Artifact 5:
For the final artifact I chose module 4 which had me view a video that revolved around exaggerated media coverage of crime rate and showed countless examples of the Availability and Representativeness heuristic. This video showed how media can spread false statistics to the public and often show media coverage of things that are tragic and extreme to scare the public. More often than none the things shown on the news channels are of events that do not happen as often as we are mad to think such as terrorist attacks and shark attacks. I remember viewing a couple of shocking things in the video, but the most shocking was of parents getting chips implanted in their children’s teeth just in case they were abducted or killed. I just think that it is sad that these parents think they need to go to this extreme and they are constantly thinking something terrible is going to happen to their baby. I also thought it was interesting that the host of this video would be telling people throughout the video that crime rate was not increasing, but they did not believe him. I think this is because they have had it drilled into their heads that there is a constant rise in crime rate, but that is only because the news chooses to allow broadcasting of negative stories about criminal acts. Both the availability and representativeness heuristic is used during this video, but one example of this stood out to me while watching. Since the media constantly covers stories of children getting kidnapped and murdered it is no wonder parents are going to extreme lengths to protect their kids because they are constantly hearing about all these tragic occurrences.
I chose this image because this was disturbing to me. The fact that parents feel the need to go to this extent just to know where their kids are or in case something tragic happens to them they can find them. I feel like this definitely represents the availability heuristic because they are automatically thinking that this is going to happen to their child because they saw it happen on the news.
Artifact 4:
For the next artifact I chose module 14 which was about happiness and required me to complete a Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS). My results for the SHS were kind of sad…I scored a 4 out of 7 which the average for a college student was below a 5 so I suppose I am at an okay score considering I am a college student, however the average for people in general is a 4.5-5.5 which is actually not all that great. I was then asked what I personally thought happiness was. I believe happiness is being content with where you are at in your life. I believe that there are different levels of happiness and that people experience them throughout their life at different times. Some cultural expectations that can influence whether an individual is “happy” or not is if they have a good career, a nice house, happy marriage, children, lots of money and no debt. However, it is not as easy as it seems to achieve these expectations and a lot of people do not ever obtain all of them, but that does not mean they are not happy. But I believe happiness comes from within and that material things do not fill a void in someone’s heart.
I chose this image of a wife and husband with their children because I believe this image captures happiness beautifully. To have a loving husband and be surrounded by children is important to me and would make me extremely happy.
Artifact 3:
For the next artifact I chose module 7 which revolved around attitude and behavior. I had to take an attitude and behavior survey and talk about my results and whether I felt there were any inconsistencies. One inconsistency I discussed was about one of the questions asked in the attitude survey which asked whether I thought homelessness was a social issue in which I replied yes, but in my behavior survey I was asked if I have done anything to help and I replied no. So even though I agree that homelessness is an issue that deserves attention my behavior does not show that I think this. Cognitive Dissonance was also discussed which is when you feel one way, but do the complete opposite. I gave an example of a time I displayed Cognitive Dissonance which is when I was vacationing in Mexico last summer. I was drinking alcohol even though I knew that in the US the legal age was 21. However, I justified this behavior because the legal drinking age in Mexico is 18.
I chose this picture of Homer Simpson with the angel and devil on his shoulder because I feel this represents the concept of Cognitive Dissonance and have that contradictory feeling of what you believe versus what you should do.
Artifact 2:
For the next artifact I chose module 9 because it was a very interesting topic and it allowed me to see for myself whether it was true that men looked for more sexual and physical relationships and women looked for a more stable and emotionally connected relationship. I had to view the ClassifiedAds website and look at what men and women were both seeking in a relationship. Men seemed to want a sexual, non-commitment and casual relationship and I could not see any trend in age or what they saw as a “beautiful” woman. For women they wanted a relationship that was more based on maturity and emotional connection. They were seeking honesty, loyalty and a long-term relationship. I did see, however that most of the women wanted older men…I suppose because most older men seem to have their life together and know what they want in a relationship. For this item I learned that there are major differences between the genders and what they are seeking in a relationship.
For my visual I created a table of what men and women are seeking in a relationship.
| MEN | WOMEN |
| Sexual Relationship | Long term relationships |
| Fun, non-serious and casual | Mature, honest and respectful |
| No age specificity | Wanted older men |
Artifact 1:
I chose Module 3’s artifact as my favorite because I really enjoyed hearing the opinions of the people I chose. It was interesting to compare what they believed in versus what I thought to be true. For this item to archive I had to chose some people and ask whether they believe that similarity leads to attraction or if opposites attract. I asked three people each for the two statements and out of all 6 only one disagreed with the statement presented which was that similarity leads to attraction. For this item I learned that it really depends on the person whether they believe if similarity leads to attraction or if being opposites of one another actually leads more to attraction. However, it seems to me that the majority believes in both statements.
I chose the image of a solar eclipse because although the sun and moon are opposites of one another they can still become one to create something beautiful. I chose the image of the two snails looking at a tape dispenser as a potential love interest because of how similar they were in shape and size. Even though this is just a cute little clip art this is true in real life because a lot of people are drawn to others because they are similar.
