toupee fallacy

noun

A form of selection bias in which a thing whose quality is measured in terms of being difficult to detect is wrongly judged to be of poor quality in general, caused by the fact that most people only notice poor-quality instances of it.

“Not all toupees are bad, but you only spot the bad toupees. That's the toupee fallacy.”

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Meanings

nountoupee fallacy (plural toupee fallacies)

plural toupee fallacies

  1. human sciencesA form of selection bias in which a thing whose quality is measured in terms of being difficult to detect is wrongly judged to be of poor quality in general, caused by the fact that most people only notice poor-quality instances of it.

    Not all toupees are bad, but you only spot the bad toupees. That's the toupee fallacy.

Origin

In reference to the conventional wisdom that all toupees look bad, caused by the fact that good quality toupees are usually not noticed.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

toupee fallacy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toupee%20fallacy

MLA

“toupee fallacy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toupee%20fallacy. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “toupee fallacy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/toupee%20fallacy.

Source: toupee fallacy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.