Cherry picking is selecting information to prove a point while ignoring contradictory information. The term comes from picking the best fruit, but can lead to false impressions. It is used negatively in sports and insurance, where it can be unfair.
Cherry picking has a few different definitions, but is often thought of as the process of selecting a small amount of information or data to attempt to prove a point, while ignoring contradictory information. When gathering information, a person may end up with a wrong theory or position on a topic because all relevant information has not been considered. A person might choose information this way either on purpose or inadvertently, such as when a person might inadvertently only look at data that is easy to find, presenting a false impression. However, the term is more commonly used with someone who willfully ignores contradictory information.
The term cherry picking likely originates from the process of picking fruit from a tree. When harvesting one type of fruit, such as cherries, a person might look for only the best cherries, such as the healthiest ones. By picking only the best cherries, another person seeing the harvest might incorrectly assume that all the cherries on the tree are equally healthy. In another application of the term, a person might select only the cherries that are easiest to reach, regardless of quality. By ignoring the healthier cherries higher up the tree, the person may end up with a batch of unripe or diseased cherries that don’t present the correct picture of the quality of the fruit on the tree.
Within the insurance business, the term cherry picking is common. For example, a health insurance company may want to choose only the healthiest people when issuing policies, withholding policies from others, thus minimizing claims. However, government regulations attempt to prevent insurance companies from choosing unfairly among customers by forcing them to insure customers with varying levels of disease risk.
Various sports also use the term cherry picking in a somewhat negative light. It refers to an athlete who bends the rules or violates the spirit of a game to gain an advantage. For example, in basketball, a player who stands near their basket in hopes of catching a long pass from a teammate and score an easy field goal, rather than forcefully defending their basket, is said to be picking cherries. The player is not violating the rules of the game, but he is going against the spirit of the game, which says that all players should defend the opponent’s basket at all times. The term has a negative connotation because a player who is picking up points seems to be more interested in improving his individual stats by scoring easy points, rather than helping his team win by playing strong defense.
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