Further Discussion?

This semester, we have covered all 15 chapters from the Epstein book. We have covered everything from critical thinking to cause and effect. There are a couple of topics that I think we did not go over as thorough as the others. One of them is the importance of numbers which is chapter 13. In this chapter, it shows the importance of statistics and graphs and how it helps prove an argument. I always thought stats and numbers were always facts. But I never knew graphs can be manipulated to favor one side or another. For example, something like the average can be described many ways. There is the mean mode, median and range. They all describe the same thing the average but the differences are very dramatic. The second thing that we could have all elaborated on was the small book including small group construction. I do not think we have touched base on that book enough.

Interesting in chapter 14

Chapter 14 is about generalizations and stereotypes. What I found interesting in this chapter is that there are seven different ways to find out how valid a generalization is. But I am only going to describe the important ones. The first is sample size of the group your generalizing. The example given was "Two asian guys in my classget straight As so I am going to assume that all asians are smart. Since there are only 2 asians. Its a bad way to generalize since your sample size is only 2 guys. second one is if the sample studied well. If the sample has no strong evidence to back up its premise, then this generalization is considered bad. Third is the variation in population. What this means is that a person must make sure the premises are the same before a generalization can be made. The fourth is risk. A generalization is bad when specifics is important. For example, if a person eats a taco from taco bell and gets sick, it does not mean every taco made will cause a person to get sick.

Some things ive Learned This year

This has been my first online class at San Jose State and I though of it being a little interesting. I did not know what to expect out of this but surprisingly, I have learned a lot. In this course, I learned a lot about arguments and what makes a good or bad arguments. I also learned the different parts of an argument including the premise and the conclusions. The premise and the conclusion have to work together in order to create a strong argument, not one or the other. I also have learned the strategies that advertisements and commercials use in order for their audience to respond to their ads. they use different spites such as: fear, comedy, and pity to have the audience think what the commercial wants them to think. Persuasion has also been a big topic that we have talked about in this class. I also learned from this class that I would not take another online class again because I like to hear lectures instead of reading the book and doing exercises. I think i learn better in the classroom than at home on a computer.

Something about chapter 15

In chapter 15, it is mostly about cause and effect. What this chapter does is break down what cause and effect is and provide examples. In the simplest form, cause and effect is basicly when an action creates another action to happen. One example given from the book is "Spot caused me to wake up". This is a very weak cause and effect sentence because it does not state what did spot do to cause him to wake up. To fix this sentence so that it makes sense is "Spots barking cause me to wake up." This gives the action that spot did to cause him to wake up. In cause and effect sentences, the first action always should have a relationship with the second action. In the chapter, there are also sections that teach you specifics about cause and effect sentences such as generalizations and such. But this is the basics and i found this to be the most helpful.

Mission Critical

When I first opened up the mission critical webpage, I saw a lot of information that was useful. I like how the webpage is broken down for easier access. It is broken down into three catagories. The basic arguments, analysis of arguments, and falacies and non rational persuasion. In the basic category, I found the Premise conclusion and support section to be very helpful. In this article it breaks it down for you on what a premise needs and what makes a good premise and conclusion. Under analysis of arguments, there was a very interesting part about the differences and the uses of inductive and deductive reasoning. For the last category, the diffrences of appeals is what really help me determine the uses and when it is proper to use them. the different appeals include : fear, pitty, spite, loyalty, prejudice, and vanity. All these have their own specific place to be used and at different times.

Cause and Effect

The cause and effect was quite a read but it was definitely helpful in the long run. Cause and effect is about how effect is when something happens. As an example given in the exercise, it states that a bicyclist was riding down the bike lane but all of a sudden the bicyclist had to swerve out of the way because of a truck parked in the bike lane. In conclusion, the truck caused the biker to swerve out onto the road. So the cause is that the truck has parked in the bike lane. And the Effect was that the biker had to swerve into traffic. I found the exercises to be very helpful also. Its is because it covers everything talked about and different varieties of it. The example that they worked with in the exercise was the company picnic and the potato salad. One of the questions was "5 company workers got sick. What would be a plausible clause for them to all get sick? And the answer was the potato salad because they all ate the same thing causing their sickness. But the counter argument was that it takes 3 days for incubation period to get sick so it could not be the potato salad.

Something New About This Chapter

One part of chapter 10 that I found to interesting is the "appeal to spite". This is the appeal that invokes ones principles or morals. One example would be

John: Hey Jake do you want to go eat some porkchops? They are really good.
Jake: I cant, I am Muslim. If i eat pork, it counts as a sin.

