From Abracadabra to Zombies

• a
• b
• c
• d
• e
• f
• g
• h
• i
• j
• k
• l
• m
• n
• o
• p
• q
• r
• s
• t
• u
• v
• w
• x
• y
• z

topical index: logic & perception

• ad hoc hypothesis
• anchoring effect
• apophenia
• appeal to authority
• argument to ignorance
• autokinetic effect
• availability error
• backward (satanic) messages
• begging the question
• Barnum effect
• change blindness
• Clever Hans phenomenon
• clustering illusion
• cognitive dissonance
• cold reading 
• collective hallucinations
• communal reinforcement
• Concorde fallacy
• confabulation
• confirmation bias
• control group study
• déjà vu
• divine fallacy
• face on Mars
• false dilemma
• false memory
• Forer effect 
• hidden persuaders
• inattentional blindness
• ideomotor effect
• infrasound
• jamais vu
• gambler's fallacy
• hypersensory perception
• law of truly large numbers
• Littlewood's law of miracles
• magical thinking
• memory
• Moses syndrome
• nocebo effect
• non sequitur
• Occam's razor
• pareidolia
• placebo effect
• positive-outcome bias
• post hoc fallacy
• pragmatic fallacy
• regressive fallacy
• representativeness error
• retrospective falsification
• selection bias
• selective thinking
• self-deception
• shoehorning
• subliminal
• sunk-cost fallacy
• testimonial
• Texas-sharpshooter fallacy
• wishful thinking

Recommended Reading

Critical Thinking Mini-Lessons

Adams, James L. Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas 3rd ed. (Perseus Press, 1990).

Ariely, Dan.  (2008). Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (HarperCollins).

Dawes, Robyn M. Everyday Irrationality: How Pseudo-Scientists, Lunatics, and the Rest of Us Systematically Fail to Think Rationally (Westview Press 2003).

Gardner, Martin. Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1957), 

Gardner, Martin. Science: Good, Bad and Bogus (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1981), 

Gilovich, Thomas. How We Know What Isn't' So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life (New York: The Free Press, 1993)

Kourany, Janet A. Scientific Knowledge: Basic Issues in the Philosophy of Science, 2nd edition (Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1998).

Sagan, Carl. The Demon-Haunted World - Science as a Candle in the Dark (New York: Random House, 1995).

Sutherland, Stuart. (2007). Irrationality. 2rev edition (Pinter & Martin Ltd).

Visit the Carl Sagan room of the Skeptic's Bookstore for more books on logic and perception.