Emotional Appeal

I feel like Emotional Appeal is a great topic to discuss further only because it happens all the time within people. Whether you are trying to sell a product or trying to create an invention, emotional appeal will always come into place. In order to make people attentive or intrigued, you need to catch their focus by using emotional appeal. For example, the soda “coca cola” has commercials of polar bears drinking coca cola, making it seem that it’s so refreshing and unique. I’m not going to lie, when I watch “coca cola” commercials, it makes me want to drink some because the commercials are so entertaining and different. Coca Cola is similar to a couple other drinks, but the commercials got me emotional which made me buy some. People are not interested in the inner workings of a product. They want to have a great experience using it; they don’t care how it works or how difficult it was to create it. 

Favorite thing about the class

My favorite thing about the class was the ability to manage your time for the posts and comments. Since I was really busy with school and work, this online class helped me because I did whenever I was free. Also, the class helped me become a tougher critique so that I make better decisions. The blogs and comments were convenient for me since I worked at night and had school all day; it gave me the chance to do it when I wanted to. The least favorite thing about this class were the group projects, because the reason why I chose this class was to do everything online since I was too busy to take the class on campus. It’s hard trying to meet up with group members when everyone has different schedules, plus people don’t respond or put an effort to help. It was just tough for me and I wasn’t expecting an online class to do that. All together, the class was awesome; maybe just give individual projects rather than a group. 

This semester

Throughout this course, I have learned a lot of different concepts and skills. Critical decision making is a great course to take because it makes you analyze information so that you make the right decision or action. When people look at a problem, most of the time they don’t go into depth and figure out what is right or wrong. They don’t analyze the information given which leads them to false accusations or wrong decisions. I have realized there a lot of different factors that lead people to their decision making. Emotion is a factor that makes most people base their decision. People’s experiences lead them to make future decisions based on what they think is right or wrong. Whenever a problem is given to me, I don’t usually make a quick decision. Now I analyze all the information, and make sure I have a full understand of the situation. Based off the information, I make rational decisions so that I used my best judgment. 

The two websites

Both websites were very helpful considering all the examples they gave to describe each topic. The first website including all the fallacies and arguments re freshened up my mind. The detail in each topic was very clear and I was able to understand it more than I already have. Fallacies always happen and it is cool to know what those fallacies are called. Also the analysis of arguments including deductive and inductive are used daily because we are always deciding on topics and events. There are many ways to decide on an argument and the ones present on the mission critical are some good examples of some. The casual argument website was very detailed and explained everything you needed to know about a casual argument. It gave plenty of examples of a casual argument and showed the strengths.  By knowing all these different strategies on how to analyze arguments, It will benefit in my daily life and be able to break down problems. 

Misleading conclusion

There was one time when I had a misleading conclusion. The observation was on the amount of students becoming obese and how it was the companies fault for advertising un-healthy food. I was gathering information and evidence on how companies try to target children by putting ads at schools and commercials on television. Since children are constantly watching television and they are the main consumers of fast-food. What I didn’t take in is that parents are the main problem. The problem is that parents need to maintain what their children are eating. I mislead my audience in thinking that it’s the companies fault rather than the parents. Focusing on the scientific method, I realized by interviewing a handful of parents it’s false that the advertisements cause children to become fat, the reality is parents are not so strict on their eating habits. A lot of people probably think that it’s wrong for fast food restaurants to promote un-healthy meals but the truth is that it’s the parents’ wrong action to let their children eat those meals. 

Horoscope

"Letting yourself be emotionally exposed is difficult, but you can do it -- and you should. Your bravery has been proven to other people many times over, but have you proven it to yourself? Someone close to you wants to know more about your inner thoughts, and they want the truth. Do not candy-coat your feelings in an effort to make them seem more mainstream or acceptable. What's the point of that? You have to let it all come out without editing a word." -My Horoscope

I don't always look at horoscopes but the ones I have read I realized they are somewhat true. The prediction is kind of true but it says comments that are usually common in someone’s life and then makes that person believe that they will always be true or need to happen. For example, one day it says that someone close to you wants to know more about your inner thoughts, and they want the truth or you need to express your emotions don’t be scared. Those examples are so common that they happen all the time or at least we all feel that sometime throughout the day. Horoscopes make you think that you have to take part in the saying. When it says my bravery has been proven many times but have I proven it to myself, is so common because of course my bravery has been proven to someone. I have friends and family that I’m around all the time of course they seen my bravery. I can easily create an example of a horoscope comment: You need to relax and watch, soon you will have the time to speak. 

