Introduction to Psychology: Judgments

On Tuesday, February 10, we visited Professor Myriam Mongrain's Introduction to Psychology course. The topic was thinking, with information about problem-solving, judgments, and problems that people have when we try to do these things.

When we first came into the lecture hall, it seemed like there was a party. There were a lot of people there, maybe 500, and there was music a high volume (the lecture hall had a good sound system). The songs were “Stupid Girl” by Garbage, and “Paper Planes” by M.I.A. These are popular songs, and good choices for the lecture topic. (Neo says he knows “Stupid Girl” by Pink, but not by Garbage).

So Professor Mongrain is fashionable – both in clothes and in the choice of music. Even if York students come from lots of different cultures, if they are mostly the same age, they will all know these songs. It’s international pop culture. Apparently, she knows them, too. We looked back through her powerpoint lectures to see what songs she used for other lectures, like Bon Jovi and Amy Winehouse (“Rehab” for the lecture on “Hypnosis and Drugs”). When she stopped the music, that was a good signal to show when the lecture was going to start.

Students around us were mostly taking notes (we thought about 50% of those were using regular notebooks and pens, about 30% had laptops, and about 20% had printouts of the powerpoint slides in notes format). But some were doing other things, like chatting on MSN, online shopping, chatting, and flirting. Ella and Neo saw a couple in the row in front of us. The guy was trying to pick up the girl, and she was o.k. with that.

Most of the students looked like non-native English speakers, Ahmad says maybe 85%. Most of those were Asian, but lots of them were Indian, too, and there were some Latin American people and others, like African. There were a few, but not too many, in traditional Muslim clothing.

Professor Mongrain started by giving some good advice about the exam the students will have next week. She told them what to study and what not to worry about. She told them that the short answer questions would probably come from her lectures, and the multiple-choice questions might come from the textbook only. She also said they should use the powerpoint slides to help them guess the questions that might appear on the exam.

Problems with problem solving include functional fixedness or the way mental sets help or hinder. Stress leads to fixation.

Problems with judgments include

the overconfidence effect

the availability heuristic

the representativeness heuristic

the conjunction fallacy, framing, and

the alternative outcomes effect (an example of "bounded rationality," which is an idea from economics).


We wonder which problem with judgement the following old Taoist story is about:


The Farmer’s Luck

There was once an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years.

One day, his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit.

“Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.

“Maybe,” the farmer replied.

The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it two other wild horses.

“Such good luck!” the neighbors exclaimed.

“Maybe,” replied the farmer.

The next day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown off, and broke his leg.

Again, the neighbors came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.

“Such bad luck,” they said.

“Maybe,” answered the farmer.

The day after that, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army to fight in a war. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by.

“Such good luck!” cried the neighbors.

“Maybe,” said the farmer.

(this version comes from Jon J. Muth's Zen Shorts)



Or how about this story from Saudi Arabia:

The King and his Advisor: "la allahu khair"

There was a king who had an advisor always by his side. After an unfortunate incident, the king lost one of his fingers. The king, who was furious after this incident, tells the advisor what happened.

The advisor simply replies "la-alahu khair" which translates into "perhaps it’s for the best"

The King was appalled that this was all his advisor could say after such a tragedy. He immediately had him imprisoned.

Time passed, and the king took a journey on a ship. The ship sank, but the King was able to find refuge on a large piece of wood which kept him afloat until he reached the nearest shoreline. There, the king found a tribe consisting of cannibals. They thought that the King would make a great gift/feast for their master. Before they could finish preparing the King as a meal for their master, a man from the tribe noticed the King's missing finger. He immediately pointed out that the king was “flawed” and not in perfect condition and it would be an insult to their master if the King was served to him.

They let the King go, and he eventually found his way back home. Upon arrival he went directly to the cell where his advisor had been kept and told him what happened on his journey and that if it hadn't been for his missing finger, he would have been someone's meal! The King decided to release his advisor and apologized for throwing him in prison. The King asked if there was anything he could do in return in return for his advisor’s forgiveness.

The advisor just replied "la-alahu khair" (perhaps it’s for the best).

The king was amazed how his advisor could not be upset about what was done to him, and asked "how is it for the best? You were thrown in prison!"

The advisor simply replied, “If I hadn't been in prison, I would have been with you on that ship. I would have floated to shore with you, and although the group of cannibals found you to be flawed because of your missing finger, they would have noticed that my body was free from such flaws. You would have been pardoned, however they would have served me to their master instead!”

