Sharpshooter's

The sharpshooter's fallacy gets its name from someone shooting a rifle at the side of the barn and then going over and drawing a target and bulls eye concentrically around the bullet hole. The fallacy is caused by overemphasizing random results or making selective use of coincidence. See the Fallacy of Selective Attention.

Example:

Psychic Sarah makes twenty-six predictions about what will happen next year. When one, but only one, of the predictions comes true, she says, "Aha! I can see into the future."

Selective Attention

Improperly focusing attention on certain things and ignoring others.

Example:

Father: Justine, how was your school day today? Another C on the history test like last time?
Justine: Dad, I got an A- on my history test today. Isn't that great? Only one student got an A.
Father: I see you weren't the one with the A. And what about the math quiz?
Justine: I think I did OK, better than last time.
Father: If you really did well, you'd be sure. What I'm sure of is that today was a pretty bad day for you.

The pessimist who pays attention to all the bad news and ignores the good news thereby commits the fallacy of selective attention. The remedy for this fallacy is to pay attention to all the relevant evidence. The most common examples of selective attention are the fallacy of Suppressed Evidence and the fallacy of Confirmation Bias. See also the Sharpshooter's Fallacy.