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Different Types of Bias: by Shrishty Sehgal

The document discusses 14 common types of cognitive biases that can affect data analysis and decision-making, including confirmation bias, cultural bias, availability bias, hindsight bias, and observer bias. Some of the biases discussed are related to only focusing on information that confirms preexisting beliefs, judging other cultures based on one's own norms, relying more on easily recalled information even if it's not the most accurate, and letting observations be influenced by preconceptions about the subject. Understanding these cognitive biases can help improve objectivity and reduce errors in decision-making.

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Anirudh Nadella
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105 views16 pages

Different Types of Bias: by Shrishty Sehgal

The document discusses 14 common types of cognitive biases that can affect data analysis and decision-making, including confirmation bias, cultural bias, availability bias, hindsight bias, and observer bias. Some of the biases discussed are related to only focusing on information that confirms preexisting beliefs, judging other cultures based on one's own norms, relying more on easily recalled information even if it's not the most accurate, and letting observations be influenced by preconceptions about the subject. Understanding these cognitive biases can help improve objectivity and reduce errors in decision-making.

Uploaded by

Anirudh Nadella
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Different types of Bias

BY SHRISHTY SEHGAL
1. Confirmation bias

Occurs when the person performing the data analysis wants to prove a predetermined
assumption. They then keep looking in the data until this assumption can be proven. E.g. by
intentionally excluding particular variables from the analysis. This often occurs when data
analysts are briefed in advance to support a particular conclusion.
It is therefore advisable to not doggedly set out to prove a predefined conclusion, but rather
to test presumed hypotheses in a targeted way.
2. The Dunning-Kruger Effect.

This particular bias refers to how people perceive a concept or event to be simplistic just
because their knowledge about it may be simple or lacking—the less you know about
something, the less complicated it may appear. However, this form of bias limits curiosity—
people don’t feel the need to further explore a concept, because it seems simplistic to them.
This bias can also lead people to think they are smarter than they actually are because they
have reduced a complex idea to a simplistic understanding.
3. Cultural bias

Cultural bias, also known as implicit bias, involves those who perceive other cultures as
being abnormal, outlying, or exotic, simply based on a comparison to their own culture. Also
known as implicit social cognition, this bias attributes the traits and behaviors of an
individual to a larger group of people. Implicit bias creates attitudes or stereotypes that can
affect or influence our decisions in an unconscious way. This unconscious bias affects many
people because they are unaware of the origins of their baseline of thinking.
4. In-group bias. 

This type of bias refers to how people are more likely to support or believe someone within
their own social group than an outsider. This bias tends to remove objectivity from any sort
of selection or hiring process, as individuals tend to favor those who they personally know
and want to help.
5. Decline bias

The decline bias refers to the tendency to compare the past to the present, leading to the
decision that things are worse, or becoming worse in comparison to the past, simply because
change is occurring.
6. Optimism or pessimism bias

Optimism or pessimism bias. This bias refers to how individuals are more likely to estimate a
positive outcome if they are in a good mood, and a negative outcome if they are in a bad
mood.
7. Self-serving bias.

A self-serving bias is an assumption that good things happen to us when we’ve done all the
right things, but bad things happen to us because of circumstances outside our control or
things other people purport. This bias results in a tendency to blame outside circumstances
for bad situations rather than taking personal responsibility.
8. Information bias

Information bias is a type of cognitive bias that refers to the idea that amassing more
information will aid in better decision-making, even if that extra information is irrelevant to
the actual subject at hand.
9. Selection bias

This bias refers to the way individuals notice things more when something has happened to
make us notice that particular thing more—like when you buy a car and suddenly notice
more models of that car on the road. The car has simply become part of the individual’s
observations, so they tend to observe it more elsewhere (also known as observational
selection bias).
10. Availability bias

Also known as the availability heuristic, this bias refers to the tendency to use the
information we can quickly recall when evaluating a topic or idea—even if this information
is not the best representation of the topic or idea. Using this mental shortcut, we deem the
information we can most easily recall as valid and ignore alternative solutions or opinions.
11. Fundamental attribution error

This bias refers to an individual’s tendency to attribute someone’s particular behaviors to


existing, unfounded stereotypes, while attributing their own similar behavior to external
factors. For instance, when someone on your team is late to an important meeting, you may
assume that they are lazy or lacking motivation without considering internal and external
factors like an illness or traffic accident that led to the tardiness. However, when you are
running late because of a flat tire, you expect others to attribute the error to the external
factor (flat tire) rather than your personal behavior.
12. Hindsight bias

Hindsight bias, also known as the knew-it-all-along effect, is when people perceive events to
be more predictable after they happen. With this bias, people overestimate their ability to
predict an outcome beforehand, even though the information they had at the time would not
have led them to the correct outcome. This type of bias happens often in sports and world
affairs. Hindsight bias can lead to overconfidence in one’s ability to predict future outcomes.
13. Anchoring bias

The anchoring bias, or focalism, pertains to those who rely too heavily on the first piece of
information they receive—an “anchoring” fact— and base all subsequent judgments or
opinions on this fact. For instance, if you tell someone a picture frame costs $20 and they go
to a store that sells it for $15, their anchoring bias will lead them to perceive the $15 frame
as a bargain, even though it may be on sale at a different store for $10. With anchoring bias,
the initial price of the frame will influence a person’s perception of its value.
14. Observer bias

The observer bias occurs when someone’s evaluation of another person is influenced by their
own inherent cognitive biases. Observers, like researchers or scientists, may assess the
outcome of an experiment differently depending on their existing evaluations of the current
subject. Subsequently, the subject that is under observation may alter their behavior if they
know they are being observed. Double-blind studies are often implemented to overcome
observer bias.
Bibliography

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