Bias or prejudice

Bias is a predisposition to tackle a problem or react to people or situations in a certain way. Referring to the “liberal
bias” of the media means one thinks the media has a predisposition to present stories and information in ways that
favor the liberal, as opposed to a conservative, viewpoint. Whether this is a fair charge is something we will
examine in chapter three.
Prejudice refers to judgments that are not based on evidence or study, but are preformed opinions about a
person, group, or issue. Prejudicial views can be either favorable or unfavorable.
Everybody’s worldview includes some biases and prejudices, not the least of which is the general tendency to
see oneself as the center of the universe and one’s culture as the
standard by which to measure all others. We interpret new experiences
through our worldviews and if they are in error, it seems we will be
hopelessly locked into a lifetime of more error. The only way out seems
to be to make a conscious effort to be open-minded, to reflect on our
experience and use our intelligence as best we can to correct our errors
and overcome our biases and prejudices.
Overcoming the effects of preconceived notions is very difficult. The philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650)
believed that the only way to be successful with this hindrance would be to doubt everything one believes and start
over by developing a method that would guarantee absolute certainty. While there have been attempts since to
realize Descartes’ ideal,11 we are more likely to be successful if we abandon the goal of absolute certainty in most
matters and settle for reasonable probabilities. The idea of doing an inventory of one’s beliefs, trying to identify
personal prejudices, is certainly a good one. Awareness of one’s prejudices will not guarantee overcoming them,
but ignoring them will guarantee not making any progress in this area. The best advice may well be that given by
Socrates at his trial over two thousand years ago: always be willing to examine your beliefs and actions. The
unexamined life is not worth living.
If we cannot master our egocentrism and our ethnocentrism--the tendency to think that oneself and one’s
culture are the standards of truth and reality--we will never become critical thinkers. Every society, however,
promotes ethnocentrism and discourages the disputing of traditional beliefs and values. Thus, critical thinking is
likely to be more rare than common, more difficult than easy to achieve.