When reading through chapter 4 I found that using different languages to describe the same
event was very interesting. It show us how something can be viewed in so many different
ways, even though it is the same thing. This tells us that we are all different people and
don't see or hear things the same. Overcoming these issues can be dealt with by using sense
of knowledge and thinking things though.I have a hard time thinking of a time when I had
an argument that turned out that I was mistaken. However I have let people know about
something happening and it turned out that I did not have all the facts and was wrong. I
admit that this is not a good feeling, knowing that your word isn't what you say it is
damages your reputation and people will not take your word for anything in the future.I do
enjoy the videos every week and especially this week. These videos and exercises within
the video are a good way to get the point across. As for having any questions about things
learned this week. As I read all four of the social errors and biases I would have to say that
I am guilty of "one of us/One of them" way of thinking. In just thinking about when I am
describing a person in a particular situation I tend to first describe their origin or
nationality; their gender and lastly some characteristic about them. However, being Puerto
Rican, I tend to do it everyone. Which makes no sense. I can overcome this social error by
thinking before I speak and take a moment to cognitively think about how I describe a
person when speaking. These chapters have been very eye opening to me. My entire family
including myself are known for displaying "ad hominem" fallacy. By using critical thinking
skills such as listening to understand and not just listening to reply. Ask questions in order
to gain the person's perspective. Do not be too quick to respond, do my own research in
order to make an educated reply. Honestly, I really enjoyed learning about the different
types of fallacies that we encounter on a daily basis. It is very intriguing how I have lived
all this time and never knew about these concepts. After reviewing the reading for this
week I realize that out of all of the skills that come with critical thinking the one I struggle
with on this weeks reading is "knowledge" I tend to lean on experiences versus knowledge.
I have never been one to read or dig too deep into books or finding the truth in things. I
have always felt life experience was the best teacher. I plan to continue to read and open
my mind to learn more for knowledge .When it comes to fallacies the one that sticks out
and hits home to me is the accent! I am an emotional thinker by nature so my facial
expressions or the words that I say may have more emphasis than others. I like to consider
this my "passionate tone" but I no see that this can also come across aggressive and create
a lot of misunderstanding. Something I definitely need to work on.Again the most important
take-away from this week is the fallacies - manipulation comes to mind. I need to really dig
deeper into thought and knowledge instead of leaning on my own thoughts, emotions and
opinions. Life is hard but one thing I have learned and I say this all the time is that "it may
be a bad day but it's not a bad life" Learning, reading, understanding and finding knowledge
will set you free to truth. After reviewing the Four Social Errors and Biases presented in
this week's lesson, the social errors/ biases that significantly affects me is social
Expectations. b
Social expectations have a significant influence that can lead to collective delusions in
which people attempt to fit the evidence into their cultural worldview.
Because I have a strong sense of faith and integrity, and I believe in rules and structure,
which could cause me to have errors or biases in particular situations.
To overcome and help minimize this social error, I need to be aware of my thinking and
biases. I need to make a conscious effort to implement safety measures by using my critical
thinking skills to bring awareness to my thoughts and opinions, evaluate my thoughts,
implement reason and logic, and broaden my relation, perspective, and understanding.
A fallacy is an argument that appears to be correct, but there is a fault found with additional
analysis. There are numerous types of fallacies, and I have seen or have used before. The
one I identify with and use most is fallacies of relevance. Fallacies of relevance contain one
or more premises that are logically irrelevant or unrelated to the conclusion. Fallacies of
relevancy include personal attacks, appeals of force, appeals to pity, popular appeals,
appeals to ignorance, hasty generalizations, straw man fallacies, and red herrings. Effective
critical thinking is the antidote to combating fallacies because it requires a more in-depth
examination of the information presented. Using critical thinking tactics and skills allows
me to spare my emotions, opinions, and biases from my argument. Critical thinking
requires questioning, evaluation, logic/factual supportive evidence, which will enable me to
identify disagreement and fault in reasoning, protecting me from being influenced or
accepting of false information. It also allows me to determine if the fallacies were
deliberate or unconsciously .Reflecting upon the learning activities, concepts, ideas, and
topics covered this week, I identified fallacies as the most intriguing. Learning the
differences and identifying fallacies is the most beneficial lesson. I will implement my
knowledge gained to be a well-informed, educated, effective critical thinker. Another
concept presented in this week's notable lesson is the different types of cognitive/perceptual
errors, including self-serving biases. I believe that I am most affected by the Social Errors
and Bias “One of us/ one of them”. Throughout my life when playing sports and attending
school students were taught to sperate us from the students from the other school. We were
taught that they were the outsiders or students that were not as cool and smart as us.
