Confirmation bias is when our brain looks for, interprets, remembers and focuses more on information that seems to support our existing beliefs formed from past experience. Confirmation bias can, for example, underestimate or overestimate threat or danger. The intention is usually positive, but the outcome can be very destructive indeed.
Here are two real life examples of confirmation bias from my work as a psychotherapist in Salisbury
- A man asked for help with a scorpion that had been found in an elderly neighbour’s kitchen in the UK. Although not an animal expert, he had heard enough about scorpions to approach with caution and to ask an expert for help. He explained that he caught in, with some difficulty, in a plastic tub and sealed the lid with tape as extra precaution to prevent escape. The animal facility were used to keeping scorpion in their collection so suggested he bring it to them. He was nervous on the journey do to the potentially dangerous creature on his car passenger seat but knew something had to be done to keep his elderly neighbour safe. Upon handing it over to the animal expert, they were concerned enough to summons no less than 3 colleagues to discuss what should happen next. The man’s nervousness increased when he noticed how concerned they all looked. Apparently the orange and black colour indicated it was of the most dangerous type of scorpion and they all agreed to proceed with extreme caution. Then one of the animal experts screamed, “I can see it jumping in the tub, not only is it extremely dangerous but it is also very angry indeed!” In response the last animal expert to arrive exclaimed, “Just a moment, I can see metal springs at the top of its legs, and a black magnet underneath. It isn’t even real!” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they realised it was actually a plastic fridge magnet! The man who had ‘caught’ it in the first place swore he had chased it with the plastic tub as it first ran across the floor!
The confirmation bias here was of course the man seeing a plastic object running when he believed it was alive. Also 4 animal experts were scared enough to witness ‘anger’ in a jumping scorpion when it was actually bouncing on its’ springs.
- A female client came for her 5th psychotherapy session with me following a history of two abusive adult relationships which proceeded an abusive childhood. We had a good rapport in our therapeutic relationship and she had built a sense of safely in the therapy room. At that time we had a landline phone in our office for which we would switch the ringer off when seeing clients. Unfortunately that day I had forgotten to do this…the phone rang. Feeling embarrassed at my mistake, I started to apologise about the interruption. I got two words out when the client bolted from the chair, opened the door, ran down the corridor and out into the carpark outside. When I caught up with her she was in her car ready to leave.
Her brain had demonstrated confirmation bias by interpreting the phone ringing as a level of threat that triggered the expectation that her ex-partner was about to emotionally abuse her by phone.
In our therapy practice we help clients identify the distortions in their understanding, to challenge their beliefs if they are no longer relevant nor helpful in the present or the future and interpret the world and people around us in a more proportional way.