This would be considered an appeal of spite. John is trying to convince Jake to eat pork, which is a major violation of Jake's religion. Jakes argument for not eating pork is because of his religion. It is believed Muslim believers do not eat pork because of its sanitation issues. Appeal of spite is usually used in a religious or spiritual campaign. Or it can also be based of old sayings of wisdom. Here is another example.

Bob: What time did you wake up Tom?
Tom: Oh! I woke up at 5:30am so that I can get the best prices at the department stores.

Toms actions were based off the old proverb. "The early bird gets to worm". Because he woke up early, he got the best deals at the department stores.

Number 3, Ad with appeal to fear

Number three from the exercise page on 195 wanted me to find an advertisement that used an appeal to fear. So I have chosen this billboard called "buzzed driving is drunk driving." In this picture, it depicts a car that has hit a telephone pole. You can clearly tell that this car is very banged up. But ironically, the car from the person that was supposedly only buzzed was banged up in the same way. The main idea that this billboard gives is do not drink or drive period. It does not matter how much you have drank. This billboard depicts appeal to fear because it gives the view a sense of urgency to understand the importance of not to drink and drive. The mental image of the car being smashed up no matter whether your drunk or just buzzed. I know this ad works from a personal standpoint because since I have seen this ad, I personally have not ever attempted to drink and drive.

Too Much Emotion

In chapter 10, Epstein talks about appeals to emotion and how that relates to our reasoning. Epstein describes the appeal to emotion as the premise that inspires the person emotionally to take action or believe a certain way. One example of an appeal to emotion would be the "Feed the Children" infomercials. The show video footage of starving and injured child to persuade the viewers to take action and donate money. The emotion that this infomercial gives off is sympathetic and depressing. Another kind of appeal that is used pretty often is the "appeal of fear." This gives the sense of urgency to take action fast to be free from danger. Politicians use this kind of appeal a lot to convince voters to vote for them. For example, in President Obama's campaign, he called John McCain a "Flip flopper" stating he cant make up his mind. His premise is that a person that cannot make up his mind should not be president because he cannot back up his decisions. This creates a sense that Obama is a better candidate for president than McCain. And from the results, it worked.

Too vague for assigned reading?

Something i found to be interesting in the chapter but was not assigned was the vague generalities. This is a major issue because it is hard for somebody to draw the line between two commonly used words. For example, words like "almost all" and "most almost have the same meaning when used. It is hard to decipher "Almost all the kids eat lunch at school." or "Most of the kids eat lunch at school." By using these words usually leads to a very weak premise if it is argued backwards. But if it is used in a direct way, the premise is usually pretty strong. Using "almost all" in a reasoning chain also leads to a weak premise. There is a difference between using "almost all" and "all". All clearly states every single one while almost all can me all but one or more. This is what I found interesting in the reading in the chapter.

Organization Research

Researching about a organization has really helped me understand what that specific organization does in depth. By finding out what their fallacies, claims, and objectives truly gave me the inside view of the organization. For my group, we decided to work on DARE which is an anti drug abuse organization that educates children in elementary to middle school about drug abuse. By doing this research project, it taught me the specifics of what DARE does. Also it gave me the inside information such as celebrities used to promote their organization. By working in a group gave me the point of view of multiple people so that I obtain different opinions to compare. Working with multiple people really helps me understand the subject better especially with research. Know that people depend on me really motivates me to work my best so that I do not disappoint my group. Cause I know two or more heads working on one thing is always better than one.

Chapter 8 Concepts

One concepts in chapter 8 i found useful is the definition of the general words used in general claims. For example, "all" means every single one of something, no exceptions, while "most" means the vast majority of something. This can mean everything from 51 to 100%. These key words are the backbone of the generalized claim. Word choice is very important when creating a generalized claim. Most stereotypes come from a generalized claim but with the wrong choosing. For example, "All Asians do not know how to drive." This is a bad claim because that person has not seen every single Asian drive. Therefore this is a weak claim. To make this argument more believable, one can substitute the word "all" for "some". Making it "Some Asians do not know how to drive." This would make this claim a little more believable. Word choice is important while making a generalized claim.

Repairing Arguments.