Though sportsmanship was taught, I believe that more emphasis could have been applied to
better values when it came to competitive sports. To overcome this bias and to learn from
my experiences, it is best to identify if I am feeling the same way and change my lessons
taught to the younger generation. It is adamant that educators and public servants set a
higher standard to eliminate bias that are taught. We must show that all students and
persons are equal, and we must show respect even if respect is not given. Fallacy of
Composition, when a person assumes that one bad person in a group must represent the
entire group. Examples of Fallacy of Composition can be seen when observing a group of
minority young males. A person can might view most of a group as “thugs or gangsters”
and will not involve themselves with the group. A person will not see that its possible that
the “thugs and gangsters” only look and dress a certain way. The persons in the group may
be outstanding citizens and could possibly contribute to the community. You must always
use your critical thinking skills when listening to any fallacy. It is best to think though the
layers of information that is given to you and not make assumptions from the fast limited
information that is provided in the beginning. Learning and discussing biases is probably
one of the most sensitive topics to discuss. More than likely people that are less
confrontational will have difficulty talking to someone about their bias and will be
uncomfortable explain their reasoning. I enjoyed exploring the topic of biases because
everyone could benefit to learn more about themselves. I believe that I am most affected by
the Social Errors and Bias “One of us/ one of them”. Throughout my life when playing
sports and attending school students were taught to sperate us from the students from the
other school. We were taught that they were the outsiders or students that were not as cool
and smart as us. Though sportsmanship was taught, I believe that more emphasis could
have been applied to better values when it came to competitive sports. To overcome this
bias and to learn from my experiences, it is best to identify if I am feeling the same way
and change my lessons taught to the younger generation. It is adamant that educators and
public servants set a higher standard to eliminate bias that are taught. We must show that all
students and persons are equal, and we must show respect even if respect is not given.
Fallacy of Composition, when a person assumes that one bad person in a group must
represent the entire group. Examples of Fallacy of Composition can be seen when
observing a group of minority young males. A person can might view most of a group as
“thugs or gangsters” and will not involve themselves with the group. A person will not see
that its possible that the “thugs and gangsters” only look and dress a certain way. The
persons in the group may be outstanding citizens and could possibly contribute to the
community. You must always use your critical thinking skills when listening to any fallacy.
It is best to think though the layers of information that is given to you and not make
assumptions from the fast limited information that is provided in the beginning.
Learning and discussing biases is probably one of the most sensitive topics to discuss. More
than likely people that are less confrontational will have difficulty talking to someone about
their bias and will be uncomfortable explain their reasoning. I enjoyed exploring the topic
of biases because everyone could benefit to learn more about themselves. Diffusion of
responsibility effects me because I do not pay much attention when in a large group. I have
been working on that though because if I were struggling and needed help moving
something for example I would hope people in a group would help me move the objects.
The one fallacy I see used almost everyday in my line of work is appeal to force. Being in
the military you always have someone who is a higher ranking who tends to use their rank
or position to over power junior soldiers when corrected. Critical thinking comes into effect
when I listen to the higher ranking individual and just take a moment to process the
reasoning and so called facts used in the argument, if there is no actual facts or reason
behind their argument I will not take place because it will only lead to them to use appeal
to force with me or the junior soldiers. Personally I enjoyed how social error/bias and
fallacies were well broken down to understand the actual meanings. Going more in depth
with each one actually gave me a better understanding of how each of them is used which
provided more knowledge. In reviewing the 4 Social Errors and Biases One of us/None of
Them, Social Expectation, Group Pressure and Conformity and Diffusion of Responsibility.
