1. What is significant about the last line in Guardian Angel?
Bauby's sentence "And I have to admit that at times I do not know anymore." is very sad because it shows how lost and helpless he feels. He feels like he is wasting away, he cannot move, he cannot talk... It is like he is barely even human anymore since he cannot do all the things a normal human can and even has a pretty horrifying unnatural appearance. He cannot make any noise or really do anything to announce his existence and presence in the world, and he must wonder how much of him is really "there" anymore... Will he be able to stay the same person or will he lose all hope and lose himself to this terrible disease?
2. What is ironic about the photograph he recieves from his father in The Photo?
The photo of him at the mini-golf course seems ironic to me because it depicts him when he was young and mobile, spending a spring with his family and having fun. And now he is stuck, unable to move, in a hospital, feeling much like his very old father who cannot move from his apartment on his old legs. Also, the "not very sparkling seaside town" he mentions reminds me of the hospital he is at, which probably seems rather drab to poor Bauby.
3. Do Bauby's dreams give us any insight into his condition? Be specific.
Bauby's dream seems a large part like reality, like in his coma he is slightly aware (i think highly aware in some parts) of what is going on around him, and his brain just took that and added some extra details and creative twists. When Bauby says they were "numb with cold", mentions "electric shock" and says "rows of plastic tubes dangle floorward like oxygen masks", "Karadzic performs a tracheotomy upon me on a hastily cleared table", and describes the fluid flowing into his mouth and his inability to move and escape, he is describing things that most likely were going on in the hospital - he did have a tracheotomy and a feeding tube and he really could not move or get up from hid bed. When he says "paralyzed by a general strike"(49) it even sounds like "paralyzed by a stroke" which Bauby probably heard at one or several points during his time in a coma. So I think he was largely conscious during his coma and that his mental faculties were still functioning and perceiving information, just not quite putting them together right.
4. Where is Bauby's butterfly in My Lucky Day?
Bauby says "Awaiting rescue, I hum an old song by Henri Salvador: 'Don't you fret, baby, it'll be alright.'" His butterfly is out somewhere happy, getting help. He is imagining it is ok and he will be fine. Everything is just fine.
5. After reading Our Very Own Madonna and Through a Glass, Darkly, Bauby seems to have regrets about not appreciating small moments from his earlier life. Can you think of a moment from your own life that you did not truly appreciate until it was over? How can we learn to live so that we appreciate significant moments. Is this even possible?
When the German students came in October, I did not really do that much with them, and at the farewell party we had for them, I did not really spend a lot of time with the German kids I was the closest to, and after they left, I really wished I had, and the moments I DID spend with them, I really remember and treasure. When a group of us went to see High School Musical we had so much fun and were being so silly, and now I really miss that, especially because most of my American friends are not quite like that. I think we can learn to live slightly more appreciative of the moments we have in life if we think about what our life would be like without those moments, and attain a constant mentality of seeking joy in little things and not taking them for granted. However, I think it is kind of human nature to "live in the moment" and not think about how much you will miss these things in the future... I guess it would depend on the individual and their skill in adapting their mindset if it would be possible to appreciate significant moments more.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
The White Man's Burden
Please take a few moments and comment on the film we saw in class. In particular, did any part of the film make you 'think twice'? Please explain your answer.
The movie we watched was kind of strange for me to watch because I am so used to seeing pretty much only white people with a few black people here and there, since we don't have much diversity or variety on Cape or even really in most of the movies we see. It wasn't so much that it was black people holding the higher positions and the white family being the poor one in the movie that was strange for me, it was more of the everywhere-I-look black people that caught my attention. The only movies I have seen with that really large ratio of black people to white people are like comedy shows or movies like Medea's Family Reunion.
I also experience this kind of subconscious ___ (I don't know what word to put here, but like Being Caught by things that are different or unfamiliar) when I watch Asian movies or whatever, but what is weird is that I don't usually notice (as much) when there is one or maybe a few people that are not white in a film that is mostly whites... I think it is just weird for me if in a movie there are not a lot of white people because that ia what I see every day, and if there are only a few of them, it's like where's the rest??
