Assignment Takeaway for A5
This assignment was relatively simple, however it did drain a bit of my social battery. I found it interesting to pay attention to everyone’s reactions, this is something I’ve never done before— I usually complete the act without really paying attention to what people feel. I didn’t really like paying attention to how people responded to my niceness, because I felt like I was being nice for selfish reasons. I think I learned a little about the people that surround me during this assignment. I realized how much my roommate appreciated having newer clothes, I saw that my coworker was less annoying the next day, and my mother was happier. I don’t feel that these actions becoming obligatory would make me a happier person, I think I would eventually get annoyed enough to become a recluse.
Assignment Takeaway for A3
At first, I was hesitant to even complete this assignment, however I was granted the ability to change the discussion of the essay which made me more comfortable with completing it. I have found that in a scholastic sense, it is very easy to cross the line of ‘devil’s advocate’ and ‘racist sympathizer’ and the wording of the assignment was pushing towards the latter. Michael Richard was, at the moment in the video, being racist. I find it interesting that this type of blatant racism is still under consideration in 2020. There was not much to learn or takeaway from this assignment as a person who has experienced racism and other forms of prejudice, but maybe it would have been helpful for maybe those who haven’t: However, they still would not understand the depth of concern with this man’s words and body language and hate in his voice.
Assignment Takeaway for A2
I learned that I don’t know much about myself from this assignment. I know a lot of superficial information about myself, but I feel that I haven’t introspected for quite some time and I may have lost connection with myself. This could be due to a lot of things; such as not attending therapy since last December or possibly failing to keep a strict schedule after I parted the military. I feel that I had trouble picking pictures that showed who I was because I don’t really know who I am. I honestly felt more like this meme below:
I felt this way because I had no idea who I was or how I became who I am today.
Assignment Takeaway for A1
What I have learned from this module and about heuristics is that our brains are basically robots with self-evolving codes. Heuristics essentially create a shortcut for thoughts and actions. I learned that bias can come from heuristics in ways I have never imagined and can’t wait to meditate on later. I believe the first time I heard of heuristics was in 9th or 10th grade when a University of Washington psychology professor came to talk to us about biases and prejudices. He started the lecture by asking those who have been bias or prejudice against another person or group of people to stand up— of course not many are willing to admit this, so not many were standing. After he asked the few to take their seats again, he went into explaining that biases and prejudices can be shortcuts that our brains form a pattern of understanding (no matter how long the pattern has been present) to how we should react the next time the concern presents itself. After explaining this in much more detail than I just have, he asked people to stand if someone had been bias or prejudice against them (without causing a scene, and keeping the offender anonymous)— this time many more people stood. I think this shows that our brain doesn’t recognize something as bad until new information is received, example gratia a new code for the computer to run on and comprehend. I now know that he was describing representative and availability heuristics — of which I am profoundly grateful I have found a more direct and discreet term for bias and prejudice to help my friends and family understand why I have an issue with some comments, jokes, or behaviors.