Rhetoric and Argumentation

Question 1

Bias

Answer 1

A tendency to believe that some people, ideas, etc., are better than others, which often results in treating some people unfairly

Question 2

Explicit Bias

Answer 2

Refers to the attitudes and beliefs (positive or negative) that we consciously or deliberately hold and express about a person or group. Explicit and implicit biases can sometimes contradict each other.

Question 3

Implicit Bias

Answer 3

Includes attitudes and beliefs (positive or negative) about other people, ideas, issues, or institutions that occur outside of our conscious awareness and control, which affect our opinions and behavior. Everyone has implicit biases – even people who try to remain objective

Question 4

Confirmation Bias

Answer 4

“Selective collection of evidence”
This is our subconscious tendency to seek and interpret information and other evidence in ways that affirm our existing beliefs, ideas, expectations, and/or hypotheses. Therefore, confirmation bias is both affected by and feeds our implicit biases. It can be more entrenched around beliefs and ideas that we are strongly attached to that provoke a strong emotional response.

Question 5

Selective Perception

Answer 5

The tendency not to notice and more quickly forget stimuli that cause emotional discomfort and contradict our prior beliefs

Question 6

Anchoring fallacy

Answer 6

Favoring a viewpoint or piece of information simply because it is the first one we encounter, and thereby what we measure every new piece of information against.

Question 7

Sunk Cost Fallacy

Answer 7

Committing time, resources, and effort toward something or someone just because we’ve already invested so much into it, even if it’s not in our best interest.

Question 8

Backfire Effect

Answer 8

When a strongly held belief or opinion is confronted with evidence that contradicts it, you not only disregard that evidence but turn it into further ‘proof’ that you’re right and thereby dig their heels in even deeper.

Question 9

Fundamental Attribution Error

Answer 9

The tendency to assume other people’s actions are the result of their personality, while yours are the result of the circumstances of the situation

Question 10

Curse of Knowledge

Answer 10

Incorrectly assuming that the person we are communicating with knows as much as we do about a topic. Once we know something, it’s difficult to imagine not knowing it, and so it now seems totally obvious

Question 11

Declinism

Answer 11

The belief that a society or institution is tending towards decline – idealizing the bygone past, viewing the problems we currently face as somehow unique and worse than what generations previously dealt with, and assuming the worst is yet to come to

Question 12

Declinism

Answer 12

The belief that a society or institution is tending towards decline – idealizing the bygone past, viewing the problems we currently face as somehow unique and worse than what generations previously dealt with, and assuming the worst is yet to come to

Question 13

Clustering Effect

Answer 13

Seeing a pattern or correlation in events that are not actually related

Question 14

Premise

Answer 14

A proposition/assumption upon which an argument is based or from which a conclusion is drawn

Question 15

Ethos

Answer 15

Building trust
Where you got the information
How you talk to the audience
Establishing common ground

Question 16

Logos

Answer 16

Established facts and statistics based on large, diverse sets of data
Appeal to logic and reasoning

Question 17

Ad hominem

Answer 17

Attacking the person instead of their argument

Question 18

Bandwagon Appeal

Answer 18

Argues that a belief or action is valid because the majority agrees
Ex: many companies and stores are removing gluten from their products, so gluten must be unhealthy

Question 19

Begging the question

Answer 19

Assumes the initial premise is true when it is open to question
Often takes the form of a question whereby the question itself is based on a questionable assumption.
Ex: why won’t the government force companies to label genetically modified ingredients in their products?

Question 20

False Analogy

Answer 20

Drawing a comparison between two things or situations that are not similar enough to draw a similar conclusion
Ex: guns are like hammers - they are both tools

Question 21

Appeal to Ignorance

Answer 21

Claims that something is true because it has not yet been proven false (or cannot be proven false)
Premised on what we do know and can prove
Ex: we don’t know what the long-term negative effects of the covid vaccine may be, so it’s safer not to risk getting one

Question 22

Ad Populum

Answer 22

When a certain action or belief will result in being labeled as something desirable/popular within a group or carries the threat of being labeled as something unpopular by the group
Ex: only a communist would support Universal Healthcare.

Question 23

Appeal to doubtful authority

Answer 23

When someone with no expertise on an issue is cited as an authority (usually because they’re famous)
Ex: I saw on Oprah that she’s switching to a vegan diet so I will too.

Question 24

Appeal to Tradition

Answer 24

Argues that a belief, action, or system is inherently good or unavoidable simply because it ‘has always been this way’
Ex. there have always been rich and poor people in society, so income equality is an impossible goal

Question 25

Sweeping generalization

Answer 25

Bases an inference on too small a sample, or an unrepresentative sample
Ex: my great-grandmother smoked a pack of cigarettes a day and she lived to be 90 years old

Question 26

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

Answer 26

Assuming a cause and effect relationship between two events simply because they occurred together
Ex. My son got his two-year vaccinations and then he started showing signs of Autism within the following months, so vaccines must cause autism.

Question 27

Slippery slope

Answer 27

Claim that describes a chain of events with an extreme and undesirable result
Ex: if we allow gay marriage, then there will be nothing to stop polygamy. And once we allow this, where will it stop? Will we have to legalize incest? Or even bestiality?

Question 28

Appeal to Nature

Answer 28

When something is claimed to be good because it’s perceived as natural, or bad because it’s perceived as unnatural
Ex. vaccines are unnatural and are therefore dangerous

Question 29

Either/or (false dichotomy)

Answer 29

Reduces a complex, nuanced set of circumstances to only 2 possible choices, with one usually being extremely negative
Ex. Either we declare war on Iran or the terrorists will win.

Question 30

Red herring

Answer 30

An argument or subject that is introduced in order to distract attention away from the main argument
Ex: this country is letting in thousands of refugees from other countries who are fleeing violence, but what about all the homeless veterans in America

Question 31

Inductive Reasoning

Answer 31

Gives us a starting point -an inference- but we must understand the limits of what just one observation can provide us
Specific instance -> General application
EX: Today, I left for work at eight o’clock, and was on time. Therefore, every day that I leave the house at eight o’clock from now on, I will arrive at work on time.

Question 32

Deductive Reasoning

Answer 32

More trustworthy because it’s based on a larger body of proven facts
GENERAL APPLICATION -> SPECIFIC INSTANCE
Ex: Every day, I get in my car to leave for work at eight o’clock. Every day, the journey takes 45 minutes, and I arrive at work on time. If I leave for work at eight o’clock today, I will be on time.

Question 33

Pathos

Answer 33

refers to an emotional appeal that aims to evoke feelings of pity, sympathy, or sadness in the audience or reader.

Question 34

Logical Fallacy

Answer 34

is an error in reasoning or argumentation that undermines the validity of an argument.
It involves a mistake or failure in logical thinking, often leading to an incorrect conclusion or a weak argument.
They are commonly used in politics, advertising, propaganda, and other forms of persuasive communication.

Question 35

Counterargument

Answer 35

Discussion of others/critics/people who don’t agree with you

Question 36

Rebuttal

Answer 36

Discussion of why you are still right and why they are wrong