People become prisoners of their assumptions, dismissing anything that contradicts them as nonsense and considering anyone who delivers contradictory information marginal.
Confirmation bias explains why I get hate mail in response to my newsletters and video clips and why your cousin rolls her eyes and leaves the room when you announce that you are no longer going to get mammograms or have a flu shot. The information you and I bring up in these situation often interferes with people’s belief systems, and they don’t like it.
It even explains some of the hostility people experience in doctors’ offices when patients bring up alternatives to traditional medicine such as adopting an optimal diet. A doctor trained to think that diet has nothing to do with health outcomes or that chemotherapy is the only option for cancer patients has invested in those ideas and does not want to hear that they might be wrong.
Confirmation bias can have serious consequences, causing people to make choices that are not in their best interest. I talk to members regularly who have made poor decisions, some of which can be life-threatening, about their health based on their belief that doctors know best. And I’ve talked to many doctors over the years who are devastated about some things they’ve told patients to do based on their beliefs about medical care at the time.
Everyone suffers from confirmation bias, including me. It’s something we should all be mindful of so that we don’t exhibit the same behavior we don’t like in others. It’s helpful to have a little more curiosity and a little less conviction and to focus less on being right about everything and more on investigating and learning new things. Listening, thinking, and researching before responding to new information is one way to prevent confirmation bias from rearing its ugly head.
How should we respond to others who exhibit confirmation bias? The tendency is to dig in and advocate for your position. Bad idea. Instead, ask questions. Invite the person to share information with you. They are often quite shocked that you are willing to listen instead of reacting with the same hostility.
Once the person calms down, you might suggest (gently) looking into the matter a little more. Be careful – as soon as you sound like you are trying to change someone’s opinion, defensiveness will return quickly.
In some cases, the best thing is to do nothing. Smile, agree to disagree, and change the subject. Your goal in life should not be to get everyone to agree with you, and you can’t enlighten people about health who do not want to be enlightened. Don’t lose friends or family over these things, and remember that another person’s health status and outcomes are usually none of your business. What others do is up to them, and it’s often best to wait for teachable moments or until you are asked for information before offering opinions or advice.
Pamela A. Popper
President, Wellness Forum Health
https://wellnessforumhealth.com/
614 841-7700
Email pampopper@msn.com