Chapter 7

Question 1

Hasty Generalizations

Answer 1

Arriving at a general statement or rule by citing too few supporting cases.

Generalizing from too few cases or from samples that are too small

Example: The food in L.A. is lousy, judging from this meal

Question 2

Arriving at a general statement or rule by citing too few supporting cases

Answer 2

Hasty Generalization

Example: The food in L.A. is lousy, judging from this meal

Question 3

Fallacy of the Lonely Fact

Answer 3

Another word for Hasty Generalization

Question 4

Argument by Anecdote

Answer 4

When a speaker or writer tries to support a general claim by offering a story. A version of hasty generalization.

Example: Did you read where John Travolta flew his plane into LAX and parked it on the tarmac - right out there in everyone’s way? That’s the trouble with these Hollywood actors. They don’t care about anyone but themselves.

Question 5

Supporting a claim by offering a story

Answer 5

Argument by Anecdote

Question 6

Fallacy of Small Sample

Answer 6

type of hasty gneeralizatio. When someone tries to derive a statement about all or most members of a population from a statement about a tiny sample of the population.

Example: People who live in Cincinnati have no idea where Akron is. I didn’t, when I lived in Cincinnati.

Example: Things cost less at Costco. I bought lawn fertilizer there for a ridiculously low price

Question 7

People who live in Cincinnati have no idea where Akron is. I didn’t, when I lived in Cincinnati

Answer 7

Fallacy of small sample

Question 8

Things cost less at Costco. I bought lawn fertilizer there for a ridiculously low price

Answer 8

Fallacy of small sample

Question 9

Generalizing from exceptional cases

Answer 9

Arriving at a general statement or rule by citing an atypical supporting case

Question 10

The police aren’t required to get a search warrant if they arrest a supsect while a robbery is in progress and search him for a weapon. Therefore, they shouldn’t be required to get a search warrant for any kind of search

Answer 10

Generalizing from Exceptional Cases

Question 11

Animals will live longer if they are on a calorie-restricted diet. This has been shown in experiments with rats

Answer 11

Generalizing from Exceptional Cases

Question 12

Fallacy of BiasedSample

Answer 12

A type of generalizing from exceptional cases

Question 13

Almost everyone in a large survey of Tea Party members thinks the president should be impeached. Therefore, most Americans think the president should be impeached

Answer 13

Fallacy of Biased Sample.

The problem isn’t that the survey is small, but that Tea Party members might have atypical opinions

Question 14

Judging from what car dealers say, most business people now think the economy is improving

Answer 14

Fallacy of Biased Sample.

Car dealers see the economy from their own perspective

Question 15

Self-Selection Fallacy

Answer 15

version of generalizing from an exceptional case.
Occurs when someone generalizes incautiously from a self-selected ample. A self-selected sample is one whose members are included by their own decision.

Example: Most Americans have a favorable view of the president as a person, judging from an online survey conducted by CNN

Question 16

Most Americans have a favorable view of the president as a person, judging from an online survey conducted by CNN

Answer 16

Self-Selection Fallacy. The opinions of respondents to an online survey select themselves into the sample by their own decision.

Question 17

Fallacy of Accident

Answer 17

When a speaker or writer assumes that a general statement automatically applies to a specific case that is (or could be) exceptional

Question 18

It is illegal to use a cell phone while driving; therefore, that police officer committed a crime when she used her cell while driving

Answer 18

Fallacy of Accident.
The general statement that it is illegal to use a cell phone while driving does not automatically apply to the special circumstance mentioned. It is easy to imagine situations where official business might best be conducted on a cell.

Question 19

Everyone should have access to a college education. Therefore , anyone who applies should be admitted to Cal Poly

Answer 19

A general rule is being applied here to an exceptional case. Fallacy of Accident

Question 20

In this country we have a right to free speech. Therfore, if I want to threaten the mayor, that is my right

Answer 20

Fallacy of Accidnet

Question 21

Costco sells for less. Therefore, lawn fertiilizer will cost less at Costco

Answer 21

Fallacy of Accident. The fact that Costco in general sells for less raises the probability only slightly that it will sell this specific item for less

Question 22

The city has a very high crime rate; therefore, it willbe dangerous to shop in this neighborhood.

