What Some Books Leave Out: Recent Cases of Negative Bias

Abstract

Citation bias and confirmation bias, as well as various forms of scientific misconduct, are well known concerns within the scientific community. Such types of bias usually oversell scientific or theoretical arguments. Here another type of bias, negative bias, is when authors undersell their argu ments by overlooking scientific evidence that would support or would have supported their arguments. Scholars need to be aware of the potential for both types of bias, positive and negative, when evaluating the research literature and preparing literature reviews.