Blink question #2

 

1. Three fatal mistakes: Gladwell explains that our attitude and thoughts towards other is always being changed. The example of this is the police incident that Gladwell writes about. The perception of the police towards the suspect was to make him fit a description. “

 

2. The theory of mind reading: this section relates to our study on perception because it describes how every facial movement that a person makes, is influenced by their emotions and thought. “It was a gold mine of information.”

 

3. The naked face: my making certain faces and moving certain facial muscles the body will actually respond by doing bodily functions that are associated with that emotion. “…the expression alone is sufficient to create marks changed in the autonomic nervous system”

 

4. A man, a woman, and a lightswitch: the gestures that we make are of equal importance with perception because it gives us clues and direction on where to look and what to look for. “Our eyes would follow the direction that nick is pointing.”

 

5. Arguing with a dog: this section relates perception to reflexes. When an occasion occurs which calls for spilt second reactions, the mind only focuses on what the eyes choose to. The object then becomes the only focus. “My vision changed as soon as I started to shoot. It went from seeing the whole picture, to just seeing the suspect’s head.”

 

6. Running out of white space: the example of the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan shows how slow our reactions are to events that happen close to the source. The white space really does determine the reaction time that it takes to perceive an event. The Reagan incident is a great example because the white space was less than 5 feet. “Reaction time didn’t make a difference because he was too close.

 

7. something in my mind just told me I didn’t have to shoot yet: the perception of this section is that some people can be trained to slow their reactions. This means that they can slow their perception time, to judge things more thoroughly.

perception test

my impressions of the lecture test were that how oblivious the human brain really is. it amazed me that the mind is an auto correcter and, if needed, appears to add and eliminate words when needed. also, it still amazes me that when the human brain focuses on one thing, it can block out all other images and sounds. i think that people should know how much our brains filter the world around us. people shoud understand exactly why we do not remember, hear, or see the majority of things that are going on around us.

the warren harding error

Describe how Warren Harding rose through the Republican Party to become President in 1920. Warren Harding rose through by being pushed by others. One of the reasons that he rose was because people thought that he looked like he could fit in politics. “Once, at a banquet, a supporter cried out, ‘why, the son of a bitch looks like a senator,’” people believed that he looked like a politician even though he was not that intelligent. He was noticed at a republican convention because the people wanted someone that they could all agree upon. So they elected him as their candidate.

Why does the author believe that people were in error in promoting Harding to higher office? The author thinks that people were in error in electing Harding to a higher office because they had associated his looks with certain characteristics. People thought that since Harding was a tall, distinguished man, they assumed that he was a brave, leader because of his qualities.

What was the point of the “Implicit Association Test (IAT)?” the point of the IAT is to prove that people associate certain word with certain characteristics. Since people are raised to associate words with characteristics.

What are the advantages to completing the IAT on computer? Why does Gladwell believe the IAT has become “so popular in recent years?” An advantage of taking the IAT on a computer is that it measures results down to one millisecond, which aids in scoring. It has become popular in recent years is because its measuring is not subtle. It is used to see if the test taker can come to a conclusion between the differences in word association.

Why, according to Gladwell, did he become mortified upon completion of the first part of the IAT test on race? What occurred on the second part of the IAT test? Gladwell was mortified upon completion of the first part if the IAT because he had a difficult time pairing good words with the category of African Americans. This mortified him so because this meant that he had an association of being pro white. Even though he claimed to have equal views of all races.

Did it make any difference how many times Gladwell took the test? What does the author believe is the reason for our answers on the IAT (i.e. what does the IAT measure)? It did not make a difference how many times Gladwell took the test; he still had the same difficulty each time. Gladwell believes that the answers on the IAT are influenced by out subconscious attitude.

If Gladwell is correct, that your unconscious acts as a computer that “crunches all the data” from our lives and “it forms an opinion”; would you consider this to your true self? Please explain your answer. I would not consider this to be your true self. I think that it would your true self if you were to accept the data that is presented to you. Also, if the data that you received from your life were false and you knew this, then your subconscious would not record this.

Does Gladwell feel that it matters if one has a “strongly pro-white pattern of associations? Gladwell feels that doesn’t matter is one person has a pro white pattern of associations because it is a subconscious opinion that seems to manifest into everything that a person perceives.

How does the Warren Harding error impact the business world? The warren Harding error affects the business world because the majority of business CEOs are tall white men. The stereotype of these men are that they are natural leaders because they look like the role of a leader.