Never leave any valuable thing in the library without paying attention.

I feel upset today because when I tried to search for books and rewrite my research paper, I lost my cell phone in the Bronfman Library. It sucked. I did not leave my phone for a long time, but still, somebody took it away while I was checking the bookshelf right beside the table where I was sitting. Although I went to the service table and told the lady that I had lost my cell phone, she said they were not able to help me because they are not supposed to set up monitors in the study area. Afterwards, I realized it was not the right time to be upset; instead, I should shut the calling service down to avoid “that guy” using my phone to call somebody abroad. Then I went to the nearest Rogers shop and asked them to cancel or freeze the service until I got a new phone. I remember that one of my friends lost her new PDA in the library of Seneca College. The situations are quite the same—we both left for a very short period of time. I just want to warn people that library is really an unsafe place for your personal stuff.

Introduction to Film (for non-majors)

This class took place in the Price Family theatre in Accolade East Building. This is a full-sized movie theatre with a big screen. It also has a blackboard at the front, under the screen, but we can't figure out who would use it, since the teacher would have to write really, really big letters. The professor had a shaved head and wore a dark blue suit with a blue shirt and no tie (exactly the same clothes as in his picture on his York University web page). He sounded exactly like a TV movie reviewer, maybe like Roger Ebert, or maybe even Mr. Cranky in real life – except that he seemed to be happier. He spent a lot of time runiing over to the side of the room to load up DVDs of movies so he could show clips during his lecture.

The students seemed relaxed. There were about 350 of them, first and second year students, and they said the professor was a fun guy, but a little disorganized. They handed in their first writing assignment for the course at the beginning of the lecture. That took 20 minutes. The assignment was 500 words on “a cinematic experience.” The students said they had written their assignments and passed them around in tutorial class to get comments from other students, and then revised them. Now, the professor (or maybe the graduate students) would read them and make comments, and then they would revise them again.

In the lecture, the professor showed clips of a lot of different movies, to demonstrate different techniques of narration in classic Hollywood films and more experimental films. In CHC (Classic Hollywood Cinema), there are always two narrative lines: the progatoganist's public quest (maybe, the detective trying to discover who committed the crime) and the protagonist's private quest (probably a romance). He showed a scene from The Big Sleep (1946) as an example of a bit of romance: this scene between Hunphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall was added after the film was made, in order to put more romance into it. Notice the "coded" way they talk about romance (this scene is famous for that), and notice that the detective's public quest is interfering with his private one.

Further, movies can tell stories by restricted narration (when the camera sees only what the main character sees; this often happens in detective stories) or unrestricted narration (where the camera, and the audience, see more than the character sees). Usually, movies do both, in a careful mixture. He showed this scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie (1964) as an example of clever mixing of restricted and unrestricted narration. Watch it carefully: when do you know only what Marnie knows, and when do you know more than she knows?

The Professor seemed to be happiest was when he would ask the class if anyone there had seen a movie he was going to show, and only a couple of hands went up. That would make him laugh.

tennis at York University

Have you ever been to the tennis club of York university? There are many superior tennis players who are waiting for you. In this session, the most exciting thing I did was to join the tennis club of York University. Actually, I like playing tennis very much, but I was not sure about whether I could join the tennis club of York University or not. One day, I went to the club and asked them about it. When they allowed me to join the club, I was very excited. When they talked about some things that I didn't understand, they were very patient and kind in explaining them to me again. Likewise, I’m not a York degree student; sometimes I can’t go to practice because I have to go to my own class. They allowed me to be absent for some practices. I appreciated that. We had a lot of fun. We always encouraged each other when we were in matches. I like to attend this club, and also this is a good chance to learn English. I learned some idioms and some oral skills from them. They often helped me to progress in many different ways. For example, when I went onto the court to play, I often segregated myself because I didn’t know how to talk with people. Somebody saw this situation; he told me to relax and not to be afraid. They tried to get in and understand my world. I felt very pleased when I talked to them about my hometown or my culture. They also play good tennis; I have never seen such superior players as them. We had a lot of fun with each other. When we completed our practice, they always told me funny things about their childhood. We shared good times with each other. Now, I’m not sure which university I will study in and where I would prefer to live, but if I study in York University in Canada, I will join the club until graduation. I have to say thanks to those club members because I have learned many things from them. I like this moment. I hope that more and more students will join the tennis club in future.

