UNIT 2-TASK 4 – WRITING AN ESSAY

ADVANCED ENGLISH I

NATALIA RAMIREZ CALDERON 1113653504

CLAUDIA LORENA CARMONA 1094909980
IVONNE GARCIA
RODRIGO ANTONIO RIASCOS 16508806
LORENA RAMIREZ 31584611

COURSE NUMBER
13

TUTOR:
MONICA DEL ROSARIO GUILLEN

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA

SCHOOL OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES
BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
 OCTOBER 2019

ESSAY

By Rodrigo Antonio Riascos

Reasoning or intuition, which one to choose to make good decisions?

"The law determines which facts are relevant while at the same time, the facts determine which
law is relevant" (Burton, 1995, p. 141 ). The reality has many faces depending on the corner you
look at it, that´s the reason why it is always important to consider several opinions before making
any decision, and this one consequently, whether is right or wrong tends to be considered a good
or bad judgment, even if it´s the result is well-grounded on a mere intuition.

Reasoning supposes considerations for good judgment associated with facts supported by logic in
the line of previous research that confirm them. That is to say, when accusing somebody of
committing a crime prosecutors based their cases on irrefutable evidence that leads to a fair trial
ending in a deserved conviction showing good judgment based on reliable evidences; at least that
is expected.

According to Marius Usher (2016), professor at the University of Tel Aviv, intuition is reliable.
The conclusion reached by a group of scientists led by him argues that reasoning is less
successful than intuition or instinctive reactions. In addition, intuition is always there coming out
as a first impulse of the thinking like instinct when it comes to making decisions, but according to
some judges, they have recognized that they really can't explain how they reach decisions
(Holmes, 1897; and cf. Nisbett & Wilson, 1977).

As a matter of conclusion, we can assume that either reasoning or intuition are both inherent to
human being´s decision making but some times personal interests precede social standards
related to the concept of justice and injustice, nevertheless a person can learn them, improve
them, and use them to fit in any casual or serious situation according to convenience.
Comments to Rodrigo´s essay:

Greetings,

Dear Rodrigo,

I found it very interesting that you mentioned the word "Intuition" because it is known that
intuition is something that is out of reason, it is an inexplicable ability that drives us to make
decisions or behave in a certain way and sometimes people belive more in intuitions than facts to
be something very intimate.

You may have the necessary evidence to prove that a X person is innocent or guilty but if
another person´s intuition says otherwise, the person may reject the evidence and believe more in
that inner force.

By Natalia Ramirez Calderón

Hello Rodrigo

It is true, Intuition is inherent in decision making, we human beings sometimes feel we have
every right to make judgments and they are based as you say in cases with evidence and not in a
simple statement, but usually human beings are always giving opinions on situations or issues in
which it is not right to comment, because we must respect the positions of others even if we
disagree.
By Claudia Lorena Carmona

ESSAY

By Claudia Lorena Carmona

Aspects that influence believing that we are right

(Introduction)

Our attitudes determine behavior and are acquired from experiences during the history of our life,
which contributes by defining personality, that is, our emotional and mental response to various
circumstances. Attitudes are influenced by various causes, such as relationships, beliefs and
experiences, whether positive or negative, these variants encourage people to act in different
ways in very similar situations, so it is common to hear expressions of success or failure in
children, youth or adults.

(Body Paragraphs)

It is very common to find young people who are not happy with their way of being, acting and
thinking, all this because in their educational contexts they have been infused with other ways of
responding to the opportunities or mistakes that life offers them, taking the adversities such as
failures, causing problems in their attitudes which seriously affect their emotional state.

It is important to have a point of balance in the aspects that require making a judgment on a
person or making decisions that affect our attitudes in society and mental health because of
diseases such as stress and complexes due to lack of self-esteem from childhood; Take the
example of children in England who are not happy because they are deficient in their self-esteem
and nothing they do makes them feel satisfied. “The identification of behavioral disorders in
childhood allows us to predict future adaptation problems during adolescence and adulthood. The
empirical results of several investigations indicate that children in whom extreme forms of these
types of problems manifest themselves do not overcome them with age. Epidemiological studies
using prospective designs have shown substantial symptom stability from childhood to
adolescence and early adulthood (Achenbach, Howell and Conaughy, 1995; Caspi, Moffitt,
Newman and Silva, 1996; Costello, Angold and Keeler, 1999; Ferdinand and Verhulst, 1995)”.

