False attribution can refer to: * Misattribution in general, when a quotation or work is accidentally, traditionally, or based on bad information attributed to the wrong person or group * A specific

fallacy A fallacy is the use of invalid or otherwise faulty reasoning, or "wrong moves," in the construction of an argument which may appear stronger than it really is if the fallacy is not spotted. The term in the Western intellectual tradition was intr ...

where an advocate appeals to an irrelevant, unqualified, unidentified, biased, or fabricated source in support of an argument.

Incorrect identification of source

One particular case of misattribution is the

Matthew effect The Matthew effect of accumulated advantage, Matthew principle, or Matthew effect, is the tendency of individuals to accrue social or economic success in proportion to their initial level of popularity, friends, wealth, etc. It is sometimes summar ...

. A

quotation A quotation is the repetition of a sentence, phrase, or passage from speech or text that someone has said or written. In oral speech, it is the representation of an utterance (i.e. of something that a speaker actually said) that is introduced by ...

is often attributed to someone more famous than the real author. This leads the quotation to be more famous, but the real author to be forgotten (see also:

obliteration by incorporation In sociology of science, obliteration by incorporation (OBI) occurs when at some stage in the history of science, development of a science, certain ideas become so universally accepted and commonly used that their contributors are no longer cita ...

). Such misattributions may originate as a sort of fallacious argument, if use of the quotation is meant to be persuasive, and attachment to a more famous person (whether intentionally or through misremembering) would lend it more authority. In Jewish biblical studies, an entire group of falsely-attributed books is known as the

pseudepigrapha Pseudepigrapha (also anglicized as "pseudepigraph" or "pseudepigraphs") are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past.Bauckham, Richard; "Pseu ...

Fallacy

A fraudulent advocate may go so far as to fabricate a source in order to support a claim. For example, the "Levitt Institute" was a fake organisation created in 2009 solely for the purposes of (successfully) fooling the

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n media into reporting that

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

was Australia’s most naive city.Deception Detection Deficiency
Media Watch. Contextomy (

quoting out of context Quoting out of context (sometimes referred to as contextomy or quote mining) is an informal fallacy in which a passage is removed from its surrounding matter in such a way as to distort its intended meaning. Contextomies may be either intentional o ...

) is a type of false attribution.

References

External links

Quote Investigator
{{Fallacies Verbal fallacies

Incorrect identification of source

Fallacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links