Volunteering at York

Volunteer

Have you ever volunteered? Would you like to work as a volunteer? If yes, you should come with me and join the Student Alumni Program-York is U which is the best organization in York University.

After I got the information from Don, I thought it was worth a try, so I sent an email to them to ask for details about this organization. After a short time, I got an email back. There was a general meeting on Oct.2nd. I went to this meeting, which was like a welcome party. First of all, we signed our application forms, and then we started our games. We were introduced to York is U, a Student Alumni Program which makes York a spirited, clean, safe and fun place for everyone. YorkisU members believe that York should be a source of pride and a place where students can return, year after year, even after they graduate. When we join this organization, we can gain valuable experience volunteering, make a lot of friends and learn the skills of leadership. There are many events in York University, such as York’s Birthday, the Stress Buster Carnival, Green Week, and Halloween. These cool events are all created by York is U. Thus, they provide a positive volunteer experience and leadership opportunities through participation. So, you should come and join us to be a volunteer, whether you have volunteered for anything before or not. At the orientation, we introduced ourselves and played games to remember each others' names. Food and drink were provided for the party. We could talk to the Director or Coordinator–Members one on one. At the meeting, they also gave out awards to people who had made a great contribution to this organization. A Member is any York student volunteer who has volunteered a minimum of 16 hours during a single York is U year and has attended a volunteer Orientation. So, you get your chance to be a volunteer first, then to be a member of York is U. As a member, you can have a lot of privileges. For example, you can attend an exclusive pinning ceremony where you receive your York is U membership pin, and personal congratulations from a top ranking University official. You can get exclusive invitations to York is U holiday and end-of-year parties. Members will receive an official recognition certificate at the end-of-year party to recognize them and thank them for their contributions. We had a lot fun in the general meeting. We also signed up for the coming events. Finally, we got a cool uniform at the end of the meeting.

Last week, I went to help them to prepare for Green Week. We painted banners and made Bristol boards. I have started my volunteer activity. How about you? Come and join me! There is a lot of fun to be had here. By the way, as I know, I’m the only person who is studying in YUELI who is a mamber here. That means that by joining this organization, you can learn English as well!!!

York is U - Student Alumni Program

York University326 Student Centre

4700 Keele StreetToronto, Ontario

M3J 1P3
Phone: 416.736.5492
Email: yorkisu@yorku.ca
Website: http://www.yorkisu.ca/

Chinese Student Association

After I finished the general meeting of York is U, I went around the student center and went to the fourth floor. I found another cool organization there, which is called the Chinese Student Association. The people in this club are very friendly. Frankie Chen, events director, told me that the Chinese Student Association is a club with 36 years of history at York University. They welcome everyone who is of Chinese descent to join this club. I signed the form and then I paid ten dollars for a membership card which is a Chinese Student Association at York University membership ID. It’s cool being a member of this club; you can get a lot of benefits. For example, you can get a discount on Canada's Wonderland tickets. There were four people playing mahjong at the front of the office. That was surprising. They told me that they are students in different classes at York University. They always get together and chat with each other. Frankie said, “This club can help Chinese students to enjoy university life. Also, students will feel they belong to Chinese culture.” At the end of our conversation, Frankie asked me if I was interested in being an executive because he had found out I had three years of experience as Chairman in my Student Union at home. I told him that I would try to apply it because I could improve my leadership skills. Finally, Frankie emphasized that although this club is the Chinese Student Association, they would use English in speaking and writing. Therefore, you should come and join me in this club because you can have a lot fun here. It is also a good place to learn English!!!


Club Office: Room 419, Student Centre
Website: http://www.yorku.ca/ycsa
YorkCSA forum: http://www.yorku.ca/ycsa/bbs
Facebook: YCSA [Chinese Students' Association at York]

Edison

animation and pop culture history: topics

Everybody knows something about cartoons and comics. They are for children, but they are also for adults, sometimes. They make simple pictures and caricatures, just for fun or for more serious purposes. Cartoons come in different forms and styles, and they are made for different audiences in different countries: Mickey Mouse and the Disney Corporation, the Fleischer Brothers, Bugs Bunny and Warner Brothers, Japanese Anime and Manga, Rocky and Bullwinkle and their Fractured Fairy Tales, Ralph Bakshi, Peter Max, Marvel Comics, Matt Groening, Stan Lee, Wallace and Gromit, Dr. Seuss, Maus, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and The Dark Knight: from Georges Melies to Wall-e, they have been a part of popular culture for more than a century.