Media Literacy

“Media literacy” is the ability to understand and critically analyze the influence of the mass media on our lives. I feel that media literacy is very important to understand so that we are not fooled or controlled by the media. The media is exposed everywhere and at any moment they could easily lead you to believe in false information. There are certain people that believe anything the media says and those people are controlled by the media. That is not good because now those people are relaying that false information to other people causing a flow of false information. I’m not saying all the media is false but you need to understand what the truth is and what isn’t. We need to make sure you are in control of your life and the media isn’t in control. A lot of people think that the media doesn’t affect them but in some aspect it does. For example, politic discussions and voting’s affect how the government decides on running things or certain rules that are made. Media is a good and bad guide, it just depends on how you view it. 

Sadler and Hunt

After reading the responses from both professors, I realized that they both had good arguments. Sadler, a professor at University of South Florida, argues that the issue of internet plagiarism is wrong. One point she made was that plagiarism could raise the teachers grading scale making the honest students have weaker papers and those who plagiarize have stronger papers. As a whole, Sadler does not approve of plagiarism and it’s unfair to students and teachers. Russell Hunt, a professor at St. Thomas University, doesn’t necessarily disagree with plagiarism. As a result to how the school and grading system has been created, hunt feels that students turn to plagiarism to satisfy certain requirements.  Hunt even says that plagiarism challenges the overwhelming pressure for grades which our institutions have created and foster. As a college student, I notice how a lot of students plagiarize way too much and that isn’t okay. Although there are times when the school punishes students for plagiarism in which there was no need for punishment. For example, I could write a paper that was written on the top of my head, but when I put it in Turnitin.com, it will say I plagiarized more that 20%. I would have to say plagiarism is looked at way too closely and it’s need to be allowed to a certain extent.  

Media Experiences

We are exposed to media every day. Watching the news, browsing online, or reading newspapers, all contribute to the media. In my media experiences, it has changed my view on the world and how I consistently stick to my values to make sure I never change. Over the years, I have experienced times when the media is biased or lead us to false information. It seems that the media relays news but then switches it up to certain extent where it could make people believe they are lying. I feel that some of the information exposed through the media is all false and stirs up a discussion. I feel like magazines defame public figures all the time and it leads people to either dislike or like them. Magazines ruin people’s reputation and I don’t think that’s how our media should act. I have come to a conclusion that our media is such a big gossip circle, that it’s hard to believe what is the truth.Of course the news is correct but half of the news is bad. The news rarely talks about the good and how the world accomplished something. The media is a place in which you need be prepared to be lied to.

Wootan and Liodice

Wootan stance on “food regulating”, is that there should be more regulation on advertisements because kids are attracted a lot more to advertisements. Since kids are attracted to advertisements that consist of food, the advertisements should promote healthy food so they want to eat it. Wootan's strategy is to prevent obesity, so her focus is to improve the advertisement of food so that there will be more nutritious food and hopefully obesity will decrease over the years. On the contrary, Liodice believes that food advertisement shouldn't have boundaries because that is considered our freedom of speech, which we can say anything. Liodice states that we should be able to advertise whatever we want and however we want. In my opinion, I feel like Wootan makes a stronger argument because food advertisement mainly focuses on children and that’s what we need to change. Food advertisement needs to promote nutritious and healthy food, especially if majority of the consumers are children. 

