Critical Thinking and our Inclination Toward Faulty Logic

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Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

You have the right to question what you see, hear, and read.

Many pieces are not written/presented to offer information clearly and directly; instead their goal is to persuade you to take a particular action, accept a particular viewpoint, or to argue for one side of a controversial issue.

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Armstrong Williams – CNN/CNBC - $241,000 to promote No Child Left Behind http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57881

-2005Jan7.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56330

-2005Jan7.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57268

-2005Jan7.html

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Subjective content is any material that involves judgment, feeling, opinion, intuition, or emotion rather than factual information.

Evaluating subjective content involves distinguishing between facts & opinions, identifying generalizations, evaluating viewpoints, understanding theories and hypotheses, weighing data and evidence, and being alert to bias.

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Subjective content examples Edwards unveils plan to control drug advertising http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN28439707 Caffeinated schnapps http://wideeye.com/

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

A generalization is a statement made about a large group or class of items based on observation or experience with a portion of that group or class

I loved that song, therefore the band must be great

That student cheated, therefore I’d better do something to stop all my students from cheating

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Bias is when a statement reflects a partiality, preference, or prejudice for or against a person, object, or idea. Much of what you read and hear expresses a bias. Bandwagon (groupthink) Confirmation bias / selective perception

(preconceptions) Focusing effect (too much focus on one thing) Loss aversion

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Slanting is when a writer or speaker uses a selection of facts, choice of words, and the quality and tone of description, to convey a particular feeling or attitude. Its purpose is to convey a certain attitude or point of view toward the subject without expressing it explicitly.

Ask yourself: What facts were omitted? What impression would I have if different words had been used?

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

What are Propaganda Techniques? They are the methods and approaches used to spread ideas that further a cause - a political, commercial, religious, or civil cause.

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Why are they used? To manipulate the readers' or viewers' reason and emotions; to persuade you to believe in something or someone, buy an item, or vote a certain way.

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Name calling (labeling): Attaching a negative label to a person or a thing. People engage in this type of behavior when they are trying to avoid supporting their own opinion with facts. Rather than explain what they believe in, they prefer to try to tear their opponent down.

Consider: commie, yuppie, bum, queer, terrorist, fascist

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

"Bad names have played a tremendously powerful role in the history of the world and in our own individual development. They have ruined reputations, stirred men and women to outstanding accomplishments, sent others to prison cells, and made men mad enough to enter battle and slaughter their fellowmen. They have been and are applied to other people, groups, gangs, tribes, colleges, political parties, neighborhoods, states, sections of the country, nations, and races." (Institute for Propaganda Analysis, 1938)

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Glittering Generalities: This technique uses important-sounding "glad words" that have little or no real meaning. These words are used in general statements that cannot be proved or disproved. Words like "good," "honest," "fair," and "best" are examples of "glad" words.

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic "We believe in, fight for, live by virtue words

about which we have deep-set ideas. Such words include civilization, Christianity, good, proper, right, democracy, patriotism, motherhood, fatherhood, science, medicine, health, and love.

For our purposes in propaganda analysis, we call these virtue words "Glittering Generalities" in order to focus attention upon this dangerous characteristic that they have: They mean different things to different people; they can be used in different ways. (Institute for Propaganda Analysis, 1938)

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

While Name Calling seeks to make us form a judgment to reject and condemn without examining the evidence, the Glittering Generality device seeks to make us approve and accept without examining the evidence.

(Institute for Propaganda Analysis, 1938)

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic Transfer: In this

technique, an attempt is made to transfer the prestige of a positive symbol to a person or an idea. For example, using the American flag as a backdrop for a political event makes the implication that the event is patriotic in the best interest of the U.S.

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

False or Weak Analogy: In this technique, two things that may or may not really be similar are portrayed as being similar. When examining the comparison, you must ask yourself how similar the items are. In most false analogies, there is simply not enough evidence available to support the comparison.

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic WASHINGTON (AP)--The only exterminator in Congress told his

colleagues Wednesday that it would be a short-sighted move to ban use of chlordane and related termiticides that cause cancer in laboratory animals.

Supporters of the bill, however, claimed that the Environmental Protection Agency was "dragging its feet" on a chemical that could cause 300,000 cancers in the American population in 70 years.