The movie we watched was kind of strange for me to watch because I am so used to seeing pretty much only white people with a few black people here and there, since we don't have much diversity or variety on Cape or even really in most of the movies we see. It wasn't so much that it was black people holding the higher positions and the white family being the poor one in the movie that was strange for me, it was more of the everywhere-I-look black people that caught my attention. The only movies I have seen with that really large ratio of black people to white people are like comedy shows or movies like Medea's Family Reunion.
I also experience this kind of subconscious ___ (I don't know what word to put here, but like Being Caught by things that are different or unfamiliar) when I watch Asian movies or whatever, but what is weird is that I don't usually notice (as much) when there is one or maybe a few people that are not white in a film that is mostly whites... I think it is just weird for me if in a movie there are not a lot of white people because that ia what I see every day, and if there are only a few of them, it's like where's the rest??
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Diving Bell #2
1. What do you think of Bauby's line in Bathtime when he states, "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."
I think it is kind of sad that these are his only options and that he does have to drool... But I see what he means when he wants to be in his own clothes and still be "himself". Why should a disease/disability make you into a new person? He still thinks the same way and is the same person, so he should get to wear his own clothes that HE likes and feels comfortable in. I know I would rather wear my clothes than some generic jogging suit given to me by the place I most dread.
2. Considering how Bauby wrote the book, does it matter that he happened to speak French? How would have the writing of the book been different if he spoke Japanese or Chinese?
I think his speaking French does not really matter in terms of how the book turned out, but it mattered in the writing of the book. Words and ideas are generally the same in each language (a house is still a house no matter what language you say the word in) as far as I know, but certain languages use more letters or words to communicate different ideas, etc, so I am sure it would have taken more/less time if it was in another language since the translator or scribe for Bauby had to read out each letter of the alphabet, and it would take a lot longer if you had to go through ALL the hundreds of characters in the Japanese/Chinese languages for each word/letter.
3. Why does Bauby find his appearance humorous?
In a way he FORCES himself to think his damaged, dilapidated appearance is humorous because he is slightly overwhelmed by all the blows he has been dealt by fate; he was "exiled, paralyzed, mute, half deaf, deprived of all pleasures, and reduced to the existence of a jellyfish" and now he is also "horrible to behold." It is "comical" that on top of all his disabilities, he looks completely hideous, barely even human, and has no dignity left. What else can he do but laugh? That is the human's nervous mechanism.
4. After reading the Chapter, Cinecitta, think of a place where, if given one last opportunity, you could spend an afternoon. Why did you choose this place? Please describe it in detail.
Despite the awful, much over-used cliche of the beach, I would spend my day at the beach if I had the choice. Actually probably my evening, because I love the beach around sunset and afterwards, when it gets dark and the lights from far away houses reflects on the water. It doesn't matter much to me WHICH beach it would be, just a place where there is lots of sky and sand and open ocean. I love the feeling of freedom I get when at the beach; I am no longer surrounded by houses and trees blocking my view, and the world is layed out for me to behold. It is calming and peaceful (when I am alone, not amidst a crown of tourists), and I can run all over the place or swim or shout or throw things... I can hear the sound of the waves and smell the salty air, feel the wind against my skin and through my hair, and of course look at the beautiful scenery. It is a place that I can think, and I am empowered with possibilities yet overwhelmed by the huge world around me.
5. After reading Tourists, please think of why we don't make more of an effort to connect with those that might look or act different than us.
I think this partially goes back to how humans are obsessed with familiarity, perhaps subconsciously, but if we are not familiar with seeing "messed up" people or people simply different than us -what we are used to- it makes us uncomfortable. We do not quite know how to act around people who are not like us because maybe we feel that we don't have anything in common with them or won't be able to connect with them. It can also be an awkward situation if, like in his story, you are a more fortunate "patient" or person and feel like maybe you will just rub it in their faces if you talk to them.
6. Read Sausage and then consider the following: if you couldn't eat again, what meal would you miss the most? Please describe what it looks and tastes like.
