Seeing What We Want To Believe

If there's one thing I learned in psychology, though there have been many, it is that people often see or hear what they want to believe. Whether that be through confirmation bias, experimentor bias, or really any sort of bias, or even just subconsciously. Though we try to be as open as we can, we really just end up leaning towards the outcome we want anyway. Some people think that this phenomena is jsut because we want to think of ourselves as being right, which may not be far off in some cases. After all, who can truly say that they enjoy being wrong? But personally, I think that people see or hear what they want to believe because it's safer. It's a comfort thing. People may be biased toward their own beliefs or ways of life simply because that's all they've known, that's what they're comfortable with, and that's the way they want things to stay. I have the nagging feeling that this concept is what will remain the longest in my brain, because undoubtedly, I will come across it many times in real life. It's one thing to learn something from a book, but when that concept can be operatively crossed over into real life, that's when you know you have something. Not only will I remember this and hopefully be able to recognize it in others, but I will be able to recognize it in myself. I want to be as open as I possibly can to the world, even if that means seeing what I don't want to believe.