Glossary

A Neat Story Feels More True Than Messy Reality

Narrative Fallacy

A mistake that prefers a neat, coherent story over a messier but more accurate explanation.

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Attacking the Person

Ad Hominem

A personal attack used instead of a real answer.

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Being More Sure Than The Evidence Warrants

Overconfidence Effect

Greater certainty than the evidence or actual skill level deserves.

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Blaming Character, Ignoring Context

Fundamental Attribution Error

An error that overexplains behavior by character and underexplains it by context.

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Changing The Subject By Pointing Somewhere Else

Whataboutism

A dodge that answers criticism by pointing to a different problem elsewhere.

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Feelings Used As Proof

Appeal to Emotion

Using fear, pity, guilt, or some other strong feeling like proof.

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If I Can Recall It Fast, It Feels Common

Availability Heuristic

A heuristic that judges frequency by ease of recall rather than actual rates.

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If I Feel It Strongly, It Must Be True

Emotional Reasoning

A distortion that treats strong feelings as proof that a conclusion is true.

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If It Feels Familiar, It Feels Safer Or Truer

Familiarity Heuristic

A shortcut that treats familiar things as safer, better, or more believable.

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If Others Are Doing It, It Feels Safer

Social Proof Bias

A bias that treats other people's behavior as proof of what is right or safe.

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Ignoring The Big Background Numbers

Base Rate Neglect

Ignoring background odds and overweighting a vivid clue or result.

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It Feels Obvious After It Happens

Hindsight Bias

A bias that makes past outcomes feel more predictable once they are known.

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It Will Take Less Time Than It Will

Planning Fallacy

A trap that underestimates how much time or effort real work takes.

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Looking For Proof You Already Like

Confirmation Bias

A bias that favors matching evidence and filters out challenging evidence.

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Loss Feels Bigger Than Gain

Loss Aversion

A bias that makes losses feel stronger than equal-sized gains.

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One Good Trait Colors Everything Else

Halo Effect

A bias that lets one strong positive impression shape unrelated judgments.

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Only Extremes Count

Black-and-White Thinking

A distortion that turns mixed reality into two harsh extremes.

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Only Two Choices

False Dilemma

A fake either-or choice that hides other real options.

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Pulling You Off The Point

Red Herring

A distracting point that pulls attention away from the real issue.

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Sticking With It Because You Already Paid

Sunk Cost Fallacy

Staying with a bad path because past cost feels too painful to leave behind.

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Stuck On The First Number

Anchoring Bias

A bias that lets the first number pull later judgment too strongly.

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The Crowd Must Be Right

Bandwagon Fallacy

Treating popularity as proof that something is true or good.

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The Group Stops Questioning Itself

Groupthink

A group decision trap where the desire for harmony silences real testing and dissent.

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The Wording Changes The Choice

Framing Effect

A bias where different wording changes judgment about the same facts.

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Thinking You Understand More Than You Really Do

Illusion of Explanatory Depth

The illusion that you understand something deeply until you try to explain it in detail.

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Together Does Not Mean Caused

Correlation vs. Causation

Mistaking a connection between two things for proof that one caused the other.

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Twisting the Point

Straw Man

A distorted version of an argument that is easier to knock down.

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Words That Push Before The Facts Arrive

Loaded Language

Emotion-heavy wording used to push judgment before the facts are tested.

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You Do It Too

Tu Quoque

Answering criticism with a charge of hypocrisy instead of addressing the point.

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