This is a very hard choice for me because I love a variety of foods and not really one in particular. I guess though, Bauby's sausage is my chicken... I love chicken, cooked in a variety of ways: marinated and grilled, in soup, cooked and put over rice with sauce and vegetables... I love my mom's cooking (mostly because she has learned to cook what I like), and if I could never eat again, I would miss all her meals so much, one of them being Chicken Primavera - rice with chicken, cream of chicken sauce, and chopped vegetables (this looks creamy and steamy and delicious). However, I would also dearly miss pasta (in Many forms), the scallion pancakes from Chinese food restaurants, and ice cream, just to name a few.
I think it is kind of sad that these are his only options and that he does have to drool... But I see what he means when he wants to be in his own clothes and still be "himself". Why should a disease/disability make you into a new person? He still thinks the same way and is the same person, so he should get to wear his own clothes that HE likes and feels comfortable in. I know I would rather wear my clothes than some generic jogging suit given to me by the place I most dread.
2. Considering how Bauby wrote the book, does it matter that he happened to speak French? How would have the writing of the book been different if he spoke Japanese or Chinese?
I think his speaking French does not really matter in terms of how the book turned out, but it mattered in the writing of the book. Words and ideas are generally the same in each language (a house is still a house no matter what language you say the word in) as far as I know, but certain languages use more letters or words to communicate different ideas, etc, so I am sure it would have taken more/less time if it was in another language since the translator or scribe for Bauby had to read out each letter of the alphabet, and it would take a lot longer if you had to go through ALL the hundreds of characters in the Japanese/Chinese languages for each word/letter.
3. Why does Bauby find his appearance humorous?
In a way he FORCES himself to think his damaged, dilapidated appearance is humorous because he is slightly overwhelmed by all the blows he has been dealt by fate; he was "exiled, paralyzed, mute, half deaf, deprived of all pleasures, and reduced to the existence of a jellyfish" and now he is also "horrible to behold." It is "comical" that on top of all his disabilities, he looks completely hideous, barely even human, and has no dignity left. What else can he do but laugh? That is the human's nervous mechanism.
4. After reading the Chapter, Cinecitta, think of a place where, if given one last opportunity, you could spend an afternoon. Why did you choose this place? Please describe it in detail.
Despite the awful, much over-used cliche of the beach, I would spend my day at the beach if I had the choice. Actually probably my evening, because I love the beach around sunset and afterwards, when it gets dark and the lights from far away houses reflects on the water. It doesn't matter much to me WHICH beach it would be, just a place where there is lots of sky and sand and open ocean. I love the feeling of freedom I get when at the beach; I am no longer surrounded by houses and trees blocking my view, and the world is layed out for me to behold. It is calming and peaceful (when I am alone, not amidst a crown of tourists), and I can run all over the place or swim or shout or throw things... I can hear the sound of the waves and smell the salty air, feel the wind against my skin and through my hair, and of course look at the beautiful scenery. It is a place that I can think, and I am empowered with possibilities yet overwhelmed by the huge world around me.
5. After reading Tourists, please think of why we don't make more of an effort to connect with those that might look or act different than us.
I think this partially goes back to how humans are obsessed with familiarity, perhaps subconsciously, but if we are not familiar with seeing "messed up" people or people simply different than us -what we are used to- it makes us uncomfortable. We do not quite know how to act around people who are not like us because maybe we feel that we don't have anything in common with them or won't be able to connect with them. It can also be an awkward situation if, like in his story, you are a more fortunate "patient" or person and feel like maybe you will just rub it in their faces if you talk to them.
6. Read Sausage and then consider the following: if you couldn't eat again, what meal would you miss the most? Please describe what it looks and tastes like.
This is a very hard choice for me because I love a variety of foods and not really one in particular. I guess though, Bauby's sausage is my chicken... I love chicken, cooked in a variety of ways: marinated and grilled, in soup, cooked and put over rice with sauce and vegetables... I love my mom's cooking (mostly because she has learned to cook what I like), and if I could never eat again, I would miss all her meals so much, one of them being Chicken Primavera - rice with chicken, cream of chicken sauce, and chopped vegetables (this looks creamy and steamy and delicious). However, I would also dearly miss pasta (in Many forms), the scallion pancakes from Chinese food restaurants, and ice cream, just to name a few.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
a) What is 'Locked-in syndrome'? Why would one consider Bauby's condition a prison? What is the significance of The Butterfly?
b) What was Bauby's "frightening truth'?
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."
