Conquering Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is something we all suffer to some extent.  Confirmation bias is when we seek evidence, or specifically remember evidence or interpret evidence in a certain way to suit our current point of view.  Anything that disagrees with our point of view, we decide to ignore or discredit or try really hard not to see.  It is a normal human trait and there are valid reasons why we do it but it is detrimental to our creative thinking.  It is those very points of view that we seek to hide oureslves from which most often hold the best creative opportunities.

Your challenge this week is to pick a point of view that you strongly believe in, then to seek out a different piece of evidence each day that goes against this belief.

Not only that but take it further.  Discuss this evidence you discover with a friend or coworker.  Treat it very seriously, as if it could potentially be the keystone that breaks your current belief.  (Your current belief may very well be correct but the aim is to put a serious effort into trying to break it anyway.)

By belief, I don't necessarily mean a religious belief, I really just mean anything that you reasonably hold to be true.  For instance, here are a few beliefs that could be challenged:

• That my current means of travel to work is the best way.
• That I definitely need a television in my home.
• That there is no way I could get up an hour earlier each morning.

You probably have many beliefs about you and the world around you that you don't even realise.  They just seem so natural that you don't even consider them.  But if you can identify them, and if you specifically seek to find evidence against them I reckon you can find quite a bit.

The scary thing is,  breaking a lot of these assumptions is scary at first, but then becomes exciting.  It can be unnerving to accept that you may have been wrong all this time but the liberation and positiveness that soon replaces that will be quite a feeling.  And that new attitude is exactly what we need to fuel our creative thinking. 

So get out there, realise your confirmation biases, break through them and see a whole new world of creative opportunity.

I sense creativity in you.  Use it to it's fullest.