Challenging Confirmation Bias through Creativity and Connectivity | Lexi Jackson | TEDxWUSTL

I grew up a few minutes outside of the town of Springfield Missouri a bustling metropolis nestled in the heart of the Ozark Mountains so not too lively but rated by USA Today as one of the least diverse towns in America while the homogeneity of the region was quite pronounced my childhood experiences are certainly different from what you might assume I could actually be found learning memory games from a group of Japanese businessmen or dancing along to the lively melody of a mariachi band performing in our town square now these our experiences are not typical of

my region but rather they were made possible by a group of change makers who challenged the limitations of cross cultural barriers and borders this group of which my grandmother was a founding member created a cultural exchange program between tlaquepaque Mexico East Esaki Japan and my own hometown of Springfield Missouri this group was composed of cities that were destined to exist a world apart but found the one thing that they all had in common people seeking connection Sister Cities the organization bridged this desire for connection in a creative way cultivating an untraditional childhood for myself in

southern Missouri and leading me to identify the other assumptions in my life worth questioning assumptions that may prevent me from accessing the wealth of information and people that this world has to offer now the hard part about challenging my assumptions is that it's quite difficult it opens you to a feeling of vulnerability that comes with potentially being wrong this leads us to want to pursue knowledge and experiences that already feel familiar to us or confirm what we believe this is actually quite common known as confirmation bias it's the act of seeking knowledge that confirms our

ideas opinions or beliefs that we hold to be true engaging in confirmation bias makes it impossible to question our own assumptions and can actually lead to greater social and intellectual isolation perhaps this is best demonstrated on social media when it comes to social media we cultivate a network of friends and stream of content that reinforces our own opinions without ever enabling them to evolve according to data from the Pew Research Center 47% of conservatives admit that most or all of the political content shared on their feed reflects their own political beliefs additionally 44% of liberals

admit to consistently unfriending or blocking users that share a political content and consistent with their beliefs while these statistics are quite staggering perhaps they're not that surprising as many of us in this room can admit to doing the same thing however confirmation bias is not just limited to our rejection or intake of information as it relates to our own opinions it can actually affect some of the most important decisions in our lives such as the decision to pursue a particular career path according to data from the General Social Survey sons are 2.4 times as likely

and daughters are 1.7 times as likely to pursue the same occupation as one or more of their parents this is because we see our parents occupations as honorable associated with information or activities that feels familiar to us and admirable compelling us to potentially pursue the same occupation without any further consideration of our own before coming into this talk perhaps you didn't see the connection between a decision like pursuing a job and the underlying biases that may have motivated that decision and that's because we're primed to think about bias in one way with one consequence stereotyping

and while this certainly is a large effective bias it's a bias in and of itself today we're going to challenge the biases that we hold about bias starting with the biggest bias of them all my biases might may affect my opinions or decisions but they don't extend outside of those contexts one of the most consequential effects of confirmation bias is actually the creation of associative barriers mental divisions that prevent us from making associations between diverse sets of ideas people or experiences in our life ultimately associative barriers undermine our creative potential and can limit the number

of connections we are able to form between ourselves and others so let's test the strength of our own associative barriers today I'm going to put up a set of three words that are all linked together through some sort of Association to a fourth word when I put up those three words I want you to shout out and don't be afraid what you think that linking word may be so let's start with the first one chocolate ten and fortune what is the word that you think links these all together cookie green square cardboard open box you're

so smart blank white lines sore sweat shoulder exercise okay I'm hearing exercise that's actually a pretty typical response when individuals look at this fourth set of words that's because we apply the same associative pattern that was successful in the first three sets to the way in which we approach the fourth but the correct linking word here is actually cold cold sore cold sweat cold shoulder our associative barriers prevent us from making this connection because we want to utilize frameworks that are already familiar to us we do this all the time think about the last time

you applied a successful study technique to study for a second class even if that study technique wasn't actually designed for the structure of the second class instead of evaluating every problem or decision in our lives in its own unique context we prioritize efficiency and approach every facet of our lives with the same mindset stifling both our creativity and our success so if associative barriers and confirmation bias are such a large issue how can we address these challenges and who is best equipped to address these challenges when it comes to something like social bias we often

identify institutions as the ideal actor because institutions can enact change on a broader level while institutions can certainly be an asset and overcoming confirmation bias they're not the solution institutions are large and slow-moving and therefore must prioritize certain issues above others they employ their own confirmation biases to determine what they believe to be the dominant cause of a certain problem for example as a hospital Network wanted to increase the number of patients that take their medication at the prescribed rate they may identify the dominant cause of that problem to be that many people simply forget

to take their medication however the reason why I forget to take my medication is quite different from the reason why you forget to take yours or you forget to take yours if you forget it all while we all may have the same problem it's caused by distinctly different factors therefore something as broad as an institution isn't actually the best actor equipped to address these challenges particularly something as individualized as confirmation bias institutions can provide helpful opportunities and resources that expose us to new ideas people or places just as sister cities does during its cultural exchange

