Too Much Emotion

In chapter ten, the too much emotion chapter, I found that the appeal to spite was an interesting topic. I found that an appeal to spite is the hope of getting revenge and is rejected as bad by some people on moral grounds. I thought it was funny how it evokes the two wrongs make a right saying as well. A perfect example of an appeal to spite would be if a friend asked you to help out with something, and another friend reminds you that the other friend never really helps you out anymore with anything. People's ability to play off of emotions is very convenient for those who need to persuade others in a short amount of time. The appeal to spite is one of the most commonly known ways to advertise next to appeal to pity and appeal to fear. Most writers see this very clearly which is why they use it in the first place.

Variation in the Population

Variation in the population was one of the topics in chapter fourteen of the Epstein book that I found to be rather intriguing. Different kinds of variation depends on the size of the sample and the random sampling that is taken from the given sample size. If there is a small sample then the variation will be minimal, whereas if the sample is very large then the sample will have a demanding amount of variation. In the event of a extremely large sample, random sampling is the better way to go about getting a good representative sample of the population. An example of variation in the population would be if someone said that all new Pc computers with microsoft word will have the newest up to date version of microsoft word. That's a hasty generalization for it but it is good because all of the newest PC computers are alike and should have the same basic programs.

Good Group Members/Good Group

Of all the topics discussed throughout the semester, I've found that in the book The Essential Guide to Group Communication by Dan O' Hair and Mary O. Wiemann, chapter two Participating in Small Group Communication was the most interesting. I especially liked the part where the book talked about what makes a good group member, where it discussed the “key competencies for individual success in group work” (O' Hair & Wiemann, 10). These key competencies include applying critical thinking, making use of attributions, monitoring perceptions, and overcoming communication apprehension. I agree with the book on all of these competencies because they help to make a group work better together if every member follows these simple key items. I also thought that the section on what makes a good group was just as helpful as the section on what makes a good group member because now the whole group can follow a set of rules together as well as individually.

Cause and Effect

During the reading for this week's discussion I found that the section on criteria for cause and effect was very interesting. Epstein states that there are certain criteria to go by when using cause and effect with claims.

The cause happened (The claim describing it is true.)
The effect happened (The claim describing it is true.)
The cause precedes the effect it is (nearly) impossible for the cause to happen (be true) and the effect not to happen (be false), given the normal conditions.
The cause makes a difference-if the cause had not happened (been true) the effect would not have happened (been true).
There is no common cause.

I feel that this criteria really helps someone out if they are confused as to how to use it when making a claim, and yet on the other hand it could be quite confusing to others. I think that if people took the time to really think about the criteria it would really help. Without this criteria I think I would have had more trouble understanding how to use cause and effect with claims.

Appeal to Emotion: Fear

Out of all the appeals to emotion I found that appealing to fear was the most interesting. I found that mostly politicians and advertisers use this type of appeal to manipulate people into buying the proposed product or to vote a certain way. Also it is used in everyday life such as driving and in making other critical life decisions.

An example of an appeal to emotion would be like Someone telling someone they should not drive fast in the snow or bad weather. The other person might ask why not but then the first person just has to throw in the other person's life. The second person then starts taking in and thinking of the damage it could cause if they crashed or something else serious had happened. This is a good argument because the first person uses the appeal to emotion in a good and appropriate way so that the second person is not scared into making a bad decision.

Navy Seals=Patriotism

We see an appeal to patriotism on a daily basis, from the marine corp advertisements on the television, to the old fashioned “I want you!” advertisements with Uncle Sam pointing down at the unsuspecting boy/girl. The most appealing advertisements to society in the present years have been the marine corp, army, and navy commercials and advertisements in magazines. An example of this ever so loving appeal to patriotism would be this:

Your watching television and it goes to commercial time. The screen becomes dark, with different shades of black and blue. You see the moon shining brightly and hear and see waves gently crashing into the shore of a beach. Everything seems so serene and calm as clouds slowly move across the moon. The screen becomes completely black for a couple seconds and the the sight of the ocean and the moon come back into view, only now there are footprints in the wet sand. The water comes up and washes the footprints away as if no one was even there and the website for the navy seals is displayed in the middle of the screen as the commercial comes to a close.

The underlying argument is that if you become a navy seal, you will become as stealthy and quiet as they men were in the commercial. This happens to be a very good argument (even though it wasn't said) because of the impact it has on the American heart. This advertisement especially appeals to younger boys and men in high school because they are still figuring out what they want to do and are always wanting to show their “tough side”.

Project #2

I found that the second project was much better than the first project. I say this because I liked how we had to analyze an organization (popular or not), and then use what we have been learning and apply it to real life. I thought it was interesting how each site had at least a fallacy or some type of reasoning being used on the site. It is funny how sites use these tools willingly and acknowledgeable. Also it was interesting to see how each type of technique was used by each company. Many companies seemed to use pathos (the emotional appeal) to draw in their audiences. Also it was interesting to see that the companies used these things in their own documents (which some were sent into the government). All in all I enjoyed doing this research project more than the first one because of the reasons mentioned above.