Hypocrisy-charge bias

The hypocrisy-charge bias occurs when people see members of an opposing group as hypocritical, while ignoring the corresponding charge to be made against their own. It has obvious political ramifications and is seen frequently in political commentary.

Examples

Mike Rappaport, who coined the term, cites the following example:

Tamanaha notes that many Republicans in 2003 asserted strong arguments against judicial filibusters. But now that the Republicans will only have a minority of the Senate, with a Democratic President, they will have an incentive to engage in judicial filibusters. Tamanaha sarcastically writes, there is “nothing to worry about” because the Republican will no doubt continue their previous position opposing judicial filibusters. Obviously Tamanaha is charging the Republicans with hypocrisy, predicting that they will not conform to their stated principles.

So far there is no bias, just a prediction of hypocrisy. The bias occurs when one realizes that the prediction of inconsistency is equally applicable to the Democrats. If the Republicans choose to filibuster, one could equally expect the Democrats to criticize such filibusters, even though the Democrats defended judicial filibusters in 2003. So the charge of hypocrisy against the Republicans is equally applicable to the Democrats. Yet, Tamanaha says not a word about the Democrats. He can only see the hypocrisy of his opponents: hence the bias.

See also

• Cognitive bias
• List of cognitive biases

External links

• The Hypocrisy-Charge Bias. Mike Rappaport.

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