Wednesday, May 12, 2010
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.
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I like how you begin with what chapter 14 is about and tell us that there are seven important ways to see if how valid a generalization is. I also like how you go into detail about only the important ones. You break down the first point about the sample size of the group you are generalizing in good way because you explain that it is bad to generalize when there are only two people for the sample. The second point was explained clearly. The third point, I think, was better explained the second. The fourth point was clearly explained and the example was good. The points you picked were interesting.
ReplyDeleteI like how you chose sample size and risk as some of the key factors in distinguishing a generalization. I think sample size is extremely important because often times, people just randomly come to conclusions and assume things that are not even close to being accurate just because they know 1 or 2 people like that. Risk is also a key factor that helps you when you need to differentiate whether a statement is a generalization or not. I really like the example you came up with. Just because someone gets sick from eating a taco, it does not mean that he will get sick every time he eats one. Great job on this post! and keep up the great work! =)
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