Week 6: D2

I will be discussing a Pantene advertisement that I came across when I was Amazon.com. I believe that this company has been around for quite some time and everyone in America knows about this brand. There are ads in television, billboards, magazines, and even on the Internet. Pantene normally targets woman consumers because almost all of their ads have a female personal on it. It normally advertises how beautiful their hair can be after they use these products.

In this ad specifically, it tells us that the shampoo will “help end split ends.” I use products from Pantene everyday and I have loads of split ends in my hair. From my personal experience, these products does not do what they say the will do. The smart thing about this ad is that the ad says, “help”. This suggests that the product will not get rid of the split ends completely. Also the model, Eva Mendes, has shiny and what looks like split end free hair. This is not credible because we do not know if she uses the products or not. Also her hair could be photo shop.

I think this product is reliable enough since it does not promise anything, but it does help your hair situations. It on shelves across the United States and I see people buying a bottle of their shampoo every time I walk into Target or another store. Our credibility in buying the product comes from other people who are already buying the product. This product might not solve all your problems but it will help, at least to clean your hair.

Week 6: D1

She is a good volleyball player because she is tall.

As of right now this argument is not very strong at all. There are a lot of loopholes around this argument as someone else can tear it completely down. This argument can be stronger if it has another premise to it. For example a premise like this can be added, a lot of volleyball players are tall. This will make the argument stronger because it states that volleyball players are generally tall. Also we can add in tall people are good in volleyball or good volleyball players are tall. It is hard to fix the argument because there are not enough strong premises to support the conclusion. On top of that tall is a very general term that can be subjective to different people. A four foot ten person can think a five foot two person is tall, but to the overall population this five foot two person is not very tall. This argument only works if everyone who is good at playing volleyball is tall. Overall this argument is hard to repair.

Week 6: D3

One topic that caught my eye was Common Mistakes in Evaluating Premises: Bad Appeals to Authority. In this section of the book it discuss how we accept a claim because we believe the speaker. Authority is very powerful in a sense that we are able to tell lies and make others believe what we are saying. A lot of people believe in a claim because they believe or trust the speaker. In the book it states that we normally treat our friends as authority. I think that this is true because most of us do listen to what our friends have to say. My friends always suggest restaurants to eat for dinner or dessert. They always say how good it is and how I won’t be disappointed so I listen to them and go to the suggested restaurant or dessert place. Sometimes they are right and sometimes they are wrong. Being able to listen and agree with someone is sometimes good and it can sometimes be bad. It is good when the authority knows that he or she is doing and it is bad to listen when he or she does not know what he or she is doing. It is hard not to listen to the person wiser or older than you sometimes, but be cautious at whom you accept the truth from.

Week 4: D1

2. I’m on my way to school. (1) I left five minutes late. (2) Traffic is heavy. (3) Therefore, I’ll be late for class. (4) So I might as well stop and get breakfast. (5)

Argument: Yes

Conclusion: I am going to get breakfast because I am already late for class.

Additional premises needed: It is bumper to bumper traffic, at this pace even if I get to school, all my classes will be over. Since there is no way I will be able to attend class I might as well get some breakfast to feed my hunger.

Identify any sub argument: 1-4

Good argument: I do not think that it is a good argument but it is an okay argument. I feel as if it there were more premises to support it, it would be a good argument. For example if the premises states more of how it does not matter if we attend class or if class is short and there is to way to make it, then the conclusion seems more reasonable. There are a lot of loopholes in this argument when I look at it closely. If the premises has more information about why it is better to skip class then the conclusion will be more valid.

The exercise was a little bit helpful as it breaks down the argument. By breaking it down it help me realize what can make a good or bad argument. I learn how to make a better and more persuasive argument. The exercise shows me how an argument has loopholes and how I can add more premises to make the argument better.

Week 4: D2

A fallacy is a defective argument that has a lot of loopholes in it. The argument can be invalid or weak. It means that the argument does not have a strong premise and there are not any premises to back up the conclusion of the argument. A fallacy can appeal to emotion or have a false dilemma. The argument is bias as it is based on the speaker or writer’s opinion with a bad conclusion.

A real world example would be the sales people that work in the booths that are located in the middle of the mall. I distinctively recall one incident with a sales person at one of those booths. I think it was one of those nail or beauty booths. The sales person stopped me and asked him if I wanted to try their products. I said sure since I had a lot of time to spare anyways. He grabbed my hand and started to buff my nails with one of the products that he was trying to sell. He said, “it is one of the best nail buffers you will ever use in your life, your nails will have shine like a diamond” I did not believe him so after the test I kind of smiled and walked away telling him I will come back next time to get it. The nail buffer was almost twenty dollars, no way am I going to buy that.

This fallacy lies under bad appeal to authority. The sales guy also has to know a lot about the product that they are selling and many consumers will buy into what he says. What he said was very doubtful because I do not know what his point of view is with nail buffers. It can be the only nail buffer he has ever tried so he thinks it is the best even though there is a lot of nail buffers out in the world that could be better. Also nails cannot shine like a diamond no matter how hard you try to buff the nail. Of course there are people that will believe the salesman but I did not and walked away.

Week 4: D3

For this week I pick Organizational Relationships from The Essential Guide to Group Communication book. Communication with people within a group is very important in order for the group to achieve. One of the relationships is between the superiors and subordinates. This one speaks out to me a lot because I see this every day in where I work. For example, today I had to talk to my boss for about half an hour to discuss with him what is going on with what I am doing and how I am interacting with my fellow co-workers. The relationships between team leaders and team members are also a crucial relationship in a group. I also agree with Theory Z, which means that manager and the members of the group to participate in decision-makings. I like this theory because it does get everyone involved in what they are going to do and what they need to strive in. A manager needs to make sure the group is doing well together and that everyone is contributing to the team. I like how the book says that the manager or leader is like a coach that helps the team. I can see that because an effective manager will always be encouraging and providing a good example for the rest of the team to follow. An organizational department relationship is also important because it can help the company strive and work effectively towards the company goal. When two departments work together it brings out better results because they have a good understanding of what they need to do and what the others are doing.