A) "Locked-in syndrome" is when, "paralyzed from head to toe, the patient, his mind intact, is imprisoned inside his own body, unable to speak or move."(4) Bauby's condition could be considered a prison because he is imprisoned in his body, or his hospital room, or wherever others decide to place him. He has no control over what he does or how he moves, and all his natural freedoms have been stripped from him; he cannot speak, walk around, etc. The butterfly he mentions when describing how his mind takes off signifies the only freedom and joy he can have. Paralyzed, his mind is the only thing that can move around and go places on its own, and his takes off like a butterfly to amuse himself. His thoughts roam to different places and adventures, to books that he is thinking up.. it flies away.
B) While Bauby's "frightening truth" in his book was very unclear to me (he claims it hit him, but then I didn't catch the part where he really explains what the truth IS), I believe he meant the fact that he would be stuck in a wheelchair... for at least a very long time. After going through the big ordeal of dressing him, pushing him around in the wheelchair, undressing him and laying him back down, after everyone leaves and the wheelchair sits ominously by itself in the corner, Bauby comes to the realization that that is his fate, being wheeled around in an uncomfortable chair like the invalid he is. He isn't going to magically be able to walk again or be able to actually go the places his mind wanders to, assuming his clumsy wheelchair is not capable of flying...
C) I think Bauby should measure progress, since it's obviously not going to take place quickly, by how much he can move in the small things, or make some sort of noise, moving towards speech. If he tries to measure himself on too large a scale, like wanting to walk or talk completely, he will get discouraged when he cannot achieve those things quickly.
In his ending chapter of "Prayer" Bauby means that he went to sleep with the protection of God invoked by the prayers of his daughter, Celeste. I think he is probably so grateful for her thoughts and the comfort it brings him to know that she and her God are thinking of him and trying to help him. He needs that hope to cling onto, the belief that he is safe and taken care of, "shielded from all harm", so that he can survive and keep going.
b) What was Bauby's "frightening truth'?
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."
A) "Locked-in syndrome" is when, "paralyzed from head to toe, the patient, his mind intact, is imprisoned inside his own body, unable to speak or move."(4) Bauby's condition could be considered a prison because he is imprisoned in his body, or his hospital room, or wherever others decide to place him. He has no control over what he does or how he moves, and all his natural freedoms have been stripped from him; he cannot speak, walk around, etc. The butterfly he mentions when describing how his mind takes off signifies the only freedom and joy he can have. Paralyzed, his mind is the only thing that can move around and go places on its own, and his takes off like a butterfly to amuse himself. His thoughts roam to different places and adventures, to books that he is thinking up.. it flies away.
B) While Bauby's "frightening truth" in his book was very unclear to me (he claims it hit him, but then I didn't catch the part where he really explains what the truth IS), I believe he meant the fact that he would be stuck in a wheelchair... for at least a very long time. After going through the big ordeal of dressing him, pushing him around in the wheelchair, undressing him and laying him back down, after everyone leaves and the wheelchair sits ominously by itself in the corner, Bauby comes to the realization that that is his fate, being wheeled around in an uncomfortable chair like the invalid he is. He isn't going to magically be able to walk again or be able to actually go the places his mind wanders to, assuming his clumsy wheelchair is not capable of flying...
C) I think Bauby should measure progress, since it's obviously not going to take place quickly, by how much he can move in the small things, or make some sort of noise, moving towards speech. If he tries to measure himself on too large a scale, like wanting to walk or talk completely, he will get discouraged when he cannot achieve those things quickly.
In his ending chapter of "Prayer" Bauby means that he went to sleep with the protection of God invoked by the prayers of his daughter, Celeste. I think he is probably so grateful for her thoughts and the comfort it brings him to know that she and her God are thinking of him and trying to help him. He needs that hope to cling onto, the belief that he is safe and taken care of, "shielded from all harm", so that he can survive and keep going.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Man Is The Measure: The Task of Perception
1. According to Abel, "Perception is active inquiry, not passive reception."(34) It is questioning and interpreting what you sense, not just simply sensing it.
2. By "seeing as" Abel means that "seeing" is more complicated than just receiving an image in your eyes and brain... You have to see that image AS something, interpret what it is, and this is what leads to doubt about what people think they see (Abel uses the example of astronomers not knowing for years whether or not they were seeing canals on Mars). Different people can see things as different things or in different ways.