How does Bob Golomb’s strategy defeat the Warren Harding error? Bob Golomb’s strategy is to treat every customer that walks into his car dealership as having the same chance of buying a car. His strategy relies on not judging the likelihood of a customer to buy a car based on his outward appearance.

What were the results of the Ayres study? What does Gladwell believe to be the explanation for these results? Ayres’ study showed that women and minorities were more stereotyped to be easier to “lay-down” to a bargain instead of bargaining for it. This type of thinking has been imbedded in our unconscious and therefore influences the initial reaction to another person.

How does Gladwell believe you can change your score on the race IAT? How, according to Gladwell, can we apply this rule to our everyday lives? Do you agree? Gladwell suggests that the score on the race IAT can be changed by associating blacks with positive attributes and by reading about positive black figures like Martin Luther King jr. or Collin Powell. We can apply this rule to our everyday lives by exposing ourselves more to minorities and some positive attributes to them. I agree with this rule because the reason that some people develop these unconscious opinions is because they lack exposure to what they are assuming about.

the mouse and cheese story

Based on our conversation in class, what is the point of the story: "The Mouse That Ate The Cheese?"

the story "the mouse that ate the cheese" is a clear example of the flaws that occur within the process of knowledge. in the story, Bill had justified his knowledge through empiricism  (because saw the mouse) which makes his knowledge more believable. however no one believes him because it was not an impersonal experience (only he saw it). another example of conflict with knowledge was that the owner of the flat where the mouse lived uses confirmation bias against bill. "thats absurd. I loathe mice so I spent a lot of money making sure that this flat is mouseproof. to be doubly sure I have the best firm of pest exterminators come in and check it over regularly." the owner, george, uses his own information to attempt to prove Bill's knowledge as false. however, George did not see the mouse and does not know for sure that there really are no mice, but instead is accepting the word of the extermination firm

Man is the measure questions-chapter 2

How does Bertrand Russell differentiate between “knowledge by acquaintance” and “knowledge by description”? (check out the footnote at bottom of p. 19)
Bertrand Russell describes “knowledge by acquaintance” as raw feeling, that every attitude we have towards something is based off of the experiences we have had with them. It is only a felling that one person knows. Knowledge is description is known but it is not something that is felt, but something that is described in a way that it does not generate raw feelings.

How does Abel distinguish between “knowing how” and “knowing that”?
Abel distinguishes that knowing that is propositional and cannot be explained how one person knows it. Knowing how is evident where you can see someone performing the task. Abel explains that “one may know how to swim, for example, or how to tie a bowtie, without being able to describe exactly how one does these things” (pg. 19) this quote enforces that it is harder to explain how some knows to do something, than actually show that that person knows how to do that task.


What does he mean when he asks: “can knowing how theoretically always be reduced to knowing that? What is Abel’s answer? What do you think?
The meaning that Abel is trying to give about Knowing How being theoretically reduced to Knowing that is that all things that you know how can be explained how one does these things. Abel’s answer for this is that “knowing how to do these things perhaps cannot be fully specified in propositional Knowing that.” I think that Knowing how cannot be reduced to knowing that because certain knowledge cannot be explained how one knows how to do it, such as muscle movement. Someone knows how to move there fingers, but does not know how to describe to another how he knows.

How does language become a problem of knowledge?
Language becomes a problem with knowledge because it can be translated differently and be meanings ad terms can be lost in translation from one language to another.

What do you think William James means when he says: “Life defies our phrases?”
when William James says “life defies our phrases,” I think that he means that there are no phrases that we know that applies to our lives. These phrases are created from the experience of one person and then it is applied to someone’s life by the person in the same situation. However, the person who applies the phrase does it because it feels like it matches the situation whereas it actually it does not.

What, according to Abel, is the difference between “experience” and “propositional knowledge”?
The difference between “experience” and “propositional knowledge” is that experience applies to one person only. One person cannot describe how pie smells to them because it is something that is known through one’s own personal view and that is it. However, propositional knowledge is that believed and knows by everyone as fact. It is not personalized and experienced by one person but it is known to all people without feelings and senses intertwined into it.


What are Abel’s Four Conditions for propositional knowledge? Where have we seen this before? Why does he add a Fourth Condition?
Abel’s four conditions for propositional knowledge are:
· Something needs to be true to be known
· Belief is a necessary condition for knowledge, but not a sufficient one.
· Evidence is a necessary but not a sufficient component for knowledge.
· There is now evidence to undermine a belief.
Theses conditions are the exact same thing for platonic knowledge.