Group Exercise
In groups of 3- 6 come up with original examples
of each of the following fallacies:
1.“Argument” from Outrage
2. “Argument” using a Scapegoat.
3. Scare Tactics
4.“Argument” from Force
5.“Argument” from Pity
6.“Argument” from Envy
7.“Argument” from Pride (Apple Polishing)
Fallacies
Fooling Yourself
•#8 - Rationalizing
•#9 - Wishful Thinking
Fallacies
Rationalizing
•Lying to ourselves about our real reasons for
believing or doing something.
•“My wife is going to love this battery charger I
bought her for her birthday. She can really use it!”
•“She’ll be glad I spent the night out drinking.
I’m giving her some personal space.”
Fallacies
Wishful Thinking
•Thinking something is true simply because
we want it to be true.
•“Of course I believe a bank in Nigeria has
millions of dollars that I inherited from a
distant relative that I’ve never heard of or
met.”
•#10 - Special type: Denial
• “Oh, Professor, I didn’t miss THAT many
questions on my midterm.”
Fallacies
Don’t confuse wishful
thinking with optimism.
Wishful thinking = Believing
something simply because we
want it to be true.
(Denying reality.)
Optimism = Recognizing positive
perspectives, possibilities, and
holding positive expectations.
(Fully embracing reality.)
Optimism vs.
Wishful Thinking
Fallacies
Which one is
this?
Fallacies
Social Fallacies
•#11 - Peer Pressure
•#12 - Group Think
Fallacies
Peer Pressure
•Trying to get us to do or believe something
by appealing to fear of being excluded from
the group.
•“Of course you should sniff glue bottles.
Everyone else is doing it.”
•“You should take a drink with us. Don’t you
want to be part of the in crowd?
Fallacies
Fallacies
Group Think
•Trying to get us to do or believe something
by appealing to our pride of membership.
•#13 - Special type: Nationalism
• Appealing to our pride of membership
in a nation or state.
•“You shouldn’t eat French Fries. It’s unAmerican!”
Fallacies
Cultural Fallacies
• #14 -“Argument” from Popularity
•Everybody believes it so it must be true.
•#15 - “Argument” from Common Practice
•Everybody does it so it must be right.
•#16 - “Argument” from Tradition
•We’ve always done it (thought about it)
that way.
Fallacies
Distraction Fallacies
•#17 - Red Herring/Smoke Screen
• Red Herring
•Bringing a topic into a conversation that
distracts from the original point.
• Smoke Screen
•Same as red herring, but often used when
referring to an “argument” with
complicated or multiple distractions.
Fallacies
#18 - Two Wrongs Make a Right Fallacy
Thinking wrongful behavior by someone else excuses
wrongful behavior by you.