Product Placement

Product Placement is an advertising technique used by companies to subtly promote their products through a non-traditional advertising technique, usually through appearances in film, television, or other media. In my opinion, this type of advertising is very successful and makes a lot of viewers want to buy their product. I notice this a lot in sports, since I played baseball for 14 years I notice how all my friends buy gear that all the baseball players are using on television. For example, if one of the baseball players are wearing under armor apparel and that player did really good that game, then most likely a viewer will notice that and want to buy the product. In my past experience, I was watching a baseball player on television who was really fast and he was wearing “Derek Jeter cleats”, so the next day I bought them because I thought the cleats made him run fast. Product Placement is a very creative technique to advertise, it could be as easy as putting your company’s brand on a shirt in a film. 

Marketing Strageties

In the past week I have been exposed to many different marketing strategies. As a consumer, you understand how each company has their own unique marketing strategy. For example, I went to a retail store the other day at the mall and there strategy is to approach customers and to explain all the deals they have. When I walked in to the store two employees approached me and started to talk about the deals they have. The two girls were also complementing me on my clothing attire and asked me how my day was. Retail stores make their employees be interactive with their customers and make sure they explain their daily current deals. As a consumer, sometimes it could get annoying when the workers are consistently trying to talk to you. Usually when I walk into the store I don't want to be followed or always asked questions, although a nice greeting is acceptable. I feel like magazine advertising is weak, because it’s hard to look at a product when it’s in a magazine. Also, when you see clothes in a magazine it’s hard to know if you like the material or how it would fit. 

Group Pressure

Most people can agree that “Group Pressure” can influence members to do stuff that they normally wouldn’t support themselves. Peer pressure is similar to group pressure because when you have a crowd around you forcing you to do something, most cases you would do it. This usually happens when your friends are drinking at a party and they force you to try some or when they try to offer you to smoke with them. In group pressure, it makes you feel like you have more confidence or at least make you feel like you are obligated to do it since everyone is watching you. For example, I was in a club meeting and they were electing people for president, treasurer, secretary, public relations, and etc. As it was coming to the end, my ex-president elected me to become treasurer in which I didn’t want to do. Since I was in front of a huge crowd I decided to take the position and I became treasurer. As a result, it shows that group pressure does influence a lot of people to do things they normally wouldn’t support themselves. 

UFOs

Edward Condon is a scientist that believes that UFOs do not exist. In Condon’s argument, he states that scientist need invest their time into studies that will advance science unless people have good ideas regarding UFOs and they should keep pursuing. If people have good ideas for specific studies in the “UFO field” then it should be supported and hopefully it goes well. At the same time, UFO reports should not be available for the general public. For example, students read books and magazines that contain UFO reports which are providing students with erroneous evidence. The other scientist, Hynek, believes the UFO phenomena is ignored by authorities and have not been studied in a systematic manner. There needs to be more gathering of data. There needs to be a comparison among large groups who have supposedly sighted UFO objects. Scientists should contact people in other countries to figure out who seen it other than America. Hynek feels that there could be alien space crafts but there needs to be more research. The third scientist, Royston Paynter, is very skeptical about the UFOs and aliens and that there needs to be physical evidence. He states that there is literally no physical evidence to show UFOS exist. I think that Hynek provides the best argument because he shows how there needs to be more gathering of data from other countries and not only in America. Scientists need to gather all the data and compare groups of those who sighted potential alien crafts. 

Knowledge and wisdom

The difference between knowledge and wisdom is that one is what you know and the other is what you gain from experiences or mistakes. As most people know, knowledge is what you know or learn from the past. People gain knowledge from reading books, watching informational television shows, or going to school. Now wisdom is learning but it’s from experiences and mistakes you have previously went through, not from books and shows. My opinion on this is that knowledge is from a book, and wisdom is from living life. In college, I feel that we are acquiring both knowledge and wisdom. For example, in college we are advancing our knowledge by reading books, learning a variety of different subjects, and learning the right concepts to be successful with our career. For wisdom, students are learning what happens when you get too drunk in public, or experiencing how it feels to live on your own. Students are experiencing what can go wrong with certain actions and later on make sure that doesn’t happen again. I feel that the information age has just made us more knowledgeable since it’s providing us with a lot of information to be read. 