3. "To see what is the case requires context, inference, concepts, experience, interpretation."(35) Context is the circumstances or situation in which you see something, which can help you "see as". Inference is deriving a conclusion from facts or premises. Concepts are general ideas or understandings, especially ones derived from specific instances or occurrences. Experience is apprehension or perception... through the senses or mind; active participation in events or activities, leading to accumulation of knowledge or skill. Interpretation is the explanation to oneself of the meaning of something.
4. Nietzsche means that the fault of perception is that it is individual interpretation; most of the time there is no "correct" perception of something: there IS no perfect perception, and everyone has their own separate one. Jastrow showed this in his drawing of a rabbit/duck which can be "correctly" seen as either a rabbit OR a duck, not just one. We did something similar in class when we took the perception test and counted the number of cubes displayed in a drawing on the screen, for which there were 2 "correct" answers.
5. When Abel writes "There is no sharp line dividing perception and illusion" he means that both perception and illusion are ambiguous, they are "not always evident in an image, and cannot always be isolated."(36) Neither one is clearly defined or can be verified as true or false. How do we know the way we perceive things isn't just an illusion?
6. The reason perception is selective by nature is that we receive more images and pieces of information from our senses than we can handle and make sense of, so we pick and choose which ones to think about. And our brains usually receive "what we expect, or want, or believe, or are used to."(36) We cannot focus on and interpret everything, so we focus on the ones most familiar to us and interpret them accordingly.
7. When he says "to perceive is to solve a problem" Abel means the problem of how we see things, how we determine what they are and come to an agreement within ourselves. Nothing is "clearly" defined when we sense it, we have to give it definition and decide what it means based on our past experiences, context, etc... And how will we do that? How will each of us interpret an image? This problem is solved by personal perception. It is what you make it, life is how you see it.
8. Social conditioning, the "natural" views of a society and the "natural" ways in which they see things, think about things, and draw things, is important in determining how things "naturally look" for individuals because if you are trained by your society to think of things and see things a certain way, what is familiar to you will feel "natural".
9. The Durer rhinoceros story is significant because it shows human tendency to represent things according to tradition or as one THINKS an object should be. Never having seen a rhinoceros, Durer made a "woodcut" of one based solely on second-hand evidence and his imagination. Apparently his representation was not very accurate but Bruce, criticizing it, drew an illustration of a rhino from life that was strongly (probably subconsciously) influenced by his IDEA of what a rhino SHOULD look like. The influence of convention was demonstrated in the showing of photographs to tribesmen who, confused, viewed the pictures only as "meaningless arrangements[s] of varying shades of grey on a piece of paper." If they are not used to an object or scene being depicted in 2D form on paper, it would not mean anything to them besides marks on a paper. It is not the real house, I can't go inside it, so why should I think it's a house?
10. Perspective drawing is influenced by convention because an artist will draw distance or location of objects or something, based on what their society/their brain tells them it should look like... It is not just SEE, DRAW; it is see, try to represent according to the conventions that you have been taught. If distance means less bright colors, that's how it is drawn, not necessarily the way your eyes are actually taking the picture in.
11. Abel means that if you believe something, you can actually "see" it... your mind will literally think it saw the thing you perceived. You become so convinced that you.. see it. In social sciences, tests with people watching a fixed candle flame have reported to see it moving because they have been convinced prior to this that it is moving. In the natural sciences, astronomers have failed to notice that they were seeing a planet which they refused to believe existed... Because these people BELIEVED something, they actually saw it (or didn't see it, respectively).
12. "Hearing as" is receiving auditory information which we then interpret and add to/take away so that it makes sense to our brain and the way we perceive how language is SUPPOSED to be and sound. For example, if we hear the word "we" instead of the word "me" but our brain knows what it is supposed to be in context, out brain will probably 'correct' it so that we think we do hear it AS "me" and we don't even notice the error.
2. By "seeing as" Abel means that "seeing" is more complicated than just receiving an image in your eyes and brain... You have to see that image AS something, interpret what it is, and this is what leads to doubt about what people think they see (Abel uses the example of astronomers not knowing for years whether or not they were seeing canals on Mars). Different people can see things as different things or in different ways.
