Impartiality means judging or treating people fairly, without letting your personal feelings, friendships, or preferences influence your decisions. When a referee stays impartial during a game, she calls fouls the same way whether her own daughter is playing or not. When a teacher grades tests with impartiality, every student's work receives the same careful attention and fair scoring.

Being impartial doesn't mean you can't have opinions or feelings. It means you don't let those feelings control your decisions when fairness matters. A judge in court must show impartiality by following the law equally for everyone, even if she personally likes one person more than another. An impartial person in an argument between two friends listens to both sides before forming an opinion, rather than automatically taking one friend's side.

The opposite of impartiality is bias or favoritism. When someone lacks impartiality, they might give unfair advantages to people they like or treat others worse because of prejudice. True impartiality requires honesty with yourself about your own preferences and the discipline to set them aside when making fair decisions. Scientists strive for impartiality when reviewing evidence, letting the facts lead them to conclusions rather than twisting the facts to match what they hoped to find.