(Conclusion)

It is clear that depending on the level of self-esteem that the person has acquired from
adolescence until reaching adulthood, so the rest of aspects of his life will be influenced: school,
family, emotional, intrapersonal also, this assessment will decisively influence the taking of
decisions and in the way we judge others with respect to our own moral standards.

Comments to Claudia´s essay:

Dear Lorena,

You have chosen an excellent topic to talk about because it´s totally true, generally, our attitudes
in life determine our failure or success. Besides, how we teach and encourage our children since
young age to have a positive way of thinking in any difficult situation offers them the capability
of finding good answers at those hard moments.

As everybody knows, families play a key role in raising children, therefore it is important to
mention that the fact they are dysfunctional or functional can determine good or bad attitudes and
behaviors. That is to say, children who have been raised with only one of both parents are more
likely to be insecure when it comes to decision-making, consequently their behaviors will tend to
be more erratic than those children raised with both parents in an environment of love and
respect; of course there are exceptions involving, contexts, quality of life and so on. Not
including parents´education due to it is not determinant for a good or bad raising of children.

Regards,

By Rodrigo Riascos

Dear Claudia Lorena.

Anyway, what is worth to point out is that those negative or positive attitudes and behaviors
carried out from childhood can permanently affect motivation, determination, happiness, and
sadness in a grown person with serious consequences during her/his adult life when interacting
with other people, so children must be stimulated in a good way to get adult people with high
probabilities of successes in interactions and relationships as well as personal, familiar, and work
environment decisions.
Regards,

By Rodrigo Riascos

Greetings,

Dear Claudia Lorena,

I think that the concepts we have about truth, justice, innocence or guilt are forged from home
and ,often ,the people who have a closed mind is because they are not clear about this and act
only in accordance with their interests instead of people that have an open mind because they
are more receptivs, sensitive, and willing to change their ideas for the common benefit.

By Natalia Ramirez
 ESSAY

By Natalia Ramirez Calderón

Motivated reasoning driven by interest and emotions

Introduction

Motivated reasoning could be defined as a predisposition to self-conviction, that is to say, the

total certainty that my beliefs, thoughts, feelings and perceptions, have the necessary and
sufficient foundations to be truthful and leaves not place for doubts and rethinking. This position
may be somewhat blind since it does not allow the income of new information sources and
sometimes ends up being the subject of controversy.

Body paragpahs

Motivated reasoning, involves a relationship of interests and emotions, we asume that being
right in everything is synonymus with self-sufficiency and being self-sufficient according to
certain social standards is what classifies us as “successful and superior”, therefore accepting
that something is beyond to our understanding, is take it for granted that there is a strong fear of
being taken for weak and even to seem ignorant.

But also,human beings tend to adopt an attitude and posture of self-conviction due to the impact
or influece that this position can have on their lives, for example: In an election for president, a
person can support a candidate whose proposals are not good and is also has a reputation for
being corrupt but represents some benefit to him/her, this person can find the necessary
arguments to defend the candidate, créate a kind of blind loyalty or trust because if the candidate
wins, the person can get help at social, economic or personal level, the person convinces
him/herself and tries to convice others that choosing that candidate is the best option for the
country.
Conclusion

Motivated reasoning is just another way of seeing at things and behave at our convenience
(according to our own interests and feelings) and persuade ourselves of it, as human beings, we
are competitive, so we are always fighting against others to defend our ideals even if they are
wrong.

