Earlier today I came across some survey that went against my expectations and prior experience. As I caught myself thinking about it more now, I started to think “I wonder how reliable/reproducible this data is? Maybe the survey wasn’t conducted properly and that explains the results.” In that moment, I realize I wouldn’t have doubted the data if it had confirmed my priors and so, while I was excerising proper skepticism over this data, it revealed how easily I fall into confirmation bias.

As a defense, actually checking the science and validity of every survey or study is really hard and time consuming…but that just goes to show why it’s so important to do so with data that confirms our priors rather than just accept them without thinking. Especially, as I don’t really know of data that would support my position or beliefs other than my own experiences.

I’m grateful for this moment of awareness but I’m all too aware that it will likely soon fade and the next time data comes around that confirms my existing beliefs, I’ll swallow it whole, while quickly passing over what goes against them.