Followers of this blog know that bias is a recurring topic on these virtual pages. Evaluators must be aware of bias to produce robust work. After this year's elections and the disturbing success of "alternative facts" and "post-factual" phenomena, the topic's importance has been acknowledged way beyond research circles, entering public debates.
Bias affects everyone's judgment - and that includes ourselves! A good way to deal with bias is to know about it, to seek out opinions that conflict with ours (i.e. mine, yours, everybody's), and to keep thinking.
A February 2017 issue of the New Yorker aptly summarises a few recent books on confirmation and "myside" bias. Find it here and read it - it may change your way of seeing things, and help you understand why others may sometimes seem terribly obtuse.
And if you like the idea of a song about the types of bias that may occasionally cloud your mind, have a look at this earlier post.
No comments:
Post a Comment