Week of December 3 - December 9: #3

Throughout this semester, I think that the one concept that could be further discussed is group communication. It was pretty hard working with people I've never met or even seen. Just meeting up with them was somewhat difficult; everyone had their schedules planned out and was busy most of the time. I think that one of the things that would have helped us a lot was if we had discussed how to properly act in a group and how to share the decisions we make. Although it may seem as if it's not related to this class, I believe that it is because we will have to work with others in the future. We may be critical thinkers, but critical thinkers do not think alike and have different opinions. I think it would have been nice to discuss the chapter in the O'Hair and Wiemann book titled "What makes a good group?" I found a lot of things helpful in that section.

Week of December 3 - December 9: #2

One of my favorite things about this class was blogging. Blogging is not a new concept to me; however, blogging for class was! I really enjoy having new topics to discuss and blog about each week. What made it very interesting was being able to discuss the topics with the other students in our class. Because of this, I have learned a lot more. Having to remind myself to blog each week has taught me to depend less on my professors; because they remind you online, you have no physical reminder. I think this is a great thing to carry with you in the future. Not all professors are going to remind you that a test is coming up, or homework is due the next class meeting. I have learned a lot, especially by meeting deadlines no matter what happens during my week. My least favorite thing about this class were the group projects. I found it very difficult to find a mutual meeting time with my group members; everyone was always very busy. When it was time to submit the essay, it was hard asking everyone for their parts because it always seemed as if they weren’t prepared. I think this class would be a little better if there were less group projects. I think it helps with working together, but I think there are more negative results than positive.

Week of December 3 - December 9: #1

Something that I enjoyed learning in this class over the course of this semester was about advertising. It was interesting to see how advertisements can be deceptive in different ways. I learned about some common fallacies that happen during advertisements and also how marketers use different tactics to get a consumer’s attention. This shows us that advertisers analyze how society makes decisions about things and uses that to get what they want. This helped me analyze the different ways that advertisements may attract me, thus using that to decide whether or not I want to purchase that item or do what it says, for example. I have also learned that advertisers use celebrities to endorse certain products, causing people who like the celebrity to be attracted to the products that they are advertising. I have definitely been that person that bought something because it was attached to a celebrity I liked. Now I know that the celebrity may not have even used it before!

Week of November 12 - November 18: #3

One concept that I found interesting in the Boss text was empiricism. (I found this under the "Assumptions Underlying Science" section on page 369.) This is exactly the belief I used to judge my coworker (mentioned in my last post). Empiricism, as defined in the text, is "the belief that our physical senses are the primary source of knowledge." As much as we all don't want to think that we do this, it is one of the most basic assumptions of science. I think that we just automatically do this because it's an instinct we have to protect ourselves. For example, we may see someone sketchy walking down the street. It is possible that they could be very friendly, but we wouldn't want to risk the fact that they could harm us so we would probably avoid them the best we can. Another example is the opposite; if we see someone nice and friendly, we probably would approach them and say hello.

Week of November 12 - November 18: #2

I recently started working at a retail store early in September and I had to be trained to use the cash register (along with seven other employees) a week after I started. I remember that there was one female employee that seemed to be somewhat rude to me. She had to share a cash register with another employee next to me and was taking up all the space (there is very little room at the counter). She appeared to be extremely standoffish and had a very sour look on her face. However, as I worked with her more, I know now that I just interpreted things wrong because I used her physical attributes to cloud my judgment (empiricism). She could have been having a really bad day, and I used that to define her. I realize now that she is a lot of fun to work with and is someone that I can relate to. Once I found out actual facts instead of just random guesses about her, I now know what type of person she is. Even though she left our store now, I now consider her my favorite coworker.

Week of November 12 - November 18: #1

"Today will be a day to remember -- full of romance, intrigue, secrets and even one or two dramatic revelations! You will be in the thick of things right away, first thing in the morning -- so make sure you get a great breakfast and are prepared for some roller coaster hours. You are a featured player in this daytime drama, and whether or not you are the hero of the story is completely up to you. If you want to stir up some trouble, go for it! You are ready to deal with the fallout." (Shine from Yahoo!)

