Logical Fallacies

What is a Logical Fallacy? An argument that seems logical at first, but falls apart or does make sense when looked at more closely.

Bandwagon “Everyone is doing it, you should too Bandwagon “Everyone is doing it, you should too!” Bandwagon effect persuades people to follow the crowd without examining the merits of a particular situation. Lemmings

Circular Reasoning When an argument’s conclusion is the same as the premise. “A is true because A is true" or "A is true because B is true, and B is true because A is true". Examples: I like chocolate ice-cream because it is my favorite. Piracy is wrong because it is against the law, and it is against the law because it is wrong.

Transfer When words, images or symbols arouse emotions and connect the consumer’s emotions to the product being sold.

Loaded Words Wording that attempts to influence the listener or reader by appealing to the emotions. EXAMPLES: freedom, slavery, war, justice, abused, failed, love, religion, racist Video

Testimonial A product/service is given the stamp of approval by a respected or admired person, usually a celebrity, in the hopes that the intended audience will follow their example. I wanna be like Mike!

False Causality An argument is presented that says ‘situation A’ causes situation ‘B,’ but is not always true. In a false causality argument, it cannot be proven that ‘situation B’ was caused by ‘situation A.’ EXAMPLES: I failed because my teacher doesn’t like me. Drinking fresh water will keep you healthy

Over Simplification occurs when it is assumed that there is only one, simple cause of an outcome when in reality it may have been caused by a number of causes. EXAMPLES: -High school students drop out of school because they are lazy. -The cause of the Civil War was slavery.