Appeal to confidence

An appeal to confidence occurs when somebody's confidence in some fact is taken as proof of that fact. On the other hand, an appeal to unconfidence (also ad fidentia, against self-confidence) occurs when somebody's lack of confidence in some fact is taken as disproof of that fact. Either appeal ties confidence to authority and ties authority to truth.

Cogito ergo sum
Logic and rhetoric
Key articles
General logic
Bad logic
v - t - e
“”You're going to like the way you look. I guarantee it.
—George Zimmer (Men's Warehouse CEO)

It is an appeal to authority (or lack of authority), an informal fallacy, and a fallacious argument.

If the arguer additionally states something along the lines of "doesn't his confidence just lift your spirits?" or the inverse, it also qualifies as an emotional appeal.

Form

Appeal to confidence:

P1: A says Q.
P2: A says: "Trust me — I know what I'm doing!"
C: Q is true!

Appeal to unconfidence:

P1: A says Q.
P2: A's shaking in their boots!
C: Q is false!
gollark: Am I just supposed to MANUALLY check the Maclaurin serieseseses of all the functions I use for this sort of thing?
gollark: Also, how can we prove that common special functions don't have this kind of backdoor?
gollark: See, this is what I'm worried about.
gollark: Those are probably contaminated.
gollark: I can't use them due to the Greek letter shortage.

See also
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