130 PSYCHOLOGY
(a) What kind of reasoning is characterized by a conclusion that follows from a premise?(b) According to Freud, what kind of thinking is neither inductive nor deductive?Answers: (a) Deductive reasoning; (b) Predicate thinking (or paleological thought).Predicate thinking is not the only way in which thinking can be led
astray. Logical errors are common. Such errors include (1) overgeneralization,
(2) false analogy, (3) appeal to authority, (4) arguing in circles, and (5) attack on
character.
Overgeneralization, also known as hasty generalization, takes place
when we reach a conclusion that goes substantially beyond the facts that inspire it.
Nelson owns stock in ten different companies. The prices on two of his stocks
decline by 40 percent. He begins telling friends, “I think there’s going to be
another Great Depression.” Melinda’s husband, Clark, forgets their wedding
anniversary. The next day Melinda is on the phone telling her best friend, “I don’t
think Clark loves me anymore.”
An analogyconsists of the observation that two basically dissimilar things
have some resemblance to each other. A false analogyexists when the compar-
ison between two things is inappropriate. Books on anatomy and physiology often
point out that the eye is like a camera. The eye has a lens like a camera. The film
in the camera is like the retina; they are both light sensitive. The lens of a camera
produces an inverted image on the film; the lens of the eye produces an inverted
image on the retina. The eye-camera analogy is a useful one. On the other hand,
let’s say that Colby, who grew up on a ranch, compares his car to a horse. “The
darn thing gets balky like a horse. Feeding it gas is like feeding a horse hay. It’s get-
ting old the way horses do.” However, if one day we hear that Colby in a fit of
anger shot the car because the darn thing refused to run, then we would recog-
nize that Colby was employing a false analogy.(a) What kind of logical error takes place when we reach a conclusion that goes substan-
tially beyond the facts that inspire it?
(b) What kind of a logical error takes place when the comparison between two things is
inappropriate?Answers: (a) Overgeneralization (or hasty generalization); (b) False analogy.Appeal to authorityis characterized making by a reference to a respected
person, believed to be well informed, when one’s own logic or reasoning is weak.
Nadine tells her friend Kitty, who eats no green vegetables, that she should eat more
broccoli, peas, and spinach. Kitty asks, “Why?” Nadine says, “Because Dr. Genius
says so in his bookGreen Food for a Green Mind.” Although Dr. Genius may know