Common Fallacies Definition

The three most common fallacies that I accept are the fallacies of shoulds, perfection, and overgeneralization. These fallacies can cause me harm because they can hurt my self esteem and create negative self fulfilling prophecies.
The fallacy of shoulds is “The inability to distinguish between what is and what should be” (Adler and Proctor 140) I often subscribe to the fallacy of shoulds. I think that I should be taller because my entire family is over six feet so I should be as well. I think that I should be better at math because I work just as hard at math as I do at any other class, yet still it is the only class I ever get Bs and Cs in. I also apply this fallacy to other people. I think my mom should leave me alone and give me some space because I’m a teenager and she should understand that, and I think that people should like me because I’m a likable person. All of these examples show the fallacy of shoulds because I don’t distinguish between what is and what should be. This could cause me harm
The fallacy of perfection is ”Believing you should be able to handle every situation with complete confidence and skill.” (Adler and Proctor 139) The way that I demonstrate this fallacy is by only doing things that I think I will succeed at. In other words I only like to do things that I will be perfect at or things that allow me to be the best. Many things in my life have been affected by this. I joined jazz choir, decided to play guitar and perform, and joined track all because I thought that I could do it perfectly. In the case of track I wasn’t perfect. There were many people who were better than me on the team. I didn’t like the feeling of not being the best, so I quit in 7th grade. This fallacy is not good for my self esteem because I end up letting myself down when I am not the best. To help with this fallacy I remind myself that it is impossible to be the best all the