Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Research Question

For my data-driven research paper I will be writing about the topic of, talking to a therapist. This topic interests me because, I have recently been thinking about pursuing a therapist as my career. The actual question I will be researching is: What does Literature reveal about talking to a therapist?
  

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Cognitive Biases Essay

          In the article, "Why the Death Penalty Needs to Die", by, Nick Gillespie, there are many bias arguments made. Throughout the writing, Nick forms his opinion on whether the death penalty is a good way to punish people. There are many biases in Gillespie's defense such as: bandwagon effect, pessimism bias, and the framing effect. 

          Nick uses the bandwagon effect first when he is making one of his arguments. He is trying to express his opinion towards the inefficiency of the death penalty,but he doesn't form his own opinion. Gillespie just sides with his particular political group. "As a libertarian, I'm not surprised that the state is so incompetent that it can't even kill people efficiently." Gillespie only forms this opinion because it's what his"group" believes. 

          Gillespie uses the pessimism bias next, when he is discussing the uncanny costs of the death penalty. "I'm sure death costs more in California (everything else does) than in other states, but there's just never going to be a way to make it less than a huge waste of taxpayer money." Nick's opinion is an example of the pessimism effect because he is just assuming that since California is more expensive with other things, that the costs to pursue the death penalty will be more there too. 

          "So the death penalty wastes money," said Nick,"has no effect on murder rates, and is sometimes tossed at innocent people. Those three reasons are more than enough to end it once and for all." In this argument, Gillespie uses the framing effect. He is able to form three conclusions from the same information. 

          In Nick Gillespie's attempt to persuade his readers that the death penalty is a bad thing, many cognitive biases are used by him. It's debatable whether or not he's write, but it's not debatable that he uses bias opinions throughout his article. Does this make Nick's argument stronger or weaker? That's up to you. 

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Who is Cody Aranjo?

                You might think that you know Cody Aranjo, but I can almost guarantee you that I know him better, because, recently, I got the opportunity to sit down with him and learn everything about him and his life.  So, if you want to learn more about Cody and his interesting attributes, keep reading.

            Cody is a 16 year old junior at Norton high school. He was born on March 27, 1998, weighing in at 7.6 pounds. Cody has 4 siblings, consisting of three brothers and 1 sister. The order of the children from oldest to youngest is, David, Brian, Cody, Kyle, and Rylee. The Aranjo family also has some pets. Cody has a dog and two fish, his dog is a cavachon named Biscuit. I asked Cody what he would have as his weirdest pet, and he replied quickly with, “a goat, and my parents almost bought me one, but if they don’t have another one with them, the get too lonely.”

            Chicken nuggets or chicken tenders? Cody would prefer, “nuggets, but they have to be the dinosaur ones form stop and shop.” Although Cody likes chicken nuggets, his favorite food it steak, and his favorite place to order it from is Longhorn. Mr. Aranjo loves his coffee. When I asked him if he drank coffee he answered: “Yes,” quickly and continued with, “I usually drink it twice a day too!” He also likes to get his coffee and donuts from Dunkin Donuts. His favorite dount is a blueberry donut.

            Cody is a very passionate person and he enjoys listening to music very much. His favorite type of music is, “Country, but I can also listen to rap or hip hop. So, basically, anything popular.” Cody’s favorite store is: “Apple, because I love technology, and I am always buying the newest iPhone.” Since Cody’s very interested in technology, I was wondering what his most used app is, and it is Instagram. Cody is, “Portuguese, and like 3% Irish.” This is a very unique combination of nationalities, which makes Cody even more interesting.

Now, if you thought you knew Cody before, you probably didn’t, but now you most definitely do. I hope you can realize how amazing and fun Cody is, because I did.  Wish Cody Aranjo good luck in the future in whatever he does.