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ELA 5: How to Spot Bias 3247 Views


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Check out the best bias video ever made, courtesy of the most awesome and amazing educational website in existence.

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English Language

Transcript

00:04

[Coop and Dino singing]

00:13

Let’s talk about bias.

00:16

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

00:19

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

00:25

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

00:28

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

00:32

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

00:36

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

00:41

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

00:45

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

00:47

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

00:51

When a person is biased…

00:52

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

00:55

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

00:59

People can develop bias towards…

01:01

…one another…

01:02

… an individual…

01:03

… or an entire ethnic group.

01:05

These biases are often based on generalizations about nationality…

01:09

… religion…

01:09

… social class…

01:10

… or political leanings.

01:12

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

01:16

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

01:20

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

01:26

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

01:29

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

01:33

You gotta recognize your habit before you can kick it.

01:36

Since authors are people, they have biases, too.

01:39

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

01:43

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

01:48

in a story.

01:49

Take A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

01:51

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

01:52

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

01:56

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

02:01

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

02:05

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

02:10

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

02:15

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

02:19

words you’d put in a Valentine card.

02:22

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

02:26

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

02:29

But does this picture tell the whole story?

02:31

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

02:35

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

02:40

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]

02:44

is also known as… keeping an open mind.

02:47

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

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