The Four Kinds of Bias (Agati)

Bias from favour, hatred, delusion and fear, which lead to wrong decisions

The four kinds of bias are four ways people come to decide or act wrongly: bias from favour, from hatred, from delusion and from fear. Agati literally means 'a wrong way to go'. The Buddha taught them in the Prejudice discourse (AN 4.17), and again in the Advice to Sigālaka (DN 31), where he says one who is not swayed by these four does no wrong on their account.

Cattārimāni, bhikkhave, agatigamanāni.
Katamāni cattāri?
Chandāgatiṁ gacchati, dosāgatiṁ gacchati, mohāgatiṁ gacchati, bhayāgatiṁ gacchati.

Mendicants, there are these four ways of going wrong through bias. What four? One is biased by favour, by hatred, by delusion, and by fear.

AN 4.17

The four

1. Bias from favour: siding with those you love, relatives, friends or those who benefit you, even when they are in the wrong.
2. Bias from hatred: judging someone you dislike more harshly than the facts allow, or refusing to see their good.
3. Bias from delusion: deciding without checking the facts, believing rumours, or misunderstanding and refusing to listen.
4. Bias from fear: doing what is wrong out of fear of power, of losing out, or of being disliked.

What bias costs

The closing verse compares the good name of one swayed by bias to the waning moon:

Chandā dosā bhayā mohā,
yo dhammaṁ ativattati;
Nihīyati tassa yaso,
kāḷapakkheva candimā.

Whoever oversteps the Dhamma through favour, hatred, fear or delusion, their good name wanes like the moon in the dark fortnight.

AN 4.17

In the Advice to Sigālaka the verse continues: whoever does not overstep the Dhamma for these four reasons, their good name fills out like the moon in the bright fortnight.

Checking for bias before deciding

Bias matters most for those who judge others: parents, teachers, managers, committees. But everyone makes decisions every day. Before an important one, ask yourself four questions:

• If this were not someone I like, would I decide the same?
• If this were not someone I dislike, would I decide the same?
• Do I have all the facts? Have I heard every side?
• Am I choosing this because it is right, or because I fear what will happen to me?

Practising equanimity, one of the four divine abidings, helps keep the mind even, not pulled along by liking and disliking.

Based on: Paṭhama-agati Sutta (AN 4.17) · Siṅgāla Sutta (DN 31)