Mass Media Taking Advantage of Confirmation Bias

Throughout the leadership of the current President of the United States, Donald Trump, there is no doubt that attention has been called to whether or not the information we are seeing within media is coming from biased sources, composed of fake news, or worthy of people's trust at all. This skepticism coming from consumers of the media has raised uncertainty regarding what should be displayed to the public eye. What should really be censored, and how should the decision whether to censor information or not be made? As humans, through our life experiences and personal interpretations, we all have individually formed existing beliefs and fundamental principles that we hold true to ourselves. These beliefs and principles play a role in our decision making and our outlook on the new information we take in. Our brains work in a way where our past interpretations affect the way we interpret new occurrences. Whether we acknowledge it or not, all humans have their own individual biases when it comes to the process of new information, and these biases influence how our brains perceive incoming data. For example, let's say an individual has the preexisting belief that the brand Advil is the most superior form of Ibuprofen medication, and their doctor recommends the drugstore brand of Ibuprofen since it is less costly and consists of the same ingredients that Advil does, making it just as beneficial. This individual, with their consistent notion that Advil is the greatest Ibuprofen company, is in all likelihood going to doubt their doctor's judgment on the matter, which may result in resistance to trust that specific doctor's judgments on matters in the future as well. The process of our preconceived ideas affecting the way we interpret life experiences is called bias. However, bias does not always affect us resulting in skepticism and uncertainty. Often times, the information we take in will confirm to us that our preexisting notions are correct, and those notions become more concrete in our brains. The tendency to believe what reassures us of our existing beliefs is called confirmation bias. While this is sometimes a good thing, we occasionally do receive false information from the people around us and even throughout mass media, and it is easy to be deceived by this false information if it matches up with the beliefs we hold true to ourselves. Humans have a tendency to believe what matches up with their own convictions, whether what they are believing rings true or not. The recent occurrences of mass media releasing questionable information have the ability to manipulate the public by telling them information that they will likely believe due to confirmation bias.