Concept-Hyperbole

A concept that interested me in chapter 3 was a Hyperbole. A hyperbole is a rhetorical device that uses exaggeration. This device interests me because it is used all the time in society. Everyone uses this device even when we are not trying to persuade or manipulate our audience. For example, a lot of students say that “Class was so boring I wanted to kill myself”. In reality they really didn’t want to kill themselves but they just thought it was so dreadful and boring. Another example, is if it was windy or a little chilly outside some people might say” WOW, my feet are frozen they are about to fall off”. Realistically, feet just can’t fall off and they meant that it was cold.  Most of the time a hyperbole is to exaggerate the truth and at times can damage some ones credibility. Like the “little boy who cried wolf”, is probably not so believable when the story is told. 

Rhetorical devices

In the past week or so, I have used a couple of rhetorical devices that actually persuaded my audience. Last week, I used the rhetorical device called Euphemism which is the replacement of a term that has a negative association by a neutral or positive term. So, last week a couple of my friends went to the gym including one of my friends from my class. The way I would describe my friend is very funny man but obese. So, while he was working out he was upset that he couldn’t lift heavy objects or move that quick so he called himself FAT. So I went up to him and said “you’re not fat, you’re big boned”, and after I said that he laughed and felt better about himself. The second device I used was a Dysphemism which is a word or phrase chosen to produce a negative effect. So, a couple days ago my friend was about to buy a used car but I didn’t like it so much. So I tried to persuade him to not buy it and I said, “Cohen, why are you going to buy that junk car, I’m sure people did weird things in there, and it’s dirty”. The next day he decided not to buy it. 

Sally Ride

Sally Ride, the youngest and the first female American astronaut in space, learned that an effective communication will benefit her in the future. As for her, it benefited her and made her serve as the Capcom for the first and second shuttle flights for NASA. As a college student, she knew that in order to be successful you will need to develop communication skills including listening, speaking, and writing. Sally Ride took advantage of that and double majored in English and physics. Sally understood the benefits of an effective communication and she analyzed what is best for her.  She gathered information and researched on what major would be the best for her and how it would push her forward. Based on her talents and interest, she evaluated the best possible options she can use and that was going to college. Sally Ride definitely represents a good critical thinker because she used her skills to enhance her success.  

Concept

One concept I want to share with the class is “Negative Effects of emotion”. Although emotions do help us proceed to make better decisions, sometimes there are emotions that are based on negative stereotypes or anxieties rising from unresolved past experiences. These emotions that block our critical thinking, can lead to bad decisions or deny that there is a problem. For example, there are shows about couples cheating on them with someone else. By watching that show, people can suddenly fear that there significant other is cheating on them without having any evidence or proof that they are actually cheating. This fear can eventually lead to actions that they soon will regret. Feelings play a big part in decision making. Also, if there is a situation at work where you disagree with a customer, you can easily act angry towards them but you might get in trouble with your boss. Sometimes people let their emotions get ahead of themselves and don’t think before they act. 

Evolution and a belief in God

According to Dawkin, It seems that evolution and a belief in god is incompatible. Dawkin doesn’t agree with God being the “mover” or “cause” to how society has formed over time. He states that people try to put this idea together that god is the one who created everything but if that’s the case, then instead of the word “god”, they could have used the word “terminator” instead. Dawkin believes that the beginning of time should be called the “big bang”, not just a made up name called “god”. If Aquinas was alive today he would respond to Dawkins saying that Dawkins has no evidence either. All Dawkins is doing is denying the fact that Aquinas has a point and how people just made up an unknown human, which is God, and made him the creator of life. Aquinas can easily say how the bible was made and how it is still used today. Using his “Nothing moves without a prior mover” concept, Aquinas can say there had to be a creator for the bible and that person who created it was influenced by Jesus, the man who was sent by God.  

Reasoning

My types of reasoning are based on facts and what I’m best at doing. One of the best ways to reason is to understand the facts. For example, everyone knows the best thing to do is to get a college education and finish with a college degree. A common fact is getting a college degree will give you more opportunities and more job offers. Using this reasoning has pushed me closer to my goals and put me in a good standing with my career. By knowing the facts, I’m currently getting a college education and going to be working as an intern at a top firm in San Jose. My second reasoning is what I know I’m best at. A lot of people say “Do what you enjoy”, but I say “Do what you’re best at”, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m very good at numbers so I’m majoring in Business finance. By engaging in what I do best, I’m going use my strength and be the best in what I can do. As of now, I’m getting A’s in all my finance classes and taking advantage of my skill. 