When people are speaking on a social basis, they do not pay attention to the precise detail of creating a strong or even valid argument. Through normal conversation its hard to think through all the premises and valid conclusions and so on. As an example, after a party scenario, somebody would say "hey, Tom was drinking last night, now he has a headache, so that means he has a hangover. This claim would work but is would be a very weak argument. what if he hit his head while drunk and woke up with a headache? there are many other scenarios that could have that would have cause Tom's hangover. Through meaning of repairing arguments, more premises would have to be added to fix this problem. such as "Tom is a lightweight and doesn't drink before." Or "Tom has a history of hangovers when he drinks" In conclusion, this would fix the claim and make it valid

Advertisement Affectiveness

Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister Co. but have similar advertising methods targeting teens and young adults using physically attractive models such as the add above to sell its designer clothing. This add is trying to give the consumer the vibe that only physically attractive people buy clothes from Abercrombie and Fitch. Everyone would like to think that they are attractive therefore would love to buy clothes and other accessories from there. These companies have become the mainstream of the fashion industry and are on the continuing on the rise. Although its primary source of persuasion is physicial attraction, sex appeal is still a major part of their advertising strategy. The claims these companies make cannot really be backed up because by wearing their clothes does not guarantee that you will become physicially attractive. It is based on the person not the clothing. But overall these advertisements seem to work because they are still strong and growing in business.

How to be Effective in a Meeting

I read this in chapter 4 In the Essential guide to group communication handbook. This teaches you how to be an effective candidate in either side of the boardroom. Whether your the Superior or the subordinate, both members can get their messages across. As a superior of the organization or company, one must be do the following...

Schedule a meeting time frame that gives adequate time for all issues to be discussed.
Minimize distractions such as cellphones or visitors, As a superior, one must concentrate on the needs of its subordinates.
Try to diminish the amount of demands and more the number of questions asked to receive the information needed.
Also active listening is a must. This shows your subordinates that you truly care about their questions and concerns.

This article also talks about if your on the other side of the table in the boardroom. This is what a subordinate to do to ensure a clean meeting and all ones concerns are heard.

Ask superiors for advice and pointers to increase productivity in a company. This shows your superiors that you care and gives them a good mental impression.
Active listening is always a good thing when talking to anybody, especially your boss.
I found this very useful and has taught me how to address my superiors in the conference room. It really intrigued me how both sides of the boardroom have a role to play. I have always thought that the responsibility of running a clean meeting has always been the superiors. This article really taught me alot.

Violating the Principle of Rational Discussion

On page 202, Epstein talks about how and why people sometimes violate rational discussion and fallacies. In this passage, Epstein describes some of the reasons why people would violate the rational discussion. One of the examples Epstein uses is the violations in advertising. He uses the facts of Kaplan scores of the LSAT to manipulate public appearance of competitors which in this case, is the Princeton Review. In the advertisement Kaplan is trying to convice people to enroll in their test preparation classes. Also in this advertisement, Kaplan uses slanters, key words that are used to mislead the public. In this case, words such as "undisputed" is implemented as one.
An example I have previously heard of a company violating others in Rational discussion is the feud between Mac, and PC. In Macintosh commercials, they would attack the flaws of the PC such as the vulnerability to virus and adware. This creates a major conflict between PC.

Whats Something Interresting?

Something that interesting that caught my attention was in chapter 3 of the Group Communication book. It talks about the steps to decision making. According to the book, there are eight steps to decision making. Identifying the problem, conducting research, establishing guidelines and criteria, generating alternatives, evaluating alternatives, selecting the best alternative, implementing the solution, evaluating the results. Decision making is a crucial part of everyday life. The first step is to identify the problem. What is the dilemma that one is facing. Then one must conduct research to try to find out what is the cause of this problem. Third, establishing guidelines and regulations to make sure the solution does not cause more problems instead of finding a solution. Fourth, is to create different probable solutions to fix the problem. Fifth is to put each alternative to action and see what works best. Afterwords once you have tried out all the possible alternatives, you must decide which is the best to implement. Then at the end of it all, see if your solution achieved the results one wants.

I found this article was very useful because it teaches me how to make everyday decisions with precision knowing i made the right choice.

Argument Structure

Exercise 3 1).Las Vegas has too many people.2) There is not enough Water in the desert to support more than a million people. 3) And the infrastructure of the city cant handle more than a million. 4) The streets are overcrowded, and the traffic is always congested; the schools are overcrowded, and the new ones cant build fast enough.5) We should stop migration to the city by tough zoning laws in the city and county.

Argument? Yes this is an argument.

Conclusion: I believe the conclusion is number 5 because it states the solution to the problem of overpopulation in Las Vegas. The other sentences only state the problem which is overpopulation.

Additional premises needed? To enforce the zoning laws, additional money must be put into budget.Also how would this law affect tourism to Las Vegas? This argument did not go over the economic or social point of view.

Identify any subargument? There is only the main argument which is number 5. The others merely state the problems that are existent in Las Vegas.

Good Argument? Yes this is an argument but it does not completely state how establishing zoning laws and migration laws would discourage people to come to Las Vegas.