program however it's ultimately up to us to decide whether or not we are going to absorb those experiences and respond to them in a way that enhances both our creativity and our connectivity the research shows that we don't feel too confident in our ability to overcome our biases on our own we see them as two deeply rooted and unchangeable admittedly overcoming confirmation bias is not a process that can happen overnight it requires a conscious commitment to welcoming diverse sets of information priming your mind to think creatively and dismantling your own associative barriers this process will

have to start and organically but can quickly evolve to be something that is more natural as we awaken the cognitive processes in our brain that can freely associate between diverse sets of ideas the research proves this to be true in a study conducted in 1962 the researcher Mednick welcomed a group of participants who had all lived abroad at some point in their life he then divided these participants into four distinct groups and asked the first group to reflect on their experience living abroad the second to reflect on a time traveling at Brahe abroad the third

to think about the last time they had visited the grocery store and the fourth group wasn't asked to think about any particular situation after the reflection times the four groups were each given the same sets of words that we saw a few minutes ago and asked to form some associations for the group that had reflected on their time living abroad before completing the Association tests they were able to make two times more associations than the control group this is largely a result of that group priming their minds to think creatively and freely when you reflect

on an experience like living abroad a time when you're exposed to individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds you adapt your lifestyle routine to cater to the norms of another place another country you are awakening the same cognitive processes that you employed while abroad to respond to those situations in order to evaluate the problem at hand they also are able to widen their knowledge base and draw from more immediate and diverse knowledge and making associations between those three sets of words so Lexi basically what you're telling me is that I have to live abroad to overcome my

biases and think creatively actually we do not have to have a transformative experience like living abroad to think in a transformative way we can prime our minds to think creatively in everyday activities starting by challenging our own assumptions now I find that it's a lot easier for me to challenge the assumptions of my younger sister than it is for me to challenge my own this is because challenging your own assumptions feels uncomfortable and evokes that same feeling of vulnerability that I mentioned earlier however just like associating it can become a process that feels more natural

over time so in order to prime your mind to think creatively we have to start by stating what those assumptions might be whether those assumptions or our facts or just widely held opinions so let's take the example of dining out so some assumptions that I have about dining out are that restaurants offer meals i order my meal from a menu and a chef prepares my meal for me now I'm going to state the opposite of all of these assumptions even if those statements are widely regarded as untrue so in this case that might be restaurants

do not offer meals I do not order my meal from the menu and a chef does not prepare my meal for me now we have to ask ourselves what information do we need to arrive at the opposite conclusion from what our assumptions would currently suggest in this case it might look something like this a new restaurant opens where customers bring their own ingredients to Co cook alongside other customers sharing ingredients advice or rest peas as needed and then share their meals together in a common dining space not only does this idea challenged all of the

assumptions we hold about dining out but it's also a creative concept that I will be trademarking immediately following this talk now if you're having trouble challenging your assumptions on your own I ask you to reach out to the people in your life that you know can stimulate your creative processes Ralph Waldo Emerson once said if a man can build a better mousetrap write a better book or preach a better sermon than his neighbor but he made his house in the woods the world will make a beaten path to his door that is to say that

no matter how creative we think we are if we don't seek out connection with other individuals who can challenge our assumptions and facilitate our creative processes all of that work will be in vain however there are several ways that we can intentionally form these connections in order to stimulate creative thinking the first is to speak with others outside of our own discipline individuals outside of our discipline do not share the same assumptions or limitations that ourselves and our peers may hold history proves the success of this principle in practice a Salesman from Panasonic took a

set of camcorders from the company to his son's birthday party for his son and his friends to enjoy one of his son's friends held up the camcorder and said this is cool and all but I'm left-handed and the camcorder strap is on the right side so it's difficult for me to use Panasonic then became the first media electronics company to offer a left-handed camcorder second seek out creative people research shows that the most creative people are those that are well-read come from opposite value systems than our own have a zest for life possess strong listening

skills and can see the absurdity and things when we look at this in practice we can look no farther than American steel companies in the 1800s who actually attracted ministers to conduct their hiring processes for them believing that because these ministers came from a strong moral background they could identify the workers with the highest amounts of moral character and strong work ethic finally draw out creativity from those that you meet if you're willing to take on that feeling of vulnerability and share your thoughts opinions ideas and creative challenges with everyone that you meet you may

be surprised at how others reciprocate that vulnerability and offer ideas of their own that you may not have initially considered let's take a local example during the st. Louis World's Fair the ice cream vendor ran out of bulls in which to sell his ice cream the waffle vendor next door offered to sell him some waffles to place the ice cream on in this exchange the waffle cone as we know it was born and the rest is history so I encourage you to reflect what are the challenges in your life that create assumptions that can prevent

you from being creative and connected who is best equipped to help you challenge those assumptions for me that group has always been sister cities who 21 years later is still challenging me to find connections between the different people places and experiences in my own life there laughter and livelihood transform a typical day in southern Missouri into a not so typical day after all how would a typical day and your world look different if you primed your mind to think creatively and motivated yourself to seek connection instead of confirmation thank you you