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