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Social Studies skills: Difference between revisions

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* thus the "new car syndrome"  
* thus the "new car syndrome"  


=== Correlation is not causation ===
=== "Cargo Cult" fallacy ===
 
* fallacy of superficially mimicking someone, something, or some activity will result in the same benefits accrued to those who are being copied
* a cause and effect fallacy that mistakes "correlation" for cause
** i.e., by taking sticks and marching in military-lines, that one would have the same power as the real army being mimicked
** i.e., just because two events are related or coincidental does not mean one caused the other
* in science, called "cargo cult science", whereby one researcher copies the results of another without testing it independently
* this fallacy is one of "conflation" as opposed to bad logic, as in the ''Post hoc'' fallacy
* the term "cargo cult" originated in belief by indigenous Pacific islanders that ritualistic mimicking of Western symbols, constructions or actions would yield the same benefits observed of those westerners
** especially construction of mini-airstrips and models of airplanes that the U.S. military brought to Pacific Islands during WWII would also yield the benefits those things brought to the westerners, such as material goods, health care, etc.
* the term "cargo cult" was coined by Australian planters in Papua New Guinea
** anthropologists adopted the coin regarding certain indigenous beliefs across Melanesia (eastern Pacific islands)


=== Confirmation bias ===
=== Confirmation bias ===
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** Hume warned against jumping to conclusions based on limited knowledge
** Hume warned against jumping to conclusions based on limited knowledge
*** i.e. drawing conclusions based on our own confirmation bias
*** i.e. drawing conclusions based on our own confirmation bias
=== Correlation is not causation ===
* a cause and effect fallacy that mistakes "correlation" for cause
** i.e., just because two events are related or coincidental does not mean one caused the other
* this fallacy is one of "conflation" as opposed to bad logic, as in the ''Post hoc'' fallacy


=== False dilemma fallacy ===
=== False dilemma fallacy ===
* fallacy of conclusion drawn from limited evidence or a false premise
* fallacy of conclusion drawn from limited evidence or a false premise
* the fallacy ignores evidence contrary to the conclusion drawn from it
* the fallacy ignores evidence contrary to the conclusion drawn from it