Logical Fallacies: Impact on Decision-Making and Misleading Arguments

This article discusses the impact of logical fallacies on decision-making and how they are used in misleading arguments. It covers common fallacies like ad hominem, appeal to emotion, and false dilemma. The article also highlights the use of fallacies in advertising and politics.

Logical fallacy

TABLE OF CONTENT
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Logical fallacies:..........................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

MAIN BODY
Logical fallacies:
Logical fallacy is statement that is considered valid until any logic is applied to it, this
simply mean that false statement that lead people to believe false information. When a person
considers this statement then they will reach to a wrong conclusion and often regret later,
fallacies may found in fake news. It is very important for person to avoid logical fallacies
because this not only impact their conclusion but this also impact decision-making process and
often lead to unsound argument Risen, Jane, et al (110). When person use social media platform
to gather information they seem to fall under cognitive habit that means they process and make
sense of information by themselves without understanding whether the information is wrong or
right. It is very challenging for a person to identify whether information is fake or real, many
political parties use social media platform to misguide people by providing them wrong
information. Today's media do not allow person to reflect, analyse and image important things,
this misleading argument falls under logical fallacies which seems to be true but reality is quite
different.
Advertising fallacies are some common logical flaws that impact minds of consumer to
buy the product and service, logical fallacies are so powerful that have ability to convince people
even on the basis of fake news. Almost every advertising company or campaign use some source
of false information because providing completely true information can impact consumer and
their decision to buy the product Gottfredson, Linda S (2009). However, using little logical
fallacies is not bad or illegal in the advertising process, it completely depends upon quality of
advertising whether company want to provide right information or company want to attract
costumer.
There are some common logical fallacies, these are:
Ad hominem: ad hominem is one of the most common but pettiest fallacies that not only
mislead people but this also attack character, motive and attribute of person. Many politicians
uses this method of targeting opposition and impact their image in the public with false
information, they do not care about reputation of person but only focus on providing wrong
information Fantino, Edmund, Stephanie Stolarz-Fantino, and Anton Navarro (109). One
powerful ad hominem can impact image of other person, motive behind this logical fallacies to
brainstorm minds of general public. Politician use logical statement in their debate allow them to

flow misleading information, the best example of ad hominem fallacies is; “all killers are
criminals but thief is not considered as criminal because they are not killer” however it is very
clear that criminals are criminal whether they are killers or thief.
Appeal to emotion: appeal to emotion is another powerful logical fallacies that can driver
person's emotion and have ability mislead people. This fallacies are used by marketing expert to
sell their product and service, it is very clear that every marketing campaign only can be
successful if they use some source of fallacies Van Vleet, Jacob E (2021). Marketer exactly
know where to use these fallacies to attract consumer they target anger, fear, grief, affection and
emotion of person. Marketing is game of communication, this completely depend upon keywords
used by marketer for their campaign. There are many marketers who state emotion fallacy as art
of persuasion, this is one of the most successful tool in persuading people until and unless they
know actual benefit of the product. Best example of appeal to emotion is; happiness shown by
group of people when consuming that product or service. An commercial store marketing
campaign is showing happy family enjoying product of the store.
False dilemma: false dilemma is one of the most effective false statement that lead people
to chose one option, this simply means person will have no other option until they believe in
media post. This is informal type of logical fallacy that use faulty argument and pushing people
to believe, false dilemma directly attack person and their emotion for example many companies
use social media platform to use false dilemma; “if person do not use this product then they can
not look beautiful” this statement is completely false but seems to be logically fit for the
company Danciu, Victor (591). Same way many business organization lose their brand image
and reputation with this method, they need to avoid false dilemma and need to consider those
company who actually stay original and provide benefit to the consumer. Avoiding any kind of
logical fallacies is quite challenging for person because this may impact their mental stability and
often lead to misleading action that can impact their life as well, logical fallacies are common but
more powerful in the process.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Risen, Jane, et al. "Informal logical fallacies." Critical thinking in psychology 110 (2007).
Gottfredson, Linda S. "Logical fallacies used to dismiss the evidence on intelligence testing."
(2009).
Fantino, Edmund, Stephanie Stolarz-Fantino, and Anton Navarro. "Logical fallacies: A
behavioral approach to reasoning." The Behavior Analyst Today 4.1 (2003): 109.
Van Vleet, Jacob E. Informal logical fallacies: A brief guide. Hamilton Books, 2021.
Danciu, Victor. "Manipulative marketing: persuasion and manipulation of the consumer through
advertising." Theoretical and Applied Economics 21.2 (2014): 591.
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