The appeal to emotion is a logical fallacy which occurs when a misleading argument, and particularly one that is unsound or missing factual evidence, is used with the goal of manipulating people’s emotions. For example, a person using an appeal to emotion in a debate might encourage the audience to ignore facts that their …
Read moreThe Appeal to Emotion: Persuasion Through Feelings Rather than Facts
The zero-sum bias is a cognitive bias that causes people to mistakenly view certain situations as being zero-sum, meaning that they incorrectly believe that one party’s gains are directly balanced by other parties’ losses. For example, the zero-sum bias can cause people to think that there is competition for a resource that they feel …
Read moreThe Zero-Sum Bias: When People Think that Everything is a Competition
In many situations, people care more about proving that they are right than they do about doing what’s best for them and for others. This is a problematic mindset, that can hinder you in many areas of life, including in domains such as your professional development and your personal relationships. As such, in the following …
Premature optimization is the act of trying to make things more efficient at a stage when it is too early to do so. For example, premature optimization could involve someone spending a lot of time and money picking out the best possible gear for a certain hobby, despite the fact that they haven’t actually …
Read morePremature Optimization: What It Is and How to Avoid It
The psychologist’s fallacy is a logical fallacy which occurs when an external observer assumes that their subjective interpretation of an event represents the objective nature of that event. For example, the psychologist’s fallacy occurs when a psychologist assumes that their interpretation of why a patient acted the way that they did must be true. …
Read moreThe Psychologist’s Fallacy: Why It’s Wrong to Assume that Your Interpretation is Right
The rhyme-as-reason effect is a cognitive bias that makes people more likely to remember, repeat, and believe statements that contain a rhyme, compared to those that do not. For example, people generally perceive the aphorism “woes unite foes” as more accurate than the aphorisms “woes unite enemies” or “misfortunes unite foes”, despite the fact that they …
Read moreThe Rhyme-as-Reason Effect: Why Rhyming Makes Your Message More Persuasive
Precommitment is a strategy where you intentionally take actions which limit your future options, in order to enforce your commitment to a particular course of action and make your threats appear more credible to others. Precommitment can be a valuable strategy to apply in many areas of life. As such, in the following article …
Read morePrecommitment: Burning Bridges as a Strategic Decision
A placebo is a treatment which has no inherent ability to produce a direct physiological effect, but which nevertheless has a beneficial therapeutic effect, and can cause people to experience positive physical or mental outcomes. For example, when people are given an inert sugar pill by a doctor who tells them that it’s medicine, …
Read morePlacebo: How the Placebo Effect Can Trick Your Mind into Feeling Better
The credentials fallacy is a logical fallacy which occurs when someone dismisses an argument simply because the person who made that argument doesn’t have formal credentials in the field being discussed, or doesn’t have credentials that are viewed as sufficient. For example, if someone raises concerns about a certain social issue, someone using the …
Read moreThe Credentials Fallacy: What It Is and How to Respond to It
The false-consensus effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to overestimate the degree to which their beliefs, values, characteristics, and behaviors are shared by others. Essentially, this means that the false consensus effect leads people to assume that others think and act in the same way that they do, even when that isn’t the case. For …
Read moreThe False Consensus Effect: Why People Assume that Everyone Agrees with Them