Topic-Positive Correlation

One topic I want to discuss is “positive correlation”.  A positive correlation is if an incidence of one event increases when the second one increases. There are a lot of positive correlations that occur in the world and in our lives. For example, there is a positive correlation between the more cups of coffee you drink and the number of hours stayed awake. Another example would be the positive correlation between the more factories being built and the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Another example of a positive correlation is the more companies opening up and the amount of job openings. A positive correlation doesn’t mean the situation has to be positive. For example, the more cigarettes smoked and the risk of lung cancer. So the more cigarettes smoked then the higher the risk of lung cancer. So, as long as the correlations between any two are increasing, then it is considered a positive correlation. 

Dr. Novello

Dr. Novello was a woman of dedication who worked her way up and became the U.S. Surgeon General. Dr. Novello’s main focus was to reduce the causes of the four public health problems: aids, violence, alcohol, and tobacco. Dr. Novella used a type of inductive reasoning referred to as the “cause-and-effect” to try and stop the increasing rates of teenagers smoking.  Two of the ways she tried to stop the smoking among teenagers is increasing the amount of education in schools and the banning of the cigarette advertising towards the youth. Dr. Novello’s effort to put more education in schools would hopefully decrease the amount of teenagers to smoke. So, Cause 1 would be increasing the amount of education in schools, Cause 2 would be banning all the ads of cigarettes and alcohol use that targeted the youth, and the Effect is less teenagers will smoke because of all the school work and minimal advertisement of cigarettes.  Dr. Novello’s actions were a success since the number of reported cases of AIDS and domestic violence declined. 

Inductive Argument that I recently used

As most of you know by reading chapter 7, inductive arguments are slightly stronger or weaker rather than true or false. Inductive arguments claim that their conclusion "probably" follows from the premises, but doesn't necessarily mean it’s true. In the past week I was in this situation where I used an inductive argument. When I was in class my teacher was talking about sports. The main topic was how sport players make a lot of money.  Our class was also talking about how most pro football players are rich and how they are treated like superstars. So my friend was sitting next to me and I whispered to him, “If most pro football players are rich, then my uncle must be full of cash”. So, Premise 1 is that most pro football players are rich and considered superstars. Premise 2 is that my uncle is a pro football player. The conclusion following premises 1&2 are that my uncle probably is rich and considered a superstar. The problem with this inductive argument is that it’s not necessarily true, it could easily be false. 

Pick a Concept

A concept I want to discuss is “argument by elimination”. Argument by elimination is a concept where you rule out different possibilities until only one possibility remains. I use this type of deductive argument a lot when I’m trying to find something. For example, the other day I was walking to my room and realized that I forgot my skateboard. I didn’t know where I forgot it but I had a sense of where I could have left it. The possibilities were either in my economic's class room, my teacher’s office, or at the gym. All these possibilities were chosen because these were the only places I went to during that day. So, first off I went to check my economics class but it wasn’t there. Second place I checked was my teacher’s office but noticed it wasn’t there either. Since neither of those places had it I knew that my skate board had to be in the gym. So once I got to the gym I found my skateboard leaning against the locker that I was using earlier that day.

Death Penalty

By reading some of the passages in Chapter 8, it shows how the death penalty is prohibited in some countries. First off, The United States is the only western democracy that still allows the death penalty. On the contrary, there are a lot of countries that oppose the death penalty. The European Union, consisting of about 27 European countries, opposes the death penalty. Referring to the scriptural passage "who taught us to not to return hate for hate and evil for evil", makes most of these countries oppose the death penalty. A lot of the citizens in Europe have values and principles. Human dignity is a shared value and principle amongst the heritage of the European Union. The punishment to kill a human because of his wrongful actions has revealed itself as a denial of human dignity. So by allowing the death penalty would be going against the majority of the European’s principles and religious views.