Comments to Natalia´s essay:

Dear Natalia Ramirez

From the viewpoint that each person´s mind is a completely different world, everyone can create
her/his own values and defend them as truth although they are falses. You know what Paul Joseph
Goebbels said, “a lie told a thousand times becomes true.” That is, people believe what they hear
if you insist on it repeatedly knowing is a lie. Nowadays, this is a well-designed strategy used by
most governments when it comes to controlling their citizens. It is also used by armies and
media.

On the other hand, the human being is exposed to experience expected emotions as well as
immediate emotions, both of them determined by a particular situation. In this context, expected
emotions understood as anticipated emotions states as a result of some decisions that have not
been experienced; and immediate emotions which are experienced in the right moment of
decision, considering an answer to a concrete decision or as a consequence of a temporary period
of time in which this one must be known.

In a nutshell, feelings, emotions, and perceptions come from every person´s mind, which
transforms truths into lies and vice versa according to the needs and conveniences of each human
being.

Blessings,

By Rodrigo Riascos

Hello Nathalia

I agree when you say that, our reasoning implies interest and emotions and that we only have the
absolute truth by the arguments we express to justify an opinion, there aren't premise or rules that
establish when you're rigth and when you aren't.
By Claudia Lorena Carmona

Hello classamtes and tutor

Dear Natalia

We always competitive to satisfy our needs, and we compete according to our believes and
convictions no matter if they are relevant in a specific field, because the objective is to convince
with proposals that perhaps have been formed in our understanding by the specific group in
which we identify and find ideological affinities, finding support, so we seek to impose actions
that for us are beneficial but for others not because they are contrary to the needs of who propose
them, moved by a belief system. In this case, the ego could be a concrete wall that does not allow
submitting ideas or reasons to a question of feasibility, relevance and objectivity.

By Lorena Ramirez
 ESSAY

By Lorena Ramirez

Motive reasoning vs objectivity

Introduction

Interpreting desires, beliefs, fears and motivations unconsciously, leads us to adjust the way in
which information is processed to adjust it to a belief system, losing in most cases objectivity,
assuming some information as allies to defend points of view and accordingly act. The problem
of such information processing lies in the lack of awareness that we are not rational, which leads
us to the elimination of everything that is far from our worldview, leading it to a circular
reasoning and intellectual immobilism where we do not have room for growth and, of course,
tolerance from the point of view of acceptance to the difference of thought and action, for which
Nietzsche said that “we have an energetic tendency to resemble the new to the old, to simplify the
complex, to ignore or eliminate the totally contradictory […] A sudden resolution to ignore, to
voluntarily isolate ourselves, to close our windows, to say inwardly not to this or that thing, to not
let anything approach us, a kind of state of defense against many things that may have a
knowledge, to be content with the darkness, with the horizon that isolates us, saying yes to
ignorance and taking it for good. ”

Body paragraph

The foregoing leads us to understand that such behavior is a result of: emotional ties that
direct our thoughts, to avoid cognitive dissonance or intellectual laziness, to maintain a positive
self-image by protecting ourselves from what questions our identity, the objective presumption,
generating resistance to new information, to cultural validation by finding support and affinity
with certain groups that protect our identity and that end up validating our worldview.

Self-image does not depend then on self-esteem or on being more logical and rational, but on
detaching ourselves from the ego and understanding that behind a mistake there is something new
to learn, therefore we must be open to change and with it to ideas to be able to create and avoid
circular reasoning, for which Confucius said "Neither approve a person for expressing a certain
opinion, nor reject a certain opinion for coming from a certain person."
Conclusion
Therefore, it is necessary to see the ideas with an explorer mentality, as proposed by Julia
Galef, ideas that arouse curiosity and are flexible to change, so that instead of putting a barrier to
what is contrary to our thoughts, arouse interest in this and further investigation "It is certainly a
mistake not to amend another mistake" Confucius. It is necessary to learn to feel intrigued instead
of defensive

Comments to Lorena´s essay:

Hello Lorena

I agree emotions are that direct our thoughts and determine actions, but self-image is linked to
self-esteem Because depending on the way we see ourselves, we Also make value judgments
towards others a person Who doesn't accept himself as he is, will never accept changes to Others.
By Claudia Lorena

Greetings,

Dear Lorena, according to your essay human being is afraid to accept new things because they
are conformists, they do not want to know that there are things beyond their reason, they want to
assume that knowledge they have is enough so they put a kind of wall that does not pass any
information.
They create an emotional attachment to that ideas or beliefs that they feel secure with them and
conform to them; therefore they accept that being in ignorance is better than changing their ideas.

