Appeal to Popularity
Appeal to Popularity
Also known as: argumentum ad populum, bandwagon fallacy, appeal to the majority, consensus gentium
Description
The inference that a claim is true because many people, most people, or everyone believes it. Widespread belief is evidence that a belief is easy for humans to arrive at, which is a fact about humans, not about the claim. Every culture once believed the Sun moved and the Earth stood still.
Form
- Most people (or all cultures, or everyone I know) believe X.
- Therefore X is true.
Examples
- The Argument from Universal Religious Belief: belief in gods is found in every society, so there must be something to it.
- "Fifty million people can't be wrong." They can, and regularly are, in the same direction, because they share the same brain and the same sources.
- Anti-Vaccine and Homeopathy marketing that cites the number of users rather than the trial results.
Notes
- It is not a fallacy to treat expert consensus as evidence, when the experts' agreement is the result of independent examination of the evidence; that is a reasonable Appeal to Authority. The fallacy is counting heads where the heads have not looked.
- The reverse form, that a belief must be false because it is popular, is no better.
- Universal belief is a reason to ask why people believe, and the answer is often available: Hyperactive Agency Detection, Pareidolia, Confirmation Bias, and upbringing between them explain most of the beliefs that every culture shares.