Table 4 Moral biases relevant for bioethics with type of bias, short description, and an indication for what type of bioethics this bias may be most relevant to assess
Type of bias | Bias | Definition/short description | Type of bioethics |
|---|---|---|---|
Framing | Tinting, coloring | The tendency to give tinted or colored presentations of states of affairs, arguments | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC |
Nudging | The tendency to “push” the interlocutor or decision-maker in a specific direction | A, EA, PEC | |
Terminology | The tendency to talk about groups in terms of their conditions (“diabetics,” “epileptics” etc.) | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC | |
Embeddedness | The tendency that basic conceptions are personally, socially, and culturally embedded | A, EA, CEC | |
Standpoint adherence | The tendency to stick to one’s standpoint despite strong evidence against it | A, EA, CEC, PEC | |
Impartiality illusion | The tendency to think that one’s work is impartial | ER, EA, ELS, PEC | |
Expectation bias Conflict of interest | The tendency to provide outcomes in accordance with what is expected Shaping the perception of a situation or task in a subconscious manner | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC | |
Delimiting effect | Directing the debate by defining what is the issue or what is an ethical question (or not) | A, EA, CEC, PEC | |
Moral theory bias | Theory dominance | The tendency to let one theoretical perspective dominate the analysis. Ignoring other relevant perspectives (objections or practical problems) | A, EA, CEC, PEC |
Bias towards inadequate moral perspectives | The tendency to rely on arguments from an erroneous or inadequate moral theory or perspective or to rationalize a preferred conclusion by appeal to arguments that underpin a preferred conclusion | A, EA, CEC, PEC | |
Conceptual bias | Structural asymmetries in ethics that can influence ethical judgments | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC | |
Theoretical direction-lessness | Lack of theoretical foundation (in moral philosophy) or lack of well-founded principles | A, ER, ELS, CEC | |
Analysis bias | Myside bias | The tendency to evaluate or generate evidence, test hypotheses, or analyze or address moral issues in a manner biased toward their own prior perspectives, opinions, attitudes, or positions | A, EA, CEC |
Specification, interpretation, or balancing bias | Bias in the process of specification, interpretation and/or balancing of moral norms, values or principles | A, EA, PEC | |
Moral fictions | The tendency to endorse false statements to uphold cherished or entrenched moral positions in the face of conduct that is in tension with these established moral positions | A, EA, CEC, PEC | |
Moral errors | “Moral fallacies” due to various biases, such as psychic numbing, the identifiable victim effect, victim-blaming etc | A, EA, CEC, PEC | |
Argu-mentation bias | False analogy False equivalence | Using an analogy that has morally relevant differences from the analog False analogies are related to making misleading or false comparisons and availability bias | A, EA, CEC, PEC |
Inferring from description to prescription | Arguing from empirical facts (about peoples’ opinion) to ethical conclusions | A, ER, EA, CEC | |
Using ambiguous concepts | The tendency to use unclear or ambiguous concepts that can confuse or confound the argument | A, ER, EA, ELS, CEC, PEC | |
Repulsion and moral disgust | The tendency to appeal to repulsion or moral disgust in order to obtain an argumentative effect | A, CEC | |
Straw man argument | Giving the impression of refuting an opponent’s argument by (covertly) replacing it by a different argument | A | |
Argument selection | The tendency to select (counter-)arguments that are easy to rebut or to present them in uncharitable ways | A, EA, CEC, PEC | |
Argumentum ad hominem | Attacking the character, motive, or attribute of the person making an argument rather than the substance of the argument itself | A | |
Relevance fallacy | Presenting a sound argument, which fails to address the issue in question | A | |
Red herring | The tendency to divert an argument to unrelated issues (Ignoratio elenchi) | A | |
Experience paradox | An appeal to personal experiences in bioethics debates where the experiences express vested interests or are not representative of those involved | A, EA, CEC, PEC | |
Petitio principii | The tendency to assume the conclusion of an argument, i.e., "begging the question," which is a kind of circular reasoning | A, EA, CEC, PEC | |
Argumentum ad populum | The tendency to assert that everyone (else) agrees (also called “bandwagoning”) | A, CEC | |
Either-or fallacy | The tendency to create a false dilemma in which the circumstances are oversimplified (also referred to as “false dichotomy”) | A, CEC | |
Card stacking, cherry picking | The tendency to select facts, examples, analogies, thought experiments that fit to one’s conclusion | A, ELS, CEC, PEC | |
Double standards | The tendency to demand less from one’s own arguments than from opponents’ | A, EA, CEC, PEC | |
Hasty generalization | The tendency to “jump to conclusions” or generalizing quickly and/or sloppily | A | |
Unclear or mispresented argument | The tendency to present the argument one is attacking or opposing in a misleading manner or in a way that the opponent does not recognize or acknowledge | A | |
Controversial premises | The tendency to presume controversial premises without discussing their truthfulness or adequacy | A, EA, PEC | |
Implicit theoretical assumptions | The tendency to make implicit crucial theoretical assumptions and definitions and drawing strong conclusions without showing how they rely on these assumptions | A, EA, CEC, PEC | |
Conclusion bias | The tendency to draw conclusions beyond the limitations or premises of the argument | A, EA, CEC, PEC | |
Decision bias | Simplification bias | The tendency to base decisions on illusory correlations and to be insensitivity to base rates | A, EA, ELS, CEC |
Verification bias | The tendency to base decisions on illusions of control and self-serving bias | A, EA, PEC | |
Regulation bias | The tendency to make framing errors and regret avoidance | A, EA, CEC |