Like movies, animated films and novels can be analyzed academically, and this can be a common, fun way for university students to practice their critical reading and thinking skills – not too seriously (but maybe yes, seriously,)without having to read a lot. How many movies have you seen, and how many cartoon movies? Do you know things about their history? How are cartoons movies different from live-action movies? What do all of those Disney movies (Pocohontas, Mulan, etc) have in common? What are cartoons really saying? Do they have secret meanings? Can they criticize society more than other movies and escape punishment? How do they tell their stories? Do the different styles of different times and places tell us something about history and cultures?

We investigated some cartoons from different times and places, just to see what we could figure out by ourselves. Here is what we decided.

For example, there is the 1966 Japanese anime TV series Speed Racer and the 2008 Wachowsky Brothers movie version, Speed Racer. Alex and Feng showed us clips from both. The original Japanese show was made from a comic book. The animation style was quite simple compared to the style of a company like, for example, Disney. In a way, it was "underground" comics for the U.S. audience. Maybe that is why the Wachowskys, who made The Matrix, wanted to make their new one: they like things that are underground or subversive -- and they like comic books. Also, it is true that in Speed Racer there is a lot of technology, and technology is a good thing in that show. For characters like Mickey Mouse, however, technology is usually something they have problems with. That could be why Speed Racer was a hit with kids, in the 1960s, compared to Mickey Mouse.

Even if the animation was simple, Alex points out that it can be stylish because it comes from comic books. There is a newer series from the U.S. called Samurai Jack that imitates that Japanese style, but is very artistic, too.

Brian, Carol, and Edison showed us different cartoon versions of the story of "The Tortoise and the Hare" (that is, The Rabbit and the Turtle), to explain the differences between Disney's "classic" way and Warner Brothers' versions that make fun of Disney's way. Disney's 1934 The Tortoise and the Hare is a correct version of the classic story, where the tortoise wins the race, in the end, because he never stops and never gives up. The lesson is to be honest and never quit. In this version, the hare spends too much time trying to impress the girls and forgets the race until it is too late. In the first Warner brothers version, however, Tortoise Beats Hare (1941), Bugs Bunny is the rabbit, and the story is different. In this version, the turtle wins because he cheats! (So this is not a great version for teaching children the moral lesson of "be honest, work hard, and never quit.") In another Warner version, Rabbit Transit (1947), the turtle sort of cheats again. This time he has a rocket-powered shell. Warner and Bugs want to make fun of the official version of things.

In fact, that style has become really normal for cartoons since. The Simpsons do that, just like Warner Brothers and Bugs Bunny did, and more recent movies like Shrek do it, too. Brian, Edison, and Carol showed us that there is even a 2008 movie version of this story, Tortoise vs. Hare that makes the same kind of jokes with the story.

Fatmah and Mor added some more clips comparing the Disney style with the Warner Brothers style. They showed is the classic 1933 Disney version of The Three Little Pigs, which won an Oscar for best animated short that year. This cartoon is so classic that it is easy to understand, even though it is so old. The characters speak in rhyme, and they sing their song, "Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf?" which is a song almost everyone has heard somewhere, even though most of us have never actually seen this cartoon. Then they showed us a Warner Brothers cartoon from 1944 called Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears. This cartoon shows very clearly how Warner Brothers makes fun of the classic elements of these kinds of stories, as Bugs, playing the role of Goldilocks, makes fun of the bears, while the bears are trying to remember the story accurately so that they can get something (that is, rabbit) to eat.

Melaine and Shelly showed us clips from Disney's The Lion King (1994) and the Japanese anime TV series Kimba the White Lion (1966). There is a controversy about Disney's movie, that Disney may have stolen the idea from the earlier TV show. This link to the Wikipedia article about Kimba explains the controversy. It even shows that an early version of Disney's lion cub was white, just like Kimba. (It also tells about an episode of The Simpsons that mentions the controversy). But Melaine and Shelly explained the plot of Kimba, which is different from The Lion King. In Kimba, humans are destroying nature with evil technology, and killing and capturing endangered species. Kimba's misson is to try to make peace between animals and humans. Disney's movie doesn't have humans in it at all -- but then, Disney probably wouldn't make a movie that says people are evil . . . .

