Cause and Effect Fallacy Examples in Media, Real Life, Politics, News & Ads

Cause and Effect Fallacy

Cause and Effect Fallacy Definition

The cause-and-effect fallacy is a logical fallacy that occurs when the conclusion of an argument relies on assuming a cause-and-effect relationship between two things. Still, no such relationship has been proven or can be demonstrated.

This type of reasoning typically takes one of these forms:

• “A” causes “B” (but this has not been established)
• “A,” which usually precedes “B,” implies that “B” will always follow; or
•  A happened before B, so A must have caused B

The cause and effect fallacy is a logical fallacy that occurs when someone assumes that the first event caused the second event because one event preceded another. This assumption is often based on coincidence or correlation rather than evidence of causation.

For example, if it rains every day in July, people might assume that rain causes the month to be wetter than average.

In the field of science, it is important to be able to separate cause and effect. Doing this helps ensure accuracy and makes sure that one does not attribute the wrong cause. One example of a cause and effect fallacy is when two things are assumed to be related or associated because of chance or coincidence.

Cause and Effect Fallacy Examples

Cause and Effect example in Philosophy

Examples of Cause-and-Effect Fallacy in Philosophy:

An example of a cause and effect fallacy is the idea that people’s poverty levels directly affect their health and well-being.

Many other factors may also contribute to the state of a person’s health. It may not be the poverty that leads to poor health rather than it being poor health that leads to poverty.

Causal fallacies are common because it is difficult to know what causes a certain effect.

Cause and Effect Fallacy Real-Life Examples

Cause and Effect Fallacy in Real Life:

For example, for many centuries, the belief that eating meat was a direct cause of disease and health issues had been widely accepted.

However, more recent research has come to show that there is no direct link between consuming meat and getting ill.

Some say that being a vegan will save you from eating food with pesticides on them. This is untrue. Some many fruits and vegetables have pesticides on them.

Other examples:

•  If you wear a hat, it will keep your head warm.
• Cause and effect fallacy: if I buy this hat, then my head will be warmer

Cause and Effect Fallacy Examples in Media

Examples of Cause-and-Effect Fallacy in Media: 

The media often reports on a person’s death and then blames it on an unrelated event.

For example, if a person dies from a car accident, the news might report that the driver was drunk.  This is not necessarily true.

Cause and Effect Examples in Advertising

Cause and Effect Fallacy in Advertising: 

• The ad shows a woman who has just eaten an ice cream cone and is smiling.
• The text says, “you’ll never regret eating this.”
•  This is an example of a cause-and-effect fallacy because the ad does not show that there are other factors in play, such as if the woman was happy before she ate the ice cream or if she had been feeling sad.

Decision Point Fallacy in Politics

Examples of Cause-and-Effect Fallacy in Politics:

The cause is the president’s decision to raise taxes. The effect is that people will be less likely to buy things because they are paying more for them

Cause and Effect Fallacy examples in Movies

Examples of Cause-and-Effect Fallacy in Movies:

Movies often depict people who are good-looking as being more successful. This is a cause and effect fallacy because it doesn’t take into account other factors like intelligence, hard work, or luck.

Cause and Effect Fallacy Examples in Literature

Examples of Cause-and-Effect Fallacy in Literature:

The protagonist’s actions are the cause of the conflict in the story.  The antagonist’s actions are a result of what happened to him in his past.

A character does something because he has been told it is right, but this action causes other characters’ problems.

Cause and Effect Fallacy Examples in News

Examples of Cause-and-Effect Fallacy in News:

A news article makes a claim that is not backed up by evidence—the media reports on the story without fact-checking it first.

Other outlets pick up the story and share it with their followers, causing misinformation to spread.

Related:

• Correlation Causation Fallacy Examples in Media, Real Life, Politics, News & Ads

• 9 Decision Point Fallacy Examples in Media, Real Life, Politics, News & Ads

• False Choice Fallacy Examples in Media, Real Life, Politics, News & Ads