Infamication
Infamication is a proposed composite bias in which stigma is attached to a person, claim, or source so that the argument can be dismissed by association before it is tested.
| Infamication | |
|---|---|
| Field | Cognitive psychology; rhetoric; social stigma |
| Author | Andrew Lehti |
| Status | Proposed composite bias |
| Also called | Imposed Infamication |
| Related framework | Cognitive Impasse |
| Related concepts | Ad Hominem, Source Attribution Bias, Dismissal Bias, Selective-Mindedness |
Infamication describes the process of discrediting a claim by associating the claimant with a stigmatized label, group, or category. Evaluation shifts from content to reputational hygiene: the audience is encouraged not to touch the claim because the person has been marked as contaminated.
Within Cognitive Impasse, Infamication protects belief by making inquiry socially costly. If the source can be made infamous, the claim can be avoided without analysis.
This differs from legitimate credibility assessment. Credibility assessment checks evidence, method, and reliability. Infamication uses stigma as a shortcut to non-engagement.
See also
References
| Cognitive Biases | |
|---|---|
| Biases | Confirmation Bias · Status Quo Bias · Authority Bias · Negativity Bias · Optimism Bias · Self-Serving Bias · Overconfidence Bias · Publication Bias · Source Attribution Bias |
| Effects | Dunning-Kruger Effect · Backfire Effect · Bandwagon Effect · Social Proof · Pluralistic Ignorance · Learned Helplessness · Normalization of Deviance |
| Composite biases | Academic Distorting Bias · Always Has Been Bias · Ancestral Default · Anticipatory Compliance · Autonormia · Bleak Retrospection · Brevity Bias · Cognitive Dissonance Avoidance · Dismissal Bias · Dystopian Forecasting · Enforced Sameness · Galileo Dismissal · Galileo Gambit · Habitual Inertia · Imposing Inferiority · Infamication · Invulnerability Bias · Microblindness · Normative Reflex · Programmed Emotion Bias · Projected Inferiority · Projected Introspection · Projection and Imposition of Inferiority Bias · Proper Channels Bias · Sympathy Bias · Utopian Forecasting |
| Framework terms | Cognitive Impasse · Cognitive Bias Reinforcement · Cognitive Inertia · Imposition and Projection · Manifested Responses · Selective-Mindedness · Semmelweis Reflex · Standardized Obedience |