Inductive Reasoning

Throughout this semester I have learned a lot, but if I have to choose one concept that I found to be useful to apply to my daily life would be inductive reasoning. Although there are many different types of inductive reasoning, I think this would be the one chapter I learned most about. The fact that we already consist inductive reasoning in our daily life without us knowing it, is very impressive. Inductive reasoning is generalizing the facts give us an all-purpose idea of particular cases. Many concepts that were covered in the chapter of inductive reasoning were very helpful to understand how generalization, and poll surveys work. Inductive arguments are to be proven to be stronger or weaker whereas deductive arguments are to be only true or false. Deductive arguments are to be more straightforward, but inductive reasoning can be siding with both positions of an argument, debating which to be stronger. I believe this is  very important because it encourages people to be open minded and to elaborate their new ideas on existing ones.

Pros and Cons of This Class

As many of the students who are enrolled in this class, I have a pretty good idea of why we decided to choose this class which would be the fact that this class is being taught online. Due to being a fulltime student and juggling a part time job, it is a advantage to be able to take a class accordingly to your own schedule. The online blogs and comments that are required to be completed in this class was quite simple but very informative as well. However, the least favorite part of this class would be the group projects. Coming into this class, I did not expect to meet up with the students in this class because it is an online class. However, there have been three projects that require us to meet up with our groups in person. Which is a difficult task since most of us who takes this class have other obligations, which makes it hard for us to find a time that fits in everyone’s schedule. Other than the group projects, I found this class to be a very good class.

What I've Learned...

Overall, this class has taught me a lot of concepts of critical thinking that I never knew of before. For an example, one of the concepts that stuck out to me would have to be the false memories in which leads to invalid decision making. This was the most useful to me because I can relate to this type of fallacy. There are often times where I have recalled memories but second guess whether or not this incident really happened. There are also a lot of barriers we have as humans in the process of decision-making such as, narrow-mindedness, and rationalization and double think, cognitive and social dissonance and stress. These particular barriers made me realize that this world are full of people who usually let these factors get in the way of their critical thinking. There are many people out there in society who refuses to change their beliefs or in other words, to be more open minded of accepting certain social issues. Nonetheless, this class has taught me to improve my critical thinking skills by teaching me the essentials of cognitive development. 

Horoscope

I never really trust what I read on what I read on the website about my horoscope. It never seems to be correct; I believe that it is just a vague prediction the media has made up for the horoscope signs. However, I have friends who read their horoscope on the daily and actually go about their day based on what their horoscope says.  Maybe I am expecting too much from my horoscopes, I guess I want it to be accurate kind of like a psychic. Of course, that is a little over the top for me to wish for. After all, such a specific request cannot be given to such a general and vague category. For an example, my horoscope reads,” When that impulse hits you, make sure to jump on it- things need some shaking up today, and you are just the person to do it! It’s one of those days when you can tell you’re on the right path.” I am confused about this reading, but I think it is just words of encouragement. However, I am going to an internship fair tomorrow, so I’ll be sure to take this to consideration. 

Mission Critical and Casual Arguments

Overall, I found the mission critical and casual argument website to be  very informative. The mission critical website has a break down of each important point of an argument and etc. Each link goes in depth of the points. Where as, the casual argument website is more general. However, what I found to be the most helpful would be the exercises available. Just like any other subject, or a way to intake information, I believe it is very helpful to have exercises as reviews for the topic of subject I am trying study for. If I had to choose between the two, I think the casual argument website is easier for viewers, it is in fact more casual compared to the critical website. There is additional information in the directed link for the topic. It makes searching for specific topics very convenient.  Given that these websites provide such in depth information about each topic, helped me understand the different parts and analysis of the arguments. 

Making Invalid Conclusions

There have been various of times where I’ve drew an incorrect conclusion on the basis of observation, which is also commonly known as making assumptions. Although it is bad and not encouraged for people to judge a book by its cover I have done this a couple of times. For an example, I’ve recently noticed that my one of my friends, who seemed to be a nice and caring, turned out to be a selfish and conniving person. I thought she was a nice girl because she was a little soft spoken and she would always seem very friendly whenever I am around her. Sadly, this was just an act she put up. Once I got to know her, she turned out to be very mean and she lied about everything. Telling stories about how she have a tough life, but in reality she is a spoiled child.  This probably explains why she doesn’t have many friends in school. After knowing all this, I am no longer her friend as well. This is a perfect example of why it is important to know someone first before making assumptions. 

Media Literacy

According to the textbook, Media literacy is the ability to understand and critically analyze the influence of mass media. In society today, it is almost impossible to avoid all contact with mass media. It is everywhere. It is quite hard to avoid their traps of influencing on our lives and decisions. Advertisements for products using thin figured models, portrays the image of society needing to look like that. Mass advertisements for electronics, such as an IPhone or the newest model car, often portrays the message that it is a necessity in order to be on the same social status as everyone else. It is important for everyone to know how the mass media is influencing us. Most people do not realize it or are in denial of being influenced. This part of the chapter is most interesting to me because I did a research paper on this particular project, this is why I feel so strongly about the effects and influences the mass media have on society. It is impossible to avoid the media, but it is important for us to analyze their messages.