Irrational Thinking Essay, Research Paper

To understand this concept you must first know the definition of the term

fallacy. Fallacy is defined as deception, an error in logic, or an often

plausible argument using false or invalid inference. In this course we learned

that there were eight fallacies: perfection, approval, should,

overgeneralization, causation, helplessness, and catastrophic causation. In this

paper I will attempt to explain each of them. The fallacy of perfection is when

a person that thinks that everything must be perfect. It can be as innocent as

someone who must keep their things neat and clean or as extreme as a person

cleans constantly because they don’t feel that anything is clean enough. In

their eyes, everything must be flawless. A person with this fallacy may most

commonly be known as a perfectionist. One of their setbacks is that they are

some busy perfecting that they don’t have time to do other things. The fallacy

of approval is when a person that insures that they say and do is acceptable to

others. They are people pleasers, willing to do anything to make everyone happy

and often say what the listeners want to hear. They are sometimes known as

two-faded because they are on everyone’s side of an argument. Most often

affected by this fallacy are adolescents because they thrive on peer approval. A

downfall is that the individual is so consumed with pleasing other the it may be

difficult for them to find self-fulfillment. The fallacy of should is when a

person confuses what they want with what should be. They never understand why

things are not going their way. This fallacy, unlike most of the others, can

sometimes be beneficial, in moderation, in careers fields such as law

enforcement and politics. In these field, in general, what the individual want

usually will benefit public. On the other in hand, an extreme fallacy of should

can be disasterist. One such example in history is Nazi Germany. Hitler’s

fallacy of should lead to the death of thousands of people. The fallacy of

over-generalization uses the expressions "always" and

"never" frequently. These people often times have trouble recognizing

the things people do "often" especially if it is some thing position.

For instance in an argument they may use statements like, " You never help

me with the kids." or "You always leave the toilet seat up. As a

consequence of this fallacy the person that they are arguing with may become

considerably defective. The fallacy of helplessness is when a person feels that

they have no control over any situation. They feel that they are hindered by

obstacles and they have say in the outcome. The example that stands of in my

mind is when African-American males say that they are oppressed by "the

man" ( referring to white people). This is their justification for not

being able to hold a steady job and any other unjust treatment they receive.

What a lot of these people with this fallacy fell to realize is their part in

the injustice (i.e. police record, excessively tardy to work) Another pitfall of

this fallacy is that it leads to stereotypes and prejudice. The fallacies of

causation and catastrophic causation with the exception of catastrophic

causation is too the extreme. The word causation means that the person feels

that everything that can go wrong will go wrong. They also feel that their

thoughts and feelings cause negative emotion. I, personal, have never met anyone

with either of these fallacies but I would think that a effect of having one of

them would damage them socially because of their fear of an unfavorable outcome.

Each fallacy affects people a different way but by knowing and understand each

of them I have a better understanding for why act or react the way that they do.

This was the most beneficial concept I learned in this course.