Failure bias is the
logical error
A fallacy is the use of invalid or otherwise faulty reasoning, or "wrong moves," in the construction of an argument which may appear stronger than it really is if the fallacy is not spotted. The term in the Western intellectual tradition was intr ...
of concentrating on the people or things that failed to make it past some selection process and overlooking those that did, typically because of their lack of visibility. This can lead to false conclusions in several different ways. It is a form of
selection bias
Selection bias is the bias introduced by the selection of individuals, groups, or data for analysis in such a way that proper randomization is not achieved, thereby failing to ensure that the sample obtained is representative of the population int ...
.
In several of these cases, one measure of success is precisely the lack of
public awareness of people or things that are undergoing such selection process, which means that, in the possibility that there is at least one agent who is interested in the success of the people or things that are going through the selection process, the agent(s) will be interested into keeping the subject out of the public eye, and thus, to raise the likelihood of the failure bias happening
Examples
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Espionage
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangibl ...
* Most
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
s fit into this category
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Censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
See also
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Selection bias
Selection bias is the bias introduced by the selection of individuals, groups, or data for analysis in such a way that proper randomization is not achieved, thereby failing to ensure that the sample obtained is representative of the population int ...
*
Cherry picking
Cherry picking, suppressing evidence, or the fallacy of incomplete evidence is the act of pointing to individual cases or data that seem to confirm a particular position while ignoring a significant portion of related and similar cases or data th ...
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Econometrics
Econometrics is the application of Statistics, statistical methods to economic data in order to give Empirical evidence, empirical content to economic relationships.M. Hashem Pesaran (1987). "Econometrics," ''The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of ...
* ''
Fooled by Randomness
''Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets'' is a book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb that deals with the fallibility of human knowledge. It was first published in 2001. Updated editions were released a few years later. ...
''
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Meta-analysis
A meta-analysis is a statistical analysis that combines the results of multiple scientific studies. Meta-analyses can be performed when there are multiple scientific studies addressing the same question, with each individual study reporting me ...
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Multiple comparisons problem
In statistics, the multiple comparisons, multiplicity or multiple testing problem occurs when one considers a set of statistical inferences simultaneously or infers a subset of parameters selected based on the observed values.
The more inferences ...
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Selection principle
In mathematics, a selection principle is a rule asserting
the possibility of obtaining mathematically significant objects by
selecting elements from given sequences of sets. The theory of selection principles
studies these principles and their r ...
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Texas sharpshooter fallacy
The Texas sharpshooter fallacy is an informal fallacy which is committed when differences in data are ignored, but similarities are overemphasized. From this reasoning, a false conclusion is inferred. This fallacy is the philosophical or rhetorical ...
{{Biases
Sampling (statistics)
F
Bias
Cognitive biases