either–or fallacy

a type of informal fallacy or persuasive technique in which an argument is constructed so as to imply the necessity of choosing one of only two alternatives. This ignores the possibility that (a) the alternatives may not be mutually exclusive and (b) there may be other equally viable alternatives. For example, the argument that the cause of behavior is either nature or nurture ignores the possibility that both might play a causal role or that human agency might also be part of the explanation.

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Psychology term of the day

December 22nd 2024

compartmentalization

n. a defense mechanism in which thoughts and feelings that seem to conflict or to be incompatible are isolated from each other in separate and apparently impermeable psychic compartments. In the classical psychoanalytic tradition, compartmentalization emerges in response to fragmentation of the ego, which ideally should be able to tolerate ambiguity and ambivalence. See also isolation. —compartmentalize vb.