Arsha Nabila .

P/381745
Daniel Putra/

Reasoning Theories

1. Affirming the antecedent: Affirming the antecedent is, in conditional reasoning, arguing
validly from a hypothetical proposition of the form If a then b that, because a therefore a.
the example of this is if Martha loves sugar, she will enjoy her cake. Martha loves sugar,
thus she also loves her cake. Martha loves sugar can be presented by a, and Martha loves
her cake will be b. If a then b, and if a therefore b.
2. Appeal to force: speaker gets the opponent to agree with the speaker’s opinion because
otherwise the opponent will be hurt for disagreeing. Example: a student decided to give
answer to his friend during exam because he was forced and if he did not do that he knew
that he would get bullied.
3. Appeal to pity: speaker will use the emotional weakness of the other party to be pitied in
order to avoid consequences of what the speaker has done. Example: a worker always
comes late to work and has hit the limit set by the company, in this case the worker will be
fired but the worker makes up excuses and brings up his family’s future if he is fired. Boss
will end up pitying the worker and changing the decision.
4. Building the case: speaker happens to support his or her point with biased evidence because
the drawn conclusion was based on certain evidence that happens to support the point not
overall the right evidence. Example: a person assumed that the murders that have been
happening are caused by the recklessness of the victims, while in fact the murderer is the
one who has been an expert for a long time.
5. Clinical test syndrome: a realization that an individual has been wrong after learning new
ideas or concepts from their surroundings. Example: a student used to think that graduating
from school means no more homework and life would be better, but after going to
university the student found out that life as an adult is more complicated than doing those
assignments.
6. Conformation bias
7. Differences between belief and opinion
8. Dilution of generalization: speaker uses common generalization in order to cover the
weakness in his or her argument. Example: using the phrase that ‘everyone makes
mistakes’, someone can avoid a punishment from what they do.
Arsha Nabila .P/381745
Daniel Putra/

9. Fallacy of composition
10. Functional fixation: speaker attaches a point to an argument from what has been
experienced in the past without realizing that what has happened in the past may not be
applicable to nowadays issues. Example: an accountant making decision based on what
happened in the past while there has been a change in the regulation that makes the decision
not relevant anymore
11. Leading question: a researcher often ends up with a biased result because of the questions
given to the correspondents are actually leading to a certain answer which is not what
should be the real answer if the questions were just purely a question.
12. Modus tollens: the rule of logic stating that if a conditional statement (“if p then q ”) is
accepted, and the consequent does not hold (not-q), then the negation of the antecedent
(not-p) can be inferred.
13. Put-downs: speaker gives sarcastic statements about the weakness or mistake of the
opponents said in a high tone to avoid or disagree with an argument. Example: saying that
the opponent’s opinion is a joke.
14. Red herring: speaker avoids giving respond to the opponent’s argument because they have
a point and speaker doesn't want to admit that the opponent has a better point. Example:
instead of giving a proper respond to the opponent’s argument, the speaker changes the
topic.
15. Survivor bias
16. Stereotyping: concept where an individual or a group is being categorized by their attached
qualities. Example: people often assume that wearing glasses means you are smart, while
in fact it might be from playing too much game on computers.