Definitions
Relying too heavily on the opinion of a single person-- especially if that person is attempting to validate something outside of their expertise.
Just because a significant population of people believe a proposition is true, proposition must be true.
What is the bandwagon fallacy?
WC 1
Team in last place gets 100 points.
Two members of my team have become more engaged employees after taking public speaking classes. That proves we should have mandatory public speaking classes for the whole company to improve employee engagement.
What is the hasty generalization fallacy?
Despite the fact that our Q4 numbers are much lower than usual, we should push forward using the same strategy because our CEO Barbara says this is the best approach.
What is the appeal to authority fallacy?
When your opponent over-simplifies or misrepresents your argument to make it easier to attack or refute.
What is the straw man fallacy?
This common fallacy misleads by presenting complex issues in terms of two inherently opposed sides. Instead of acknowledging that most (if not all) issues can be thought of on a spectrum of possibilities and stances, this fallacy asserts that there are only two mutually exclusive outcomes.
What is the false dilemma fallacy?
WC 2
200 points if you can recall which fallacy Liam presented. -500 if Liam can't recall which he presented.
Even though every project Brad has managed in the last two years has run way behind schedule, I still think we can chalk it up to unfortunate circumstances, not his project management skills.
What is the slothful induction fallacy?
The majority of people believe advertisers should spend more money on billboards, so billboards are objectively the best form of advertisement.
What is the bandwagon fallacy?
This fallacy occurs when someone draws expansive conclusions based on inadequate or insufficient evidence.
What is the hasty generalization fallacy?
This fallacy occurs when sufficient logical evidence strongly indicates a particular conclusion is true, but someone fails to acknowledge it, instead attributing the outcome to coincidence or something unrelated entirely.
What is the slothful induction fallacy?
WC 3
Lisa sold her first startup to an influential tech company, so she must be a successful entrepreneur. (She ignores the fact that four of her startups have failed since then.)
John: I think we should hire someone to redesign our website.
Lola: You're saying we should throw our money away on external resources instead of building up our in-house design team? That's going to hurt our company in the long run.
What is the straw man fallacy?
If two things appear to be correlated, this doesn't necessarily indicate that one of those things irrefutably caused the other thing.
What is the correlation/causation fallacy?
What is the 'No True Scotsman?'
WC 4
Select one player from the other team to write an example of a false dilemma fallacy on the board.
John: No marketer would ever put two call-to-actions on a single landing page.
Barbara: Lola, a marketer, actually found great success putting two call-to-actions on a single landing page for our last campaign.
John: Well, no true marketer would put two call-to-actions on a single landing page, so Lola must not be a true marketer.
What is the 'No True Scotsman' fallacy?
We can either agree with Barbara's plan, or just let the project fail. There is no other option.
What is the false dilemma fallacy?
The tu quoque fallacy is an invalid attempt to discredit an opponent by answering criticism -- but never actually presenting a counterargument to the original disputed claim.
What is the Tu Quoque fallacy?
This fallacy occurs when you attack someone personally rather than using logic to refute their argument. Instead, they'll attack physical appearance, personal traits, or other irrelevant characteristics to criticize the other's point of view.
WC 5
Act out a tu quoque fallacy with a partner from your team.
Lola: I don't think John would be a good fit to manage this project, because he doesn't have a lot experience with project management.
John: But you don't have a lot of experience in project management either!
What is the Tu Quoque fallacy?
Our blog views were down in April. We also changed the color of our blog header in April. This means that changing the color of the blog header led to fewer views in April.
What is the correlation/causation fallacy?