Logical Fallacies, May 11, 2010.

1a. Appeal to Pity.
b. Appeal to pity is the logical fallacy that occurs when Person A is presenting an argument and in order to get Person B to buy into their argument and give them what they want, Person A introduces a claim that is meant to make Person B feel sorry for them, and see it from their perspective.
c. Example;

Person A; I know I didn't do well on this test, but I NEED extra credit. If I have a C on my report card, my mom won't let me go to this concert I've been wanting to go to for the past three months.
Teacher; I suppose I can find an extra credit opportunity for you, that will be fine.


2a. Slippery Slope
b. This is when someone states that there is an inevitable link between one course of action or event and another that they claim is automatically going to follow, even though there is no logical evidence that event B will follow event A.

c. Example; Never say hello to people you don't know while walking down the street, or even look in their direction, especially men. The next thing you know, they'll be following you home or showing up on your doorstep and then you'll really be doomed!


3a. Appeal to Authority
b. This is when someone automatically believes what someone says about a particular subject just because that person is supposedly an authority on that particular subject.
c. Example;

History teacher; Part of the reason the United States became involved with World War II was to free the Jews in the concentration camps from Hitler's evils.
Student A; Really? I thought that the United States only got involved because we were bombed at Pearl Harbor.
Student B; Hey, don't question the teacher, if she says that we got involved in World War II to free the Jews, it must be true!


4a. Appeal to Fear.
b. This is when someone presents a claim and then to make it seem as if their claim is legitimate, they will make another point that is meant to cause fear and get whoever is listening to agree with them.

Example;

Person A; You need to start going to church, and you need to repent of your sins before it's too late!
Person B; Why?
Person A; If you do not repent from your sins and go to church every day, you'll burn in the lake of fire for all of eternity after you die and you'll have to endure the tortures of hell!
Person B; Oh no! I think you're right, I'm going to start going to church more often and go say a prayer or two.


5a. Red Herring.
b. This is when an unrelated topic is thrown into an argument or into a statement being made to distract from the original topic under discussion, but it is made to look related to the original topic.
Example;

Sorry I didn't come home in time or call and let you know where I was, but did you see what the weather was like? It was horrible!


6a. Post Hoc
b. An event takes place followed by another, therefore the second was caused by the first.

Example;

I went out to eat last night and today I am sick and throwing up. I must have gotten food poisoning!


7a. Two Wrongs Make a Right
b. This is saying that one course of action from one person to another is acceptable, because the other person would have no problem doing the same thing, and this is often used to justify an action.

Example;

"Oh, it's perfectly fine that I borrowed $5 from my friend and never paid him back, I know that if I lent him money, he wouldn't pay me back either."



8a. Hasty Generalization
b. This is when a conclusion is made about an entire group based on a small sample that is not enough to judge the entire group.

Example; "The two people I know from Texas are racist, therefore everyone in Texas must also be racist."


9a. Appeal to Common Practice
b. "Since many people do it, it must not be so wrong."
Example; Many people go over the speed limit, therefore it's not wrong to do so.


Example in a television show;
http://www.explosivefightvideos.com/fightvideos/1004/degrassi-cat-fight.html


Manny and Paige are the two characters in this scene. To fully understand the use of logical fallacies in this clip, a brief summary of the preceding events is needed; Paige (blonde hair) is dating the student teacher, and Manny (brown hair) was telling people even though she promised she would not, and Paige confronts her, at one point using a personal attack ("I doubt your mouth is even connected to your tiny, shrivelled boy obsessed brain"). Manny attempts to distract from the issue at hand by using another personal attack at 0:35 in the clip. Paige is confronting her about telling a secret she promised not to tell, and she responds to these comments with "Who still hasn't learned to chase after older guys, guys SO out of her league it's not even funny?" in an attempt to distract from the issue at hand (her big mouth) and to change the course of the argument, and it did, and one comment after another led to a fight. The comment she made was made in a way that it appeared to be relevant to the argument, but it was really not, although it was successful in distracting from the argument and removing the blame off herself. One personal attack leads to another until the situation escalates.

Race Test Results, May 3, 2010.

1. How did you react to your results? Were you surprised? Angry or hurt? Pleased? Discuss what you felt and why you think you felt what you did.

I was surprised by my results, as I do not judge anyone based on their race and I judge people as individuals. I was a little bit hurt to see my result, as it is not reflective of how I feel or any preference, and I don't believe that a test like this is an accurate measure of one's inner feelings or underlying prejudices. However part of me fears that my result on this test is correct and I have underlying prejudices that I do not know about, although when I think about it, I don't feel as if I do. I should say I am more confused than anything else.

2. Do you believe that your test results say something about you that you should pay attention to? Why or why not?

No, I do not. I actually feel as if my test result is (if I had to pick), the opposite of how I feel, as I always wished I was more ethnically diverse and I tend to admire multiculturalism, and I find world cultures from various parts of the world to be interesting. I don't feel that the test's result that I have a 'moderate preference for European Americans' to be true, because I always try to present myself as more ethnically diverse and I am proud of being a small amount African (even though it's under 10%), and am quick to point out that my own background is not 100% European. I think if I truly preferred European Americans, I would deny this rather than embrace it.

3. Do you think that these tests are valid? When you first saw your results, did you question or accept the tests' validity?

I questioned the test's validity from the moment I began taking it. I constantly made mistakes and would click the wrong button and it was difficult and easy to get confused, since the goal was to answer very quickly and the headings kept changing. I think that it's really difficult to determine if this type of test is accurate, but I don't believe that it is. I think my tendency to push the button on the right first (since I am right-handed) also played a part in my result.

4. Give examples of the cultural messages that many support attitudes linking a dominant group in your nation or culture with "good" or "superior" attributes and a subordinate group with "bad" or "inferior" ones. Are these attitudes generalizations that can be called stereotypes? How can generalizations be distinguished from stereotypes?

Generalizations tend to be the idea that the majority of the time, people from said group have specific characteristics or that the majority of the time, there are predictable patterns into which people and things fall, while stereotypes tend to be more sub-conscious, and carry the connotation that if something has a specific characteristic, it must belong to a certain group, or the idea that everyone from a particular group is alike. For instance, in this country there IS a, underlying bias toward those of European descent, where white people are generally perceived to be more educated. An example is when an African American speaks in an educated manner, they are sometimes told they don't "sound black" because they don't speak the way some people believe African Americans speak. In reality, the way one speaks is a result of the way their parents spoke and also, their environment and it is not linked to race. An example of a stereotype would be the stereotype of African Americans as "ghetto", and when someone who is white who dresses a specific way (very baggy jeans, large shirts, etc.) is told they "dress black".

Stereotypes and generalizations do have plenty of overlap though. I personally do not believe in stereotypes because I am often surprised by how often they turn out to be false.

5. If some of our consciously held beliefs, attitudes, and values are undermined by what Gladwell calls rapid cognition (others call this intuitive thinking or even gut feelings), what do you suggest we can do to combat jumping to (false) conclusions?

I think in order to avoid jumping to false conclusions, people should stop and think about the people they know, and see that not everyone of a particular group behaves the same way, at least as far as stereotypes go. I think if people begin to see that everyone and everything does not fall into predictable patterns, the world will be better off. I think that people can also avoid jumping to false conclusions by attempting to open their mind to alternative answers even after making a rash generalization or a first impression, because sometimes first impressions are not true. I try to do this and enable myself to be more open minded, and I often catch myself making false conclusions and generalizations and try to look at it from another perspective to open my mind.