A Bias is a tendency, prejudice or inclination for or against someone or something. Some biases are good and helpful, like eating only foods that are healthy for one. Others are less good. This is because bias is often based on stereotypes rather than knowledge or individual circumstances.
Bias are mental "loopholes" our brain takes automatically. Every day, your brain has to make thousands of decisions. And it does not have the capacity for that at all if it has to meet them rationally and based on facts every time. It is much faster to start from stereotypes. But this, on the other hand, means more imprecise and unreasonable decisions.
An example is confirmation bias, which is the brain's tendency to look for and focus on information that supports attitudes you already have, while ignoring facts that contradict those attitudes.
We all have a variety of these biases. On wikipedia you find e.g. a list of over 100 biases that affect our actions and the way we make decisions.
So your brain is far from rational.
Opinions are divided on whether we can do anything about this. Daniel Khanemann and Amos Tversky, who can be said to be the founders of research in the field of bias, do not think it is something to do. As they write in their 2011 book Thinking, Fast and Slow:
"The question that is most often asked about cognitive illusions is whether they can be overcome. The message … is not encouraging.”
Others, however, believe there is hope ahead. In this Atlantic article the author describes how other researchers try to "fight" bias. Among other things. through online courses and video games.
Whether you are pessimistic like Khaneman and Tversky or more hopeful, the first step is to know your own biases.
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