Bias

Bias refers to a point of view or disposition. All information and points of view represent some forms of bias. The term is often used interchangeably with prejudice and bigotry, which are normally reserved for those cases where a person's disposition is influenced by inner biases to the extent that their views are not subjectively considered neutral or objective, or actually seek to exclude or eliminate consideration or respect for all differing biases and dispositions.

Quotes

• Can science ever be immune from experiments conceived out of prejudices and stereotypes, conscious or not? (Which is not to suggest that it cannot in discrete areas identify and locate verifiable phenemonena in nature.) I await the study that says lesbians have a region of the hypothalamus that resembles straight men and I would not be surprised if, at this very moment, some scientist somewhere is studying brains of deceased Asians to see if they have an enlarged "math region" of the brain.
  • Kay Diaz, in Z, (December 1992)

• This is the essence of the problem. To Dan Rather and to a lot of other powerful members of the chattering class, that which is right of center is conservative. That which is left of center is middle of the road. No wonder they can't recognize their own bias.
  • Bernard Goldberg, in Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News (2001)

• Both social and biosocial factors are necessary to interpret crosscultural studies, with the general proviso that one's research interest determines which elements, in what combinations, are significant for the provision of understanding.
  • Gilbert Herdt, "Bisexuality and the Causes of Homosexuality: The Case of the Sambia"

• Most of us employ the Internet not to seek the best information, but rather to select information that confirms our prejudices.
  • Nicholas D. Kristof, in Would You Slap Your Father? If So, You’re a Liberal in The New York Times (27 May 2009)