Week 3: D1

A good argument is considered good if they pass through these tests.

1. The premises are plausible.

2. The premises are more plausible than the conclusion

3. The argument is valid or strong.

The argument: He does not like to eat anything that is colored green. Vegetables are green. Therefore, he does not eat vegetables.

It can be reasonable that a person does not like to eat anything green. People can develop weird habits and maybe eating green colored food degusts them. It can be proven that he does not eat anything that is green. The second statement is also plausible because vegetables are green. The sentence does not say “all” because clearly not all vegetables are green. It is a vague statement since most vegetables are considered green. In reality there are vegetables such as beets, carrots, and pumpkin that he can be eat because they are not green.

The conclusion could be true, but it is only if the person really does not eat any vegetables at all, including the vegetables that are not green. The argument is weak and invalid because we cannot determine if the person eats vegetables such as carrots or other vegetables that are not green.

Week 3: D2

Arguments are statements in which we use to convince someone of something that we believe in. The two kinds of arguments we use to convince people is a strong or valid argument. Strong and valid arguments are pretty similar to each other. Normally a strong argument is better than a valid one.

A valid argument is an argument has a true premise and conclusion. Valid arguments tend to not persuade the listener because the speaker is boring and probably speak with less confidence. An example of a valid argument is a student giving a speech that they do not know anything about or they do not care for. Even though he or she might be saying five plus five equals ten (a true argument), because of the way he or she carries out the message, the audience might not believe the speaker right away.

A strong argument has a premise that can be true or false. It normally has a lot of concrete facts and details so that the audiences actually believes the argument. An example of this is election campaigns. Clearly a lot of the people who are running for office are lying about something that they are saying, but people still believe what they say they are going to do. This is because when the candidates speak in the crowd they use a very strong and powerful voice with confidence. Most of the time they will yell out certain points such as “I will provide jobs” just to get voters to believe in them.

This proves that the way people speak or tone of the speech affects the effectiveness of the argument and statement.

Week 3: D3

The concept that appealed to me was Effective Leadership from the Group Communications book. A leader is someone who has a lot of power within in a group of people but it does not mean that he or she is an effective leader. I agree with the book in that leaders should bring about desirable outcomes, enhance credibility with the group and inspire and motivate people of the group to participate. I was one of the captains on my volleyball team during my senior year so I am going to use this as an example in explaining effective leadership.

Being in a group means that everyone has their eye on the goal. The leader needs lead the people towards that certain goal. If the leader does not help the group go closer to a goal of even bring desirable outcomes, the leader does not have very much effect. For example, if my volleyball team never won a game, it means that my co-captains and I did not do a very good job in helping our team win.

An experience leader is a big plus. No one wants a leader who does not know anything about what they are doing. The other captains and I played volleyball since our freshman year, which meant that we knew the rules of the game and how to play the game. As leaders we were given respect because we knew how to play the game well. They can also come to us at any time to ask questions and we will always be ready to give them answers.

The leader should also cheer and inspire members of the group. I was one of the quieter captains but it did not stop me from encouraging others on my team. I am always pulling some of my teammates aside to tell them what they did well on. One thing I recall doing a lot was encouraging one of my middle blocker of the team to block more by telling her “block for a block”. This encouraged her and she was always determined to match my blocking stats.

Leaders need to be effective so that the group can carry out a good outcome.

Week 2: D3

The concept I picked is from the Group Communication book named Goal Setting in Groups under Techniques for Improving Communication in Groups. I believe that setting a goal in a group is very important. It is nice to see what everyone is working and trying to strive for. When a group does not have a goal that they are working for, everyone who is in the group tend to start doing their own thing and not contribute anything toward the group. By having a goal it also helps the group figure out how close or how far they are from the goal. Members of the group will be able to analyze to see what needs to be done in order to obtain the goal. A goal also keeps the group in tact and organized so one in the group is lost or confused.

I worked with many different types of people in groups and I have seen the difference within a group with a goal and a group without a goal. In high school we had periods where it was dedicated to group work so that we can as a group work on our assigned projects because the teachers knew that it was hard sometimes to get together. I remember during freshman year of high school I had one of those periods and our group did nothing at all. We would sit there either talking or doing something else because half the time we do not know what in the world we need to do. When I was a senior things changed and we used the period more efficiently as a group. During these periods we would set a goal of what has to be done so that we can finish our projects. Sometimes we met the goals and sometimes we did not but it was okay because we were productive and we did not waste our time sitting behind our desk and staring at the wall.

Week 2: D2

A vague sentence means it is a sentence that the audience can interpret and assume something totally different from what the speaker means. The speaker is the one who actually knows the real meaning of the sentence. The sentence is usually a general sentence without much detail.

Someone would ask me this, “how are you doing today?” and I would reply, “I am doing ok”. This little conversation would always come up when you haven’t seen someone in a while or even a couple days.

“I am doing okay” is a very vague sentence. The audience can interpret “okay” as the person is doing all right and there is nothing-special going on with them that day. There can also be an interpretation that that the person is doing better so their day is consider okay, but not great because nothing special happened. While all this assumption is going through the audience’s mind, the speaker could really mean okay as in they are not having a good day and they are just getting by so they are okay.

Often time’s people would even reply to me “just okay? What do you mean okay?” It is because they do not know the meaning of “okay” and they want to make sure that they have the right definition of “okay”