Representation Bias
Mistaking representatives of a certain subset of a category for representing the wider category as a whole. For example, a psychologist may not meet any mentally healthy individuals from a certain minority – yet believe that his experience of mental patients from that minority is an experience of how people from that minority group are in general. (In Swedish: representationsbias)
When applied to a category of human beings, this is a facet of categorism.
When Representation Bias occurs on the group level in a context of scientific research, it is known as Selection Bias.
Interactions
This facet of categorism is an expression of prejudice.
It is likely to intersect with facets such as:
- Unchecked Aversion: Letting the negative experiences grow into bigotry.
As well as with abstractions such as:
- Equivocation: Deciding that "a much wider group" and "a certain small sub-set of said group" is actually the same thing.
Examples of applying this facet to a particular foci of categorism can include:
- Racism: As a psychiatrist with no dark-skinned friends or co-workers, your personal experience is that every single dark-skinned person you meet have severe mental problems (because those who don't are far less likely to seek your help as a psychiatrist)... if this leads you to believe that you know something about the mental health of dark-skinned people in general, it makes you rather racist.
