survivorship bias
Say it: sur-VY-vuh-ship BY-us /səˈvaɪvəʃɪp ˌbaɪəs/ · noun
What “survivorship bias” means
Judging from survivors while overlooking those that failed.
More precisely: Drawing conclusions only from the successes you can see, ignoring the failures that disappeared.
Example: “'Dropouts become billionaires' is survivorship bias: we never hear about the thousands who didn't.”
When to use it
In research or everyday reasoning, for misleading conclusions drawn from visible successes while missing failures or those no longer around.
Similar words
selection bias, sampling bias
Quick check
You judge a risky investment strategy only by the successful funds still operating, ignoring all those that closed. That's…
confirmation bias or survivorship bias?
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survivorship bias
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