This prediction is very inaccurate. It does not come anywhere close with describing how my day went because it was very uneventful; I went to work early in the morning for 4.5 hours, arrived home, then took a three hour nap. I think horoscopes are very generic and can mean a lot of things to everyone. It depends on who you are as a person and how you interpret the things that life gives you. You could be looking for all the true things in a horoscope, but I think that it's very random and could definitely be coincidences. Yes, this prediction is falsifiable. There are many things that could happen leading to the inevitable conclusion of this horoscope being false. One example, as I already gave, was describing my entire day. It did not include any romance, secrets, or dramatic revelations. Perhaps it would have been a better prediction if I ate a "great" breakfast, or if I stirred up some trouble.

Week of November 5 - November 11: #3

One section that I found quite interesting was Credibility of News Coverage. I found it very sad that the news media seems to only tell us information that keeps us watching. It seems that half of Americans don't trust news coverage and many believe that they are biased. There is no way of finding out if that's true, but we do know that they get more money if there are more viewers. Sadly, there are people out there who don't care what they have to do receive better benefits. This section also goes on to talk about reporters exaggerating specific details in a story or even taking certain parts out to keep the news interesting. This is not fair to people watching the news - they want to watch it so that they can get real information. People actually want to know what's going on around the world and if news reporters can't tell them that, then who can?

Week of November 5 - November 11: #2

Sadler believes that students should not plagiarize and gives examples to back up her reason why she thinks that it doesn't benefit the student's learning. If ignored, it also shows that it may be okay to cheat your way toward success. I believe that Sadler makes the better argument because she uses valid statements. On the other hand, Hunt thinks that plagiarism can actually help a student learn. Although I can see where he comes from, I don't think that he is looking at the bigger picture. First of all, the person that was plagiarized from probably would not be happy in this situation. It would not be fair to the original writer because they spent time putting in effort to write whatever it may be, compared to the minute it took to copy and paste. Although I don't agree with Hunt, I don't think it's a problem to read someone else's work to get ideas. But to submit work that is not yours? You shouldn't be surprised if you end up receiving a ZERO.

Week of November 5 - November 11: #1

I believe that the media is great use for communication. Companies use the media to advertise new products and attract consumers. They also use repeating symbols so that they can be distinguished from other brands. For example, Target always shows the red target and the white dog in their advertisements. Without media, we wouldn't have as many jobs and creative outlets for people to use. On the other hand, the media can also be a very bad way of communication. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter can be poisonous; people say things on there that they wouldn't dare say in person and act differently. Some people have also become addicted and stay online for hours and hours without any real human communication. I believe that this can be very dangerous; people, especially teenagers and young adults, should be talking face to face instead of via chat. Without being able to communicate to people in real life, you would have an extremely hard time looking for a job (unless you plan to do something online.)

October 29 - November 4: #3

One concept that I enjoyed reading and learning about this week was Common Fallacies in Advertisements. I thought it was interesting how marketers use scare tactics, the fallacy of popular appeal, snob appeal, and the fallacy of appeal to inappropriate authority. Scare tactics are always used tell us that we need that item to be better. As Boss says, scare tactics almost always lead to the fallacy of questionable cause. This fallacy is that something better will happen if a product is used. Another fallacy, the fallacy of popular appeal, creates the impression that a lot of people use a product. This makes you, the consumer, want to purchase it as well. Snob appeal is a type of popular appeal that associates a product with someone who is very well-liked. By doing this, that someone's life seems very desirable. Lastly, the fallacy of appeal to inappropriate authority happens when advertisements include a celebrity to promote a certain product. Sadly, this is a very successful way of marketing. Many people have their favorite celebrities and when a product is promoted, it is very easy to find yourself wanting it.

