Home Current Events The Destructive Nature and Manipulation of Confirmation Bias
The Destructive Nature and Manipulation of Confirmation Bias

The Destructive Nature and Manipulation of Confirmation Bias

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American Public Education, Inc. (APEI) Chief Marketing Officer, Beth LaGuardia Cooper, contributes this guest blog post about confirmation bias. Beth and I have worked together for 16 years. I consider her an expert about the nuances of social media platforms, their methods of engagement, and their use for marketing and content distribution.

I believe it’s fair to say that many of us were hopeful about the possibilities for this New Year. Unfortunately, the events of last week remind us that we cannot leave 2020 behind and get on with positive progress, personally or professionally, without acknowledging the very challenging work we have ahead of us to do our part to resolve the underlying factors fueling this acrimonious social landscape. Unifying our country is dependent upon dealing honestly and holistically with a number of social issues. This post touches on one of the underlying barriers to our success: confirmation bias.

Some experts are, sadly, less than shocked by the activities at the Capitol. The perfect storm of physical isolation, social media, and the growing influence of powerful individuals and corporate media who hold dear currencies such as relevancy and monetization are all contributing to a dangerous dynamic. This confluence of factors is fueling a new level of confirmation bias in our country that is edging out civil dialogue, unification, and measurable social progress.

By confirmation bias, I mean the collection, weighting, and/or interpretation of evidence to match our current perspective and the tendency to surround one’s self with those who agree with our perspective.

This is a tendency of the human DNA, one that we need to continually examine in ourselves and our environment. No one is immune to this tendency. This is not unlike the discovery process that goes into researching a hypothesis and realizing that we are subconsciously gravitating toward evidence that supports that hypothesis and discounts contrary views.

Today, social and corporate media have driven our confirmation bias to a new level. This goes beyond gaining awareness of our own direct actions to seek similar perspectives and avoid opening ourselves to other perspectives. Both mainstream and independent media are motivated monetarily to feed us more content that mirrors other content we have consumed and engaged with, including opinions disguised as fact.

We feed that as consumers by engaging more with content that is “like” our expressed opinions (for more thorough coverage of this topic, I recommend reading LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media by P.W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking), whether it’s promoted by corporate media outlets we gravitate to or through opinions of our social media followers or friends. We welcome curation and personalization of content, but that personalization can create isolation and extremism, particularly when you factor in the media’s need to promote content that drives more engagement. Content that gets more engagement evokes emotions—anger being at the top.

We’re surrounded by content that has the potential to create profound and sometimes angry reactions. Combine that with the unchecked voice and the anonymity that one achieves (or thinks that one can) on the Internet, and the pot is stirred. Add today’s technology that amplifies the speed and reach of content sharing that is served up in our social media echo chambers, and the pot is boiling.

Thanks to the widespread acceptance of the Internet, we have media sources that do not try to be objective and are incentivized to increase their reach by separating people and adding flames to the fire. Communities of like-minded individuals fester with those who support their narrative but, in doing so, move further away from any possible engagement in civil discourse with counterparts from the other side. Opinions appear to differ wildly with no compromise in sight if you get all of your information from the rhetoric curated for you on social media platforms; and the truth is that the physical isolation of communities due to the COVID-19 pandemic doesn’t help matters.

The situation is attracting attention from psychology and social experts looking at what transpired at the Capitol and bringing accountability to a larger issue that has been bubbling for some time. It is not going away without a painful pivot in direction from those with the power to do something about it. It will require a commitment from all of us who consume information.

What will incentivize those in power to increase civil connections between people with different opinions so we can have productive dialogue, understand our differences, and fix some of the deep fractures that have occurred? What can we do as individuals to recognize and resolve the negative impacts of institutional and social platforms that have also connected us in meaningful and positive ways to each other and have fueled so many societal advancements?

These forces are not all bad, but they are contributing to a dangerous slippery slope if we as a society are unable to see beyond confirmation bias and use our platforms and our voices to come together. Some of the views and actions of people with voices are reprehensible. We don’t need to acknowledge and understand everyone just because they have a voice and a Twitter account.

But we’re drowning out the forums where civil discourse and consensus-building are valued above all. And these very forums may just be the key to progress and healing.

Wally Boston Dr. Wallace E. Boston was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of American Public University System (APUS) and its parent company, American Public Education, Inc. (APEI) in July 2004. He joined APUS as its Executive Vice President in 2002. In September 2019, Dr. Boston retired as CEO of APEI and retired as APUS President in August 2020. Dr. Boston guided APUS through its successful initial accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association in 2006 and ten-year reaccreditation in 2011. In November 2007, he led APEI to an initial public offering on the NASDAQ Exchange. For four years from 2009 through 2012, APEI was ranked in Forbes' Top 10 list of America's Best Small Public Companies. During his tenure as president, APUS grew to over 85,000 students, 200 degree and certificate programs, and approximately 100,000 alumni. While serving as APEI CEO and APUS President, Dr. Boston was a board member of APEI, APUS, Hondros College of Nursing, and Fidelis, Inc. Dr. Boston was appointed to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity by the U.S. Secretary of Education in 2019. He also serves as a member of the Board of Advisors of the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA), as a Trustee of The American College of Financial Services, as a member of the board of Our Community Salutes - USA, and as a member and chair of the board of New Horizons Worldwide. He has authored and co-authored papers on the topic of online post-secondary student retention, and is a frequent speaker on the impact of technology on higher education. Dr. Boston is a past Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the McDonogh School, a private K-12 school in Baltimore. In his career prior to APEI and APUS, Dr. Boston served as either CFO, COO, or CEO of Meridian Healthcare, Manor Healthcare, Neighborcare Pharmacies, and Sun Healthcare Group. Dr. Boston is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, and Chartered Global Management Accountant. He earned an A.B. degree in History from Duke University, an MBA in Marketing and Accounting from Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business Administration, and a Doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. In 2008, the Board of Trustees of APUS awarded him a Doctorate in Business Administration, honoris causa, and, in April 2017, also bestowed him with the title President Emeritus. In August 2020, the Board of Trustees of APUS appointed him Trustee Emeritus. In November 2020, the Board of Trustees announced that the APUS School of Business would be renamed the Dr. Wallace E Boston School of Business in recognition of Dr. Boston's service to the university. Dr. Boston lives with his family in Austin, Texas.

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