ShmoopTube

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We speak student!

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Smoop du jour, brought to you by bias.

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Because everyone else is crazy and we're definitely not wrong.

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Yeah. [ mumbles ]

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All right, check out the following passage.

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[ mumbles ]

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[ mumbling continues ]

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All right, which of the following is the best example of confirmation bias?

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And here are the potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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Okay, here we go.

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Well, people like to believe what they already, uh, well, believe.

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Uncle Jasper knows there are aliens.

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And there's just no telling him otherwise.

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People tend to interpret new information based on those

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existing beliefs.

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Let's check out the potential answers to our question.

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If a child refuses to eat broccoli after tasting it, it means he...

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A - tried the broccoli, B - didn't like that broccoli,

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and C - said, "No more broccoli." Pretty logical.

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But that shows he was objectively making judgments

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based on evidence, - Smart kid.

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That broccoli was disgusting. -

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not confirming an existing bias. So A is out.

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And a person who drives less because of high gas prices

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also isn't interpreting information based on their beliefs.

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They're objectively reacting to the fact

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that gas costs money and they don't wanna spend that money

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and so they don't drive.

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It frees them up to make investments in other places.

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[ cough ] Tesla.

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And hopefully, they're not investing in option D.

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All right, well, option B is tempting because racism

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can be related to confirmation bias,

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but, as is, the answer is incomplete.

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If someone, maybe a racist,

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thought one group wasn't as smart as another and then used

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that bias to explain the difference in test scores,

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that would be confirmation bias.

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But just judging someone on race isn't confirmation bias,

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it's just being a racist.

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Option C is a better example because it

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clearly shows someone choosing incorrect information

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to support existing beliefs.

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Professor Fred wants to believe the Earth

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is 6,000 years old and there's just no way to disprove him.

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So option C is the correct answer.

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But that's just because we're so fair and open-minded.

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[ electronic noises ]

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