Glossary / Canonical epistemic failure modes
Source-Status Credibility Bias
Source-Status Credibility Bias is the tendency to scrutinize a claim less when it is attributed to a high-prestige source and more when the identical claim comes from a low-prestige one. Swapping the cited source, with the claim unchanged, shifts whether the model challenges or accepts it. Prestige, a surface signal, ends up standing in for evidence.
How it manifests · Illustrative vector
Illustrative vector: take a claim a model challenges when it is attributed to an unknown blog, attach the identical claim to a prestigious institution, and it passes unscrutinized. Only the source label moved; the evidence did not.
Related terms
- Epistemic failure mode · Core concepts
- Controversy-Truth Conflation · Canonical epistemic failure modes