Confirmation bias as a disinformation strategy in the novel Disorder by Akmal Nasery Basral

Abstract

This study analyzes confirmation bias as a disinformation strategy in Disorder, a novel by Akmal Nasery Basral. The novel portrays how information aligned with pre-existing beliefs is more readily accepted than contradictory evidence, particularly in situations involving social, political, and health-related uncertainty. Literary works provide an important space for examining disinformation because they not only represent social reality but also reveal how meaning, ideology, and public opinion are constructed. This study employed a qualitative descriptive method using a sociology of literature approach, with the researcher as the primary instrument for data collection and analysis. The data consisted of monologues and dialogues that indicate forms of confirmation bias functioning as disinformation strategies. Data were collected through close textual observation and analyzed through data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. The findings show that confirmation bias in Disorder functions not merely as a psychological tendency of the characters but as a disinformation strategy constructed through narrative, dialogue, characterization, and plot conflict. This strategy reinforces subjective viewpoints and constructs manipulative realities, including the symbolic representation of food as an expression of piety and the stereotyping of ethnic Chinese people as the source of the pandemic. These representations reflect communication practices through which selective information reinforces existing beliefs and shapes public opinion. This study extends disinformation research beyond media studies into literary studies by demonstrating how the novel functions as a space for representation, social criticism, and reflection on the mechanisms of public opinion formation and the dissemination of disinformation in the post-truth era.