The appeal to emotion is a logical fallacy that involves manipulating people’s emotions to strengthen their support for the conclusion of an unsound argument (e.g., one that’s misleading or baseless). For example, a person using an appeal to emotion in a debate might encourage the audience to ignore certain, by trying to make the audience angry at their source.| Effectiviology
Reactive devaluation is a cognitive bias that causes people to devalue things that are offered to them, especially if offered by someone they perceive negatively. For example, reactive devaluation can cause someone to wrongly dismiss a good business proposal as bad, just because they dislike the person who offered it.| Effectiviology
The overkill backfire effect is a cognitive bias that causes people who encounter a complex explanation to reject it in favor of a simpler alternative, and to sometimes also reinforce their belief in the simpler alternative.| Effectiviology
A logical fallacy is a pattern of reasoning that contains a flaw, either in its logical structure or in its premises.| Effectiviology
Cherry picking is a logical fallacy where someone focuses only on evidence that supports their stance, while ignoring evidence that contradicts it. For example, a person who engages in cherry picking might mention only a small selection of studies out of all the ones available on a certain topic, to make it look as if the scientific consensus matches their stance.| Effectiviology
The outcome bias (or outcome effect) is a cognitive bias that leads people to judge decisions mainly based on their outcomes, in a way that’s irrelevant to the true quality of those decisions. Accordingly, the outcome bias can cause people to judge good decisions as being bad if they lead to negative outcomes, and to judge bad decisions as being good if they lead to positive outcomes.| Effectiviology
The action bias is a cognitive bias that causes people to favor action over inaction, without properly considering the outcomes that this will bring. For example, the action bias can drive someone to make unnecessary changes to their investment portfolio, even if it would be better for them to do nothing.| Effectiviology
The confirmation bias is a cognitive bias that causes people to search for, interpret, and recall information in a way that confirms their preexisting beliefs. For example, if someone is presented with a lot of information on a certain topic, the confirmation bias can cause them to only remember the bits of information that confirm what they already thought.| Effectiviology
In a perfectly rational world, people who encounter evidence that challenges their beliefs would first evaluate this evidence, and then adjust their beliefs accordingly. However, in reality this is seldom the case.| Effectiviology