“Measuring the Impact of Cognitive Bias in Fire Investigation”

Paul Bieber, Arson Research Project (July 2012)

The treatment of bias is one of the areas in which forensic science diverges most dramatically from traditional science. This article describes different types of cognitive bias (expectation bias, confirmation bias, selective re-examination, role bias, and the effect of certainty on accuracy) and provides examples of cognitive biases affecting arson investigations.

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