Sherlock Holmes

What I think Sherlock Holmes was trying to say is that “facts from the embellishments of hearsay and reports” has ruined the way people think, in certain cases. When people are trying to reason they state their own opinions and what they think is right, but instead you should state the facts and what is correct. For example, when Sherlock was trying to figure out where the horse could be found, he only assumed two places. So, when Sherlock checked one place and didn't see the horse he knew the horse had to be located at the other place.  Sherlock stuck with the facts and what seemed more logical. When you are trying to figure something out or try to reason, make sure to remember what is logical and makes more sense. Don't listen to what others say because most of the information you listen from others might not be the best solution. From my personal experience, I played baseball for 14 years and there was a time when a couple of my friends tried to teach me on how to swing differently. I adjusted to how they taught but I realized I wasn't hitting as good as I did before. I came to a conclusion that there techniques they showed me were not the best even though they thought there techniques were better than mine. For background information I played baseball for 14 years and they never played. It shows that since I have been playing longer I would know how to swing better. In the future, if someone else tells you “try this, it’s better”, don’t always think it’s the right way. When you try to reason, stick with the facts.

"A Concept" discussion #3

While participating in groups, members need to avoid common traps that ruin group communication. One trap I want to discuss in detail is "Overgeneralizations". Overgeneralizations occur when one piece of data concludes that all other comparable data is similar. For example, if you assume that all teenagers will go to college, then you are overgeneralizing. Another example, if you assume that all teenagers will experiment with drugs, then you are overgeneralizing. One step to make sure you don’t fall into this trap is to determine whether the basis of this support is biased in any way. As a critical thinker you need to look at the facts and experiment if your assumptions are true or not. If you say ALL teenagers will experiment with drugs, then you are implying that every teenager in the world will experiment. To make people believe your assumption, you will have to provide a lot of evidence. The next time you overgeneralize data, make sure it’s rational and valid. 

Pg 169 Issues with friends or work

There has been a time when I lost a friend due to an issue at work. In the workplace, I’m a hard worker that puts a lot of effort into my job. I'm an employee that respects all customers and one who follows all the rules. I'm never standing around or acting lazy on the job. One action that annoys me the most is laziness. When I’m doing all the work and the other employees are messing around or not helping at all, it bothers me. So I have been working at my job for 2 years now and a couple months ago I got one of my good friends a job where I work. The issue with my friend working at my job is that I'm noticing him being a little lazy and taking advantage of me. Since I work with him, he thinks he doesn't have to work as hard and thinks it’s just a party at work. I recently told him if he doesn’t act up and start putting more effort into this job he will get fired. Although he is my friend, I have to make sure he has a good work ethic and be thankful for me helping him get a job. In the end, I fired my friend since he put no effort and no emotions into his job. Since we fired him I haven’t spoken or seen him in a while. When you’re working with a friend make sure you act professional. 

"Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage" pgs 194-198

Our president ,Barack Obama, opposes same-sex marriage on a federal level but supports civil unions and equal rights for couples that are the same sex. It seems to me that Obama is wrestling with the issue of same-sex marriage. Obama's belief towards a marriage consists of only a man and woman, but he also supports equality for gay and lesbian couples. Equality for gay and lesbian couples includes benefits and respect in which heterosexual couples receive.  Obama's position towards same-sex marriage is fair because he is giving humans, specifically gays, a chance. For example, If Obama says "No gays are allowed to get married", then that statement is prohibiting humans from their own rights. Obama doesn’t agree with same-sex marriage but he does oppose an amendment that prohibits same-sex marriages. Also, when gay couples are getting married in other countries or states, while Californians are trying to prohibit same-sex marriage in California, it wouldn't be fair to those gays that live in California. Based off of Navs's and Dawidoff's argument, Obama would most likely agree with them concluding that gays would be denied their own rights and it wouldn't be fair to those who agree with same-sex marriage.

Introductory Post

Hello, I'm a second year student at SJSU. I'm currently a finance major and an active member in a fraternity. I have no problem communicating with people. I'm an easy person to strike a conversation with and get to know. I enjoy playing sports, especially baseball. I also love to go camping and boating.