I don’t believe that any of the artifacts was more or less useful than any of the others- not enough so to rank them- so, instead of listing them in numerical order, I’ve listed them in the order that they appear.

Artifact A

The artifact for module 7 was the first one that really stood out to me from this unit. What was of particular interest to me though is that it was an artifact that was supposed to make me experience and think about dissonance, but there was none. My opinions about each of the things I asked about lined up with how I lived my life in relation to those opinions. Still, I understood the point of the assignment and was able to come up with a few things on my own, situations where my belief don’t regularly match my actions.

A quote representing the essence of the assignment.

Artifact B

The artifact from module 8 was one of my favorites because stereotypes are quite intriguing to me; they aren’t true for every single individual within the group, however, they have to come from patterns seen in the majority of those in the group. They don’t come from thin air. However, they may also be quite outdated. I thought it was very interesting to see which of my perceived stereotypes lined up with ones that others had and which ones didn’t. I think it was also interesting to explore which of the given adjectives most fit a stereotype without being able to use my own adjectives. However, I did notice that the majority of the adjectives provided were negative.

The comparisons between my choices and the choices of Katz, Barly, and Gilbert.

Artifact C

The artifact from module 11 was an interesting one for me because I immediately knew the people I was going to choose and round-about where I was going to rank them, but then once I actually got to filling in the chart… I wasn’t so sure anymore. It’s very hard to pen people down as a very black or white thing when people are so much more complex than that! It was very difficult to say whether or not someone is one thing or another when its so much more complicated than that; people can express traits on both end of the spectrum, and with equal frequency. However, I did manage to come up with a list with pretty solid justifications, even if it didn’t feel quite right.

My list and matrix.

Artifact D

The artifact from module 12 was similar to the last artifact because scenarios aren’t as black and white as these activities try to make them out to be. Though I had a tendency to say that anything intentional, pre-meditated, emotionally laced, or that took more than passive feelings to do should be counted as aggressive; whereas anything that was accidental, passive, responsibility, or survival instinct I said shouldn’t be considered aggressive. That was an interesting realization.

The list; the things highlighted in yellow were ones that I considered aggressive.

Artifact E

The artifact from module 13 was maybe the most subjective because if I had taken it earlier in the semester I wouldn’t not have scored as highly as I did. The majority of this semester was very mentally and emotionally rough for me for various reasons, but I feel as though I’ve made immense progress over the past few weeks. Therefore, taking the quiz within those weeks made my score a 5, which is considered average. I think that quiz is something that doesn’t really hold up over time and is highly dependent on circumstance. I think it is something that could be taken intermittently and the progress tracked.

The collage of photos off of my Facebook page; these are the living things that make me the happiest in the world.