Analyzing Steven Pinker's 'The Stuff Of Thought'

Talking, it is a form of communication that we as people do because it is our human nature to. AS humans “conversation is a ritual” (327), we speak without thinking of other meanings that our words could mean. We don’t think about appropriation, the way others may think, or take other feelings into account. WE as humans speak to interact because as mentioned earlier “Conversation is a ritual” (327). When it comes to talking there is no right way, the way society communicates it can “mislead, distort, inflate, circumvent, obfuscate” one another.

2.) Answer the following questions based on a reading of the above document and material from your textbook.

Besides literal uses for cuss words (as verbs), over two-thirds of all swearing is linked in expressing some kind of emotional connotation. These help with expressing the speaker’s anger, frustration, and surprise (“son of a bitch”, “f*ck me!”, “holy shit!”) which are done in emotional outbursts of these single words, also known as epithets. In addition profanity has a direct connection with emotional response in that when one utters one of these “worser words” it helps increase heart rate and work as an analgesic, showing how it can help manage emotional pain as it has a direct connection. One such emotional connection could be noted in the use of “FUBAR” (F*ucked up beyond all recognition) in the movie Saving Private Ryan to help the convey the soldiers emotions in how sick of they were of the war. Commonly physical fights take place to help express emotional pain or anger, these are normally avoided by voicing this anger through these taboo words. For example one can use name calling (bitch, asshole), or curse in the form of a put down (eat shit and die) all spur emotional responses and can help avoid physical confrontations by giving a voice to inner feelings. This is commonly seen in rap songs where many cuss words are used to unveil inner feelings. Such the rap group NWA used

3. Describe at least one connection between the reading and topics from outside class (other classes, news stories you’ve seen, etc.)?

3. Assignment 1 Part B is due on Tuesday the 29th of March 2016. DONE

In this TEDTalk, Steven Pinker introduced an interesting trend in societal violence. The talk began by presenting fax that showed a dramatic decrease in the amount of violent crime beginning as far back as the earliest human hunter-gatherers. In many places during that time period, the chances of dying at the hands of another human were as high is sixty percent. Although the media and people tend to believe we are living in a time of extreme violence, we are actually living during one of the most peaceful times in human history. Even though the 20th Century witnessed tragedies such as the Holocaust, Rwanda, Stalin’s mass executions, and two World Wars, the chances of a human by violent means was less than three percent.

Your assignment is to read his short article, attached above, and respond to each of the questions below. The basis for your answers should

Discuss how the reading material from your textbook aligns with the issues presented in the videos. (1-2 paragraphs)

IV. Preview: In order to discuss this topic, I will cover these three main points.

For your final paper, you must convince me that you learned in this class. How? Keep reading….

As you study this chapter, read several paragraphs at a time to catch the flow of ideas and understand the

Steven Pinker made a compelling argument against Blank Slate or at least makes you wonder if man is without nature. He uses a lot of logos to compel his audience to at least listen to his theory. For this, he used multiple examples from the separated twin case that were reunited and had similarities to how different cultures can have similarities that can be across the earth. One problem I had was with the separated twin case were one was raised catholic Nazi and the other Jewish and how Pinker only talked about similarities they had and not also the differences or at least the average similarities cases like this have. It is true these cases might have high correlations in similar actions but they could be just a coincidence if a majority

Each week we will have an online discussion of the material assigned – text chapters, videos, audios, articles, etc. ‐‐by your instructor. These discussions are for the purpose of exploring the assignments, the ideas presented, your

Answer the “Questions for Discussion” using the book, your knowledge and ideas and class material.

QUESTION 3:Choose one of the theoretical approhes considered during the module, apply it to a particular issue or text and discuss how useful that approach is in analyzing, evaluating or questioning your chosen topic.