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Related Concept Videos

Bias01:22

Bias

Bias refers to any tendency that prevents a question from being considered unprejudiced. In research, bias occurs when one outcome or answer is selected or encouraged over others in sampling or testing. Bias can occur during any research phase, including study design, data collection, analysis, and publication.
In statistics, a sampling bias is created when a sample is collected from a population, and some members of the population are not as likely to be chosen as others (remember, each member...
Halo Effect01:27

Halo Effect

The halo effect is a cognitive bias in which an individual's overall impression influences judgments about their specific traits. This psychological phenomenon leads people to associate positive characteristics with those they perceive as generally good and negative characteristics with those they view as bad. This effect is particularly influential in social perception, professional evaluations, and decision-making processes.The Psychological Basis of the Halo EffectThe halo effect is rooted...
Motivational Bias01:25

Motivational Bias

Cognitive bias results from limitations in thinking and information processing, leading to systematic errors in judgment. Conversely, motivational bias stems from personal desires or emotions, causing distortions in perception to align with self-interest. Motivational bias influences how individuals perceive and attribute causes to events, often shaped by personal needs, goals, and self-esteem preservation. This bias can distort judgment, leading to inaccurate assessments of success, failure,...
Self-Serving Bias01:29

Self-Serving Bias

Self-serving bias is a cognitive phenomenon in which individuals attribute positive outcomes to internal factors such as their abilities, intelligence, or effort while attributing negative outcomes to external circumstances. This cognitive distortion helps maintain self-esteem but can also impede objective self-assessment.Theoretical Explanations of Self-Serving BiasTwo primary theories explain the self-serving bias: the cognitive explanation and the motivational explanation.The cognitive...
Confirmation Biases01:31

Confirmation Biases

The confirmation bias is the tendency to focus on information that confirms our existing beliefs and ignore information that is inconsistent with our expectations. For example, if you think that your professor is not very nice, you notice all of the instances of rude behavior exhibited by the professor while ignoring the countless pleasant interactions he is involved in on a daily basis. Have you ever fallen prey to the confirmation bias, either as the source or target of such bias?
Amplifying Signals via Enzymatic Cascade01:22

Amplifying Signals via Enzymatic Cascade

When a ligand binds to a cell-surface receptor, the receptor's intracellular domain changes shape, which may either activate its enzyme function or allow its binding to other molecules. The initial signal is amplified by most signal transduction pathways. This means that a single ligand molecule can activate multiple molecules of a downstream target. Proteins that relay a signal are most commonly phosphorylated at one or more sites, activating or inactivating the protein. Kinases catalyze the...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 28, 2026

Post-Movie Subliminal Measurement (PMSM), for Investigating Implicit Social Bias
09:03

Post-Movie Subliminal Measurement (PMSM), for Investigating Implicit Social Bias

Published on: February 29, 2020

Invited commentary: understanding bias amplification.

Judea Pearl1

  • 1Department of Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles, USA. judea@cs.ucla.edu

American Journal of Epidemiology
|October 29, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers should prioritize adjusting for confounders strongly related to the outcome over those related to exposure to minimize bias in observational studies. This approach helps reduce confounding bias without amplifying residual bias from unmeasured factors.

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 28, 2026

Post-Movie Subliminal Measurement (PMSM), for Investigating Implicit Social Bias
09:03

Post-Movie Subliminal Measurement (PMSM), for Investigating Implicit Social Bias

Published on: February 29, 2020

Area of Science:

  • Epidemiology
  • Biostatistics

Background:

  • Choosing covariates for analysis involves balancing bias reduction and amplification.
  • Near-instrumental variables, strongly associated with exposure but not outcome, pose a risk of bias amplification.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the bias-reducing potential of covariates against their bias-amplifying risk.
  • To evaluate the cumulative effects of conditioning on multiple covariates in statistical analyses.

Main Methods:

  • The study examines the trade-offs in covariate selection for propensity score analysis.
  • It considers the impact of near-instrumental variables on bias.

Main Results:

  • Conditioning on multiple covariates can lead to bias amplification accumulating faster than bias reduction.
  • Near-instrumental variables may amplify bias more than they reduce it.

Conclusions:

  • Preference should be given to conditioning on confounders related to the outcome.
  • A partial order on covariate sets favors outcome-related confounders for minimizing bias in epidemiological research.