The either-or fallacy can be classified into 3 basic types.
- Morton's Fork
- False Choice
- Black-or-White Thinking
Morton's fork refers to choosing between two unpleasant options. The aforementioned divorce example best explains this type.
False choice, as its name suggests, refers to an intentional attempt to rule out several logical options from a situation. The Mastercard example is a good example to illustrate this concept.
The third type, black-or-white thinking, refers to the lack of ability in a person to bring together good and bad things of a situation or person. This concept is termed as splitting, in psychology; such a person believes things to be either completely good, or completely bad. Here's an example.
Kelly: Chester and I support the inclusion of prayers in public schools.Chester: Hey! I never said that.Kelly: You're not an atheist, are you Chester? In the above example, it can be clearly seen that the absence of one entity or element hints at the presence of the other. If you do not support prayers in school, you're an atheist. If you're not the protagonist, then you're the antagonist. Black and white thinking narrows down all outcomes to either good or bad, which means if you're not good, you're bad. However, one cannot draw such a concrete good-bad conclusion in every situation, outcomes can be anything more than just positive or negative. For instance, in the above example, Chester need not be an atheist. He might have denied support to the thought because, according to him, every child must be taught to pray by his/her parents, and not the school.