Joy and Wenting showed us examples of cartoons from Tom and Jerry and Itchy and Scratchy (the characters from The Simpsons). The stories of these two groups of characters are basically the same: there is a cat and a mouse, but the mouse is smarter than the cat. Tom and Jerry are really very old: according to Joy and Wenting they started in 1940. But Itchy and Scratchy are meant to be a parody of the older cartoon. The main differences between the two are that in Tom and Jerry the cat is grey and the mouse is brown, while in Itchy and Scratchy the cat is black and the mouse is blue. So, in the new version, the animals look less realistic, but as we all know, in the new version the violence is a lot more realistic. When we look at the older cartoons, though, we can see that Tom and Jerry are really very violent themselves. Joy and Wenting showed us a cartoon of theirs called Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse.

After Joy and Wenting told us about these cartoons, they also told us about Happy Tree Friends, which is even newer and, therefore, even more violent!

Ellie, Tony, and Q-La showed us clips from the Beatles's 1968 animated movie Yellow Submarine. This was called "the first psychedelic movie," but you have to be old enough to remember the 1960s to know what psychedelic means. The style of animation in the movie is very strange, and not like anything you might see today, really. It is very different from the usual Hollywood style, and it is not intended to be realistic at all. As Ellie said, it is called "surreal" animation. The plot of the movie is about bringing peace to Pepperland, and driving away the evil "Blue Meanies." In fact, it's message of peace was considered, at the time, to be very political: the movie implicitly opposed the U.S. in the war in Vietnam.

Soju

Soju is a Korean drink. It was traditionally made from rice, but more recently it has been made in other ways. It has about 20% alcohol, which makes it stronger than wine (which is usually about 10-12%), but not as strong as whiskey (which is usually about 40%). It is not very expensive, so it tends to be a favorite drink for students. You drink it cold, not warm like the Japanese rice wine, sake (soju is usually stronger, anyway). Ho Jeong says that now younger people – well, her friends at least – will keep it in the freezer. You might pay 90 cents or 1 dollar for a bottle (300 + ml) in Korea, $3 a bottle in a restaurant; here in Canada, you can pay $9 a bottle in a store, and $15 bottle in a restaurant. In addition, since there are just 7 shots in a bottle, you usually have to buy two bottles . . .

The most important thing to know about soju is the etiquette. You have to learn the rules from your father or grandfather. First, you should never pour your own drink! People say that, when someone pours their own drink, it is very unlucky to be sitting in front of them. Next, when you drink it, if you are facing someone older than you, you must turn to the side and hide the drink with your hand. It is disrespectful to drink while you are facing someone older directly. Third, you should always use two hands when you pour a drink for an older person. And you should always pour it for the older person!

Recent social changes in Korea have meant that more women are drinking soju now. They have to, because drinking soju according to the rules of etiquette is an important part of business communication in Korea, and now women are in business more often. It is possible now to buy weaker soju because of this.

Parents sometimes teach their children how to drink soju when they are in middle school. This may sound surprising, but it makes sense if you understand that one of the rules of soju etiquette is that, if an older person offers you a drink, you may not refuse. As you may imagine, this rule can make things interesting in high school.

In general, age is important in Korean society. It can be a delicate social situation when an employee is older than his boss, since the boss is supposed to be treated as an elder. Daniel says that a good guy boss will not insist on being treated as an elder outside of the office. There is a movie in the Nexus, Paul Weitz’z 2004 In Good Company, which might be interesting to watch because it is about this issue (but in America).

A poktanju is a drink that is made by dropping a shot of soju into a pint of beer. This is the same as the drink that we call a depth charge (which is a kind of boilermaker) here, but we use whiskey instead of soju. But Daniel says that soju is less expensive.

So, when students drink soju, or other things, they have drinking games, of course. In China, they will count off numbers in their group, and each time the number reaches 7, or 14, or 17, or 21 – that is, any number with 7 in it or a number that is a multiple of 7, you have to stand up or clap, and if you forget, you have to drink, or they can ask you to do things, or you have to tell the truth about something. In Korea, they do the same with the numbers 3, 6, 9, etc., and when you get to 33, you have to clap twice. Don remembered a drinking game from his time in university called “Zoom Schwartz Profigliano,” which is a little strange and not so easy to play.

by Koo Bong Hwoi