3. "To see what is the case requires context, inference, concepts, experience, interpretation."(35) Context is the circumstances or situation in which you see something, which can help you "see as". Inference is deriving a conclusion from facts or premises. Concepts are general ideas or understandings, especially ones derived from specific instances or occurrences. Experience is apprehension or perception... through the senses or mind; active participation in events or activities, leading to accumulation of knowledge or skill. Interpretation is the explanation to oneself of the meaning of something.
4. Nietzsche means that the fault of perception is that it is individual interpretation; most of the time there is no "correct" perception of something: there IS no perfect perception, and everyone has their own separate one. Jastrow showed this in his drawing of a rabbit/duck which can be "correctly" seen as either a rabbit OR a duck, not just one. We did something similar in class when we took the perception test and counted the number of cubes displayed in a drawing on the screen, for which there were 2 "correct" answers.
5. When Abel writes "There is no sharp line dividing perception and illusion" he means that both perception and illusion are ambiguous, they are "not always evident in an image, and cannot always be isolated."(36) Neither one is clearly defined or can be verified as true or false. How do we know the way we perceive things isn't just an illusion?
6. The reason perception is selective by nature is that we receive more images and pieces of information from our senses than we can handle and make sense of, so we pick and choose which ones to think about. And our brains usually receive "what we expect, or want, or believe, or are used to."(36) We cannot focus on and interpret everything, so we focus on the ones most familiar to us and interpret them accordingly.
7. When he says "to perceive is to solve a problem" Abel means the problem of how we see things, how we determine what they are and come to an agreement within ourselves. Nothing is "clearly" defined when we sense it, we have to give it definition and decide what it means based on our past experiences, context, etc... And how will we do that? How will each of us interpret an image? This problem is solved by personal perception. It is what you make it, life is how you see it.
8. Social conditioning, the "natural" views of a society and the "natural" ways in which they see things, think about things, and draw things, is important in determining how things "naturally look" for individuals because if you are trained by your society to think of things and see things a certain way, what is familiar to you will feel "natural".
9. The Durer rhinoceros story is significant because it shows human tendency to represent things according to tradition or as one THINKS an object should be. Never having seen a rhinoceros, Durer made a "woodcut" of one based solely on second-hand evidence and his imagination. Apparently his representation was not very accurate but Bruce, criticizing it, drew an illustration of a rhino from life that was strongly (probably subconsciously) influenced by his IDEA of what a rhino SHOULD look like. The influence of convention was demonstrated in the showing of photographs to tribesmen who, confused, viewed the pictures only as "meaningless arrangements[s] of varying shades of grey on a piece of paper." If they are not used to an object or scene being depicted in 2D form on paper, it would not mean anything to them besides marks on a paper. It is not the real house, I can't go inside it, so why should I think it's a house?
10. Perspective drawing is influenced by convention because an artist will draw distance or location of objects or something, based on what their society/their brain tells them it should look like... It is not just SEE, DRAW; it is see, try to represent according to the conventions that you have been taught. If distance means less bright colors, that's how it is drawn, not necessarily the way your eyes are actually taking the picture in.
11. Abel means that if you believe something, you can actually "see" it... your mind will literally think it saw the thing you perceived. You become so convinced that you.. see it. In social sciences, tests with people watching a fixed candle flame have reported to see it moving because they have been convinced prior to this that it is moving. In the natural sciences, astronomers have failed to notice that they were seeing a planet which they refused to believe existed... Because these people BELIEVED something, they actually saw it (or didn't see it, respectively).
12. "Hearing as" is receiving auditory information which we then interpret and add to/take away so that it makes sense to our brain and the way we perceive how language is SUPPOSED to be and sound. For example, if we hear the word "we" instead of the word "me" but our brain knows what it is supposed to be in context, out brain will probably 'correct' it so that we think we do hear it AS "me" and we don't even notice the error.
