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Psychological Phenomena

Cherry Picking

Confirmation and Motivated-Reasoning Biases

Cherry picking is the selective choosing of the most beneficial, profitable or attractive items from among what is actually available. In legal science, journalism and epidemiology, the term specifically refers to a reporting bias, the act of selectively suppressing evidence that does not support a desired conclusion. The fallacy of incomplete evidence describes the specific act of cherry picking that focuses on individual data points, case reports or anecdotal evidence that appear to confirm a particular pre-established position, while willfully ignoring a significant portion of related and similar cases or data that would contradict that same position; cherry picking of this kind may be committed either intentionally or unintentionally.

Facts
Core Claim
Cherry picking is the selective choosing of the most beneficial, profitable or attractive items from what is available. 1
Classification
Type of Phenomenon
Cognitive Phenomenon 1
Sources
1. Cherry picking, Wikipedia
  • Lead section, first sentence
    Cherry picking is the selective choosing of the most beneficial, profitable or attractive items from what is available.
  • lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
    In the legal science, journalism and epidemiology, the term refers to a reporting bias or the act of selectively suppressing evidence.
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