Week of October 29 - November 4: #2

I believe that Margo G. Wootan's argument regarding government regulation of children's food advertising was more effective than Robert Liodice, simply because Wootan used pathos to connect the problem with her readers. Wootan made it known that she did not like how non-nutritive foods were advertised because it was affecting the health of children in negative ways. She wrote that children are attracted to enticing food advertisements, thus creating a “need” to have certain foods that may not be healthy. As a Nutrition major, I do understand where she is coming from. I may be biased, but I also have experienced being attracted to food advertisements when I was younger. I’m sure many of you wanted to go to McDonalds for the happy meal toy too! On the other hand, Liodice did not seem to care that children were affected. In fact, he states that food companies have been making food BETTER for them! He shows no signs of pathos and even says that “childhood and adult obesity stands out as one of the most “curable” of them all.”

Week of October 29 - November 4: #1

During this past weekend, Bath and Body Works had a promotion where customers could receive a free mini candle if they knew about the offer. This was a great marketing strategy to attract people that may not be interested in their products, or people that have never bothered to shop at the store / online. They also included a survey at the end of the receipt, stating that you can get a "$10 off a $30 purchase" after completing the survey. This is a type of marketing research, specifically survey research, used to "collected information and opinions about a product." The company uses it to improve their products and meet customers' needs. They also add the coupon at the end to get customers back in their store. It is hard to say which marketing strategy is least effective because they all work in different ways. In my opinion, I believe that an ineffective marketing strategy is if an advertisement is not targeted towards a certain group (for example: adults, females, etc).

Week of October 15 - October 21: #3

One thing I thought was interesting while reading was "Group Pressure and Conformity" on page 120 of Boss' Think text. Boss states that "group pressure can influence individual members to take positions that they would never support by themselves". It is very easy to make decisions based on what other people do. For example, if you go out with a group of friends and they all buy a nice refreshing drink, you'd want to buy one too! In a more serious event, group pressure also happens during bullying. If a group of people are making fun of one person, chances are that other people will make fun of that person too. It was also interesting to read that there was an experiment conducted in which someone told six people in a group to give the wrong answers, and they all listened! This just shows how group pressure is incredibly influential in life.

Week of October 15 - October 21: #2

Condon seems to believe that over the past twenty one years, UFO reports have not added anything new to scientific knowledge. He believes that this has happened because it has been very little studied, something that Hynek seems to believe as well. Hynek believes that authorities brush the UFO "phenomena" away, thus having nobody to study it. It sounds as if he wants this phenomenon to be studied, starting from the beginning and staying in contact with everyone - globally. Paynter believes that "without physical evidence, we should remain skeptical about these claims". I believe that Paynter makes the best argument. It is hard to believe that something is the truth, especially if there is no evidence given. He states that there is "no alien space ship on display in a museum somewhere, in fact, there is no object in existence on Earth of which we can say 'this must have been made by aliens'" (p. 128). He also states that "unidentified" (the "U" in "UFO") does not mean it was made by aliens, it could also mean something that can't be recognized.

Week of October 15 - October 21: #1

According to Boss in the Think text, knowledge is information or experience that we believe to be true and for which we have justification or evidence (p. 97). I believe that someone who exhibits wisdom is someone who uses knowledge to critically think and make decisions. Anyone can have knowledge, but the ones with wisdom APPLY knowledge to their lives. In college, I think we acquire knowledge and are taught wisdom. We become wise when we apply the knowledge we learn. However, I think that the information age has just made us more knowledgeable. We learn facts and information, but we no longer put together information to figure out answers for ourselves; we believe that Google can help us in that area. Google helps us apply knowledge, so we don’t have to think at all. This is a scary thing to realize because we should be using the knowledge we learn to critically think for ourselves.

