Chapter 4 Study Questions

  1. What critical thinking principle should we follow when claims conflict?
  2. What is background information?
  3. What critical thinking principle should we follow when a claim conflicts with our background information?
  4. What should we do when confronted with a claim that is not quite dubious enough to summarily discard, yet not worthy of complete acceptance?
  5. What is an expert?
  6. What principle should we observe when a claim conflicts with expert opinion? When experts disagree about a claim?
  7. What is the fallacious appeal to authority?
  8. What are the four main indicators that someone is an expert?
  9. What is the basic principle regarding evidence provided by personal experience?
  10. What are three main factors that can give us good reason to doubt the reliability of personal experience?
  11. What is pareidolia?
  12. What is the gambler’s fallacy?
  13. What is confirmation bias?
  14. What is the availability error?
  15. What are three major factors that influence the content of the news?
  16. How can reporters deliberately make themselves part of the story?
  17. What are three ways to exercise reasonable skepticism towards the news media?
  18. What should be our guiding principle when thinking critically about advertising?
  19. What are the four most common persuasive techniques that advertisers use?
  20. Describe a recent personal experience in which you have good reason to doubt the evidence provided. Why do you have reasons to doubt the evidence provided by the experience?
  21. Identify at least two distinct claims you have recently heard or saw, whether in the media, online, or in your personal life, that conflict with your background information. Explain how they conflict with your background information. Does this conflict give you a good reason to reject the claim? Why or why not?
  22. Identify a fallacious appeal to authority, which you recently observed either in the media, online, or in your personal life. What claim was the appeal to authority made in support of, and why was the appeal fallacious?
  23. Identify a claim you recently heard or saw, whether in the media, online, or in your personal life, that was inferred erroneously on the basis of the availability error. What was the arguer’s claim, and how did he or she commit the availability error?
  24. Does appealing to background information in order to determine whether we should accept or reject a claim, make us susceptible to confirmation bias? Why or why not?
  25. Identify a recent advertising campaign that uses one or more of the following advertising strategies: slogans, weasel words, identification, and/or misleading comparisons. Explain how the strategy or strategies are used in the ad in order to promote or sell a product or service.
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