Concept in Definition ABC

The verb skew has two meanings: to cut something diagonally or to twist something in one direction. Similarly, the noun bias has several meanings. It can be a type of diagonal cut that is made on some garments (in the making of a skirt or a dress). If we want to refer to the orientation of an issue, we will say that it has a certain bias (for example, a debate with a controversial bias).

At the same time, bias may indicate a attitude partial on the part of a person, as occurs with the adjective biased (for example, when someone who should be objective in evaluating her takes an interested position, that is, skewed).

In the different meanings indicated above, the word bias has something in common: there is a deviation in some sense, in a cut, in the aspect that a matter acquires or in the lack of objectivity.

Cognitive bias

In the process of assimilation of information, factors that alter objective knowledge. One of these factors is precisely cognitive bias. Psychologists refer to cognitive biases in reference to the prejudices that we have against reality. Thus, a macho, racist or classist person has an evident cognitive bias, since his assessment of women, people of other races or individuals belonging to a

social class different are based on preconceived ideas and, therefore, their assessments are biased.

Psychologists have studied some of the most common types of cognitive biases (we judge others based on our own values ​​or we tend to analyze the things of others according to the parameters of our profession, among many other deviations or biases).

The idea of ​​media bias or media bias

The means of communication They carry out their informative activity based on objective, rigorous criteria and in theory avoiding any bias or biased attitude. However, in the different communication media certain biases frequently appear that question the informative objectivity.

Some examples could be the following: information that favors a social group determined (for example to entrepreneurs who do advertising in a media), information that benefits the members of a community or an ethnic group or any informational approach that expresses a prejudice in some sense.

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