Interested in learning more about the “fallacy of composition?” I didn’t think so, but I bet you will when you see the subject presented this way:
“The Super Bowl on Sunday presented a useful illustration of an economic term called the “fallacy of composition.” If you were at the University of Phoenix Stadium and stood up to watch the action early in the first quarter, you would have improved your view as other fans settled in to enjoy the game. If you stood up during the thrilling last minute of play, you would have simply been standing like everybody else.
The spirit behind President Obama ’s recent proposal to make community college free is understandable, but he has fallen victim to the fallacy of composition. He has made the mistake of believing that if one person benefits from an action, then everyone else who takes the same action will also benefit. Economics teaches us otherwise.”
Seduce, Then Explain
Do you sell dry technical products? Do you explain complex ideas? Do you urge others to a new course of action? Take a tip from the strategy used by William A. Kelly and Elisabeth Sawyer Kelly, the authors of the “Fallacy” article, whose argument was about free community colleges, not the Super Bowl.
Remember the human factor.
Resist the inclination to jump right into your logical arguments. We live in a world of information overload, eight second attention spans, 140 character tweets, and what seems like lightning fast scene cuts in the movies. Attention is the new limited commodity. Therefore, HOW you grab attention in your conversations, presentations, demos, and speeches is increasingly as important as WHAT you have to say.
Leveraging popular current events into your message is one of at least seven very effective ways to do that.
Anne Miller
Make What You Say Pay!