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Critical Thinking Tutorial: The Big Picture

This tutorial will empower you with valuable critical thinking skills that are essential for your university education.

Errors in Reasoning

Before you begin, ask yourself a few questions about how reasoning might fail. What might the following concepts mean?

  • Cognitive ease
  • Cognitive bias
  • Logical fallacy
  • Flawed reasoning

So far, we've discovered that sound reasoning is the foundation of logical and reliable arguments. But are all sound arguments reliable, or can they have the illusion of being true? Are there errors in reasoning that can weaken an argument, even if it appears valid and sound?


This video describes the concept of cognitive ease and its influence on our perceptions and judgments. When we experience cognitive ease, our thinking processes tend to be more automatic, effortless, and reliant on mental shortcuts (a.k.a. heuristics). While these shortcuts may be efficient in daily decision-making, they can also lead to errors in reasoning.

Watch the video then respond to the questions that follow. It can easily be watched at 1.5 times the speed.


Source: The Illusion of Truth by Veritasium on YouTube

Test Your Understanding

Based on the information presented in the video, say whether the following statements are true or false.