Further, these identities influenced the information processed by many individuals. Confirmation bias is the tendency to selectively credit or discredit information depending on an individual’s beliefs, attitudes, etc. We saw this to the extreme over the last year (last 4 really) as misinformation regarding covid has spread faster than the virus itself. Thus, many individuals have formulated their opinions about corona based on their political identities and have confirmed their biases through misinformation.

This unfortunately has created a large divide in our country and I am honestly nervous for our future. We talked last week, in my Social Psych class, about a thesis written by a Yale Law professor. This article was about the spread and effect of misinformation; however, he claimed that the quantity of misinformation had no effect on the radicalization of people. Furthermore, he claimed that people would already be radical and instead use misinformation to fuel their pre-existing biases and beliefs. I find this really interesting in our current climate and I am very curious how accurate his theory would be, in regards to the coronavirus.