Here is a list of the 26 principles I will be covering this semester. These are just an introductory sampling of the ways that people are fooled into believing things that are not (or not likely to be) true. As the semester wears on, I will be adding content to this page (filling in the table) so that by the time you are presenting, you should have a nice summary of some things to look out for. Once the table is completed, I will prepare a nice PDF of this table for you to download that can be nicely printed out: DOWNLOAD.
Tricks Used To Deliberately Fool People
	Principle	Example	Typically used in or by...
1	One Ahead	Testing for psychic ability; Billet reading demo; 4th card in deck	Psychics
2	Multiple out	Neuro Linguistic Programming Demo; Superhero selection	Psychics; ESP
3	Confederates (Shills)	Object under cups demo	Psychics; CAM; ESP
4	Misdirection	Spoon bending demo	Cryptids; ESP; Pseudoscience
5	Lying	Lie detection demo	Psychics; Ghosts; Cryptids; CAM; ESP; UFOs; Pseudoscience
6	Control	Out of this World demo	ESP; Pseudoscience
Common (But Flawed) Methods of Belief Formation
	Principle	Example	Relied upon too heavily in/by...
1	Intuition	Snow on half of the steps	Conspiracies; Psychics; CAM; Ghosts; Cryptids; ESP; Pseudoscience
2	Logic	The false dichotomy ("It was either the wind or it was a ghost, and we ruled out the wind, so it had to be a ghost!")	Conspiracies; Cryptids; UFOs; Ghost Hunters; Pseudoscience
3	Emotion	A lubricant for belief.	Conspiracies; Psychics; ESP; CAM; Ghosts; Cryptids; UFOs
4	Sense Experience	Illusions; Sensory limitations (e.g., pupil effect; N-Rays)	Conspiracies; Psychics; CAM; Ghosts; Cryptids; ESP; UFOs; Pseudoscience
5	Tenacity	Allowing beliefs to go unchallenged	Psychics; CAM; Ghosts; Cryptids
6	Authority	Professionals who publish outside their field of expertise (P&T UFO video).	Conspiracies; CAM; UFOs; Cryptids; Pseudoscience
Some Bad Habits That Thwart Critical Thinking
	Principle	Example	Relied upon too heavily in/by...
1	Availability Heuristic	Causes of death; False fame	Conspiracies; CAM; Ghosts; Psychics; Pseudoscience
2	Confirmation Bias ("fishing trips")	Project Alpha; Is your SO cheating?	Conspiracies; Psychics; CAM; Ghosts; Cryptids; ESP; UFOs
3	Causality From Coincidence	Cancer clusters (rice grid drop).	Conspiracies; Psychics; CAM; Ghosts; ESP; Pseudoscience
4	Intellectual Laziness	Base rates; "I hate thinking"; the Serendipity trick; Some conspiracy theories (e.g., chem-trails as if the people making them can avoid breathing air)	Conspiracies; CAM; Pseudoscience
5	Need For Certainty (intolerance of ambiguity)	Easter egg demo? "I ruled everything else out so it must be paranormal!" (Better to have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.)	Conspiracies; Psychics; Superstitions; CAM; Ghosts; UFOs; Pseudoscience
6	Focus On Hits/Ignoring Misses (cherry picking)	Warplanes with bullet holes mostly on wings tips; do you add armor there, or, to other parts of planes? "Great leader" books to learn success (Survivorship bias)	Conspiracies; Psychics; ESP; CAM; Ghosts; Pseudoscience
7	Pareidolia And Apophenia	Religious associations in stains	Conspiracies; Psychics; ESP; Ghosts; UFOs; Pseudoscience
8	Memory Errors	Elizabeth Loftus; Paranormal nurse stations	Conspiracies; Psychics; Ghosts; UFOs
Poor Excuses Pretending To Be Valid Arguments
	Poor Excuse	Example	Beware their use in/by...
1	Irreducible Minimum	How can so many people be wrong? There are always events that can't (yet) be explained - but that doesn't mean these are evidence of the paranormal (but people still use unproven examples as if they constitute "support").	Conspiracies; Psychics; CAM; Ghosts; Cryptids; UFOs
2	"They laughed at Einstein!"	And clowns, but rarely is the laughter wrong.	Conspiracies; Cryptids; Pseudoscience
3	Ignorance (Dunning-Kruger)	Ghost hunters who once visited class; Spirit bell	Conspiracies; CAM; Ghosts; Pseudoscience
4	Testimonials	Headache Hammer	Conspiracies; Psychics; CAM; Ghosts; Cryptids; ESP; UFOs; Pseudoscience
5	Irrefutable Hypothesis (falsifiability)	Benjamin Rush; My alien artifact	Conspiracies; Psychics; CAM; Ghosts; Cryptids; UFOs; Pseudoscience
6	Violations of Occam's Razor	Simplest explanations are preferred (simple science PPT); How does a car work? You turn the key!	Conspiracies; Psychics; CAM; Ghosts; Cryptids; UFOs; Pseudoscience