No Mistakes

 

(image: youtube.com)

Mohanap nan lusot. Whitewashing a mistake is common. This might go back to self-preservation. But then again, we cannot square a circle. There are even instances that we believe on the lies that we say. And the ability to do moral judgment can then become a blur…

After making a mistake people tend to justify their decisions which lead to the mistake even if they know they did the wrong thing. People try to avoid or diminish the feeling of having done something wrong and try to justify their decisions instead of admitting their error.

Worse, there are those who consider that what they are doing is NOT a mistake after all. This is happening everywhere. There are those people who do not have the conscience to the point that they feel that all is well since they do not feel bad about it. One might wonder why there are serial killers and psychology points out that these people are psychopaths – they do not feel any guilt at all. They think that what they do is OK.

What then is confirmation bias? Confirmation Bias is the tendency to look for information that supports, rather than rejects, one’s preconceptions, typically by interpreting evidence to confirm existing beliefs while rejecting or ignoring any conflicting data (American Psychological Association).

This is when you will say that: everybody is doing it so it is alright for me to do such. There is nothing wrong of being late since the boss is always late as well. I will say I was present even if I was not… my friends are doing it so do I. I can lie, anyway it’s a white lie… and so on.

People are susceptible to confirmation bias to protect their self-esteem (to know that their beliefs are accurate). To make themselves feel confident, they tend to look for information that supports their existing beliefs (Casad, 2019).

They then mention legal bases and even literature supporting their preconceived beliefs even if glaring facts are being neglected.

It is then that we go back to the self. We need to revisit what is good and not. We can evaluate what drives us to embrace confirmation bias. What are we protecting for and why?

In the end, the truth will set us free.