Assignment 13   Read Hayakawa, Chapter 7 - The Language of Social Control

1.  How would you define "directive language," according to Hayakawa.

2.  What is an "affective appeal," according to this chapter?

3.  Give an example of some language which invokes "collective sanction" and makes a map of the future which we are supposed to make happen.

4.  What are the three sources of disillusionment with directives? 

5.  Give an example of disillusionment (a map of the future which did not happen).

Assignment 14   Read Hayakawa, - Read Prologue (The Story of A-Town and B-Ville) and Chapter 8 – How We Know What We know

1.  Read the Parable of A-Town and B-Ville (p. 93-7).  Write a paragraph explaining what you think the point of this story is.  Be prepared to read this paragraph in class.

2.  Construct an abstraction ladder of your own, using "Bessie the Cow" as a model and some person or object in your experience.  Have at least five levels of abstraction.

3.  Define "operational definition" in as few words as possible.

4.  (A) Define "dead level abstracting" and come up with two examples. (B) and (C).

Assignment 15   Read Hayakawa, Chapter 9 - The Little Man Who Wasn't There

1.  Chapter 9 gives you a good idea of how general semantics explains stereotyping and prejudice.  People apply an abstract classification to an individual person.  Pick an stereotype that you think is particularly problematic in our culture and write a brief essay (150-250 words) about it to share with the class. 

2. Take a sentence about yourself and rewrite it to guard against confusing levels of abstraction.  For example, I used to say about myself, "I'm a bad speller," or "I can't spell." These sentences support the ideas that there is such a thing as a "bad speller" and that I was stuck in this condition. When I changed it to "I'm still learning to spell," my thinking about myself changed and I have since become a much better speller.  Give an example about yourself (as always, only something that you don't mind sharing).

3. In the last section of the chapter, Hayakawa described the General Semantics concept of "allness." What is it and what does allness suggest we should do, keep in mind, about people.