Dec 3 - 9. Post 3

In this class, the one concept I feel was important is making incorrect assumptions. I thought this was a very popular concept that everyone goes through in their life.  I have made so many incorrect assumptions in my life whether it is on Christmas, birthday parties or with friends. I think knowing the consequences of incorrect assumptions are important because in my case it can prevent many problems. My story about Christmas is a perfect example because if I would not have made an incorrect assumption about my mom not buying me the purse, I would not have been bitter the entire time up until Christmas. I should have thought critically and maybe realized that this was my mother’s plan to do this and trick me. Incorrect assumptions are very common for me because unfortunately, I think the worst about people before thinking positive. I probably should not think negative about people but that’s what making incorrect assumptions is, thinking about people negatively.

I really appreciated everyone and their own opinions on their post! It was a really fun class. :)

Week of December 3 - 9: Q.2

         My favorite thing about this class was the entire blog system. I took an online class spring 2011 and we posted to discussions. The class was about controversial legal issues and the topics we had to talk about were very sensitive. I appreciated that this class was based off of an anonymous blog. I like the anonymity in the class and the fact that I was able to express my opinion as I wanted without any judgment or arguments starting. I really enjoyed everything about this class. One thing I have never been a fan of is group work. I am extremely glad to have met people the people I met through the group work but I don’t like group work simply because one student will always slack or another person will end up doing all of the work. Other than that, I think this class was extremely fun and enjoyable. I am so grateful for all of the knowledge I have gained from this class.

Week of December 3 - 9: Q.1

Over the semester, I have learned a number of concepts in this comm 41 course. I have learned how to recognize fallacies such as, Ad Hominen, Strawman, Appeal to Pity, False Dilemma and Slippery Slope. I want to pursue a career in law and if I am capable of mastering this concept, I will do pretty well as a lawyer. I learned that fallacies are very common in politics. Since this was an election year, it was good timing for me to learn about this because when the debates were on I listened closely to the types of fallacies used. Misleading language played an important role during the presidential debates and I learned that in this class for the first time. Lastly, I enjoyed learning about the use of rhetorical devices such as, euphemisms. I did not know that this concept had a name. This is something everyone does to make a tragedy sound better by a replacement of a positive word. Overall, I really enjoyed the numerous concepts that I learned in this class. I know I will utilize them someday in my career!

Ch. 12. Q.3

In Chapter 12 of Think, a very important concept I read was the “Scientific Method.” According to Think, the scientific method is described as, “involves the identification of a problem and the rigorous, systematic of observation and experimentation in testing an explanation for the problem.” The scientific method is said to be similar to the three levels of thinking, “experience, interpretation, and analysis.” This method includes observations and analyzing these observations. The scientific method steps are the following: Identify the problem, Develop and Initial Hypothesis, Gather Additional Information and Refine the Hypothesis, Test the Hypothesis, Evaluate the Hypothesis on the Basis of Testing or Experimental Results. I think that this method is important because most people do not carefully analyze a problem or recognize what the problem is at all. After reading this chapter I realized that I constantly use this method without noticing. I figure out what the problem is and then I continue to figure out my easiest solution to the problem.

Ch.12 Q.2

I have made so many incorrect assumptions in my life. I recall one specific Christmas I made an incorrect conclusion due to my observations. For Christmas, my mom and I always do the Christmas shopping for our family members. I am the one who usually finds out what people wants and then we go shopping. One Christmas, I gave my mom the Christmas list that contained everyone’s name and a couple of gifts they wanted. When we were at the mall, she kept asking if I liked this and that and I told her what I wanted for Christmas. I kept saying how pretty this Juicy Couture purse was and how much I wanted this purse. My mom bought the purse saying how much my sister would love the purse Christmas. I did not whine I said, “yes, Mom. Kaitlyn would love it. Get it for her.” The day of Christmas my mom said I had to open my present first but I was still so bitter about the whole purse situation. My mom was the first to open her presents and I went after her but my sister was going to be after me. When I opened my present, to my surprise, the Juicy Couture purse was MY present! Scientific knowledge had me recognize that my mom wanted to know what I wanted for Christmas by asking if I liked it and then pretending to give it to someone else. I thought it was cute that my mom went out of her way to surprise me.

Ch. 12. Q.1

          “A fast pace, with many letters, phone calls, errands, meetings, or discussion, is on the agenda. You may feel mentally restless, impatient, and overly eager to get your own ideas across. Also, a situation may arise which requires you to say what is on your mind, to make a decision, or to clearly voice your personal opinion on some issue.” I personally have never believed in horoscopes because they are so easily falsifiable. It might be accurate but I feel like it describes daily troubles. My horoscope basically says that I am facing many phone calls, errands, and that I feel restless. I do feel this way most of my days while I am in school. I have trouble managing my time so I do not feel like this only today. One of my arguments would be that they are never specific or accurate, but I feel that horoscopes make generalizations. My roommate follows her horoscope and she always says that it is accurate. I feel that when people are dependent on horoscopes, people start to believe what the horoscope is telling them without it being true. Seeing as how I don’t ever follow horoscopes, reading this one today assured me of how inaccurate they can be and easily be false.

Ch. 11. Q.3

A concept that I found interesting in chapter 11 was social networking. Social networking is any public forum such as, Twitter and Facebook. I feel that social networks are being misused by teenagers because of the immature posts that surface on Facebook. It is almost a competition about who gets more “likes” on their statuses or pictures. Social networks help in connections with other people, meeting new people, job searching, and might build a relationship. Social networks are crucial to your life because once something is uploaded on the internet there is no deleting it. One of my relatives has his own law firm and he has explained to me that when he has a potential employee, he will look them up on any social public forums to see what kind of person they look like. I am extremely careful of posting things of public forums such as, picture with alcohol; because someone can easily say that the person is raging alcoholic. Not everyone is careful when it comes to public forums because they do not know the consequences of their actions on social networks.