Question #3

For this weeks reading, I thought that the section titled Cause and Effect in Population was really interesting. I liked how it gave three different types of this along with a definition and examples. The book did a really good job at explain what each one was and made it really simple and easy to follow what the book was talking about. I liked how they broke down each section discussing a control group, cause-to-effect, and also effect-to-cause. The book really makes the differences between the three topics clear and easy to understand. The examples they used to better explain the definitions were really easy to follow and made me get to know what they actually meant. I think that for this particular topic and section in the book, the author did a great job at having the reading be light as easily understandable compared to some of the previous reading we had had in the past.

Question #3

The exercise from the assigned reading that I found helpful and interesting is actually the exercise we had to do for question 2. Going through and reading the five different exercises we could choose from actually helped me better understand the concepts that the chapter was discussing. After reading each choice I actually was able to come up with an example for all five. With each one I was able to come up with an example and in turn was able to better understand what it was wanting us to understand and take from the chapter. I feel like these exercises were useful to do because I felt like I actually got something out of it. I am able to now better understand what each different type of appealing to emotion is and also able to pin point which one is being used in ads and commercials seen on television and/or magazines.

Question #2

#3: The advertisement that I believe is a good example of appealing to ones fear would have to be the anti drug commercials. Within each one of these commercials it shows a small clip of how teens are not in control of their own actions when they are under the influence of drugs. It also shows that teens are not able to think for themselves while under the influence and also how other people can in a way control you and have you do or say things you wouldn’t normally do when you are not under the influence. This I believe shows appealing to the viewers fear by telling them that if they choose to do drugs, they will not be in control of their lives. To me, I find me not being in control of my actions a scary thought and therefore would have to say that seeing this commercial would have a great appeal to my sense of fear.

Quesion #1

According to our book, “Critical Thinking” by Richard L. Epstein, the definition of an appeal to emotion within an argument is “just a premise that says, roughly, you should believe or do something because you feel a certain way. There are four different ways that you could appeal to someone else’s emotions. There is appeal to pity, appealing to fear, appeal to spite, and also appeal to vanity. All four of these are great tactics to get someone to agree with you statement or argument. The one that strikes me the most is appeal to pity. I think this strikes me the most out of the four because I seen this used a lot within our groups last paper we did. We did our paper on the ASPCA, and after doing research we came to the conclusion that they play of peoples emotions and/or their pity for the animals in order to get them to donate.