Latin Name is argumentum ad excitum.
An Appeal to Emotion is a fallacy when:
1. Positive emotions are associated with X or X makes me feel good.
2. Therefore, X is true.
It is a fallacy when a person manipulates peoples’ emotions to get them to believe a statement as being true. When something is connected with good feelings, it is wanted and must be true. The opposite is also true like when something is associated with negative feelings, it must be wrong and bad. It is a type of red herring and includes quite a few other logical fallacies:
- Appeal to consequences
- Appeal to fear
- Appeal to flattery
- Appeal to pity
- Appeal to ridicule
- Appeal to spite
- Wishful thinking
You might want to use it anyway because it is easier for people to react on emotions. This fallacy is an extremely persuasive method. Many people have argued that peoples' emotions often have much more force than their reason. Logical arguments are often tricky and time consuming and rarely have the power to put people to action.
When someone persuades someone to accept a conclusion by affecting positive emotions toward it, it is considered like an appeal to emotion. An example is like when a movie comes out with your favorite actor, you immediately need to go see that movie. Your favorite actor was so good in many other movies and therefore this movie must be good because they are in it. It’s like this actor makes me feel good and is good therefore this movie must be good.
Another example is like when a famous star puts out a product like Gwen Stefani and her perfume. Your friend is all excited and swears this perfume is the best and that you should get it since Gwen Stefani is so talented. You get excited because your friend is excited and loves it and therefore it must be true.
Media examples are politicians or advertisers, who rely on emotion appeals in order to motivate us to do things that we might not for logical reasons. An example of this is the Mojito Vodka commercial. Everyone is dancing in a club while the bartender is pouring vodka in a glass. When he stops pouring, the music stops and the people stop dancing. When the bartender starts to pour the vodka again, the music is back on. People continue to dance and the ambiance is fun and energetic. This is an emotion appeal because it is showing that the vodka makes people happy and excited and when there is no vodka, you will not have fun or a good time. The commercial aims to evoke the emotion that will influence people to buy the product. It is saying buy Mojito Vodka and you will have a great time.
Taak, Wikipedia contributors. "Appeal to emotion." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 11 October, 2008 Retrieved 1 November, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_emotion#Examples
Unknown. “Fallacy: Appeal to Emotion.” The Nizkor Project. Retrieved 28 0ct. 2008, from http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/appeal-to-emotion.html
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