Confirmation bias: why you’re not as open-minded as you think

Your brain isn’t looking for the truth – it’s looking for agreement.

We all like to think we’re rational. Open-minded.
Willing to listen to new ideas.

But in reality, most of us are just looking for someone to tell us we were right all along. This feels so much better.

That is also something called confirmation bias – the tendency to favour information that supports what we already believe. This way, we don’t have to change our opinions about, well, anything, really.

It’s been studied for decades, from classic experiments at Stanford in the 1970s to modern data on political polarization.

The finding? Always the same:

Once we’ve made up our minds, we stop evaluating. We start defending.

We read the article that confirms our worldview and silently nods in agreement – but completely ignore the one that challenges it.

We remember the meeting that went horribly bad – and forget the one where the new idea actually worked.

We ask for feedback – and then disregard anything that doesn’t sound like eternal praise.

And worst of all: we don’t even notice we’re doing it.

It’s actually not arrogance.
It’s a mental shortcut – a way to protect our ego.
But over time, it doesn’t work at all, of course. Rather, it becomes a trap.

You stop learning. You stop adapting.

And one day you realise: you’ve built a very convincing argument … on facts that are not relevant anymore.

The planet turned out not to be flat.
The politician you hate the most turned out to be right.
Those Rocky Mountain oysters turned out not to be the expected seafood after all, but rather deep-fried bull testicles. Yup.

Quick tip:

Catch yourself in the act.
Next time something confirms what you believe – pause. Ask yourself:

“What would I think if this pointed the other way?”

It’s not about changing your mind.
It’s about keeping the door open.

A colourful moment:

A woman once told me over coffee:

“All reds are aggressive. Every single one I’ve worked with.”

I said, “Interesting. What about that quiet team leader from marketing?”
She frowned. “He doesn’t count. He’s calm.”

I said, “But he’s red.”
She paused. “Yeah … but the passive kind of aggressive.”

Confirmation complete.

See you next Wednesday.
//Thomas