Critical Thinking and our Inclination Toward Faulty Logic

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Critical Thinking and our Inclination Toward
Faulty Logic

• Arendt

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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.

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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/A578
  81-2005Jan7.html
• http//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A563
  30-2005Jan7.html
• http//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A572
  68-2005Jan7.html

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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.

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Critical Thinking our inclination toward Faulty
Logic

• Subjective content examples
• Edwards unveils plan to control drug advertising
• http//www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN2
  8439707
• Caffeinated schnapps
• http//wideeye.com/

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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 Id better do
  something to stop all my students from cheating

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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

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Critical Thinking our inclination toward Faulty
Logic
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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?

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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.

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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.

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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

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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)

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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.

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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)

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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_id1003659230

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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.

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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."

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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"

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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.

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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)

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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