Monday, November 3, 2008
blink #1 (continued)
5. 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 said that in part one of the test, when he had to match faces and words with categories of race and good/bad, he had a hard time putting "glorious" with "good" when "good" was in the "African American" column or "evil" with "bad" when "bad" was paired with "European American". He was mortified that he had to think so much about this and obviously had a strong pro-white association. On the second part of the test, the category pairings were switched, so that "European American" was with "good" and "African American" with "bad". This time, Gladwell had "no trouble at all" pairing the words.
6. 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 any difference how many times Gladwell took the test, he could not score better. He believes that our answers, which take longer to complete when "African American" is paired with "good", measures our "unconscious attitudes" and "immediate, automatic associations". We have pre-formed associations built into out brains by society, our experiences, the media, etc. and that is why we do not score well on this test, not because we are really RACIST.
7. 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.
To some extent I agree with Gladwell as applies to my own life, but I must say, I can't fully be sure because the subconscious associations and opinions Gladwell is talking about, if I make them, I do not really KNOW I am making them. However, I have noticed that sometimes I will catch myself making pre-judgements, and I am pretty shocked because "within myself" I believe all races and genders are equal and that judgements, pre-associations/generalizations without good reasoning should not be made. Yet, because I have seen so many films with black "gangstas" and such, I live in an area with a high concentration of whites and not much else, etc. I find myself more prone to be think a white person attractive than a black one. Gladwell's theory of course pertains to other areas in my life besides racial associations... Associating women with household duties and a mother role, teenage boys with laziness... only a few of the things that plague my daily subconscious judgements...
8. Does Gladwell feel that it matters if one has a “strongly pro-white pattern of associations?”
He says it does not matter in the sense that it does not deem you RACIST or hateful or a bad person or anything, but it kind of matters in the sense that it can affect the way things work in the world, for example, Gladwell says "if you have a strongly pro-white pattern of associations... that will affect the way you behave in the presence of a black person."
9. How does the Warren Harding error impact the business world?
Subconsciously, people tend to assume that because a a person is a man, tall, good/strong-looking, etc, he is more fit for the job or is more reliable. Thus they will be less likely to hire a woman, a black person, a fat person, or a short person, because of these previously formed associations. This can lead to a certain group of people, say, tall, white men, getting most of the jobs/positions/respect or whatever.
10. How does Bob Golomb’s strategy defeat the Warren Harding error?
According to Gladwell, Golomb is an expert at thin-slicing; he reads customers in moments and figures out what they are going through, how they are feeling, and how he should treat them accordingly. His two rules are to "take care of the customer" and to treat everyone like they have the same chance of buying a car, whether they are black, white, male, female, old, young... They could all buy a car today, so be polite and treat them nice. Take care of them. This is precisely what Golomb does, he does not prejudge people because he knows that prejudgements can be very wrong and people can surprise you and end up buying a car when you thought they looked to poor, etc. People love Golomb and are much more likely to buy a car from someone who treats them with respect and not just like a stupid customer to pull money out of.
11. What were the results of the Ayres study? What does Gladwell believe to be the explanation for these results?
The results of the study, in which each person on the "team" appeared equal and said and did the same exact things, were that white men were offered the lowest prices on cars, white women the second least, then black women, and finally black men with the highest offers on car prices. Gladwell believes that extreme racism or even a conscious decision to label the blacks/women as "lay-downs" was NOT the cause of these results but rather that it was the unconscious associations between women and minorities and "lay-downs" instilled by society, past experiences, what other car sellers have said, etc. that caused them to notice the biggest facts about these customers, race and gender, and make that slip-second link.
12. 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 believes that we can better our score by reading/hearing about black people doing good things, like Martin Luther King, right before taking the test, and then we will have an easier time associating good things with black people. He thinks that we can apply this to our lives by exposing ourselves on a regular basis to minorities and "the best of their culture" so that we are familiar and comfortable with them and prevent our natural hesitation and discomfort towards unfamiliar things. I agree, in theory at least (I have not had much experience actually USING this technique, so I cannot really speak for its effectiveness), that this would help with our thin-slicing problem. For example, before participating in Operation Smile in Honduras, I viewed several pictures of children with cleft pallets, and learned some about it. I think this helped me not to be so shocked when I arrived and saw all these disfigured children who look so different than the privledged, healthy kids I am used to seeing.
