You’ve got to be at least a little skeptical about what you read and hear these days.

At this point in history, most of us have been trained to view things cynically. We know there are companies, organizations, and people trying to make us believe what isn’t true.

Marketing and political propaganda uses psychological principles of attention and sense-making to capture our interest. Then, with our interest held, it attempts to persuade us of a particular truth.

When consuming that information, we accept things that we already believe far more easily than things that are different from our expectations, regardless of evidence or logic to the contrary. Then we look for more evidence that fits our existing world view. We end up seeing and believing more of what we already consume.

That’s confirmation bias: Perceiving and interpreting information in ways that fit and reinforce our pre-existing beliefs.

But it’s certainly not all doom and gloom! We can choose to use confirmation bias wisely to our advantage!

I previously wrote an article, “Using confirmation bias for good, not evil,” that touched on this concept. Since then, more research by the News Literacy Project and my continuing work with Positive Intelligence techniques have lent more support to turning confirmation bias into something helpful.

Here are three tips for using confirmation bias constructively.

1. Intercept your Saboteurs. First, recognize the negative emotion that a situation (including reading or viewing a news article) might be triggering in us. A colleague of mine says, “Know which of your buttons are being pushed.” Once you realize that you might be caught in a survival brain hijacking, you can focus your attention on sensory information. Just 10 seconds of this is often enough to quiet the negative clamor. This gets you out of the grip of negative emotions and lets you see things more clearly.
2. Engage your Sage. Empathy and curiosity are two key Sage-brain powers you can use next. Gently check the situation with empathy for yourself and others. Be curious about how your biases might have been triggered. Be fascinated, instead! Empower your curiosity by asking, “What touched a nerve? What am I not seeing here? How big a deal is this, really? Why would reasonable people be acting—or seem to be acting—in this way? How could I find out what’s actually going on?”
3. Use the Sage Perspective. If you make a habit to look for the positive gift or opportunity in situations that your survival brain tells you are bad, then you will most often find it. Ask, “What is the good side of this? What are people intending?” We humans are flexible and adaptable. We can find opportunities even in some of the worst situations. This gives us hope and makes our interpretations of those situations less black and white.

Doing these three things takes some mental muscle. To build these muscles, spend a few minutes each day practicing “PQ Reps.” These are mental fitness exercises to quiet the survival brain, switch to the positive Sage brain regions, and strengthen the five Sage brain skills associated with those regions: Empathize, explore, innovate, navigate, and activate.

See more about this on my Positive Intelligence coaching page if you are curious.

BTW: This relates to the Personal Mastery success factor for technical leaders!

With just a little better understanding of the psychology behind confirmation bias, you can put a positive filter on it to improve both performance and happiness for yourself and others.

But don’t take my word for it. Engage your curiosity and explore for yourself!

Check your biases and align them with how you want to perceive the world. (Just balance a preference for the positive with the Sage’s clear-headed curiosity!)

When you choose to see the positive, you won’t ignore the negative, but you will be able to see it with a more balanced and practical perspective. And that lets you think and act for greater happiness and performance.

Looking for the positives,
–Steve

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P.S. - I strongly recommend the News Literacy Project for fighting misinformation and disinformation. They are doing an awesome job of educating people—including kids—about how to be savvy consumers of news. Check out their programs.

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