Group Pressure has the most effect on me in my work environment.
I can help overcome Group Pressure by taking the time to speak to each of the team
members individually and educate them to help them understand facts to form their own
opinion and be less persuaded by the group. For each team member to have their own
informed response to be an individual.I personally have seen Ad Hominem in an argument
in the presidential debates. The debates had each of the candidates attack others personally.
Candidates involved others families. There was no direct fact to what they were stating it
was to avoid answering a question they did not want to answer or did not have the answer
to possibly. Critical thinking skills will make you less likely to be influenced by arguments
that are based on fallacies and faulty reasoning because you will investigate to make sure
that you have facts and if you should let it influence you or you are right to disagree and
not be influenced. The learning activities this week were very detailed. There were many
types of fallacies. Many that were very similar in meaning by changing a word you change
the meaning .The most interesting to me was the video "The Red Herring and Ad Hominem
Attack". It explained the fallacies in detail and gave real life examples of how they were
used.I feel that all the fallacies are a little confusing as to how to they are used. I will need
to spend some time reviewing them for further knowledge to know the name and to be able
to identify them easier. Self-serving bias affects me the most in my life. My career is
predominantly male driven, which requires me to be extremely confident and controlling. A
lot of my male colleagues are intimidated by my personality, which hinders our
professional relationship. b I must remind myself that I no longer have complete control over
situations, allowing someone to lead.
Equivocation is a fallacy I have personally experience a lot in my life. A company’s rules
and regulations are written in “black and white,” but not all situation can be determined by
the rules. There are gray areas in situations, that a critical thinker must reason about before
deciding. As a manager you must ask how or why a situation arose to terminate an
employee, otherwise you could destroy a life. In reference to the Social Errors and Biases
presented in the book, I am most affected by the bias of “One of us/One of them.” I am
affected in several aspects of my life. I am affected in the “Blue States/ Red States in the
church where the church is the “Red States” and my wife, and I are in the “Blue State”
How do y0ou overcome this bias. That is a good question. The idea is to pray for the
people that cannot see the truth of what is happening can change their minds. The second
idea would be to take the higher road and talk to the people involved to help see to a better
understanding of how we can fix this and move on.I think we all have had the opportunity
to use one or more of these fallacies in an argument at one time or another. I believe in my
case I would have to go with the Fallacy of Division. The fact is that with my membership
with an organization automatically makes me a member of a “Red States” group when I am
not that type of member by any means. I am guilty of inclusion, not by choice. This class
on Critical thinking has really opened my eyes to the problems/fallacies of a lot of things
that I was not aware of. I will now be warier of these situations and will do better to make
better decisions down the road.Reflecting on what was covered this week. I believe
everything was well covered this week. However, the videos were a useful source of work
on fallacies. The book was also source in showing the differences in Social Errors/Biases,
and the fallacies in arguments. In time. I will be working on these Social Errors/Biases, and
fallacies to make better decisions . I feel like I am more susceptible to group pressure and
conformity. I have always been a person who wanted to be included in the group so I
socialized by doing what they did whenever they asked me to. Even though I sometimes try
to resist, it is very easy for me to give in to whatever other people are doing at that moment
and as a result, I had picked up some bad habits for a couple of years that became almost
routine. One way I could avoid this is by just avoiding the people who are bad influences, I
have tried setting limits for myself whenever I was around these people but in the end,
when they wanted to do more, I did as well. one thing I see often if you can call it a fallacy,
is the over-exaggeration of a story, many times I have seen people take a story that was
mostly true and exaggerate the results to obtain more sympathy or respect. people will often
add to the story or leave parts of a story out to make themselves look better in other peoples
eyes, this is very hard to avoid but is also something to look out for. More often the
individual will add parts to the story after they have already told it the first time and this
usually helps me tell if someone is over-exaggerating. when someone is trying to gain
sympathy from a story, they will usually keep it short and toss in an additional detail after
they are finished telling it or try to make a big thing seem like it's not a big deal. by
analyzing a person's posture and tone you can usually pick out what part of the story was
the fallacy. one thing that has confused me about chapter 5 is the use of fallacy recruitment,
it also interested me because I questioned whether such a group actually believes what
they're doing is right, or if they know what they are doing is wrong but use reasoning to get
