Wishful thinking

What it is

Decides what is true on the basis of what one wants to be true. It is a close cousin of appeal to consequences: the conclusion is chosen because it feels good.

Related

• Motivated reasoning bias
  Motivated reasoning is the process; wishful thinking is one result.
• Optimism bias bias
  Wishful thinking is optimism bias at the level of beliefs: expecting the outcome we prefer.
• Appeal to consequences fallacy
  Appeal to consequences and wishful thinking both pick conclusions because of how they would feel or what they would lead to.
• Simple, pain-avoiding psychological denial bias
  Both bend beliefs toward comfort; denial refuses a painful fact, wishful thinking asserts a pleasant one.

References

• Wikipedia: Wishful thinking en.wikipedia.org
• Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Fallacies iep.utm.edu
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Fallacies plato.stanford.edu
• Wikipedia: List of fallacies en.wikipedia.org
• Purdue OWL: Logical fallacies owl.purdue.edu

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