the diving bell and the butterfly questions 2

1. “But I see in the clothing a symbol of continuing life. And proof that I still want to be myself. If I must drool, I may as well drool on cashmere.” The reason that I think that Bauby wrote this quote is because he sees his clothing as his identity. Without the styles and designs that he wore before he had his stroke, he sees himself as blending into the other patients. Clothing is just his way of keeping his thought of who he is.

2. I think that if Bauby had spoken Chinese of Japanese, the writing of the book would have been very different. Since there are vast more symbols in Chinese and Japanese than in English, Bauby would have spent much more time writing his book.

3. Bauby finds his appearance humorous because he feels that he resembles a specific piece of artwork.

4. if i was given one last opportunity to spend the afternoon in one place, i would choose to spend it in Mad River Valley, Vermont. i would choose this place because it is the location of my favorite mountain to snowboard in the winter, and my favorite place to vacation in the summer. in the summer the valley river runs north and snakes along the valley. the river created swimming holes along that are as deep as 2o feet and parallel rock structures from which a person can jump off of. in the winter, the constant snowfall covers the entire valley and the mountain is the perfect place to snowboard. 

 

5.  i think that we dont make an effort to connect with those that look or act different that us because we feel that it will make them uncomfortable. most people are self conscious on how they appear and what they say to others. since they are so self conscious,  they worry that what they say may offend some people.

6. if i couldnt eat again, the meal that i would miss the most would be a cheeseburger. the reason that i would miss this meal the most would be because it is a combination of meat and vegetables. 

the diving bell and the butterfly questions

a)       What is 'Locked-in syndrome'? Why would one consider Bauby's condition a prison? What is the significance of The Butterfly? The locked in syndrome is a condition where the patient is paralyzed from head to toe. This would be considered a prison because the patient cannot move, confining him to one place until he is either moved with help, or dies. The butterfly is significant because it is a parallel for the writer to think that he can fly anywhere with his mind.

b)      What was Bauby's "frightening truth'? Bauby’s frightening truth was that he was stuck in his state of a quadriplegic. Also, he would now be on his own.

c) In your opinion, how do you think Bauby should measure progress? Why do you think Bauby ends the chapter "Prayer" with the phrase, "I set out for the kingdom of slumber with this wonderful talisman, which shields me from all harm."  I think that Bauby should measure progress by through the movements that he can make. I think that Bauby ends the chapter “prayer” with this phrase because it gives the reader the thought that these prayers helped him with his suffering. 

"man is the measure" chapter 4 questions

According to Abel, what is perception? perception is an active task and not a passive one. this means that perception must be initiated and used. it will not guarantee anything unless the perciever chooses perceive things.

What does Abel mean by “seeing as?” by seeing as, Abel means that what we are seeing is just what we can interpret without making conclusions to what it is that we saw, or heard.

To see what is the case, what is required? Please define each term. to see what is the case, it requires context, inference, concept, experience, and interpretation. The context means that to understant what you see, it must be set in its environment. Inference is to form a conclusion based on pre-existing knowledge. concept is the general idea of what something is. experience is the way that we perceive through deduction of experiences. interpretation is how we judge what it is that we see into something that makes sense.

What did Nietzsche mean by “the fallacy of the immaculate perception?” How does Psychologist Joseph Jastrow prove this point? When have we done this in class? Nietzsche meant by "fallacy of the immaculate perception" is that everything that a person percieves is he/she must add their own sense. no single act of seeing is not nessecarily right of wrong. Joseph Jastrow proves this point by an illistration which depicts either a rabbit or duck. there is not right answer to what animal this picture. this example was done in class during the perception test with the stack of blocks. when the picture is one way there are 6 blocks, whereas when the picture is rotated 180 degrees, it depicts 7 blocks.

What does Abel mean when he writes: “there is no sharp line dividing perception and illusion?” abel means that in perception there is no right answer to what we see, only what is accepted until someone sees something else in the picture.

Why is perception selective by nature? perception is selective by nature because people filter out outside stimuli in order to focus on one distict stumulus. this means that stimuli are ignored and are not percieved.

What does Abel mean when he says: “to perceive is to solve a problem?” Abel means that we use perception to figure out what thing are and what is their value.

What is the role of social conditioning in determining how things “naturally look?” social conditioning determines how things naturally look because it determines what belongs in a
picture and what doesn't.

What is significant of the Durer rhinoceros story? How was the influence of convention demonstrated when some tribes were given a photograph? the story of durer's rhinoceros is significant because it proves tradition has a great influence on interpretation.

How does convention influence perspective drawing? perspective drawing is influenced by convention because drawing does not entail our manner of distance.

What does Abel mean when he writes: believing is seeing? How might this point be seen in the study of the natural and the social sciences? by writing believing is seeing, abel says that in order for something to be there, or thought ot be there, you must believe that it exists. this point may be irritating to other studies because they might think that things are always there.

What does Abel mean by “hearing as…”?

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