are politicized, and I think way too many elites think 1984 is a manual rather than a warning and follow the quote "he who controls the past controls the future, and he who controls the present controls the past."Also, there are a LOT of government secrets, conspiracies, and heinous acts committed by very powerful people, some of which might be affecting our own personal lives in one way or another, but these are things that we will likely never know, at least in this system.

That's why it doesn't pay to be dogmatic about our opinions when it comes to world events, scientific research, or  history.

[McKay]

^ This is one reason why I watch the news in an almost “meditative” state. Meaning, I’m constantly filtering everything I hear through a Biblical lens. (Yes, it’s confirmation bias but I’ve already been convinced that the Bible is the only reliable source of truth so whatever.) Beyond that, I don’t completely trust anything a university’s research says, what a think tank decided, or what a politician decrees. To my ears, even though we have to be informed to an extent it’s still ultimately from a demonic source so I never completely believe any worldly research. However, if it happens to agree with the Bible (or at least doesn’t contradict it) then I assume it might be true.