other people to believe them. Also, why would such a group want to grow and disassociate
from their family just to be part of a different family, the whole idea seemed very counter-
intuitive. Chapter 4 talks about Diffusion of Responsibility as an error in thinking, and it's
one that I had never really thought about before. After reviewing it (and the other three), it's
definitely the one I'm most affected by. More often than I'd like to admit, I'll see something
happen at work that I could fix or address, but elect not to on the grounds of "well, it isn't
my responsibility*. In order to overcome it I'll need to stop focusing so much on a
"required" versus "not required" dichotomy, and make room in my thinking for a "should
even though it isn't required" category.The fallacy of division led to an enormous drop in
Verizon stock prices (around 10% in just one week) at the end of 2018. For years, users of
the website Tumblr (owned by Verizon) complained about the prevalence of "Bots" -
accounts run by a computer program that served no purpose other than to post enormous
numbers of links (often claiming to be "Free Porn" to entice users to click them) that would
redirect to malware and scams. The Verizon staff took the characteristics "our users don't
like Bots" and "Bots often post adult content" and drew the incorrect conclusion "our users
don't like adult content". As a result, they banned all adult content on the website, despite
the fact that many of the website's internal communities were built on the sharing of adult
content. Users left the site by the thousands, and it became almost entirely unprofitable
overnight. If the executives had exercised some critical thinking skills when making the
decision, it would have occurred to them that there are other factors besides the nature of
the advertised content that would cause users to dislike the bots . After reviewing the Four
Social Errors and Biases the one I am most affected by is "Diffusion of Responsibility".
This is something I have recently noticed about myself especially in the work place. I work
in a restaurant so they're are plenty of little things to do if I'm not busy. The problem is that
if the job hasn't been assigned to me I wont take initiative to do it. In the past week at work
I have been putting in all of my effort to get what needs to be done with out my boss asking
me to. I do dishes, sweep, roll extra silverware etc and it feels a lot better than acting lazy.
One fallacy I have seen in an argument recently was between my mother and brother. The
type of fallacy was 'Fallacy of Accent". Since it has gotten cold in Michigan my brother has
gotten lazy with bring in the garbage, leaving it in the front yard, instead of the back yard
where it goes. My mom always asks him, "I told you to bring the garbage in, why didn't
you?" and his answer is always, "What do you mean mom? I did bring it in, it is in the
front yard." Even though he knows that is the wrong spot for it and that it will irritate my
mom, it's an excuse for his action.Critical thinking will make you much less likely to be
influenced by arguments based on fallacy because it allows you to think for your self,
rationalize ideas, find factual evidence.
The most interesting activity this week was learning about social errors and biases because
it taught me a lot about myself and others, also humbled me a bit. The four social errors
and biases, I hate to admit, are all very relatable and habits I have done. However, out of
the four the most relatable to me is group pressure and conformity. Group pressure, also
known as peer pressure in high school, gravely affected me. I struggled to fight for my own
opinion and rarely even formed my own opinion the majority of my childhood. My past has
given me a drive to overcome this social error. I look back and realize how unhappy I have
been in the times I have just followed the crowd. Due to this I fight harder to make sure I
have overcome conformity; I fight harder now for the voice I didn't have back then. I did
not realize until reading this that fallacies are everywhere. Unfortunately, I feel that
fallacies and stereotypes are very intertwined . For example, in the past it has been said that
african americans are involved in more criminal activity; this seemed true due to the higher
population of african Americans in prison. However, it has been shown that these
communities were being over policed leading to more arrest. It had nothing to do with one
race being more criminal than the other, it was due to the lack of policing in white
neighborhoods , and over policing in black. With critical thinking you are able to form your
own opinion. If you just went by the prison stats it would seem true but with critical
thinking you can dig deeper and see how the variables make the results unreliable. You can
only come to this conclusion by thinking for yourself and using reasoning. After reading the
four social errors/ biases, One error that I was most affected by was the One of us / One of
them error. I picked this error because it stood out the most. This error affected me because,
people in the world today treat others differently for many different reasons. For example
due to the number of cases we have had with police and citizens killing, it has caused
citizens to treat people who work in law enforcement different. It has caused people to feel
as all law enforcement officers are bad people. And this so far is not true. Even with so
much going on there still some good law enforcement officers in the world. I think no one
be judge or biases against a person because of there race, job title, sex, or religion.
