Logical Fallacies and Bias #1

Logical Fallacies and Bias #1

by Elizabeth Rauscher

​What is a Logical Fallacy

​A logical fallacy is a flaw in reasoning. Logical fallacies are like tricks or illusions of thought, and they're often very sneakily used by politicians, social media bots, and your mom's conspiracy theory believer aunt to fool people. Don't be fooled!

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​Knowing these logical fallacies can help you to sort through the nonsense on your social media pages and impress your friends with your argument skills.

Multiple Choice

A classmate overhears you talking about your concerns about the growing temperature of the planet and decides to join in the argument. He accuses you of trying to kill jobs with overregulation and that you just have this opinion because you think it makes you sound cool.

What is the MAIN logical mistake your classmate made in their argument?

• Your classmate doesn't agree with your stance on climate change.

• Your classmate misrepresented and exaggerated your argument as something it is not.

• Your classmate accused you of something he does himself.

• Your classmate lacked any expert appeals in his argument.

​Strawman

​You misrepresented someone's argument to make it easier to attack.

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​By exaggerating, misrepresenting, or just completely fabricating someone's argument, it's much easier to present your own position as being reasonable, but this kind of dishonesty serves to undermine honest rational debate.

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​Example: After Will said that we should put more money into health and education, Warren responded by saying that he was surprised that Will hates our country so much that he wants to leave it defenceless by cutting military spending.

Multiple Choice

After receiving her vaccine shot, Marcy fell and broke her leg. Marcy blamed the vaccine for making her "legs loose" and that this caused her to fall.

What logical mistake did Marcy make in her argument?

• Marcy misrepresented her opponents argument.

• Marcy overly relied on emotion and cranked up the fear to scare people into her point of view.

• Marcy confused correlation for causation - just because something happened near the same time doesn't mean one cause the other.

• Marcy avoided answering the question and instead misdirected.

​False Cause

You presumed that a real or perceived relationship between things means that one is the cause of the other.

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Many people confuse correlation (things happening together or in sequence) for causation (that one thing actually causes the other to happen). Sometimes correlation is coincidental, or it may be attributable to a common cause.

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Example: Pointing to a fancy chart, Roger shows how temperatures have been rising over the past few centuries, whilst at the same time the numbers of pirates have been decreasing; thus pirates cool the world and global warming is a hoax.​

​Cognitive Bias

​Cognitive biases make our judgments irrational. We have evolved to use shortcuts in our thinking, which are often useful, but a cognitive bias means there’s a kind of misfiring going on causing us to lose objectivity.

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Recognizing our own cognitive bias can help us to be more open to logical thinking and protect us from falling into the trap stubbornly holding onto falsehoods.

Multiple Choice

After Howard moved his parents took him to see his new school before his first day. Howard met a few of the students that took him on a tour. Howard noticed that the students were dressed up, so Howard assumed the students of this school must all dress in at least business casual. Howard wore a suit on his first day of school only to discover everyone just wore jeans.

What bias did Howard have?

• Howard assumed the first people he saw represented the entire student body.

• Howard relied too much on relying on the ideas that came the easiest too him.

• Howard believed it to be obvious that you need to dress up for school.

• Howard already liked to dress up when he saw the students dressed up it confirmed what he already believed.

Anchoring Bias​

​The first thing you judge influences your judgment of all that follows.

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Human minds are associative in nature, so the order in which we receive information helps determine the course of our judgments and perceptions. For instance, the first price offered for a used car sets an ‘anchor’ price which will influence how reasonable or unreasonable a counter-offer might seem. Even if we feel like an initial price is far too high, it can make a slightly less-than-reasonable offer seem entirely reasonable in contrast to the anchor price.

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Be especially mindful of this bias during financial negotiations such as houses, cars, and salaries. The initial price offered has proven to have a significant effect.

Multiple Choice

Frank spent weeks working on his research project, scouring websites to try to find credible sources to prove that aliens came from New Jersey. Frank needed 5 sources, but could only find one, and he wasn't sure that it fit the criteria. Frank refused to change his topic and instead wrote to his teacher that he needed an extension.

What bias does Frank have?

