ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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Let’s talk about bias.

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That is, after all, the title of this video. Would be a shame not to. [Man watching shmoop video]

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“Bias” can be defined as prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person or group.

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Like…how we feel about lima beans. [Person throws lima beans in the trash]

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Often, bias can occur when one person has an outlook or a personal perspective that

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doesn’t take into consideration other people’s perspectives.

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For example, if you think global warming isn’t real, and someone tries persuading you to [Earth on fire]

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buy a hybrid vehicle…you’re probably not going to give their argument much credit.

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Besides, what does an ostrich need with a car anyway? [Ostrich stood beside a hybrid car]

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Okay…so maybe we’re a little biased ourselves…

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When a person is biased…

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… they may even purposefully neglect to tell both sides of a story.

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It’s not technically lying, but… pretty close. [Person places paper of their facts in the fire]

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People can develop bias towards…

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…one another…

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… an individual…

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… or an entire ethnic group.

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These biases are often based on generalizations about nationality…

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… religion…

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… social class…

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… or political leanings.

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So, essentially, bias is a one-sided, non-neutral viewpoint… [Girl and boy sitting on a see-saw]

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that is super-helpful in causing big ol’ fights.

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Bias is usually learned within a cultural context such as your home, community, or school.

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We all have bias to some extent. [People at a bias recovery meeting]

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But being aware of our biases is the first step to becoming slightly less biased.

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You gotta recognize your habit before you can kick it.

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Since authors are people, they have biases, too.

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So it’s important to be on the lookout for slanted views when we read.

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One way you can sometimes spot bias is to see how an author describes a particular character [Author types a sentence]

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in a story.

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Take A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

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Hey. Put that back. [Person picks up book and returns it]

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Here’s how Dickens describes his main character, Ebeneezer Scrooge.

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“Oh! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching,

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grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! ”

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Uh. Wow. OK. Dickens isn’t exactly being subtle here. “Tight-fisted,” “squeezing”,

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“covetous”, “old sinner”. Tell us how you really feel, Chuck.

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We can safely say Dickens is biased against this behavior. After all, these aren’t exactly

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words you’d put in a Valentine card.

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Non-fiction and informative texts can have bias, too…even something like a newspaper.

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From this picture, it sure looks like Sue is pretty popular. [Newspaper picture of Sue]

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But does this picture tell the whole story?

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Looks like this newspaper is biased in favor of Sue. Which is why it’s often important

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to check out several news sources before developing too strong of an opinion.

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Being aware of bias and getting as many facts as possible before making a decision for yourself [Mans head opens and newspaper article is placed inside]

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is also known as… keeping an open mind.

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And we’re kinda biased toward for that sort of thing…

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