EOTO: Confirmation Bias

The Oxford Dictionary defines confirmation bias as the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.  A few decades ago, confirmation bias was not as much of an issue as it is today.  Then, people would go to the library to seek out information or they would look to other people in their lives to find the answers to their questions.  Now, people look to the internet for the answers to their questions.  This method has had some unintended consequences.  

As technology has improved, search engines like Google have customized our search results to what they think best fit us because of other past information that they have on us.  They use what is called a "web crawler" to automatically browse websites and search for keywords and information that may match what a person has searched.  These crawlers make it easier for people to find this information without having to search an abundance of websites before finding real, accurate information.  Next the search engines will rank the pages in the order that they think will be most useful to the user.  Different search engines will rank websites in different ways depending on how reliable and helpful they think the website will be.  Finally, confirmation bias comes into play when the search engines use past information that they have on us to curate the search to what they think we find the most useful and what we are more likely to click on.  The search engines will generate "results that consist only of confirming evidence for search contexts where disconfirming evidence is identified using different terms or phrases."  In other words, the results will show the searcher what they already know that they believe and the search engine will discount other information that opposes this information.  The job of the search engine is to get the searcher to click on the links so that it can gather more data on what the searcher is interested in.  These search engines "are designed to appeal to what they perceive or predict as your values."

Search engines are not the only ones implementing this type of customized search.  This also applies to Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, Twitter, and many others.  Instagram monitors how long people look at posts and which they like so that they can better customize ads and the explore page for their users.  The entire way that Tik Tok's "for you page" works is customized using data like search history, liked videos, and how long before a user swipes away from a video.  As well as, "your age, your gender, your location, the devices you use to access Facebook." They also use "your activity on websites and apps off of Facebook." Facebook accesses search history, photos, and even the microphone (when allowed by the user) to customize the user's Facebook experience.  Twitter does the same using search history and by looking at who the user follows.  

The smart way that technology is being used can have great outcomes and make our lives easier, but like anything when used in the wrong way it can have negative consequences.  While the searches can reflect positive attitudes and viewpoints it can also reflect negative viewpoints.  "If racists and sexists use a phrase often, the search engine may mindlessly reflect their attitudes."  This can lead to people thinking that their viewpoints are normal or popular when really they are uncommon, but the search engine is doing its best to cater to the searcher's opinions.  This is when confirmation bias comes into play.  People seek out information on a topic and search engines will often confirm their opinions because of past internet issue.  This also becomes and easy way for hate groups and people with radical opinions to find each other, group together, and believe that everyone thinks like them and what they think is normal.  This can be a dangerous.  

Overall, confirmation bias hurts us in many ways and we need to really seek out other opinions and thoughts.  This way we are more well-versed in other's ideas and can use them to shape or strengthen their own.  In this age more than ever, it is important to have conversations and be open-minded.