Research has shown that we have an overwhelming tendency to look for what confirms
our beliefs and ignore what contradicts our beliefs. As scientists, we tend to be more in
tune and look for what confirms our scientific hypotheses. As part of our human nature,
we gravitate toward things that confirm our personal decisions. We like the music we
listen to and do not like the music that does not fit our personal preference. Therefore,
when looking at art, we observe the art that confirms our preconceived notions of what
we consider “good art” versus “bad art.” We look at art we like and ignore art we do not
like.
Using art, we challenge our students at University of Arizona College of Medicine-
Phoenix to evaluate art with different criteria and to think clearly about a response they
might have toward something. We talk about the ability to differentiate between
preference and judgment and discuss differences of opinion about art. We work with
them to turn off our confirmation bias and listen for the deeper meaning. Doing so can
be very rewarding. Only then do we realize that we still may not like something, but we
can appreciate it in a new way. We can then elaborate on this and apply it back to good
patient care, so that we do not bring a biased opinion into the exam room. Sometimes, it
is just a matter of perspective. Canon preformed an experiment to explore the power of
perspective, which speaks to our biases. Six photographers photographed the same
individual, however, each was told something different about him prior to taking his
picture. Look at how this influenced the resulting photographs and read more about the
story here: http://mymodernmet.com/canon-decoy-experiment/. Bottom line – value
your own as well as others’ opinions and respect our differences.
Comments