Belief bias refers to the tendency to evaluate the strength of an argument based on its plausibility. Instead of considering the validity of the argument itself, we rely on our prior knowledge and beliefs. In other words, if an argument aligns with our beliefs, we tend to accept it.
Belief bias exampleYou come across the following statement:
“Scientific studies have consistently shown that there is little nutritional difference between organic and conventional foods”.
Because you firmly believe that an all-organic diet is superior to a conventional one, you are sceptical and quickly dismiss the argument, even though it provides scientific evidence.
As a result of belief bias, we often fall for “believable” arguments and reject “unbelievable” ones without properly examining whether they are valid.
A self-fulfilling prophecy is a belief about a future outcome that helps to bring about its own fulfilment. This happens because the unconscious expectations that we hold can influence our actions and ultimately cause the initial prediction to become true.
Self-fulfilling prophecy example You have a big presentation coming up, and you are convinced that it won’t go well because you are nervous. As you present, your voice becomes shaky, you stumble over your words, and you keep looking at your notes.
However, you’re not surprised because you already believed that it would go terribly. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy at work: when we are convinced about a negative outcome, we do very little to prevent it from happening. Because of this, it becomes a reality.
Self-fulfilling prophecies can be either negative or positive and can influence outcomes in various contexts, such as education, healthcare, and work.
Stative verbs describe a state or condition that is stable or unlikely to change (e.g., “ know”, “feel”, “believe”).
Stative verbs usually refer to thoughts, emotions, or senses that the subject of the sentence is experiencing. Stative verbs are often contrasted with action verbs or dynamic verbs, which describe the action that the subject is performing (e.g., “run”, “find”, “make”).
Stative verb examplesThey agreed with our proposal.
A base word is the most fundamental part of a word that has meaning. The meaning of a base word can be changed by adding letters at the beginning (prefix) and/or the end (suffix). However, base words can also be used as standalone words in English.
For example, the word “untrained” has three parts:
prefix base word suffix
“Train” is the base word (i.e., the smallest part of the word that makes sense by itself and cannot be further divided). The prefix “un-” adds a negative meaning to the word, and the suffix “-ed” means “characterised by”. The word “train” is also the base for other words like “trainee”, “trainer”, or “training”.
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, feelings, and behaviours to inanimate objects, nonhuman animals, or nature. Anthropomorphism can occur consciously or unconsciously and is a common way people perceive the world.
Anthropomorphism examples
Children may attribute human-like personalities to their toys.
Adults blame their cars or computers for “not cooperating” with them.
Cartoons are often populated by anthropomorphic animals, (e.g., Winnie-the-Pooh), vehicles (e.g., Thomas the Tank Engine), and objects (e.g., the characters in Toy Story).
Marketers use anthropomorphic mascots for commercial products (e.g., the Pillsbury Doughboy) and services (e.g., the Geico insurance gecko).
Although anthropomorphic thinking is an innate human tendency, it can cause us to misunderstand natural phenomena or animal behaviour.
A root word is the most basic form of a word that cannot be further divided into meaningful segments. Root words are used to form new words by adding letters at the beginning (i.e., a prefix) and/or the end (i.e., a suffix).
For example, the word “unfaithful” is made up of these different parts:
prefix root word suffix
By adding a suffix and/or a prefix to a root word like “faith”, we can make other words such as “faithful”, “faithfully”, “unfaithful”, and “unfaithfully”. These words are linked both in terms of spelling and meaning and are called a word family.
Contractions are words or phrases that have been shortened by omitting one or more letters. Typically, you can identify a contraction by the apostrophe that is used to indicate the place of the missing letters.
Examples: ContractionsI can’t speak Spanish.
It’s getting dark.
They’re not coming for dinner.
Our flight is at 7 o’clock .
Contractions, which are sometimes called “short forms”, are commonly used in everyday speech and certain types of writing to save us time and space.
Title case is a capitalisation style or convention used for writing the titles of published works.
A capitalisation style defines which words or letters should be written in uppercase and which ones should be written in lowercase. In title case, the first letter of each word in the title should be capitalised except for certain small words like “a”, “the”, and “of”.
Example: Title caseI read The Catcher in the Rye yesterday.
Title case is used for capitalising the words in a title, subtitle, or heading. It’s commonly used in newspaper headlines, as well as the titles of books, movies, and video games. Due to this, title case is also known as “headline style”.
NoteThe titles of longer works (e.g., books, movies) are generally italicised, while the titles of shorter works (e.g., articles, poems) are usually enclosed in quotation marks.
However, different style guides may have different rules. It’s important to consistently follow the rules outlined in your chosen style guide. You can also use the Scribbr citation generator, which automatically proposes the correct capitalisation for citations.
Sentence case is a capitalisation style or set of rules describing when to use lowercase and uppercase letters in headings and subheadings. Whether you are writing a research paper, a blog, or a newspaper article, you may have to decide which words need to be capitalised.
In English, the standard is to capitalise the first letter of a sentence. All other letters should be in lowercase with a few exceptions, such as proper nouns (e.g., “Texas”), abbreviations (e.g., “Dr”), and acronyms (e.g., “NATO”). Because this style follows the same capitalisation rules as sentences, it is called “sentence case”.
NoteThe titles of longer works (e.g., books, movies) are generally italicised, while the titles of shorter works (e.g., articles, poems) are usually enclosed in quotation marks.
However, different style guides may have different rules. It’s important to consistently follow the rules outlined in your chosen style guide. You can also use the Scribbr citation generator, which automatically proposes the correct capitalisation for citations.
