====== Appeal to Authority Fallacy ======

By [[yiler-huang| Yiler Huang]]

The Appeal to Authority Fallacy is a common logical mistake people make. It is a situation in which people are more likely to believe and accept what people in higher positions say. It is easy to fall into this fallacy because we tend to think that influential people or people in high positions have a better understanding or knowledge about certain topics than us.

One example I observed was from my father. He used to go to some kind of Taichi club that claimed to be able to cure diseases. I told him it sounded weird and not true, but he said that it was hosted by the former principal of National Taiwan University so it must be legit. Another example was from my mom. She purchases a scammy saltwater product monthly. Every time I tell her to stop buying the product, she would show me the information about the owner of the company and tell me how many medical related degrees the person has. This is an example of the appeal to authority bias, as my mom trusted the scam product only because the person selling them is an authority in the field of health peoducts. These two people’s (the principal and the company) authority both came from their recognition in education, and people tend to believe them because they are more likely more educated.

An example of someone with authority who influences an unrelated area is the former president of the U.S., Donald Trump. He suggested that injecting disinfectant (a liquid that kills bacteria, like alcohol) into your body can cure COVID. According to People Magazine (Harmata, 2020), the amount of reports of exposure to disinfectant raised significantly not long after Trump made his statement. It is very possible that people decided to inject disinfectants like bleach, alcohol etc. in their bodies after listening to Trump's advice. This is a good example of the fallacy because Trump does not have any expertise in medicine, but people still believed what he said because he was the president. This proved that it could be dangerous to fall into this kind of fallacy, as people might do dangerous or stupid things just because an influential person told them to.

===== References =====

Claudia Harmata. (2020). //States Report Spike in Poison Control Calls After Trump’s Comments About Injecting Disinfectant.// Peoplemag. Retrieved June 19, 2024, from https://people.com/health/states-report-spike-in-poison-control-calls-after-trump-disinfectant-comments/