False Cause Fallacy Examples in Media, Real Life, Politics, Movies & Ads

False Cause Fallacy

Cause and Effect

Cause and effect are two different ways of thinking. However, because these are two complex and difficult concepts, some people often misuse them. One of these incorrect uses is called the “false cause fallacy.” This fallacy can be seen in many different types of media, politics, advertisements, and real life.

What is False Cause Fallacy?

False Cause Fallacy is the act of assuming that there is a correlation between two things when there is no proven link, which can lead to misconceptions. This fallacy is often seen with near-death experiences.

Near-death experiences are the phenomena in which individuals’ perception of themselves is changed, resulting in heightened sensory and awareness. There are many cases where people report experiencing something that is similar to an out-of-body experience, which is a “blissful” awareness.

False cause fallacy is a common mistake in logic. A false cause fallacy is committed when someone assumes that one event is the cause of another event when in reality, the first event doesn’t cause the second event. Causes are often only indicators of the occurrence of an effect.

It occurs when one or more causal links are falsely assumed to exist between two unlikely to be causally connected events. In the event that a person commits this fallacy, they will arrive at the conclusion that one event is the cause of a second event, when in fact, no such connection can be found.

False Cause Fallacy Examples

False Cause Fallacy Examples in Philosophy

Examples of False Cause Fallacy in Philosophy:

The fallacy of false cause is the assumption that a correlation between two events implies one causes the other.

 An example of this fallacy is when someone assumes that because a person was wearing red and it rained, they caused the rain to happen.

False Cause Fallacy Real Life Examples

Examples of False Cause Fallacy in Real Life: 

For most of us, we believe that accidents are caused by one thing or another. This means that if we are in a car accident, we just assume the other driver caused the car accident even if we did it ourselves. The false cause fallacy is the belief that there are always two things or reasons to blame for things.

The false cause fallacy is usually caused by what is called post hoc reasoning, which is thinking that an event happened because something else was done, when in reality, that may not be the case.

The false cause fallacy is a logical fallacy where one assumes that because event B followed event A, then event B must have been caused by event A.

For example, if you are playing basketball and your team wins the game after you take a shot, it would be fallacious to assume that taking the shot was the reason why they won.

This is an example of how people commit this fallacy: “I ate ice cream every day for three weeks, and I lost weight.”

False Cause Fallacy Examples in Media

Examples of False Cause Fallacy in Media:

The media often cites a correlation between two events as evidence of causation. The media often reports that the cause of a person’s behavior is their upbringing.

For example, in an article about children who single mothers raise, it was reported that “single motherhood” was the cause of delinquency and other bad behaviors.  This is not always true- there could be many different factors at play that led to these behaviors.

False Cause Fallacy Examples in Advertising

Examples of False Cause Fallacy in Advertising:

• The new diet pill advertisement claims that it will help you lose weight without changing your diet or exercise habits, but there is no evidence to back up this claim.
•  The advertisement for a certain brand of dishwasher states that “even if you don’t have time to hand-wash dishes,” the machine can do all the work for you, but this statement is misleading because not having time does not mean one cannot use a dishwasher.
• A car company advertises its newest model as being able to seat five passengers comfortably in its spacious interior, but they neglect to mention that it only has two doors.

False Cause Fallacy Examples in Politics

Examples of False Cause Fallacy in Politics:

The false cause fallacy is a logical error in which one assumes that because event A occurred after event B, then event A must have caused event B.

This fallacy can be seen when people say, “The economy has been bad since Trump was elected.”

However, the economy’s performance has more to do with other factors such as the state of world economies and fluctuations in oil prices than who is president at any given time.

False Cause Fallacy Examples in Movies

Examples of False Cause Fallacy in Movies:

The protagonist is a detective, and the antagonist is a criminal, so the protagonist must be good, and the antagonist must be bad.

The protagonist has a happy life with their family, so they are good people.

The antagonist has an unhappy life with their family, so they are bad people.

False Cause Fallacy Examples in Literature

For example, in the 1980s, there was an increase in the number of people who contracted AIDS and used intravenous drugs at the same time.

This is not enough to prove that one caused the other because it’s possible that both were caused by a third factor, such as unprotected sex or poverty.

False Cause Fallacy Examples in News

Examples of False Cause Fallacy in News:

• The article states that the “decline in violence” is due to a new law, which is not true.
• A news article claims that a new gun control law will reduce shootings by 50% and homicides by 25%, but no evidence of this was provided.
•  A newspaper reports that there has been an increase in crime rates because of unemployment when it’s actually due to population growth.