By Natalia Ramirez
 ESSAY
By Ivonne Garcia

Introduction

According to Raimón Samsó in a psychology column in the newspaper "El País" most of us
believe that we can change what others think; otherwise, we wouldn't spend so much time in life
spinning around "what others think of us" and trying to improve their judgment about our person.

On the other hand, quote Eleanor Roosevelt who said, "No one can make you feel inferior if you
don't allow it." This statement puts the focus of attention to ourselves and not to others; therefore,
perhaps the only thought that needs to be changed is the belief that "others should think
differently."

"Who doesn't think like I'm wrong?" This is the secret conviction of all the people who argue.
And it is logical that this is how it should happen, because having an opinion means believing
that you have a correct opinion; from where it turns out that those who do not have the same
opinion will necessarily have a misguided view.

TEST BODY

Believing to be right in everything and appearing to feel confident does not mean that you have a
good self-esteem on the contrary demonstrates the lack of confidence, insecurity and low self-
esteem that you have and much more knowing that we can be wrong. Get defensive without
letting others think just by seeking to defend our position, all it will do is get away from people,
because they won't feel comfortable next to someone so closed in their thoughts.

Edward de Bono in his book "I Am I Right, You Are Wrong" presents a frontal challenge to the
logic – imperfect and primitive – of Western thought, which has proven its excellence in technical
matters, as well as its inefficiency in human affairs. It is the "rock logic" of absolutes, rigidities
and argument with its forced polarizations and its dangerous arrogance. It is a thought that
completely lacks constructive and creative energy.

Too many brilliant minds have been scathered by traditional thought habits, and the time has
come to examine them and realize that they are inadequate for the moment we are living. Solving
current problems requires new creative thinking that deals with perceptions, values, and people. It
is not a question of dismissing "argumentation", but alerting about the dangers of stunand and
sterile reasoning to solve the current problems. As the author states: "We need a new renaissance,
and I think it has already begun.

To stick to the unique thought and in the imposition of a universal truth is to go against the
essence of humanity, and even the exercise of individual freedom. It is not lawful, it is not logical
and it is not healthy either. Something that we all know is that our day to day is like a flow where
several and complex currents intersect. We all go in our own boats, either upstream or
downstream. Instead of trying to always keep the same direction, let's learn to look up so as not to
bump into each other.

Conclusion

The first problem arises from the fact of believing, with total certainty, that we are right and
others are wrong, forgetting that we are also often wrong. Our senses deceive us, our emotions
cause us thoughtless reactions and our reason may be in error.

The second problem is caused by trying at all costs to impose our reason with total lack of
assertiveness, which generally leaves the sufferer more or less in pain.

We should often remind ourselves that proving that we are right is not as important as we usually
believe. Too much blood has been spilled for reasons.
Our efforts and dedications should be aimed at the enriching exchange with others, the purpose of
the classic gatherings.

Comments to Ivonne´s essay:

Greetings,

Dear Ivonne,

I agree that being surrounded by people with a closed mind is always a hard task, because they
seem blind, they are offended by everything, they resist change, and always try to be right instead
of sharing ideas and learning from others. The problem is that they have difficulty hearing and
understanding others, the only voice they can hear is themselves, it is a lack of sensitivity.

By Natalia Ramirez

Hello Ivonne
I agree, when you say that most of us believe that we can change what others think and trying to
improve the judgment on our opinion and the arguments we give to the opinions of others; I think
that we must respect the decisions, opinions and arguments that other people say and that for
them they are correct judgments, since we all assume the world in different ways and we must
respect the position that others assume.

See You!

By Claudia L.

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https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1050&context=book_chapters