Gladwell said that in part one of the test, when he had to match faces and words with categories of race and good/bad, he had a hard time putting "glorious" with "good" when "good" was in the "African American" column or "evil" with "bad" when "bad" was paired with "European American". He was mortified that he had to think so much about this and obviously had a strong pro-white association. On the second part of the test, the category pairings were switched, so that "European American" was with "good" and "African American" with "bad". This time, Gladwell had "no trouble at all" pairing the words.
6. 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 any difference how many times Gladwell took the test, he could not score better. He believes that our answers, which take longer to complete when "African American" is paired with "good", measures our "unconscious attitudes" and "immediate, automatic associations". We have pre-formed associations built into out brains by society, our experiences, the media, etc. and that is why we do not score well on this test, not because we are really RACIST.
7. 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.
To some extent I agree with Gladwell as applies to my own life, but I must say, I can't fully be sure because the subconscious associations and opinions Gladwell is talking about, if I make them, I do not really KNOW I am making them. However, I have noticed that sometimes I will catch myself making pre-judgements, and I am pretty shocked because "within myself" I believe all races and genders are equal and that judgements, pre-associations/generalizations without good reasoning should not be made. Yet, because I have seen so many films with black "gangstas" and such, I live in an area with a high concentration of whites and not much else, etc. I find myself more prone to be think a white person attractive than a black one. Gladwell's theory of course pertains to other areas in my life besides racial associations... Associating women with household duties and a mother role, teenage boys with laziness... only a few of the things that plague my daily subconscious judgements...
8. Does Gladwell feel that it matters if one has a “strongly pro-white pattern of associations?”
He says it does not matter in the sense that it does not deem you RACIST or hateful or a bad person or anything, but it kind of matters in the sense that it can affect the way things work in the world, for example, Gladwell says "if you have a strongly pro-white pattern of associations... that will affect the way you behave in the presence of a black person."
9. How does the Warren Harding error impact the business world?
Subconsciously, people tend to assume that because a a person is a man, tall, good/strong-looking, etc, he is more fit for the job or is more reliable. Thus they will be less likely to hire a woman, a black person, a fat person, or a short person, because of these previously formed associations. This can lead to a certain group of people, say, tall, white men, getting most of the jobs/positions/respect or whatever.
10. How does Bob Golomb’s strategy defeat the Warren Harding error?
According to Gladwell, Golomb is an expert at thin-slicing; he reads customers in moments and figures out what they are going through, how they are feeling, and how he should treat them accordingly. His two rules are to "take care of the customer" and to treat everyone like they have the same chance of buying a car, whether they are black, white, male, female, old, young... They could all buy a car today, so be polite and treat them nice. Take care of them. This is precisely what Golomb does, he does not prejudge people because he knows that prejudgements can be very wrong and people can surprise you and end up buying a car when you thought they looked to poor, etc. People love Golomb and are much more likely to buy a car from someone who treats them with respect and not just like a stupid customer to pull money out of.
11. What were the results of the Ayres study? What does Gladwell believe to be the explanation for these results?
The results of the study, in which each person on the "team" appeared equal and said and did the same exact things, were that white men were offered the lowest prices on cars, white women the second least, then black women, and finally black men with the highest offers on car prices. Gladwell believes that extreme racism or even a conscious decision to label the blacks/women as "lay-downs" was NOT the cause of these results but rather that it was the unconscious associations between women and minorities and "lay-downs" instilled by society, past experiences, what other car sellers have said, etc. that caused them to notice the biggest facts about these customers, race and gender, and make that slip-second link.
12. 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 believes that we can better our score by reading/hearing about black people doing good things, like Martin Luther King, right before taking the test, and then we will have an easier time associating good things with black people. He thinks that we can apply this to our lives by exposing ourselves on a regular basis to minorities and "the best of their culture" so that we are familiar and comfortable with them and prevent our natural hesitation and discomfort towards unfamiliar things. I agree, in theory at least (I have not had much experience actually USING this technique, so I cannot really speak for its effectiveness), that this would help with our thin-slicing problem. For example, before participating in Operation Smile in Honduras, I viewed several pictures of children with cleft pallets, and learned some about it. I think this helped me not to be so shocked when I arrived and saw all these disfigured children who look so different than the privledged, healthy kids I am used to seeing.
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