WGU D265 EXAM QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE 2025/2026
Principle of Charity - Answers we should choose the reconstructed argument that gives the
benefit of the doubt to the person presenting the argument
confirmation bias - Answers a tendency to search for information that supports our
preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
Alief - Answers An automatic or habitual belief-like attitude which may or may not be in tension
with the subject's explicit beliefs
Heuristic - Answers a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and
solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms
anchoring bias - Answers a tendency to fixate on initial information, from which one then fails to
adequately adjust for subsequent information
availability bias - Answers items that are more readily available in memory are judged as having
occurred more frequently
ad hominem - Answers a fallacy that attacks the person rather than dealing with the real issue in
dispute
Genetic Fallacy - Answers Condemning an argument because of where it began, how it began, or
who began it.
straw man fallacy - Answers instead of dealing with the actual issue, it attacks a weaker version
of argument
red herring fallacy - Answers when a speaker introduces an irrelevant issue or piece of evidence
to divert attention from the subject of the speech
appeal to authority fallacy - Answers error of accepting a claim merely because an authority
figure endorses it
Appeal to Force - Answers Arguer threatens reader/listener
ad populum - Answers This fallacy occurs when evidence boils down to "everybody's doing it, so
it must be a good thing to do."
Appeal to Consequences - Answers attempt to motivate belief with either the good
consequences of believing or the bad consequences of disbelieving
Equivocation Fallacy - Answers when a key word or phrase in an argument is used with more
than one meaning. It is an illegitimate switching of the meaning of a term during the reasoning.
Appeal to Ignorance - Answers A fallacy that uses an opponent's inability to disprove a
Principle of Charity - Answers we should choose the reconstructed argument that gives the
benefit of the doubt to the person presenting the argument
confirmation bias - Answers a tendency to search for information that supports our
preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence
Alief - Answers An automatic or habitual belief-like attitude which may or may not be in tension
with the subject's explicit beliefs
Heuristic - Answers a simple thinking strategy that often allows us to make judgments and
solve problems efficiently; usually speedier but also more error-prone than algorithms
anchoring bias - Answers a tendency to fixate on initial information, from which one then fails to
adequately adjust for subsequent information
availability bias - Answers items that are more readily available in memory are judged as having
occurred more frequently
ad hominem - Answers a fallacy that attacks the person rather than dealing with the real issue in
dispute
Genetic Fallacy - Answers Condemning an argument because of where it began, how it began, or
who began it.
straw man fallacy - Answers instead of dealing with the actual issue, it attacks a weaker version
of argument
red herring fallacy - Answers when a speaker introduces an irrelevant issue or piece of evidence
to divert attention from the subject of the speech
appeal to authority fallacy - Answers error of accepting a claim merely because an authority
figure endorses it
Appeal to Force - Answers Arguer threatens reader/listener
ad populum - Answers This fallacy occurs when evidence boils down to "everybody's doing it, so
it must be a good thing to do."
Appeal to Consequences - Answers attempt to motivate belief with either the good
consequences of believing or the bad consequences of disbelieving
Equivocation Fallacy - Answers when a key word or phrase in an argument is used with more
than one meaning. It is an illegitimate switching of the meaning of a term during the reasoning.
Appeal to Ignorance - Answers A fallacy that uses an opponent's inability to disprove a