"This bill reminds me of legislation that ought to be introduced to outlaw automobiles" on the grounds that cars kill people, said Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, who owns an exterminating business.

EPA banned use of the chemicals on crops in 1974, but permitted use against termites because the agency did not believe humans were exposed. Chlordane does not kill termites but rather drives them away.

Source: Associated Press, June 25th, 1987

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Testimonial: This technique is easy to understand. It is when "big name" personalities are used to endorse a product.

Whenever you see someone famous endorsing a product, ask yourself how much that person knows about the product, and what he or she stands to gain by promoting it.

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Tiger Woods to have his own drink Gatorade deal estimated to pay superstar golfer

as much as $100 million http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21327726/

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/sportsent/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003659230

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Plain Folks: This technique uses a folksy approach to convince us to support someone or something. These ads depict people with ordinary looks doing ordinary activities.

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Card Stacking: This term comes from stacking a deck of cards in your favor. Card stacking is used to slant a message. Key words or unfavorable statistics may be omitted in an ad or commercial, leading to a series of half-truths.

Keep in mind that an advertiser is under no obligation "to give the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Bandwagon: The "bandwagon" approach encourages you to think that because everyone else is doing something, you should do it too, or you'll be left out. The technique embodies a "keeping up with the Joneses"

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Either/or fallacy: This technique is also called "black-and-white thinking" because only two choices are given. You are either for something or against it; there is no middle ground or shades of gray. It is used to polarize issues, and negates all attempts to find a common ground.

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Faulty Cause and Effect: This technique suggests that because B follows A, A must cause B.

Remember, just because two events or two sets of data are related does not necessarily mean that one caused the other to happen (correlation versus causation)

It is important to evaluate data carefully before jumping to a wrong conclusion.

Example: Low school attendance & crime

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

A Red Herring is a fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is presented in order to divert attention from the original issue. The basic idea is to "win" an argument by leading attention away from the argument and to another topic. This sort of "reasoning" has the following form: Topic A is under discussion. Topic B is introduced under the guise of being relevant

to topic A (when topic B is actually not relevant to topic A).

Topic A is abandoned.

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Fallacies of Distraction False Dilemma: two choices are given

when in fact there are three options From Ignorance: because something is not

known to be true, it is assumed to be false Complex Question: two unrelated points

are conjoined as a single proposition

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Appeals to Motives in Place of Support

Consequences: the reader is warned of unacceptable consequences

Prejudicial Language: value or moral goodness is attached to believing the author

Popularity: a proposition is argued to be true because it is widely held to be true

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Changing the Subject Attacking the Person Appeal to Authority

Anonymous Authority: the authority in question is not named

Style Over Substance: the manner in which an argument (or arguer) is presented is felt to affect the truth of the conclusion

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Inductive Fallacies in Research Hasty Generalization: the sample is too

small to support an inductive generalization about a population

Unrepresentative Sample: the sample is unrepresentative of the sample as a whole

Fallacy of Exclusion: evidence which would change the outcome of an inductive argument is excluded from consideration

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic Causal Fallacies Post Hoc: because one thing follows another, it is

held to cause the other Joint effect: one thing is held to cause another when

in fact they are both the joint effects of an underlying cause (ex: bad in class/tired/abused)

Insignificant: one thing is held to cause another, and it does, but it is insignificant compared to other causes of the effect (buying cd makes you broke but far more is spent on something else)

Wrong Direction: the direction between cause and effect is reversed (ex: drinking and marital problems)

Complex Cause: the cause identified is only a part of the entire cause of the effect

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Missing the Point Begging the Question: the truth of the conclusion

is assumed by the premises (if A is true and B is true then C must be true)

Irrelevant Conclusion: an argument in defense of one conclusion instead proves a different conclusion

Straw Man: the author attacks an argument different from (and weaker than) the opposition's best argument

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Category Errors Composition: because the attributes of the

parts of a whole have a certain property, it is argued that the whole has that property

Division: because the whole has a certain property, it is argued that the parts have that property (Utah has young population, therefore St. George has a young population)

Critical Thinking & our inclination toward Faulty Logic

Absurdisms (Non Sequitur) Affirming the Consequent: any argument

of the form: If A then B, B, therefore A Denying the Antecedent: any argument of

the form: If A then B, Not A, thus Not B Inconsistency: asserting that contrary or

contradictory statements are both true