Chapter 10 Question # 3

An advertising strategy that I found to be incredibly interesting was product placement. According to the text, product placement is a strategy in which a real commercial product is used in fictional media, and the presence of the product is the result of an economic exchange between the company and the business that produces the product” (321). Personally, I feel like this is an effective way for companies to advertise something because they don’t even need to use a commercial. Nike is one of the biggest sport apparel company’s around. If someone is watching a running match and the runner is wearing a pair of Nikes and the logo of Nike is clearly shown through the television screen. Then the views watching the race may want to purchase the item, especially if the runner won. This is because they may thing that the person won the race because of the Nike shoes that they wore, so they would purchase the same thing which profits the company because of their strategy. 

Chapter 10 Question # 2

Both Wootan and Liodice have strong standpoints and make really good arguments. In Wootan’s argument, he talks about why the legislation is able to regulate food advertising to children with the support of CSPI. His intentions are good since their goal is to protect our nations children and to keep the healthy, I kind of felt like he was going a little too far. Personally, I feel like it’s the parents duty and responsibility of what their child is consuming. His arguments faced towards what advertisement agencies need to fix or not to provide any facts but to talk about how child obesity exists. Liodice, takes an opposite standpoint of this situation. His argument is based of from many opinion and responses to Wootan’s article. Additionally, he also talks about protecting the first amendments and how he feels like it is wrong that the guidelines are so restricting. When evaluating both arguments of Wootan and Liodice, I would most likely agree with Liodices position because it is more valid and effective.

            

Chapter 10 Question # 1

This past week I feel like I have been a victim to all of the marketing strategies that were mentioned in the text. The text says that marketers come up with strategies to get customers to stay longer than they usually do to buy something they wouldn’t buy if they had been inside and outside the store quickly. According to the textbook, drug stores purposely make customers wait extra time while picking up prescriptions, just so they can make extra purchases. A few days ago I was picking up some antibiotics with my mom for her eye at the local Walgreens. While I was there I bought some hair ties, a notebook, and some pens. This was because I had some time to spare and was walking though the aisles simply browsing and had no intention of buying anything. But when I do that, I tend to buy something saying in my head, “oh I might as well buy it now because I’m going to need it soon anyways…” even though I really don’t need it. Every day I encounter many different marketing strategies and I always give in and buy something, which pretty much shows how effective the strategies really are. The most effective strategy is product placement especially when trying to promote the product. The least effective strategies are the marketing strategies I see in magazines, because if you see something in person it is more desirable and realistic. 

Chapter 4 Question # 3

Self-serving Biases or errors that we make is one of the things I found really helpful to recognize. These biases or errors obstruct our thinking. Some of these, which are important, include; the tendency to exaggerate out strengths, to minimize our weaknesses, to misjudging by overestimating ourselves when comparing us to others, and the misperception that we are in control. Sometimes we believe that we are always in control even though we really aren’t in certain situations. This misperception of control is the same thing when you believe in some superstitious behavior. For example, if sit on your lucky couch, the 49ers will win the game. If people carry the belief that we are in control too far sometime it can mess with out thinking which leads to many bad decisions in our life. Additionally, having the belief that we are in control of situations where we have very little or absolutely no control over can result in posttraumatic stress syndrome or irrational guilt. 

Chapter 4 Question # 2

Edward Codon believes that UFO’s do not exists He concludes that there has been no scientific knowledge gained from the twenty-one year study of UFOS. He also supports his argument by stating that there is proof of the “thing” in the sky being something else but not the UFO, and that the reason we don’t study more about the UFO is because scientists have better progression to make in science rather than of something that doesn’t exist. The second scientist, J. Allen Hynek, believes that there is a possibility that UFO’s exist. The evidence used is the reported sightings of the UFO by people.  Additionally, he believes that to make some progress, we need more data to make the final call. The last scientist Royston Paynter is unsure whether UFO’s are real or unreal. He argues that we should have physical evidence, which supports the belief that UFO’s are real and that aliens are smart enough to not leave evidence, if they were in fact real. I believe that Paynter has the best argument because he actually looks at it from both sides and proves that there is no direct legitimate evidence to prove either side of argument. 

Chapter 4 Question # 1

I believe that wisdom is something you can acquire with experience and knowledge is what you learn to gain the wisdom. According to Boss in the textbook THINK, knowledge is information or experience that we believe to be true and for which we have justification or evidence. Rationalists believe this comes through reason, and empiricists believe the truth is discovered through our physical senses. (97) Wisdom, is “knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight”. In college, you gain knowledge that you will use in your life. Wisdom like stated before, comes with experiences, which deepens with the increase of age. The knowledge that we gain and acquire as we grow up helps us become more wiser and smarter. This is because sometimes when we experience something earlier in life, we may not have the ability to solve the situation but in the future when something similar occurs, we are able to connect the experiences that we have and know the conclusion that will change our lives. 

Chapter 3 Question # 3

From this whole chapter I found the rhetorical devices most interesting. The four common types of rhetorical devices that are used to manipulate and persuade are Euphemism, Dysphemisms, Sarcasm, and Hyperbole. The first rhetorical device is Euphemism where you use a replacement term that has a negative association by a positive or a neutral term. In other words euphemism is a description in which something sounds less unpleasant or forceful, basically an understatement. The second rhetorical device is dysphemism where a word or a phrase is chosen to produce a negative effect. The third rhetorical device is sarcasm where we use ridicule, insults, taunting and/or a caustic irony. The last rhetorical device is hyperbole, which uses exaggeration. These literary devices are used for usually explaining a particular situation. They use psychological persuasion rather than reason to persuade others to accept a particular position. Most people use at least one of these four in their daily lives every single day because it comes to us naturally. 

Chapter 3 Question # 2

Rhetorical Devices use “Psychological persuasion, rather than reason, to persuade others to accept a particular position” The most common rhetorical devices are: euphemism, dysphemism, hyperbole, and sarcasm. In the past week I have used both hyperbole and euphemism. A hyperbole is an exaggeration or a possible overstatement. This week I was meeting my friend for lunch and she came about an two hours late. I was starving so I texted her, “Hurry up. I’m starving to death. I’m going to eat everything on the menu even the restaurant itself for reals if you don’t hurry up.” This is an exaggeration because I would not actually die from not eating, I wasn’t going to eat everything on the menu, and I was definitely not going to eat the restaurant itself! A euphemism is the use of a positive or a neutral term to cover up a negative term. Last week I was talking to my friend who had gotten fired from her job however instead of saying, “I got fired” she kept saying to people that her employers “let me go.” She was using a positive term to cover up a negative term. 

Chapter 3 Question # 1

After reading about Sally Ride, I noticed a few qualities that she demonstrated from the Boss Text in Chapter One. A skilled critical thinker have many characteristics which include good analytical skills, possessing effective communication skills, being well informed and possessing good research skills, being flexible and able to tolerate ambiguity and uncertainty and being able to adopt a position of open-minded skepticism. Some other characteristics include being a problem solver, being mindful and attentive, and also having the ability to engage in collaborative learning. Likewise, Sally Ride was described as being a focused, composed, and having being able to quickly figure things out. This shows that she is creative with problem solving. Additionally, she used strategies such as making a plan to reach her goals. Rides effectiveness of her communication skills were brilliant because she was a good writer and a speaker. Overall she demonstrated many characteristics of a skilled critical thinker.