false authority

a type of informal fallacy or a persuasive technique in which it is assumed that the opinions of a recognized expert in one area should be heeded in another area. For example, Mr. X should know how to deal with government deficits because he is a successful businessman. Also called expert fallacy.

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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.