Everyone should be treated the same. Everybody should be held accountable of there own
actions. One way I can overcome this error is by stop looking at one person actions and
holding it against everyone.Fallacy is known to be found in a argument when it appears to
be correct and incorrect. Informal and formal fallacy is found to be different. Informal
Fallacy is when an argument is psychologically or emotionally persuasive logically
incorrect. With formal fallacy it is when argument itself is invalid. I can relate to informal
fallacy because when thinking with emotions can cause you think something or a problem
can be more than it appears. And that can lead to an argument due to incorrectly thinking or
making assumption to something that appears to be going on and that is not. There have
been times when I have done this because I was thinking based on my emotions. The Bias
video was very good because it described how people can treat others different for many
different reasons. The social errors/bias in the book that I'm the most affected by is one of
us/one of them errors. Unconsciously at times we tend to treat people who are similar to us
a little bit better and with more respect than we treat others. We tend to automatically treat
others who are different from us with suspicion. My example is when I meet someone that
speaks the same language, I automatically feel like we have a connection because we have
something in common. In my mind it seems like they would be easier to trust. However
logically I know that it's not the case. A way to overcome would be by increasing self-
awareness and letting go of many assumptions .Fallacy of equivocation is the fallacy that
I've personally seen used in an argument. Especially right now more than ever with the
recent presidential election, social unrest and COVID-19 related topics. It can be really easy
to get wrapped up into reading something and automatically assuming it's true especially if
it's from your trusted news source. You can prevent from falling for fallacies by critically
thinking and gathering all the facts on the matter. Educating yourself on the topic by
gathering information from different sources and people. Not confusing but fallacy of
accent is one that I still need to get more familiar with. The most interesting part of this
week was learning of all the different types of social errors and biases. I would say the
social errors/biases that I am most effected by is "One of Us/One of Them" and "Diffusion
of Responsibility". I believe I can overcome this social error/bias by letting go of
assumptions and to learn acceptance in different situations. One fallacy that I have seen in
an argument is when my boss made the statement "you must not want a break because its
break time and you have not went yet'. Critical thinking skills can make you less likely to
be influenced by arguments based on fallacies because you will think things all the way
through. The most interesting concept I learned this week was about fallacies and social
error. The social error were very interesting because I didn't realize that it was actually
effecting me. I honestly think I have fallen under each of those categories of social
errors/biases. I am going to read more on it because I want to learn more on how I can
overcome those social errors/biases. This week activities made me gain a lot of knowledge
on different things. I am personally affected by emotional errors. Embarrassed to say it, but
I am an extremely emotional person. Anything that I see that appeals to my emotions, I am
drawn into it. This can be a positive and a negative thing. For instance, a few years back, I
went to a local animal shelter just to see about volunteering there, and after I saw all of the
posters that said, "When you adopt a furry friend, you give them a forever home", I ended
up going home with a dog of my own. The best way to overcome this bias, if I ever do, is
to think about the reasoning and logic behind the bias.I can say that a fallacy that I use a lot
of, is hasty generalization. I think that almost everyone uses this very often, even if we
don't mean to. I recently have been trying to get back into health and fitness and have seen
a lot of health influencers on social media advertising their meals and people in the
comments assuming that because that person is healthy, what they're eating is also healthy.
