Allegiance bias

Allegiance bias (or allegiance effect) in behavioral sciences is a bias resulted from the investigator's or researcher's allegiance to a specific school of thought.[1] [2] Researchers/investigators have been exposed to many types of branches of psychology or schools of thought. Naturally they adopt a school or branch that fits with their paradigm of thinking. More specifically, allegiance bias is when this leads therapists, researchers, etc. believing that their school of thought or treatment is superior to others.[3] Their superior belief to these certain schools of thought can bias their research in effective treatments trials or investigative situations leading to allegiance bias.  Reason being is that they may have devoted their thinking to certain treatments they have seen work in their past experiences. This can lead to errors in interpreting the results of their research. Their “pledge” to stay within their own paradigm of thinking may affect their ability to find more effective treatments to help the patient or situation they are investigating.[1]

  1. ^ a b Wilson, G. Terence; Wilfley, Denise E.; Agras, W. Stewart; Bryson, Susan W. (2017-03-31). "Allegiance Bias and Therapist Effects: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Binge Eating Disorder". Clinical Psychology. 18 (2): 119–125. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2850.2011.01243.x. ISSN 0969-5893. PMC 4118818. PMID 25089079.
  2. ^ Dragioti, Elena; Dimoliatis, Ioannis; Evangelou, Evangelos (2015-05-30). "Disclosure of researcher allegiance in meta-analyses and randomised controlled trials of psychotherapy: a systematic appraisal". BMJ Open. 5 (6): e007206. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-007206. ISSN 2044-6055. PMC 4458582. PMID 26033943.
  3. ^ Leykin, Yan; DeRubeis, Robert J. (2009). "Allegiance in Psychotherapy Outcome Research: Separating Association From Bias". Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. 16 (1): 54–65. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2850.2009.01143.x. ISSN 1468-2850.