Block, SkipCaptcha, Automoderated users, edit, rollback
3,026
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
new article
'''Wishful thinking''' is both a [[cognitive bias]]<ref>[http://sidewiseinsights.blogspot.com/2011/01/credit-to-his-race-final-installment-of.html SideWise Thinking]</ref> and a [[logical fallacy]].<ref>[http://www.fallacyfiles.org/wishthnk.html Logical Fallacy: Wishful Thinking]</ref> It consists of believing something, or believing something to be more likely than it in fact is, because one wants it to be true.
As a logical fallacy, it it similar to the [[appeal to emotion]], except that the appeal is to one's own emotion rather than only to the emotions of the audience. The fallacy makes a desire for the conclusion to be a premise; that is, it takes the following form:
*I want ''P'' to be true.
*Therefore, ''P''.
A person engaging in wishful thinking almost never states it so bluntly, however. Instead, that person may [[cherry picking|cherry-pick]] the evidence or otherwise distort reality to support the desired conclusion
There is also reverse wishful thinking, which is [[Murphy's law]] as a cognitive bias.
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Logical Fallacies]]
As a logical fallacy, it it similar to the [[appeal to emotion]], except that the appeal is to one's own emotion rather than only to the emotions of the audience. The fallacy makes a desire for the conclusion to be a premise; that is, it takes the following form:
*I want ''P'' to be true.
*Therefore, ''P''.
A person engaging in wishful thinking almost never states it so bluntly, however. Instead, that person may [[cherry picking|cherry-pick]] the evidence or otherwise distort reality to support the desired conclusion
There is also reverse wishful thinking, which is [[Murphy's law]] as a cognitive bias.
==References==
<references/>
[[Category:Logical Fallacies]]