I think that thinking critically could take place in this scenario by allowing yourself to
disengaging from the barrier of envying this person. Just because you eat what they eat,
does not mean that you are also healthy - nor is it healthy to begin with.I think that the
most important lesson this week that I will be taking away is the fallacies. I think that
understanding and acknowledging fallacies are important in professional work as well as
life in general. It helps us understand the logic behind the fallacy, and it will help in
decision making and being more logical in the process. I am most affected by stress.
Sometimes I can get a thought in my head and become so overwhelmed by it where I will
not take the time to think it through and it may cause me to say or do something I don't
mean. I was happy to read about the three levels of thinking. I am naturally an analytical
person so the analysis aspect of critical thinking comes naturally to me but then when I
interpret and think about things I've been through in my experiences I can pull myself away
from that barrier. A fallacy that I see often used is the red herring fallacy where people will
try to throw you off in the attempt to answer a question without really answering the
question at all. I see this a lot in relationships. I would just make sure that I am listening
fully before I speak and asking myself questions to make sure that I'm not being thrown off
from the answer that I am seeking. The most interesting topic this week that I learned about
was the ad hominem fallacy. I do this a lot to my friends and I did not realize it before
reading about it. I'll have to be careful not to do that because it's never good to make people
feel like you're attacking them. I grew up in a religious home. My biases and social errors
seemed to be inherited and weaved in my DNA. The biggest social error or bias I faced
while growing up in that environment was probably the "One of us, One of them" way of
thinking. I was told that anyone outside of our religion or group was not to be trusted or
even befriended. Other biases and social errors could fit this as well. I feel like growing up
in my house, all of these ways of thinking were implemented at one point. The root of it to
me was always Us or them.When I got old enough to see the world around me and do my
own research, meet people outside of the church and discover my own voice I realized I
was being lied to. Perhaps not maliciously or even knowingly. So to overcome these errors
the path for me was enlightenment, questioning everything and expanding my social
circle.During the heat of protests during the summer, I attended a Black Lives Matter
march. I heard the opposition shout many hate filled and ignorant messages. I heard a ton
of fallacies of division being used that day. "All black people are thugs." my blood boiled
at the ignorance of this idea. My uncle is a black doctor, my fiancés father is a police
officer. I am a college student. The idea of grouping a whole race, class or gender into this
box to fit a narrative seemed so small-minded. Critical thinking helped me that day, I didn't
not become overwhelmed with the anger festering in my blood. I knew facts, I had logic
and data. The ignorance witnessed that day come from the exact opposite stance. Lack of
facts, no logic or data. Critical thinking allowed me to see the bigger picture. Perhaps her
hatred came from generations of people force-feeding her ideas. Maybe she never broke
free and questioned life for herself. I heard her stance or opinion and was able to mentally
dismiss it due to the lack of supporting facts. That day I had this feeling that I can now put
in words.. One key ingredient to healing this nation is the ability to think critically. I
genuinely enjoyed learning about all the different ways the media and businesses are using
fallacies to profit from the idea that they are trying to get across or sell. This week was very
enlightening. I hope everyone got something useful out of the content. The four biases I've
learned are Emotional Intelligence, Empathy, Artificial Intelligence, and Turing test, the
one that I would like best is Emotional Intelligence because to perceive accurately, appraise
and express my emotion or generate my feelings when they facilitate the ability to
understand my emotion and emotional knowledge. (One of the Fallacy are FORMAL
FALLACY , ) Critical thinking while using a fallacy will really solve my problem, Fallacy
still causes them problem, because for some reason that word will not let the disagreement
rest so the person that uses it will not either. The Fallacies and Critical thinking in action, I
have gained a lot from week 1 and week 2, I'm still learning and trying to turn my
assignments in on time, but I enjoy taking my time trying to understand every meaning of
these assignments. Critical thinking in action plays games and learning how to play games
generates my mind, I be trying to learn how to enjoy it with the kids but I be thinking hard
on what to do how to use the controller.
