Topic 7 - Bias
No description yet. This curated deck is ready for daily study.
Card preview (24)
A key requirement of the Forensic Science Regulator’s Codes of Practice and Conduct for Forensic Science Providers and Practitioners (the Codes) is that they act with…
• Honesty • Integrity • Objectivity • Impartiality
Categories of cognitive bias
• Experimental bias • Confirmation bias • Anchoring effects or focalism
Expectation bias
Where the expectation of what an individual will find affects what is actually found.
Confirmation bias
• Closely related to expectation bias • Whereby people test hypotheses by looking for confirming evidence rather than for potentially conflicting evidence
Anchoring effects of focalism
Occur when an individual relies too heavily on an initial piece of information when making subsequent judgements, which are then interpreted on the basis of the anchor.
Causes of bias?
• Overconfidence • Recency • Salience
Overconfidence Causes of bias
• Some of us are too confident about our abilities and this causes us to take greater risks. • Experts are more prone to this bias than laypeople since they are more convinced that they are right
Receny Causes of bias
The tendency to weigh the latest information more heavily than older data
Salience Cause of bias
Our tendency to focus on the most easily recognisable features of the situation or concept
Availability heuristic
People who overestimate the importance of information that is available to them.
Bandwagon effect
The probability of one person adopting a belief increases based on the number of people who hold that belief.
Blind spot bias
Failing to recognise your own cognitive biases is a bias in itself
Choice supportive bias
When one chooses something which we tend to feel positive about
Clustering illusion
Tendency to see patterns in random events.
Confirmation bias
We tend to listen only to information that confirms our preconceptions.
Conservatism bias
Where people favour prior evidence over new evidence or information that has emerged
Information bias
• The tendency to seek information when it does not affect action. • More information is not always better
Ostrich effect
The decision to ignore a dangerous or negative information by burying one’s head in the sand.
Outcome bias
Judging decisions are based on the outcome rather than how exactly the decision was made.
Selective perception
Allowing our expectations to influence how we perceive events.
Survivorship bias
An error that comes from focusing only on surviving examples causing us to misjudge a situation.
Criminal procedure rules - Part 19
An experts duty to the court includes the following: * An expert must help the court to achieve the overriding objective – by giving an opinion that is objective, unbiased and wihtin the experts area of expertise. * This duty overrides any obligation to the person from whom the expert receives instructions or by whom the expert is paid
The role of the forensic expert
• To evaluate scientific findings and the results of analytical tests in the context of the relevant case circumstances.
What criteria should the exprts opinion meet?
An expert opinion should meet the following criteria * Balanced * Robust * Logical * Transparent