Ad hominem bias

Definition: From Latin meaning “to the person”; Judgment of an argument or piece of work influenced by the characteristics of the person who forwarded it, not the characteristics of the argument itself. Ad hominem bias can be negative, as when work from a competitor or target of personal animosity is viewed more critically than the quality of the work merits, or positive, as when work from a friend benefits from overly favorable evaluation.

Related term: Peer review

References: Barnes et al. (2018), & Tvina et al. (2019)

Drafted and Reviewed by: Mahmoud Elsherif, Bradley Baker, Filip Dechterenko, Bethan Iley, Madeleine Ingham, Graham Reid

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