• Frank blamed the teacher rather than himself for his research troubles.

• Frank was only not confident in his argument because he was starting to learn too much, making him doubt himself.

• Frank believed because he already spent so much time on his paper that it was better to just keep going.

• Because the teacher questioned Frank's topic, he then only believed it more.

​The Sunk Cost Fallacy

​You irrationally cling to things that have already cost you something.

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When we've invested our time, money, or emotion into something, it hurts us to let it go. This aversion to pain can distort our better judgment and cause us to make unwise investments. A sunk cost means that we can't recover it, so it's rational to disregard the cost when evaluating. For instance, if you've spent money on a meal but you only feel like eating half of it, it's irrational to continue to stuff your face just because 'you've already paid for it'; especially considering the fact that you're wasting actual time doing so.

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To regain objectivity, ask yourself: had I not already invested something, would I still do so now? What would I counsel a friend to do if they were in the same situation?

​Let's Practice!

​Just Remember

​The use of a logical fallacy doesn't mean that the person's believes or ideas are wrong, just that the WAY in which they argue those beliefs does not make logical sense.

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​You may agree with some of the examples below, but focus more on the WAY the people in the example argue and find the holes.

Multiple Choice

Larry blows threw a stop sign and is pulled over by a cop he didn't see behind him. When Larry sees the price of the ticket his eyes bulge and he says "Thanks, Obama."

What mistake did Larry make?

• Sunk Cost Fallacy

• Strawman

• Anchoring Bias

• False Cause

Multiple Choice

Ulga had been sitting in the car dealership for two hours and was bored out of her mind. She wanted to buy a new Honda, but she wasn't sure of the price. The car dealer had told her he would "see what he could do." When the man finally came back he had only dropped $500 off the price. Ulga took the deal, but was unsure if that was a lot or a little off the price. But she just wanted her Honda!

What mistake did Ulga make?

• Sunk Cost Fallacy

• Strawman

• Anchoring Bias

• False Cause

Multiple Choice

Rachel was walking down the hall when she saw Gladys drop her test in front of her. Rachel picked it up and saw the girl received a C-. When Rachel saw Gladys later in her honors class she said to her friends that Gladys didn't belong and would likely fail this course.

What mistake did Rachel make?

• Sunk Cost Fallacy

• Strawman

• Anchoring Bias

• False Cause

Multiple Choice

Janice loves Facebook and loves to make comments on all of her grandkids' pages. Her youngest grandchild, Sally, has just pierced her nose. Janice rushes to comment on the picture, "How dare you, Sally! Now I know why your boyfriend dumped you. Boys don't like that!"

What mistake did Janice make?

• Sunk Cost Fallacy

• Strawman

• Anchoring Bias

• False Cause

Multiple Choice

Gerald decided to run for Mayor because he thought he could make a difference. In his first town hall Gerald mentioned that he believed that masks helped to stop the spread of Covid-19. Then, a man stood up in the front row and accused Gerald of being a fascist dictator with designs on controlling the lives of everyone in the town. The man warned those around him not to vote for Gerald and that he was probably going to make them all get vaccines too.

What mistake did the man make?

• Sunk Cost Fallacy

• Strawman

• Anchoring Bias

• False Cause

Multiple Choice

Floyd is a nice man. He likes simple things like cars and soda. He likes to watch football on Sundays with his kids on his big screen TV. One day Floyd has to go pick up his wife at the airport on Sunday and has to miss the game. His team loses. Floyd blames his wife and her inability to get home on her own.

What mistake did Floyd make?

• Sunk Cost Fallacy

• Strawman

• Anchoring Bias

• False Cause

Multiple Choice

Paul is on the city improvement committee. His committee made a promise to the city to build better bike routes to ensure the safety of the local cyclists. The first three roads done were easy - the streets were wide enough to accommodate a bike lane. But, the next three roads are narrow and would require lots of construction work. The committee decides that they have already made a promise and already spent tax payer $$ to start the project, they might as well finish it.

What mistake did Paul, and his committee, make?

• Sunk Cost Fallacy

• Strawman

• Anchoring Bias

• False Cause