Are You Searching for the Truth, or Just Proof You're Right?
The uncomfortable truth about cognitive dissonance, confirmation bias and our favourite truth-tellers.
Who likes to think they are open-minded? I do! We question the mainstream media, challenge authority, do our own research and pride ourselves on not being one of the sheep. Excellent, although I do love sheep.
That’s all great, but its really interesting to then notice our reaction when someone questions OUR beliefs?
Suddenly, that open mind can slam shut faster than a politician’s diary when the expenses scandal breaks. Why is that?
Here’s a question I sometimes ask people (and myself!), and it’s always interesting to watch the reaction:
Are we genuinely searching for the truth, or just collecting evidence that proves what we already believe?
There’s a HUGE difference.
YOUR BRAIN DOESN’T LIKE BEING WRONG
There’s a psychological phenomenon called cognitive dissonance. It’s the uncomfortable feeling we experience when new information conflicts with something we already believe.
Imagine you’ve followed a particular commentator for years. You’ve watched their interviews, shared their videos, recommended them to friends and perhaps even defended them in a few heated Facebook arguments. Then something happens. They make a claim that doesn’t stack up, or you discover information that challenges their credibility.
Now you’ve got a problem.
Why? Because admitting they might be wrong means admitting YOU might have been wrong about them. Our brains aren’t particularly keen on that. So what do we do? We make excuses, dismiss the evidence, attack whoever raised the question or embark on a six-hour research marathon to find someone, somewhere, who agrees with us.
Congratulations. You’ve just experienced confirmation bias.
You’re no longer investigating. You’re defending.
THE ALTERNATIVE MEDIA HAS ITS OWN SACRED COWS
Here’s something I’ve noticed over the years. People who would never dream of blindly trusting the BBC, CNN, pharmaceutical companies or government officials will sometimes accept almost anything said by their favourite alternative commentator.
Why? Because they’re one of us. They’ve exposed corruption, challenged the establishment and said things others wouldn’t dare say. Perhaps they’ve done some genuinely excellent work. That’s great, but it also comes with a problem.
Being right about one thing doesn’t make someone right about everything.
Someone can expose a genuine scandal and still promote complete nonsense the following week. They can be courageous in one area and deeply compromised in another. They can tell the truth, get things wrong, have financial interests and possess an ego the size of a small European country.
All at the same time.
Human beings are wonderfully complicated, so why do we insist on putting everyone into two categories? Heroes or villains, truth-tellers or liars, on our side or against us?
Since when did questioning the official narrative mean we had to stop questioning the alternative one?
REMEMBER COVID?
For years, we watched politicians, scientists, journalists and public health officials make claims that were challenged, revised or sometimes contradicted by later evidence. Some people questioned those claims immediately, while others defended them fiercely. Families fell out, friendships ended, people lost jobs and conversations became battlegrounds.
Even now, years later, mention COVID at a dinner party and you may as well throw a live grenade into the breadbasket. What interests me from a behavioural perspective is that when evidence challenges a deeply held belief, how many people genuinely reconsider their position and how many immediately search for something that confirms they were right all along?
That question applies to EVERYONE, including those of us who questioned the official narrative.
Being sceptical of authority doesn’t automatically make us immune to manipulation.
ARE YOU FOLLOWING THE EVIDENCE, OR FOLLOWING THE TRIBE?
As a biologist and Behaviour Change Coach, I find this fascinating. Our brains are extraordinarily good at recognising patterns. Unfortunately, they’re also very good at protecting familiar ones.
We become emotionally attached to ideas, identities and communities. Sometimes, without realising it, we stop asking whether something is true and start asking whether it supports our side. It’s no longer about evidence. It’s about belonging.
Not many people want to be the person who stands up in a room full of their friends and says, “Actually, I think we might have got this one wrong.”
That’s a quick way to discover how many friends you’ve really got. Trust me, I can speak from experience! Here’s the irony.
If you pride yourself on being an independent thinker, shouldn’t you be willing to question the people you agree with most?
Otherwise, haven’t you simply exchanged one set of authorities for another?
Same behaviour. Different badge.
THE MOST DANGEROUS WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE?
“I already know.”
Those three little words that can close the door on learning. Once we’re convinced we know the answer, we stop looking. Worse still, we may only look for information that supports it.
With algorithms feeding us more of whatever we already engage with, we can create a very comfortable little world in which everyone agrees with us. How lovely. Until reality comes knocking.
The uncomfortable truth is that we can be intelligent, well-informed and genuinely curious and STILL fool ourselves. I certainly don’t claim to be immune. None of us are. The difference is whether we’re prepared to recognise it.
SO HERE’S MY CHALLENGE
Think of someone whose work you admire. Someone you’ve followed for years, whose opinions you respect and whom you consider courageous, knowledgeable or trustworthy.
Now ask yourself:
What would it take for me to change my mind about something they say?
If your answer is “nothing”, you might want to think about that.
Why? Because that’s not discernment. That’s devotion, and devotion is a rather dangerous substitute for independent thinking.
We don’t need more people telling us what to believe. We need more people willing to examine their own assumptions, acknowledge uncertainty and change their minds when the evidence warrants it.
The truth doesn’t need your loyalty. It needs your willingness to examine it.
WANT TO EXPLORE THIS FURTHER?
I recently joined Brice on her channel for a discussion about these very issues: how easily we become attached to beliefs, why conflicting information makes us uncomfortable and what happens when we stop questioning our own assumptions.
In the next article, I’m going to tackle another uncomfortable question:
You’ve done the research. You know something’s wrong. So why aren’t you doing anything about it?
Why? Because there’s another trap waiting for those of us who spend our lives researching, questioning and exposing what’s happening. We can become so busy uncovering problems that we forget to actually change anything.
That may be the biggest irony of all.
You can know an extraordinary amount about how the world works and still be doing very little to change your own.
READY TO MAKE SOME REAL CHANGES IN YOUR OWN LIFE?
If you have questioned the media, governments, corporations and the people you’ve trusted, the next stage is to question the beliefs and behaviours that are running your own life. That’s where real freedom begins.
My Freedom From Self-Sabotage programme is 10 weeks of intensive, private coaching for women who are ready to recognise their blind spots, break old patterns and start making different choices.
Just a few places remaining for 2026.
Question more. Learn more. Live better.
Catherine Edwards
Biologist | Behaviour Change Coach | Holistic Practitioner | Podcast Host