As defined by Oxford Dictionary, Confirmation Bias is “the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one’s existing beliefs or theories.”
After the 2009 global financial crisis, the company I was working for took a turn for the worse. Sensing impending lay-offs, I decided to re-educate myself by going back to college to study Electrical Engineering. I was 30 years old at that time. Prior to my first day on campus, my beliefs included:
- I won’t be able to complete the program.
- I will be the oldest person at the campus.
- Even upon graduation, I will not land a “good job” nor make “good money”
- My friends and family will look down on me, as though I made a mess of my life
All positive thoughts, eh?! Hitting reset on my life crushed me, it stripped every bit of self-esteem I had. While all my friends were buying homes, travelling, and starting families, I was starting from scratch (at least that’s how I saw it). I can say with certainty that this was the lowest I felt in my life, a depressed state that was preventable.
Take a few limiting beliefs and mix in the human plight of Confirmation Bias and you have the recipe for my state at that time. The model was simple: I would unconsciously search for proof that my existing limiting beliefs were correct while at the same time ignoring any evidence that might prove those beliefs as incorrect.
Let’s revisit my list and add some context:
- Every time I would start a new class, I worried it would be the one that was going to sink me. It didn’t matter that my grades were worthy of the Dean’s List. It didn’t matter that my peers came to me for help. Getting 90% on a test was deemed as luck and easily dismissed. Getting 75% on a lab report was proof I was struggling. Due to Confirmation Bias, any challenge I ran into was treated as proof that eventually I would run into a class that would prevent my graduation.
- I wasn’t the oldest on campus; in fact, I wasn’t even the oldest person in my small graduating class. If 20 students walked by me in the hall, Confirmation Bias would cause me to dismiss the 5 that were my age or older and instead only focus on the 15 students that were younger than me (it is worth noting that I referred to them as “kids”).
- I had done plenty of research prior to enrolling. The primary reason for selecting Electrical Engineering is that I knew it would provide me with multiple career paths. How did I know that, because my brother graduated from the same program and I saw his career flourish in multiple areas. Confirmation Bias caused me to ignore my brother’s success in favour of information I totally made up in my mind. I would often say “it worked for my brother, but that doesn’t mean it will work for me.” My subconscious would ignore the “it worked for my brother” PART; but, accept the “doesn’t mean it will work for me” PART.
- My friends and family were very supportive. They continually told me I was doing the best thing for my future and that they were proud of me for investing in myself. You may think that mattered, but it didn’t. Confirmation Bias would cause me to ignore that feedback, instead focusing on the 1 or 2 times that someone made a “you’re a little old to be in school” wise crack.
For the record, the decision to go back to school was the best decision of my life. It led me to a wonderful career.
So, how do we mitigate this from showing up in our lives? The first step is critical, we must understand that our behaviours always follow our beliefs. Our Actions are based on the Meaning we have applied to the situation. Therefore, to move forward with new behaviours we must first address the existing beliefs as they are what is driving our existing behaviours.
For some, progress can be made with a relatively straightforward approach:
- Understand existing negative beliefs.
- Determine ideal positive beliefs.
- Dissociate from negative beliefs and Associate with positive ones (often called “affirmations”).
- Repeat frequently (daily, if not more often) until you feel progress has been made.
For others (like me) it requires a bit more work, and a better understanding of the PARTS that are working to hold us back. My psyche was working overtime to stop me from going back to school, to stop me from changing. But why would that be? From the logical brain’s point of view this decision was great for my future; and yet, my subconscious was tearing away at me, using every trick it could to get me to stick to the status quo. For people like me, there is no amount of “logic” that will lead to long term success, deeper work is required.
Can you think of a time when you wanted to change but dealt with a mental tug-of-war between your PARTS? How did you overcome it? Did you actually overcome it, or are you just coping? What would it mean to your future if you could address those limiting beliefs?
Rest assured, tools and techniques are available to overcome the limiting beliefs that hold us back. It may be a lot of work, but it will be a worthy endeavor!
Best wishes,
Mike