Regulation Of Children's Food Advertising

 When reading over Wootan’s and Liodice’s argument regarding government regulation, you can see that they both make great arguments. Liodice talks about how the United States is a free country allowing everyone to have the right to express their thoughts and feelings.  This allows us to be able to express anything they want.  Therefore he believes their should not be a constraint on what people advertise because then that would go against their freedom of speech.  In Wootan’s argument, she insists that there should be a regulation in advertisements since most of the advertisements are targeted toward children. Instead, she believes that advertisement should have more nutritious food or even changing the packaging to smaller portions.  Mainly, her argument is about obesity among children and how she believes we can fight against it.  Though both of these arguments are valid, Wootan’s argument was the best because she was able to effectively give her argument by giving facts to support it but also give alternatives to solve the problem.

Common Fallacies in Advertisements

Many ads rely on fallacies and psychological persuasions rather than credible information and rational arguments. These include:

-Scare tactics that is used to create anxiety or play on our fears, insecurities, or sense of shame.

-Fallacy of questionable cause by creating false expectation that something wonderful, such as becoming more beautiful, thinner, more popular, or happier, will result if we use the product.

-Fallacy of popular appeal that creates the impression that “everyone” is using this product and therefore you should use it too.

-Snob appeal is type of popular appeal by setting up an association between a product and people who are sexy, athletic, popular, or living a desirable lifestyle.

-Fallacy of appeal to inappropriate authority occurs when advertisers use a celebrity such as an athlete or movie star, to promote a product that is outside the celebrity’s field of experience.

-Fallacy of hasty generalization is used in advertising that reinforces stereotypes.

-Amphiboly is used with grammar which leaves us uncertain as to how to interpret it. For example, when brochures use the word free

Marketing Strategies

Being a college student and living on your own has taught me a lot of things. One of the most important things that I have learned is to shop on a budget.  Do not get me wrong, it is so hard to resist going on a shopping spree but I have learned to overcome that.  But, with learning to shop on a budget, I have found out that target is really beneficial and cheap. The reason why target is so attracting to me is because they execute their marketing strategies well.  I like the fact that when I go shopping there, they always have cheap options for me.  For example, they will have sales on brand name products or you can get the cheaper target brand which to me tastes just the same.  Being able to save a couple of dollars on groceries sometimes gives me extra money to buy a cute shirt or something.  Target does a really good job at product placements.  In the store, they place the juniors section and accessories closest to the door so right when I walk in that is what I first see.  It makes it really hard for me to not look at what it has to offer and have time to want to buy something else. The least effective strategy that they have would have to be the fact that they since they have everything they don’t have a lot of options. 

UFOs

When reading over the Perspectives on Evaluating Evidence for the Existence of UFOs, Condon, Hynek, and Paynter all bring different point of views on the topic of UFOs.  Condon argues that scientist need to put more of their time into studies that will help them to advance science unless there are good ideas regarding UFOs and they should continue to keep pursuing.  He is saying that if people have good ideas for specific studies in the UFO field then it should be supported.  But, UFO reports should not be available for the public.  On the other hand, Hynek believes that the UFO phenomena is disregarded by authorities and have not been studied in a systematic or sufficient manner.  He believes that there needs to be more gathering of data.  Data with the comparison among large groups who have sighted UFO objects like contacting other countries to figure out who has seen it other than America.  He feels that there could be alien space crafts but there has to be more research.  Paynter is most skeptical about the UFOs and aliens because there needs to be physical evidence.  That is why I believe that he provides the best argument.  He shows  that there needs to me more data gathered from other countries.  

Probability Errors

When reading chapter 4, the part of the chapter that talked about probability errors really stood out to me.  It stood out to me because I feel like probability is one of the many things that will influence our lives.  Especially when it comes to making a decision like an important one. In the Boss text, it said that probability error is the misunderstanding of the probability or chances of an event by a huge margin.  It is even said that humans are notoriously poor at determining probability.  We tend to believe that coincidences must have paranormal causes when actually they are consistent with probability. One of the most insidious forms of probability error is gambler’s error.  Gambler’s error is the belief that a previous event affects the probability in a random event. There is even research that suggests that gambling addiction is based on a cognitive error regarding probability. 

Knowledge and Wisdom

I think that knowledge and wisdom are two things that intertwine and there is a thin line that differentiates them.  When thinking about wisdom and knowledge, it is like you cannot have one with out the other.  It is as if the two are a duo, package, or two for one special. I feel that with knowledge comes wisdom because while your learning new things you are also gaining wisdom over time.  It is said that as you get older you will gain more wisdom but I think that you will also gain knowledge.  I think that through time, you will gain knowledge and wisdom.  So when you are in college, I feel like you are acquiring both knowledge and wisdom.  You attend college to gain knowledge from books and learn from our history but throughout your years in college you are becoming wiser.  You are gaining wisdom through the experiences you face.  

            So when thinking about the information age, I would have to say that it has helped us to become more knowledgeable.  The information age helps us to be able to transfer information freely and to have instant access to information that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously.  When really thinking about wisdom and becoming wiser, you would be able to see that one does not become wiser without gaining knowledge and being knowledgeable.

Communication Style, Sex, and Race

When reading chapter 3 in the Boss text, the section that was talking about communication style, sex, and race really stood out to me.  It talked about how women tend to use communication to create and sustain relationships whereas men use it primarily to get things done and solve problems.  It even said that most men think that as long as a relationship is working well and there are no problems then there is no need to talk about it. Most scientists believe that genetics plays a role in these differences in communication style.  Recent studies have even said that they have found that men and women use different parts of their brain for language. Some believe that sex differences are primarily or a result of the way in which we are socialized. Boys are taught to assert themselves, whereas girls are taught to listen and be responsive. I never really had looked at how differently both men and women communicate.