Week of October 1 - October 7: #3

I found the section titled "Deception and Lying" very interesting, especially when Boss wrote that "most of us are easily taken in by the lies of others". It is not something that everyone wants to hear; in fact, it's really sad. It's sad to know that people you talk to everyday could be deceiving you with the words they say and you could have no idea. It was interesting to learn that liars will tell stories in chronological order, but truth-tellers will tell stories out of order. I can see how this is true, especially since it is easy to forget little random details when telling a real story. I never knew that liars move and blink less when they're telling a fib because they are trying hard to remember the lies they've told. I think that lying is a big waste of energy and that you should always tell the truth. By lying, you dig yourself a big hole and people will end up never trusting you again.

Week of October 1 - October 7: #2

The two types of rhetorical devices that I always use are sarcasm and hyperbole. Sarcasm, as defined by Boss in the Think text, “involves the use of ridicule, insults, taunting, and/or caustic irony”. I am very sarcastic person and I mainly do it to make people laugh, but I have recently realized that it’s very mean so I’m trying to stop doing it. When sarcasm is used towards me from any of my friends, it hurts. A type of sarcasm I use is exaggerating a “nooooo way” if someone asks me something obvious, like “should I put my clothes in the dryer after I wash it?” The other rhetorical device I use, hyperbole, is defined as a “rhetoric that uses exaggeration or overstatement to distort the facts”. I am always overdramatizing things; for example, I always say “I am going to die at work today” if I am not looking forward to going. Another thing I say is “she’s/he’s killing me” if someone is annoying me or being uncooperative.

Week of October 1 - October 7: #1

In Chapter 1 of Boss' text, a good critical thinker is someone who has characteristics of effective communication, creative problem solving, and attention, mindfulness, and curiosity (just to name a few). Sally Ride is a example of effective communication because she was able to speak and write to relate to her audience. People were able to understand what she said because she could efficiently communicate her thoughts to others. Because Ride loved to solve problems, this helped her creative problem solving skills. In the article, Outside the Box, it states that she was able to "clearly articulate and develop strategies to meet her life goals". I have no doubt that she would be able to think of different ways to solve one problem. Ride set her heart on the goals that she wanted and because of her attention to opportunities, mindfulness to what was happening around her, and curiosity for something she loved, she was able to become the first female American astronaut!

Week of September 24 - September 30: #3

One concept that I found interesting from this week's reading in Boss' "Think" was the role of emotion in critical thinking. Boss states, "an empathetic person is more flexible and open to others' perspectives and is motivated to use critical analysis, important skills in formulating a satisfactory logical argument regarding a plan of action". I believe that this is extremely true, which reminded me greatly of what my store manager has been telling us associates. We must encourage our customers to open reward and credit cards for our store because our manager wants our store to succeed. If I come across a customer and he/she seem interested in the items that our store has, I will mention the benefits of opening a card. If he/she is hesistant, I might mention a couple more benefits. However, if he/she has a bitter expression and sounds angry, I won't continue on. I understand the perspective of the customer and I won't force him/her to do anything, no matter what my manager is asking me to do. Reading others' emotions by their facial expressions can help us critically think through our decisions and make us better understanders and communicators.

Week of September 24 - September 30: #2

According to atheist Richard Dawkins, evolution and a belief in God are incompatible. I agree with the statement that Dawkins made. In the bible, God created both animals and man, separately. Evolution states that human beings are closely related to apes To believe in both evolution and what God has created is a huge contradiction.

If Thomas Aquinas (a believer that the existence of God can be proven through reason) were still alive today, I think he would disagree with Dawkins in this statement. Although he seems to believe in God, it doesn't sound like he does in his "proofs". There are many claims in his written arguments that can be used to say that evolution and a belief in God are compatible. For example, Aquinas states "... that which does not exist only begins to exist by something already existing". This could be used to prove that human beings may have come from apes because they existed before human beings existed.

Week of September 24 - September 30: #1

I believe that I am strongest in pros vs. cons reasoning. Whenever I have to make a decision about something, I always write down good things (pros) and bad things (cons) on a list about my problem. After writing everything down or debating about in my head, I make a decision based on the things on my list. It generally makes it a little easier for me to decide because I see my thoughts on paper.

