Writing Tip: Don’t fall prey to Confirmation Bias
When you set out to write an article, you will need to have a basic premise in your mind. That premise could be:
🔳 an object
🔳 a person
🔳 a social construct
🔳 a report/announcement
🔳 random musings
Once you’ve honed in on your premise, you’ll have to switch to research mode.
The research you do makes or breaks your article. While you research things, the ‘you’ bit always interferes with your fact-collection process.
It’s referred to as ‘Confirmation Bias’.
Say, for example, you are writing about Dinosaurs.
Firstly, you’ve to set up your research parameters. Research parameters contain:
◼ Period of the premise (past, present, future)
◼ Focus of the premise (historical/social/psychological/etc.)
◼ Available perspectives
Once you’ve finalized your research parameter, you will have to input your search title in your Search Engine. You can also just head to the library.
Due to your Confirmation Bias, you’ll google one of three things about dinosaurs:
1️⃣ Dinosaurs are not real
2️⃣ Dinosaur Facts
3️⃣ Dinosaurs
Depending on what you type into your search engine, it will deliver a skewed Dinosaur information profile. You’ll get:
1️⃣ Dinosaurs are not real — Conspiracy theories
2️⃣ Dinosaur Facts — Historical things like the ‘Cope vs Marsh’, etc.
3️⃣ Dinosaurs — Informational sources (Wikipedia, Natural History Museum, etc.)
Let me show you another example where we google Mark Zuckerberg.
With each search result, you obviously get information. But, is it accurate information though?
That’s something you’ll have to ask yourself while you write a fact-based articles.
Some tips I can give for avoiding Confirmation Bias are:
✅Use knowledge computational engines that only produce facts.
✅Play the devil’s advocate while you research something you detest.
✅Interact with different genres and tones of written material.
✅Never write when you’re emotional.
✅Always get confirmation from more than one legitimate source.
We are complain about ‘fake news’ and their pervasive nature all the time. Complaining doesn’t take much effort. Doing something however is an entirely different story.
There are many content writers/journalists who seem to have decided to give in to their biases and completely disregard the vetting process.
If you’re truly willing to write to inform, don’t give in to your inherent biases.
Happy writing!
Remember to stay vigilant.