I felt this exercise really helped me understand how arguments worked by breakin them down statement by statement. It also teaches you how to identify the conclusions and the premises which ease.

Something New?

Going through the communication book, I saw something that caught my eye. It wrote about "How to Become an Effective Leader? After reading this passage I have learned a few things. The first thing is to have high creditability among the group. This will make them sore likely to follow their instructions given. The group has to know that the leader can be depended upon to put the whole project together. Previous leadership experience increases ones creditability.

Another way to become a more effective leader is to encourage participation from every member of your group. To have everyone participating, this creates a more of a team effort feel and not have anyone left out. As a leader, one must encourage each member to try their best. Leaders may have different methods as to achieve this such as: awards, compliments, and good gestures.

Good Argument Good?

In chapter 3, Epstein declares that there are 3 tests to make sure the argument is good.

1) The beginning statement premises is plausible or makes sense.

2) The beginning statement premises is more plausible than the conclusion.

3) The argument is strong or valid.

Using these three guidelines I am going to create an example of a good argument.

"My biological father is half Japanese and half Chinese. My mom is full Chinese.
This makes me a quarter Japanese."

This is a good argument because it passes all three of Epstein's tests.
Believing that the person who stated this argument is not lying, the premises completely makes sense.
Second, the premises are more believable than the conclusion. Believing that the person did not lie about the racial background of his parents, this make it more believable than the conclusion statement about himself saying he is a quarter Japanese.
Third, this argument is strong because it makes sense through logic and biology. His father consist of half of himself and his mom consists of the other half. If his mother is full Chinese, that would make him at least half Chinese. Then putting his biological father into consideration which he is half Japanese and half Chinese, that would make this person 75% Chinese and 25% Japanese making him a quarter Japanese.

Valid Arguments vs. Strong Arguments

There is a big difference between a strong argument and a valid argument. Strong argument is an statement that is very believable but is not proven with undeniable facts. For example, "Smoking cigarettes causes an increased risk of lung cancer." This argument has been proven to be correct through various research studies and tests. It is almost impossible to prove otherwise. This is a valid example of a valid argument.

A strong argument is a statement that is hard to prove wrong, but it can be done. An example of this would be : "The New York Yankees won the World Series because of all the good player bought out by the Yankees franchise" This would be considered strong evidence because the New York Yankees did win the 2009 World Series, but it can not be proven the World Series were solely won by the players. Its counterargument would be that the championship was won by the coaches and staff, not the players.

Guide to Grouping Groups.

In society, it is very important to learn how to create a productive and efficient group. This skill can help a person be hired in the business world. In the book, it talks about how to create a effective and efficient group of people so that hard tasks can be completed. It emphasizes on how every group member has their own responsibility to complete their own assignments. this gives the group more of a sense of trust knowing everyone in the group is reliable. The end result is a successful group accomplishing big projects or assignments. Also members in every group must take on roles and positions to understand projects and assignments given.

this reminded me of the show "The Apprentice" where people get fired because of ineffectiveness of a member in the group. It is necessary to weed out the leeches in groups and perfect the flaws in order to create the best group of people to accomplish goals swiftly and efficiently.

Vague and Ambiguous Sentences

A vague sentence is described as a sentence that can be interpreted in only a couple ways. For example: "I saw Joe spitting food out." This is a vague sentence because it can be described in two ways. One way is that once "I" saw Joe, I spat my food out. The second way is "I" personally saw Joe spit his food out. Vague sentences lack detail so that it only expresses one idea. To fix this sentence, it would be "I saw Joe spitting his food out." Or "I was spitting food out when i saw Joe."

An ambiguous sentence is a that can be interpreted more than 2 ways. Most ambiguous sentences are used in inspirational quotes. An example would be the sentence "I am me." There are many ways of interpreting this sentence. This varies from personal point of view. In my point of view, this means only he or she can determine the destiny of their own lives.

Subjective and Objective Claims

Subjective claims are based more on matter of opinion than facts. Although ones claims maybe false, they might still attempt to persuade others to have the same point of view. For an example, Pepsi or Coke. Both these products are fairly similar and taste pretty distinctive. But many claim coke is better while others prefer Pepsi.Subjective claims usually do not have an answer, it is usually a matter of personal point of view or prefrence.Personally, I am a Coke fan, but that is only my opinion.

Objective claims are more based off facts and not off the matter of opinion. These claims can only be known as true or false. An example of this would be: Bill Gates is the CEO of Microsoft. This is proven true through facts and research. Objective claims can only be either right or wrong containing no personal influence. There is no objection form others because of the evidence proven.

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