You can use this type of reasoning for anything. It could be something little, like buying a $20 shirt, to something big, like choosing a college to go to. Because I am thinking about becoming a dietitian in the future, I can use pros vs. cons reasoning to decide meal plans for specific types of people. Because I want the best for all my patients, I must give them the best plan. This is not something easy and will take time to build. In my opinion, pros vs. cons reasoning can be used in any situation and any career choice.

Week of September 10 - September 16: #3

One concept that I have decided to discuss is "the need for effective communication in organizations" that O'Hair and Wiemann write about in The Essential Guide to Group Communication. Communication is the most important thing while working in an organization, or in this case, a group. O'Hair and Wiemann state that "the only way that organizations can succeed, or even exist for that matter, is through communication".  By communicating with group members, everyone will know how and when to assign goals and tasks. You can only know through communication what group members have done and not done, what everyone needs to do, and exactly who will do it. A good example of this is our current group project. If I don't communicate the days that I am free to work on my project, we wouldn't be able to pick a date to meet. My group members wouldn't even know if I was alive! Although I am sometimes bad with communicating, I plan to work on it immediately so that my group can count on me.

Week of September 10 - September 16: #2

When the Joe Camel ads for Camel cigarettes were first introduced, Dr. Antonia Novello (Medical Problem Solver) saw a correlation with the increase of children and teens smoking. By using inductive reasoning, she put together that viewing these ads and being exposed to them are most likely why children and teens have gotten into smoking. This is labeled as inductive reasoning because Dr. Novello wasn't 100% sure that it was the ads that caused more children and teens to smoke; it is a conclusion that probably follows the premises. Even knowing that these events may not be related, Dr. Novello still decided to work to educate the children and teens in school about smoking. She also worked to ban cigarette ads that targeted youth. Although nobody knows if those ads really did make children want to smoke more, Dr. Novello chose to not take the risk of ignoring it. This changed many children's lives.

Week of September 10 - September 16: #1

Most college students paying for school are committed to getting good grades. I am a college student paying for school. Therefore, I am probably committed to getting good grades.

I have thought about this argument a lot, even before I knew it was considered an inductive argument. Because college is a choice (an expensive choice, might I add), I always assume that everyone is in college because they want to receive good grades to eventually get that dream job. To get those grades means that one needs to work hard. However, I see a lot of younger college students forgetting to do assignments, taking tests without studying, and skipping classes. Although there are people in college that just don't care, there are also many more people willing to work hard to succeed.

This is an inductive argument because it is not necessarily a true statement; there is a possibility of error. In the THINK text, Boss states that an inductive argument claims that the "conclusion probably follows from the premises". This means that the statement ("I am probably committed to getting good grades") may or may not be true. It is possible that not all college students are committed to getting good grades.

Week of September 3 - September 9: #3

I found it very useful to read about leadership and decision making in Chapter 3 of The Essential Guide to Group Communication. As we have started discussing our plans in the groups that Professor Perez has created for us, it is pretty obvious to me as to who the role of leader is in our group. I think it is great that people will take the initiative and try to bring the group together by scheduling a time for discussion, a time to meet and talk, etc. In the text, O'Hair and Wiemann talk about shared leadership. I think this is a hard thing to achieve because there is always one person who feels as if they are "in charge" and that nobody is as committed as they are. Shared leadership is the best form of leadership because everyone will be doing everything it takes to meet the same goal by encouraging and working with one another.

Week of September 3 - September 9: #2

Yes, this spiritual passage (Jesus of Nazareth, "who taught us not to return hate for hate and evil for evil") prohibits the usage of death penalty. I think Jesus is saying that if someone wrongs us, we shouldn't wrong them back.

