Author's Bias

Less biased: Dogs are social creatures by nature,

while cats tend to be less dependent on their owners

for affection and attention. Of course, there are

exceptions to this rule.

Revise logical fallacies, like this hasty generalization one!

Dogs are more social than cats.

example

• not being specific
• making broad statements

Many students are occaisionally

tempted to play games on their

chromebooks during class.

All students play games on their chromebooks during class.

G

eneralizations

example

Congressman Smith was raised

in rural Indiana.

How could these ideas have been expressed

with less bias?

• overstating something
• stretching the truth

E

xaggerations

Congressman Smith was born near the green pastures of Indiana and raised with wholesome family values.

example

L

oaded words

words designed to make

you emotional,either in

a good or bad way

A recent study by the National

Ice Cream Association showed that

65% of Americans prefer

chocolate ice cream.

Chocolate is the best

flavor of ice cream.

O

pinions

example

Look for...

(flipchart)

• the way the author feels or believes
• not neccesarily based on fact

So, you have to find bias before

it tricks you! Here's how...

In each of these scenarios, the author's information is untrustworthy. We cannot accept what they tell us, because we know their opinions are influencing their reporting of information.

biased author #2

Scenario #2: You are interested in buying a new smart phone. Sally Sassafrass is the owner of Phoney's, a cell phone store. You go to Phoney's and talk to Sally, telling her all the features you are looking for in a smart phone. You ask about the iPhone 4S, but Sally talks you out of it and you get something else instead. Later, you find out that Phoney's doesn't carry iPhones. Obviously, Sally is biased against phones her store doesn't sell, and biased towards the phones that they do.

biased author #1

Sally Sassafrass

Scenario #1: Mrs. Gerflunkenflugen is on the committee to select a new book for the 7th graders to read, and must write a report to hand in to the principal. The other teachers on the committee think that the students would enjoy reading "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. Mrs. Gerflunkenflugen's best friend just wrote a 700-page book about the dietary habits of the Tazmanian water beetle. Even though she knows the students would enjoy "The Hunger Games" more, Mrs. Gerflunkenflugen writes in her report that the school should have the 7th graders read "The Fascinating Culinary Proclivities of the Tazmanian Water Beetle."

Mrs. Gerflunkenflugen

biased author #1:

Scenario #1: You want to see a good action movie so you read some movie reviews online. Enrique McPoutypants is a famed movie critic who writes a weekly movie review blog. He does not like Diesel von Mussels, the star of the movie "Robots from Space vs. Giant Lobsters from the Deep", because von Mussels once spilled cocktail sauce all over McPountypants's tie at a fancy Hollywood party. Even though McPoutypants actually really enjoyed the movie, he writes that it was terrible, because he doesn't want Diesel von Mussels to get any money or credit for being a good actor.

The critic is biased against movies which star Diesel von Mussels. You cannot trust his opinion about this movie.

Enrique McPoutypants

but, bias does not belong

in some types of non-fiction

i have no

opinions

bias is not always bad.

humans are not robots.

preference = bias!

do you prefer...

or

cats?

dogs

favorite = bias!

what's your favorite

flavor of ice cream?

what does that mean?

are biased.

YOU

bias is the preference or opinion

that prevents one from approaching

something with a neutral point of view

Identifying Bias

by Ms. Endress