Answer 22

Fallacy of Accident. It would be a hasty generalization to draw a conclusion about a city’s overall crime rate from what you observed in one particular location. It is also the fallacy of accident to infer from the city’s overall high crime rate, that a particular location in the city has a high crime rate.

Question 23

Weak Analogy

Answer 23

Sometimes called false analogy.

A weak argument based on debatable or unimportant similarities between two or more things.

Example: My mom is just like Adolf Hitler. I doubt she will let me go out with you guys.

Question 24

Mistaken appeal to authority

Answer 24

Supporting a contention by offering as evidence the opinion of a nonauthoriative source

Example: My father thinks the president lied. Therefore, the president lied.

Question 25

Mistaken appeal to popularity

Answer 25

Also called mistaken appeal to common belief.

When a speaker treats an issue that cannot be settled by public opinion as if it can

Exmaple. The Iranians have nuclear weapons. Everyone knows that

Question 26

Mistaken apeal to common practice

Answer 26

Sometimes calls mistaken appeal to tradition

justifying a practicce on the grounds that is traditional or is commonly practiced.

Example: This is the right way; it’s the way it has always been done.

Question 27

Bandwagon Fallacy

Answer 27

By mentinoing the popularity of a proposition, a speaker or writer may not be trying to offer evidence of its truth. Instead, he or she may be dangling a psychological inducement to believe it.

Example: Hillary Clinton has earned your support. Everyone is endorsing her.

Question 28

Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

Answer 28

“After this, therefore because of it”. Assuming the fact that one event came after another establishes that it was caused by the other

Example; After I took Zicam my cold went away fast. Therefore taking Zicam caused my cold to go away fast.

Question 29

Correlation does not prove causation

Answer 29

True

Question 30

Overlooking the possibility of coincidence

Answer 30

A special case of the post hoc fallacy. Overlooking the possibility that the sequential events were coincidental

Example: After Susan threw out the chain letter, she was in an automobille accident. Therefore throwing out the chain letter caused her to get in an automobile accident

Question 31

OVerlooking a possible common cause

Answer 31

Post hoc fallacy

Example: I left the lights on when I went to bed. Next morning I woke up with a headache. Therefore leaving the lights on caused the headache.

LEaving the lights on and waking up with a headahce may be the effects of a common cause, such as having gone to bed unusually tired or intoxciated

Question 32

Overlooking the possibility of random variation

Answer 32

post hoc reasoning.
Ignoring the fact that values or variables fluctuate randomly

In our tests, we asked randomly selected men to drive a golf ball as far as they could. We then had them wear our magnetic bracelet and try again. On the second occasion, the men hit the ball an average of ten feet further. Our bracelet can lengthen your drive as well.

Improvement might simply have been due to random variation. If performing the test again, the average drive length might decrease.

Question 33

Overlooking the possibility of regression

Answer 33

If the average value of a variant is atypical on one measurement, it is likely to be less atypical on a subsequent measurement.

Example: We measured the IQs of a group of students and found the average to be relatively low. Then we had them take a course in criticla thinking, after which we measured their IQs again. THeir IQs were higher. THerfore the course in critical thinking raised their IQs.

Average IQs were apt to be higher on the second measurement (closer to the true average)

Question 34

Cum Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc

Answer 34

“With this, therefore because of it” Assuming that the fact that tow events happen at about the same timeestablishes that one caused the other.

Example: John had a heart attack while saying a prayer. Therfore the prayer caued the heart attack.

Question 35

Untestable Explanation

Answer 35

When someone offers an explanation that could not be tested even in principle

Example: He has heart issues because of sins done in a previous life.

Question 36

Weak Analogy

Answer 36

Offering an argument based on debatable similarities between two or more things