Detecting Denial Techniques: Quiz 2


The following are techniques used to deny science. Some techniques are sub-classes of others (e.g., ad hominem is a logical fallacy):

  • Fake Experts: Presenting an unqualified person or institution as a source of credible information.
  • Logical Fallacies: Arguments where the conclusion doesn’t logically follow from the premises. Also known as a non sequitur.
    • Ad Hominem: Attacking the person/group instead of addressing their argument.
    • Oversimplification: Simplifying a situation in such a way as to distort understanding, leading to erroneous conclusions.
    • Red Herring: Diverting attention to an irrelevant point to distract from the original argument.
  • Impossible Expectations: Demanding unrealistic standards of certainty before acting on the science.
  • Cherry Picking: Carefully selecting data that appear to confirm one position while ignoring other data that contradicts that position.
  • Conspiracy Theory: Proposing a secret plan to implement a nefarious scheme such as hiding a truth or perpetuating misinformation.
  • No Denial Technique: Statement is logically valid and doesn't contain any of the denial techniques listed above.

Identify the denial technique that best matches the arguments below (note that some arguments may not contain a denial technique). You will receive your score after you complete the quiz.

Ducks have beaks and the platypus has a beak, so it must be a duck.
Surely it’s not too much to ask that a vaccination injected into a healthy human body is 100% safe.
Among the 5000 people who took my first logical fallacy quiz, five people said it was super-fun so I’m feeling really good about myself.
Why worry about pandas going extinct when we have homeless people in our country?
20,679 physicians say Luckies cigarettes are less irritating.
You shouldn’t vote for him, he’s a cat person.
Socrates is a human and all humans are mortal. So Socrates must be mortal.
Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election because she didn’t go to Wisconsin.
Mary bakes the best cakes in town. She should run for mayor.
Chemtrails are filled with chemicals as part of a government program to control the population.
If France had not declared war on Germany, World War II would have never happened.
Pharmaceutical companies only care about making money, so anything they say is false.
All birds lay eggs. A swan is a bird so a swan must lay eggs.
The world can’t be round. The floor in this room is flat.
UFOs can't be real because people that believe in UFOs are crazy.
You can’t convince me that the Earth is round until I see it with my own eyes.