Sister Helen Prejean states that Jesus taught us to not return hate for hate and evil for evil. Some Christians disagree with her. Therefore, some Christians disagree that Jesus taught us to not return hate for hate and evil for evil. Like we have all read, most Christians are more likely to support the death penalty. It is so sad to hear that some Christians disagree with Sister Helen Prejean's statement, which comes from the Bible. The Bible is a truth that God wrote to people (Christians) that believe in him. Christians should be able to relate to the people deserving the death penalty and understand that the death penalty is wrong. As Christians, we believe that we are sinners and we deserve death because we have wronged God. However, God forgave us. Having this great forgiveness that we do not deserve and knowing that we should forgive as He forgave us, wouldn't you want the death penalty to cease?

Week of September 3 - September 9: #1

It is obvious that when it comes to assumptions, people make a lot of them. It is not something we as humans can control; in fact, I feel as if we were built to make them. If there was a man in my class who was known to steal things and a classmate (coincidentally) had her wallet stolen, an assumption would be that the man stole it. Because of his reputation, most people would think of the person who is mostly like to do such things. We may also tell ourselves to stay away or watch our bags when we are near this person. Do we know for sure that he stole her wallet? No. It is easy to point the blame on the man who is known for stealing. It is possible that he DID do it, but it is also possible that any other person in the class did it. I believe that Sherlock Holmes is saying that it is difficult to get to the real facts after being influenced by opinions and rumors. We are so affected by rumors that we think we have an idea of someone before we even meet the person.

Week of August 27 - September 2: #3

A concept in "The Essential Guide to Group Communication" that I found helpful was titled "WHAT MAKES A GOOD GROUP?" I think this is very relevant to our upcoming assignments, seeing as we will need to work with a group to complete them. There are six characteristics that O'Hair and Wiemann discuss on page sixteen, but I wanted to focus on interdependence and conflict. Group work cannot be done without interdependence; each member of a group will affect the other members in both positive and negative ways. Everything is shared, including responsibility, mistakes, and success. This means that a group needs all of its members to be contributing or the group will fail. When members are absent or have different opinions concerning the work, conflict occurs. Although conflict is inevitable, it is better to manage it than to avoid it. Some conflict may be good; this means that all issues will be discussed and everyone will have a clear sight of what is going on.

Week of August 27 - September 2: #2

When I was in high school, one of my friends took a class that I previously passed. She had some trouble with a couple of homework questions and knew that I already answered them, so she asked me to find it and share it with her. Because I don't condone copying homework, I said no and did not let her pleading change my response. Even though I had the chance of losing her as a friend, I still stood my ground. I would rather have her learn the material for herself instead of just copying my answers. I want her to succeed in the future, and copying my answers would not help her with that. Instead of just handing her a piece of paper with answers, I offered to help her out by guiding her through any questions. Luckily, she still continued to be my friend because she understood why I would not want to just feed her answers.

Week of August 27 - September 2: #1

When President Barack Obama states that he opposes legalizing same-sex marriage but supports civil unions and equal rights for same-sex couples, there is an inconsistency in what he really believes. If Obama really supported equal rights for everyone, wouldn't he fight and do something about it? Even so, I think Obama may agree with Nava and Dawidoff's argument that prohibiting same-sex marriage is a denial of the basic rights of gays and lesbians who wish to marry.

However, we must remember that Obama was chosen as President to represent our country as a whole. This does not mean that he has the right to set all his options to action; everyone is given the chance to make their own decisions for how they feel the country should live (for example, through voting). Knowing that half the people in America oppose same-sex marriage, he must make the final decision for all. Same-sex marriage is, and has been, a big debate. When Obama says he supports same-sex marriage, he may truly mean it. But making a decision for everyone in America (that's 350 million people) is different than making a decision solely on his own opinions.

Introduction

Hello there; my name is A but you can call me Big Momma. I am currently a third year student at San Jose State University as a Nutritional Science major with a concentration in Dietetics. I hope to one day become a Registered Dietitian and work with high school students or write nutrition columns for magazines or online blogs. I love studying Nutrition because I enjoy learning about how food can affect my lifestyle. In my spare time, I like to paint my nails, read, eat good food, run during cool weather, and bead bracelets :)