Discuss a time when a bias you had about a certain topic made it difficult for you to reason with either evidence you were presented

actually here’s the transcript from the video:

1. All people have preconceived notions about how the world works and what to expect from
2. certain situations. Sometimes, this is helpful—for example, if you’re predisposed to think
3. a bear is dangerous, you will take precautions to stay safe on a camping trip. Or if you
4. know you have difficulty waking up early, you may be reluctant to take an 8 a.m. class,
5. because you know you won’t perform well. However, sometimes a tendency to think one
6. way or another can compromise a person’s ability to reason with evidence and ideas
7. effectively. This is bias. It’s important to be aware of the existence of biases when
8. evaluating your own responses to sources and situations, and when examining the reasoning
9. and arguments of others. Biases can be conscious or subconscious: Sometimes,
10. you are aware that you bring a certain way of thinking to a situation (such as rooting
11. for a sports team because it’s from your hometown). Other times, subconscious biases
12. that are more difficult to identify may be present (without realizing it, a textbook
13. author may lean toward including sources written by American researchers, even though international
14. scholars also may have valuable contributions to the field).
15. Many different types of biases can compromise a person’s logical thinking. Let’s review
16. a few of the most common here. Social bias occurs when people think a certain way or
17. believe a certain thing about a social group, such as members of a particular race, religion,
18. sex, or class, and make assumptions or judge behaviors based on those preconceived notions.
19. This type of bias can be conscious (think of a political candidate arguing that an ethnic
20. group is dangerous and should be barred from immigrating) or subconscious (a store employee
21. treating customers of various races differently without realizing it). Similarly, ingroup
22. bias happens when a person is biased in favor of someone in their own group, from members
23. of the same political party, to friends from the same extracurricular club or academics
24. with the same training. Another type of bias is confirmation bias—the
25. tendency to seek out and use information that supports views you already hold. Communal
26. reinforcement is similar and occurs when an accepted idea in a particular community goes
27. unchallenged because it is widely held. These ideas and beliefs may or may not have evidence
28. to support them, but they still are frequently asserted. Examples of beliefs may include
29. the causes of a disease, or assumptions about the role of women in the workforce.
30. The increased usage of the Internet and social media has made sources covering all viewpoints
31. easily available. This makes it particularly easy for individuals to practice confirmation
32. bias or communal reinforcement by only listening to or following sources that agree with their
33. own viewpoints or community norms. While these and many other forms of bias and
34. faulty logic differ depending on the situation, they all run the risk of compromising critical
35. thinking. Why is being aware of bias and assumptions
36. so important to critical thinking? At the heart of being a strong critical thinker is
37. the ability to thoroughly examine every side of a situation, ask questions that will enhance
38. your understanding, and be fair and open minded when evaluating ideas. In other words, to
39. be a strong critical thinker you must approach a situation with eyes open—but bias and
40. assumptions can blur your vision. If your mind wants to travel down the route
41. it already had a tendency to follow, it can be hard to steer it in a different direction.
42. Biases and assumptions can hinder you from identifying an argument’s flaws or from
43. questioning a situation. Likewise, the biases of others can affect their own use of evidence
44. and articulation of ideas. If you don’t question the biases that another person brings
45. to the table, you won’t be as effective in seeking alternate viewpoints or understanding
46. the reasoning behind their thinking. When it comes to combating bias, awareness
47. is the first step toward fairness. In the following chapters, we’ll take a deeper
48. look at how to recognize and evaluate your own biases and biases in others.
49. End of transcript. Skip to the start.