Bias

[8] Thus, cognitive biases may sometimes lead to perceptual distortion, inaccurate judgment, illogical interpretation, or what is broadly called irrationality.

[12] Furthermore, cognitive biases as an example through education may allow faster choice selection when speedier outcomes for a task are more valuable than precision.

[15] Anchoring is a psychological heuristic that describes the propensity to rely on the first piece of information encountered when making decisions.

[16][17][18] According to this heuristic, individuals begin with an implicitly suggested reference point (the "anchor") and make adjustments to it to reach their estimate.

It has been suggested that pareidolia combined with hierophany may have helped ancient societies organize chaos and make the world intelligible.

Rather than operating as objective perceivers, individuals are inclined to perceptual slips that prompt biased understandings of their social world.

Biased search, interpretation and memory have been invoked to explain attitude polarization (when a disagreement becomes more extreme even though the different parties are exposed to the same evidence), belief perseverance (when beliefs persist after the evidence for them is shown to be false), the irrational primacy effect (a greater reliance on information encountered early in a series) and illusory correlation (when people falsely perceive an association between two events or situations).

[38] As understood in social theory, framing is a schema of interpretation, a collection of anecdotes and stereotypes, that individuals rely on to understand and respond to events.

Numerous such biases exist, concerning cultural norms for color, location of body parts, mate selection, concepts of justice, linguistic and logical validity, acceptability of evidence, and taboos.

[47] The halo effect is also present in the field of brand marketing, affecting perception of companies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

[56] Self-serving bias is the tendency for cognitive or perceptual processes to be distorted by the individual's need to maintain and enhance self-esteem.

Studies have demonstrated that this bias can affect behavior in the workplace,[59] in interpersonal relationships,[60] playing sports,[61] and in consumer decisions.

"[64] It exists if the circumstances are sensibly accepted to present a hazard that choices made may be unduly affected by auxiliary interests.

[66] For example, attempts to solicit a bribe or kickback in exchange for favoring a party creates a conflict of interest.

[67] A perceived conflict of interest may also arise in an individual who is offered such a payment, even if it is declined, particularly in situations where the attempt to bribe is not reported.

Lobbying is often spoken of with contempt, the implication is that people with inordinate socioeconomic power are corrupting the law in order to serve their own interests.

The effectiveness of shilling relies on crowd psychology to encourage other onlookers or audience members to purchase the goods or services (or accept the ideas being marketed).

[95] Lookism is stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination on the basis of physical attractiveness, or more generally to people whose appearance matches cultural preferences.

[116] Some have argued that these claims are based upon anecdotal evidence which would not reliably indicate systematic bias,[117][118][119] and have suggested that this divide is due to self-selection of conservatives choosing not to pursue academic careers.

[117][120] There is some evidence that perception of classroom bias may be rooted in issues of sexuality, race, class and sex as much or more than in religion.

The term generally implies a pervasive or widespread bias violating the standards of journalism, rather than the perspective of an individual journalist or article.

Practical limitations to media neutrality include the inability of journalists to report all available stories and facts, the requirement that selected facts be linked into a coherent narrative, government influence including overt and covert censorship,[150] the influence of the owners of the news source, concentration of media ownership, the selection of staff, the preferences of an intended audience, and pressure from advertisers.

[151] Agenda setting describes the capacity of the media to focus on particular stories, if a news item is covered frequently and prominently, the audience will regard the issue as more important.

It is the "process of culling and crafting countless bits of information into the limited number of messages that reach people every day, and it is the center of the media's role in modern public life.

[154] Sensationalism may involve reporting about insignificant matters and events, or the presentation of newsworthy topics in a trivial or tabloid manner contrary to the standards of professional journalism.

The content of school textbooks is often the issue of debate, as their target audience is young people, and the term "whitewashing" is used to refer to selective removal of critical or damaging evidence or comment.

[162][163] The inductive bias of the learning algorithm is the set of assumptions that the learner uses to predict outputs given inputs that it has not encountered.

Players might also intentionally perform poorly to get an advantage in the future (such as a better draft pick, or an easier opponent in a playoff), or to rig a handicap system.

Another form of match-fixing, known as spot-fixing, involves fixing small events within a match which can be gambled upon, but which are unlikely to prove decisive in determining the final result of the game.

[165] Implicit stereotypes are shaped by experience and based on learned associations between particular qualities and social categories, including race and/or gender.