Nokea
During height and weight assessments at a school's health fair, a child admits to drinking a cup of coffee with his mother every morning, and another child reports enjoying a morning cup of coffee on the commute to school. These two children are both below average on the height chart, and the nurse states, "Drinking coffee stunts a child's growth." This logical fallacy is referred to as:
Correct Answer: B
Rationale: The correct answer is B: confusing cause and effect. The nurse's statement implies that drinking coffee causes the children to be below average in height, which is a logical fallacy. Height is determined by genetics, nutrition, and overall health factors, not by drinking coffee. The nurse is mistakenly attributing the children's height to their coffee consumption without considering other relevant factors. This error in reasoning is known as confusing cause and effect.
A: Appeal to common practice is when an argument is justified based on the fact that many people do it, which is not relevant to the coffee consumption issue.
C: Ad hominem abusive is attacking the person making the argument rather than addressing the argument itself, which is not the case here.
D: Red herring is when irrelevant information is used to distract from the main issue, which is not the case in this scenario.