3) What are the Possibilities?

When I do not know the answer for something, sometimes I try to think of a theory of some sort to find it. I do think this is a good way to find an answer if evidence is really not present but in some cases, it may lead me to a false conclusion. This is something everyone should look out for because people's thinking may usually be based on this. Before we reach a conclusion by using this method, we have to see if our "theory" is actually possible. Of course, our reasoning may seem like a likely solution or answer, but we also need to think of the possibilities of it being true.

For example, my sister loves doing arts and crafts. If my sister's friends came to our house and saw a new hand-sewn plush toy, my sister's friends would probably say that she made it because she loves doing arts and crafts. It seems believable that she makes plush toys. However, we also have to think of the possibility of this situation happening. Apparently, my sister is at Davis right now which is about two hours away from San Jose. This brings up that it's less possible that my sister made that plush toy because she is far away from it. Another thing that makes is less possible is that I also love making plush toys as well. Since I live in our parent's house while my sister is at Davis, it would seem more reasonable that the plush toy should be at Davis if it belonged to her. In contrast, the plush toy that is at San Jose would belong to me.

It is good to look out for this mistake because you may jump into conclusions before thinking thoroughly. It's a pretty simple mistake many people fall for because people will always make assumptions or theories if they curiously want to find out an answer.

- Pink Bean

2) Advertising Jamba Juice's Cheeseburger Chill

I'm pretty sure you have seen or heard Jamba Juice's advertisement for the new Cheeseburger Chill. It was advertised about a month or two ago online. I'm not very sure if it was aired on television but I HIGHLY doubt it was. Below is the official commercial for it if you haven't seen it. Don't watch it if you are eating or can get sick easily!



(O__O)

So to summarize what that is, it's basically a blended burger that is served like a smoothie. Like me, you are probably thinking that's disgusting (or not). I will admit, I was gullible enough to think that this was real but I still had huge doubts because it looked too crazy and gross. XD Anyways, a few days later, Jamba Juice announced that they would not go that far so in the end, that advertisement was fake. However, I'm going to talk about this piece of advertisement because I would like to point out things that did make it look like a typical advertisement trying to make you buy the product, and what you should do to not believe them.

Advertisements will make you want to buy the product no matter what. In doing so, some advertisements will always try to eliminate any negativity and encourage a positive atmosphere. For example, did you notice the happy music playing? Happy music will psychologically make the audience think positively about the product. Most people probably thought at first, "EW that's disgusting," but the music alone can make you think, "It can't be THAT bad."

Another thing to pay attention to were the facial expressions of the people. NO one had a disgusted face including the lady and the little girl trying out the smoothie in the end. Instead, the lady and the little girl had smiling faces. A person watching this advertisement that, based on his or her own experience, knows very well how a blended cheeseburger will taste like would still think that the lady and the little girl's faces should look disgusted. However, for a really gullible person, or the typical newbie consumer, he or she would think, "They look like they're enjoying the Cheeseburger Chill so I will probably try it out!"

Last of all (I know there's more but I'll only address three things), the advertisement itself is made by Jamba Juice, a very famous business that many people probably think is reliable. Because Jamba Juice is very popular and reliable (saying their smoothies are healthy and delicious, etc) for majority of people, it means that their advertising like the Cheeseburger Chill is trusted to be "delicious" as well. However, as I said before, some people may think otherwise because they trust their own experiences more than they will trust anything else. Most people will think that it will not be delicious.

Overall, I thought this was a good advertisement, and I mean that in terms of trying to get people to buy the product. They did a good job in trying to make you believe their "claims" or assume their Cheeseburger Chill will taste delicious because the lady and the little girl seemed to enjoy it. In addition, everybody else seemed to support it as well. Many people such as myself think Jamba Juice's smoothies were always delicious and if gullible, may think that this smoothie will be worth buying as well. The only thing that made it pretty much unbelievable was that the idea seemed too silly and funny. Don't be fooled and depend on your personal experience and thinking. If this smoothie really was real, I would probably stay away from it no matter how persuasive their advertisement is!

- Pink Bean

1) Repairing Your Arguments Before Seeking Advice

Repairing your arguments can be very important. Not only does it give you a more open mind about a certain topic, but it also helps you think twice before reaching a final conclusion. If you do not repair arguments, you may reach a conclusion that may not be necessarily true. This may cause a chain reaction on what you will do next after knowing that conclusion. For example, in some cases, reaching a conclusion can result to asking a certain person for answers or advice. Here is a scenario that happened having to do with a trivia quiz and being in group teams.

Host: Here is the next question! What is octopus translated into Japanese?
Person 1: _____ (which is me) loves sushi and octopus is a type of sushi and Japanese food. She should know the translation.
Person 2: LET'S ASK HER!

From hearing this, I was thinking that their reasoning was way off. I admit that I love eating sushi, but back then my English to Japanese knowledge was very low. I can see their reasoning because sushi is a Japanese food and I did have some knowledge about that. Though their reasoning seems believable, it is still weak because they did not mention anything about translation. They only talked about food basically. If the argument was repaired, their argument would be better, like the one below.

Host: Here is the next question! What is octopus translated into Japanese?
Person 1: _____ (me) loves sushi and octopus is a type of sushi.
Person 2: She goes to a lot of Japanese restaurants and usually, they include English to Japanese translations of food in their menu. Therefore, she probably knows the translation.

This above is a stronger argument than the previous one because this shows directly that I was exposed to English and Japanese translation. The previous argument was weaker because they only mentioned about me eating Japanese food. If you were to base a conclusion by eating a certain food alone, you might as well say that a person that loves Mexican food know Spanish, or that if you love eating Filipino food, you know Tagalog. However, if you were to mention that menus of Mexican or Filipino restaurants usually include English to other language translations, then it would seem more believable that people exposed to these menus have some knowledge about the translation.

- Pink Bean