Discussion Board 1: Fallacies and Biases

Prior to posting in this discussion, complete The Parking Garage. interactive scenario. As you work through the scenario, stop to consider the reasons why you make the choices you do and the degree to which those reasons provide a good basis for your choice. Note any biases and assumptions that may occur to you, and keep this in mind as you complete this discussion.

Your instructor will choose the discussion question and post it as the first post in the discussion forum. The requirements for the discussion this week are a minimum of four posts on four separate days, including responses to at least two classmates.. The total combined word count for all of your posts for this discussion, counted together, should be at least 600 words. Answer all the questions in the prompt, and read any resources that are required to complete the discussion properly.

In order to satisfy the posting requirements for the week, complete your initial post and your other posts. We recommend that you get into the discussion early and spread out your posts over the course of the week. Reply to your classmates and instructor. Attempt to take the conversation further by examining their claims or arguments in more depth or responding to the posts that they make to you. Keep the discussion on target, and analyze things in as much detail as you can.

Discussion Board 2: Instructor-choice prompt option #3

Parking Garage and Biases

Biases affect all of us, and we are all prone to committing fallacious reasoning at times. This discussion allows us to investigate some of our own sources of biases and ways in which we may be prone to fall for fallacious reasoning.

Prepare:

Prior to answering this question, make sure that you have completed the "Parking Garage" and "Buying a Car" scenarios. Make sure to read Chapters 7 and 8 of our book, paying special attention to ways in which people are affected by biases (including the sections "Stereotypes" and "Purpose and Potential Bias" in Chapter 8).

Reflect:

Think about why you made the choices you made in each scenario. Do those choices tell you anything about yourself and the way that you think? Would you do anything different if you were to do it again?

Write:

Address your experiences in each scenario in the following posts:

Part 1:

Answer the following questions: Why did you take the route you did in the parking garage scenario? Did you notice that you had preconceptions about different types of people and situations? Could those types of preconceptions ever lead to problematic inferences?

Part 2:

In the Buying a Car scenario, did you feel that the salesman had ulterior motives? Did they lead him to have any biases in terms of he wanted you to purchase? Point out some of the biases that you have in real life. Are you am interested party when it comes to certain types of questions? How does that potentially cloud your judgment? Relate your answer to the content about biases in Chapter 8.

Guided Response:

Respond substantively to at least two of your classmates' posts in a way that furthers the conversation. For example, you might let them know if you have had similar biases as they have had and the ways in which those biases have affected your life as well. You also might give some indication of the sense in which it is possible to overcome these biases to have a more neutral point of view. Would such a view help you make better decisions?

I will post when available.

Attention students: Keep in mind "bias" and this strong potential to "cloud our judgment." Please be sure to read, carefully analyze, and thoughtfully reflect on each of these prompts:

1. In the Buying a Car scenario, did you feel that the salesman had ulterior motives?

2. Did they lead him to have any biases in terms of he wanted you to purchase?

3. Point out some of the biases that you have in real life.

4. Are you an interested party when it comes to certain types of questions? ** Perhaps because of the particular wording, this question confuses students as to intent. Bear in mind a situation, and consider the context as well as the players. We may have more at stake, a vested interest, etc., that is very much dependent on a particular outcome or decision. It is both a question of loyalties, gains/loses, and really an ethical matter to consider the good of others and not just "I, me, mine," keeping only in mind stake/share holders.

5. How does that potentially cloud your judgment? Relate your answer to the content about biases in Chapter 8.