"...Words used carelessly, as if they did not matter in any serious way, often allowed otherwised well-guarded truths to seep through."  (Douglas Adams from The Long Dark Tea-time of the Soul, Gallery Books, 1988)

Confirmation Bias

When making any conclusions (or choosing topics for a research paper), it's best to keep in mind the phenomenon of Confirmation Bias.  

Confirmation bias is where if we already believe something to be true, then we will continue to believe it is true, regardless of any evidence to the contrary, and regardless if it were ever true to begin with.  Say you are doing research to prove that the Mayor is a jerk.  Then that's exactly what you will find.  Because you already think she is a jerk, you are more than likely to ignore any information that goes contrary to what you already believe, or if you do notice it, you are less likely to believe it is true.  And this happens even if you are aware of confirmation bias and are trying not to do it.

Confirmation bias can often be seen with new purchases.  You may do all the diligent research to buy that new vehicle, for instance, but once you've made that purchase, you are more than likely to ignore anything that says you may not have bought the best car for your money.  And if you started your research believing that, say, Chevys are better than Fords, then it should come to nobody's surprise that you now have a new Chevy in your driveway... even if a Ford would've been a better choice.

Where confirmation bias is the most obvious is in politics.  When we vote for somebody – when we've made that decision – we tend to ignore all those negative things that may pop up later, no matter how egregious they might be.  A politician could be videotaped waving at the camera while having weird sex on the pitcher's mound with the entire visiting team's bullpen during the third inning of the World Series, and we would be inclined to ignore it if we liked that politician to begin with.  The Devil himself could appear on national TV with the politician stating, "Here's my guy!"  And the politician could even swear his allegiance, right there on national TV, to the Dark Lord, and we wouldn't believe it's true, or at least say, "Well, it isn't that bad.  I bet all politicians do that."  All because of confirmation bias. 

Confirmation bias is also particularly bad with misinformation campaigns.  A politician, for instance, can say something really bad -- and totally untrue -- about her or his opponent.  If you like that politician (or that politician's affiliation) to begin with, or if you don't especially like that politician's opponent (or all the above), then more than likely you're going to believe that information to be true.  Even if there is overwhelming proof that it is not, you will still tend to think it's true, all because of confirmation bias. 

A real-life example of this is that autism is caused by vaccinations.  It isn't.  That's according to the AMA, CDC, WebMD, KidsHealth, The Annals of Internal Medicine, Kaiser Health News, and many other sources, including the Autism Society of America and the American Autism Association (Autism Speaks).  In short, it is backed by years of solid, unbiased research.  On the other hand, Andrew Wakefield, the former British doctor who first published his "findings" in The Lancet that autism is linked to vaccinations, has been totally discredited, even by The Lancet.  The British General Medical Council (Britain's version of the AMA), which investigated Wakefield, found his research to be fraudulent -- he made it up to make money off the lawsuits people would file against the vaccine companies.  Wakefield isn't even allowed to practice medicine anymore.  Yet...  people still believe that autism is caused by vaccines.  Confirmation bias at its worse. 

What can you do about confirmation bias?  Unfortunately, very little.  As stated above, even if you are aware of confirmation bias and are trying not to let it affect your decisions, it still will.  However, we can find ways to minimize its effect.  For instance, just accept that you are never going to like Fords, and then find the best Chevy you can.  Or drive a Subaru.  Trust research.  Realize that you could be wrong.  Perhaps most importantly, realize your own biases, and then avoid topics that involve those biases.  Let's say that you have strong opinions about corporal punishment.  Some call it spanking, but you call it hitting and see it as abuse, no matter what form it is in.  If that's the case, don't choose corporal punishment as a research topic.  Instead, pick something you don't have a strong opinion about, like the World Series. 

Are You Sure?

The other morning, the radio guy warned me (well, not me personally) to avoid a stretch of Highway 30 up by St. Helens "at any cost."  What are we talkin' here?  If it's just because traffic is jammed, heck, I'd be willing to drive up there and sit in traffic for a couple hundred bucks.  Cash on the table, I'd probably do it for less than that.  Let's see... it's about an hour round trip from my house to St. Helens, and if I had to sit in traffic for an hour, at $50 dollars an hour... plus gas, and then I want some profit out of the deal.  Yeah.  It's going to take at least $200.  If it's more than just a traffic problem, though... Once again, what are we talkin' here?  Has a Kraken come out of the Columbia River and it's eating cars as they go down the highway?  If that's the case, yeah, you couldn't pay me enough to go up there... maybe.  I mean, how much are you willing to pay?  I'm not risking my life for $200, that's for sure, but for $200,000?  Maybe.  Half a million?  Well....  A million?  Yeah.  Where's the car keys?

The Clichés Just Keep Coming!

 Countless

As in: There are countless times that I've told students not to use clichés.  The thing is, they are countable.  Just because I'm too lazy to count them doesn't make them "countless."  Even the stars and grains of sand can be counted.  It may take awhile, and it may not be worth the effort just to say you've done it, but they can be counted.

 

"More Than Happy"

What?  Are we now all speaking in New Speak, where we no longer have adjectives to express emotions that go beyond mere happiness?  "Gee, Mildred, when I'm around you I'm Double-Plus Happy!"  If you're more than happy... then what are you?  To aid in your lack of vocabulary, we here at HGP offer the following synonyms:

ebullient, ecstatic, elated, electrified, excited,  exhilarated, exuberant, jovial, joyous, jubilant, overjoyed, thrilled, blissful, delighted, euphoric, breezy, festive, jolly, cheery, cheerful, fun-loving, triumphant, celebratory, enchanted, and charmed. 

We're All Unique in Our Own Ways

Yes, and water is wet in its own way.  So nice of you to clear that up.