 Two guys are sitting together in a bar in the remote Alaskan wilderness arguing about the existence of God While their old friends, they have very different ideas on God One is a priest and the other is an atheist The atheist says look, it's not like I haven't given God a chance I've even tried the prayer thing. It didn't work The priest asks with some incredulity. Did you really pray? When did this happen? Just last month replies the atheist. I got caught away from the camp in a terrible blizzard I was totally lost and I couldn't see a thing. It was 20 degrees below zero and so I prayed I fell to my knees in the snow and cried out. Oh God if there is a God I'm lost in this blizzard and I'm going to die if you don't help me The priest looks at the atheist puzzled and says Well, then you must believe in God now after all here you are alive The atheist rolls his eyes and replies. No, no, that's not how it happened A couple of Eskimos came wandering by and showed me the way back to the camp So where do such different perspectives come from? Confirmation bias is a tendency to look for interpret and recall information in ways that affirm our preconception Whenever we encounter objective facts on an issue we look at them through the lens of our own beliefs as a result We see and overrate where the two intercepts The bias is strongest for emotionally charged issues or when we search for desired outcomes Wrapped inside popular narratives cultural beliefs and family values a confirmation bias often gets passed on for generations The priest learned from his ancestors that God is behind everything The atheist was raised within a family that believed only in scientific knowledge When we are confronted with unfamiliar or new situations a bias helps us to draw fast conclusions If every encounter with a stranger would require us to think of all sorts of possible outcomes We would not come to any conclusions Economically speaking it would be too costly To survive in a dangerous world We learn to operate like storytelling pattern-seeking animals Each one of us thinking that our story and our head is the right one Today we can afford to slow down and think more deeply about certain issues When we do this we can become aware of our own biases We begin to realize that things are often more complicated than we thought Psychologist Peter Kathart Wasson who coined the term confirmation bias left us with this fun little Hypothesis rule discovery task. Let's see if you can do it What's the rule behind the sequence of numbers two four six and what comes next? Write the correct number and the rule we are looking for in the comments below now fast Psychologist and Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman said a Reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition Because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth Which means if there is time to reflect Slowing down is likely to be a good idea If you like this video and the way we explain the subject subscribe to our channel We try to explain complex subjects in simple language and cartoons to support students all around the world in their learning If you want to support us you can go to www.patreon.com And donate just one dollar from many fans makes a big difference