Confirmation Bias

I find that reading about a particular subject can shine light on a completely unrelated area of life.  Not long ago, I enjoyed an article in an aviation magazine that assessed the factors involved when pilots make really stupid (in hindsight) decisions, often in the face of information that makes the choices made seem ridiculous, especially in light of the tragic outcomes that follow.

See if you can find any application for these human factors revealed in research and aviation experience:

• We tend to "seek out and trust information that confirms what we already think or believe or want to believe, and avoid or discount information that goes against what we believe or want to believe."
• We "are more likely to notice information that we agree with or consider positive rather than focusing in on information that is contrary to our beliefs or goals."
• We "will ask questions so that an affirmative answer supports what (we) want to do."
• We "tend to give a lot more weight to the information that we receive early in a communication over information that is received later."
• The costs of proceeding in our desired course, in the face of more careful alternatives, are often unknown while the costs of not pressing on are often more certain.

I'm pretty sure we are all subject to this form of blindness. As the author says, the first line of defense is being aware of that.  Then we had better work to help our brain jump out of its rut and consider information that just might save us from a world of hurt.  Having people around us we can trust to tell us what we need to hear, not just what we want to hear is an important part of doing this.

Prov. 11:14.

(Quotes taken from "Looking for Confirmation" by Jay Hopkins, Flying, April 2012 pp. 26-28.)