Argument from anecdote is an informal logical fallacy where an anecdote is used to draw an improper logical conclusion.

I often use “I had a neighbor who smoked and managed to live for 99 years.” as a classical example of argument from anecdote.

See Also

  • availability bias - bias towards recently acquired information
  • cherry picking - pointing to individual cases of data that confirm a position while ignoring the rest
  • proof by assertion - a proposition is repeatedly restated regardless of contradiction and refutation
  • hasty generalization - reaching an generalization based on insufficient evidence