Twin brother of Neutrality
Bias, but with an emphasis on judging people and arguments. Those who suffer from Impartiality
Bias believe they are capable of evaluating ideas and evidence without favoritism or prejudice, and that this supposed impartiality makes them
superior to those who
assume their own perspectives. In practice, however, no one is completely impartial – the human
brain operates with unconscious biases of confirmation, familiarity, affinity, etc. The problem is not having biases, but denying that you have them. The Impartiality
Bias leads a person to treat their own preferences as results of pure analysis, and the preferences of others as distortions. It is very common in judges (who swear to impartiality but frequently violate it), in scientists (who deny the influence of funding and paradigms), and in online debaters (who accuse the other of
bias while seeing themselves as unbiased judges). The solution is not to feign impartiality, but to practice honesty about one's own biases.
Impartiality
Bias Example: “The moderator
said: ‘I am totally impartial. Both sides will have the same amount of
time.’ During the debate, however, he interrupted only one side and asked leading questions to the other. When accused of bias, he denied it: ‘I am impartial, you are the one who is sensitive.’”