Composition Fallacy Examples in Media, Real Life, Politics, Movies & Ads

Fallacy of Composition

What is Fallacy of Composition?

The composition fallacy is a logical fallacy that occurs when one assumes that what is true of the parts must be true of the whole.  It can also occur when one assumes that what is true for some group members must be true for all group members.

This type of reasoning leads to false conclusions about individuals, groups, or populations.

This fallacy is when someone assumes that the qualities of the parts of a whole must also apply to the whole. This fallacy can also make mistakes when inferring what the properties of groups must be by looking at the individual members’ properties.

For example, if one person is a vegetarian, they may infer that the group “vegetarians” do not eat meat products of any kind, including eggs, dairy products, or processed food.

The composition fallacy is committed when someone applies the properties of individual members of a group to the group itself. This fallacy is a type of error in reasoning. A common example of the composition fallacy is when a politician incorrectly generalizes that women, as a group, are weak.

The Composition Fallacy is when you apply the average or total of a group to a particular group member. This problem often occurs in the population of statistics and has the potential to cause misunderstandings for people who do not work with statistics.

The fallacy is often committed because of how people make assumptions about an individual or group, and this can lead people to make false conclusions.

The composition fallacy is a logical fallacy that is committed when someone assumes that because a characteristic or trait is true of each of the parts of a whole, it will also be true of the whole.

This fallacy can be seen when one person rates an individual on a personality trait that the individual’s group demonstrates. For example, people may find a group of people hardworking because they can quickly pick up on new tasks.

Composition Fallacy Examples

The Composition Assumption fallacy assumes that because something is true of each of the parts, it will be true of the whole. “You shouldn’t worry about catching a cold so much because most people who contacted cold this winter never got it.”

This is an example of the composition fallacies because the statement is true only because few small group cases were not affected.

Composition Fallacy Examples in Philosophy

Examples of Composition Fallacy in Philosophy:

The fallacy of Composition in Philosophy: When a person assumes that what is true for some parts must be true for the whole.

Example 1: If I’m taller than my friend, and my friend is taller than you, then I must be taller than you.

Example 2: A car manufacturer advertises that their cars have an average gas mileage of 30 miles per gallon (mpg) because they tested it on one car, and it got 30 mpg.

Composition Fallacy Examples in Real Life

Examples of Composition Fallacy in Real Life:

The fallacy of composition is the mistaken belief that what is true for a part must be true for the whole.

For example, if one person in a group has brown hair, it does not necessarily mean that everyone in the group has brown hair.

Composition Fallacy Examples in Media

Examples of Composition Fallacy in Media:

• The media is biased because they only show one side of the story. The media is biased against the president.
•  The media has a liberal bias.
•  All of the news outlets are biased towards liberals and Democrats.
•  Journalists have an agenda to make people think negatively about Trump.
•  The media always has a negative tone.
•  Media coverage is not representative of what’s happening in America.

Composition Fallacy Examples in Advertising

Examples of Composition Fallacy in Advertising:

The advertising campaign for a new product is successful, so the product must be good. If many people like something, it must be worth liking.

A company with a lot of employees can do more work than one person.

Composition Fallacy Examples in Politics

Examples of Composition Fallacy in Politics:

The fallacy of composition is the assumption that what is true for a part must be true for the whole.

 For example, if each individual in a group has an equal share of wealth or power, then the group itself will have an equal share of wealth and power.  This fallacy can be applied to both individuals and groups.

Composition Fallacy Examples in Movies

Examples of Composition Fallacy in Movies:

• A movie is not a documentary.   Movies are often edited to create the desired effect or story arc.
•  The camera angle and the soundtrack can be used to manipulate viewers’ emotions.

Composition Fallacy Examples in Literature

Examples of Composition Fallacy in Literature:

The fallacy of composition is the mistaken belief that what is true for one part of a whole must be true for the whole.

An example of this would be when people say, “I’m not going to do my homework because I don’t want to,” and then believe that everyone who doesn’t want to do their homework feels the same way.

This fallacy can also apply in other situations where it’s assumed that what is true for a group or individual will always hold true.

Composition fallacy examples in News

Examples of Composition Fallacy in News:

•  The article’s tone of voice is not consistent with the topic.
•  There are too many quotes in the article.
•  The article is biased towards a certain party or point of view.
•  The author presents their opinion as fact.