Grou

p1
Relative Privation

- trying to make a scenario appear

better or worse by comparing it to
the best or worst case scenario.
Example:
Son: I am so excited! I got an “A” on
my physics exam!
Dad: Why not an “A+”? This means
that you answered something
incorrectly . That is not acceptable!
Righteousness Fallacy

- assuming that just because a

person’s intentions are good, they
have the truth or facts on their side.
Example:
The president wants to bomb that
country because he thinks they are
preparing to launch a nuclear attack
against us. I know the president wants
to do the right thing for the good of the
American people, so if he says there
have nukes, they have nukes!
Scapegoating

- refers to a process by which a

person or group is unfairly blamed
for something that they didn’t do
and, as a result, the real source of
the problem is either never seen or
purposefully ignored.
The are four different ways in which
scapegoating takes place and scapegoats
are created:
1. Scapegoating can be a one-on-one phenomenon.
Example: I know I got drunk, slapped the waitress
on the behind, then urinated in the parking lot from
inside the restaurant, but that was Satan who had a
hold of me.
2. Scapegoating also occurs in a one-on-group
manner.
Example: The leader is blaming his group member
because they got a low grade which in fact he is
the one who is irresponsible.
3. Sometimes scapegoating takes a group-on-one.
Example: Members of a sports team blame a
player who made a mistake for the loss of a match.
4. Scapegoating that is group-on-group.
Example: Section A blames section B for their lost
books.
Shoehorning
- the process of force-fitting some current affair
into one's personal, political, or religious
agenda. Many people aren't aware of how easy it
is to make something look like confirmation of a
claim after the fact, especially if the source of the
confirmation is something in which they already
believe, like Biblical prophecies, psychic
predictions, astrological horoscopes, fortune
cookies, and more.
Example:
After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon on September 11, 2001, fundamentalist Christian
evangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson shoehorned the events
to their agenda. They claimed "liberal civil liberties groups,
feminists, homosexuals and abortion rights supporters bear partial
responsibility...because their actions have turned God's anger
against America." According to Falwell, God allowed "the enemies
of America...to give us probably what we deserve." Robertson
agreed. The American Civil Liberties Union has "got to take a lot of
blame for this," said Falwell and Robertson agreed. Federal courts
bear part of the blame, too, said Falwell, because they've been
"throwing God out of the public square." Also, "abortionists have
got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked,"
said Falwell and Robertson agreed.
Tokenism

- interpreting a token gesture as an

adequate substitute for the real thing.
Example:

The presidential nominee has

been accused of being racist. But
he recently stated that he really
liked the movie, “Roots,” so I
guess he isn’t racist.