appeal to emotion

/əˌpiːl tuː ɪˈmoʊʃən/

using emotional manipulation instead of logical arguments

appeal to emotion in a sentence

“The commercial used sad music as an appeal to emotion.”

Latin appellare to address, call upon + emotio a moving, stirring from emovere to move out

Related Words

appeal to nature

arguing something is good because it's 'natural'

bandwagon fallacy

arguing something is true because many people believe it

begging the question

assuming the conclusion in the premise; circular reasoning

burden of proof

shifting the responsibility to disprove a claim rather than prove it

cherry picking

selecting only evidence that supports your position while ignoring contradictory data

circular reasoning

using the conclusion as a premise in the argument