
Presenting an either/or situation as the only option. “My sleep patterns have changed after getting vaccinated, so vaccination was a bad idea.”įalse Dilemma Fallacy (or False Dichotomy):.I read that this toothpaste is the most popular whitening toothpaste in the entire US. Someone dismisses your experience because they haven’t experienced it themselves.

Interestingly, this type of informal logical fallacy is often used in marketing to drive sales and attract the attention of the target audience.Įxamples of the Anecdotal Evidence Fallacy: The reason why people tend to use this fallacy is that we’re cognitively lazy individuals who prefer to rely on basic information using as little mental effort as possible (Pennycook et al., 2018). People who use the anecdotal evidence fallacy prefer to believe a few unscientific or unjustified arguments instead of believing scientifically valid evidence. Using personal stories to make an argument for an entire group. Explaining bad grades – “I know I wasn’t prepared for the test, but my dad will kill me if he sees this grade”.Rationalizing spending money – “I know you’ve been collecting this money to buy a car, but this trip I’ve just planned was very cheap.”.Some other examples of the Red Herring Fallacy could be the following: Why? Because the way a particular family member treats you isn’t related to the things they do to your family. In this fallacy, people switch their attention from things that really matter to issues that aren’t relevant to the topic of discussion.įor instance, if a family member says it’s not a big deal that they treat you poorly because they are doing so many other things to provide for the family or make your life better, it would be a red herring fallacy. Red Herring Fallacy:Īlthough it might be a bit of an unusual name for an informal fallacy, the fact of the matter is that the “red herring” fallacy is distracting the audience by bringing up an unrelated argument. By understanding various types of logical fallacies, you can reduce the chance of convincing arguments that are wrong or using faulty statements in your reasoning. Common Types of Logical FallaciesĪlthough logical fallacies are divided into two major categories (formal and informal), there are many different types of fallacies that people tend to use. But the logical fallacy is just a mistake in logical arguments. Cognitive biases are caused by issues with mental higher functioning functions such as attention or memory. People often confuse logical fallacies with cognitive biases, but actually, cognitive biases are faulty thought processes or irrational decision-making while interpreting information. On the contrary, the information itself is faulty or inaccurate, even though the structure of the statement might seem logical and clear. Instead of informal fallacies, communicators are telling the truth, but they use the wrong structure for their statements, which leads to logical inconsistency for the audience. Making formal logical fallacies isn’t particularly inaccurate. Generally, logical fallacies can be divided into two types: formal and informal fallacies. Considering this, logical fallacies are often used by the media or in television debates. While sometimes people don’t use them intentionally, most of the time, logical fallacies are used on purpose to convince people and trick them into believing something they would question otherwise. Not surprisingly, logical fallacies are easier to spot in other people’s arguments than in your own. Nevertheless, logical fallacies are very common in day-to-day reasoning, and sometimes we receive them without realizing that the ideas that seem reasonable and casual at a first glance are actually faulty. However, once you start assessing these statements using logical thinking, you will quickly notice that they are inaccurate. Logical fallacies can be defined as errors in reasoning or statements that seem convincing. In this article, we’ll review the concept of logical fallacy, discuss the most common types of logical fallacies, and see how they are related to cognitive dissonance. Considering that logical fallacies are part of our everyday lives, it’s becoming more and more crucial to discover these errors and learn to differentiate them from the truth.

And if someone tries to estimate these arguments logically, they can easily reveal that they are wrong. Logical fallacies are arguments that are based on distorted reasoning. This means that you’re trying to present inaccurate information as facts. If you’re trying to avoid logical reasoning and using arguments that can’t be easily validated, chances are that you’re using logical fallacies. Have you ever found yourself using all your energy to prove a point and later you find out that you’re actually wrong?Īctually, a lot of people have.
