Situations / Arguing and debating
Arguing and debating
Disagreeing well, online or in person.
Traps you might be in
- No. 0012 Ad HominemYou question a friend’s medical claim, and the reply reminds everyone that you failed biology in high school.
- No. 0100 Bias Blind SpotYour colleague’s preferred candidate looks like favoritism; your own preferred candidate just seems obviously right for the job.
- No. 0140 Cherry PickingThe sales deck celebrates three happy customers, while the cancellation spreadsheet stays closed on the presenter’s laptop.
- No. 0191 Confirmation BiasYou decide a job offer is right, then spend the evening reading only the reviews that make it sound good.
- No. 0368 False DilemmaYour manager offers two options: approve the weekend deadline, or admit you don’t care about the customers.
- No. 0635 Motivated ReasoningYou want the apartment, so you read the glowing reviews once and reread the complaints until they sound unreasonable.
- No. 0637 Motte-and-Bailey FallacyYou challenge a proposal to track every employee, and suddenly you’re defending whether managers should know what work gets done.
- No. 0650 Naive RealismYou leave a meeting certain the facts were obvious, wondering how your colleague could possibly have missed them.
- No. 0944 Slippery Slope FallacyYour committee rejects one late application because, by next year, nobody will respect the deadline.
- No. 0990 Straw ManYou suggest fewer weekend emails, and your manager starts defending the need to work hard.
- No. 1085 WhataboutismYou ask why your teammate shared a client’s private file, and suddenly you’re discussing a competitor’s data breach.