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!