Assignment 4:  Read Hayakawa, Chapter 2 - Symbols

1. Hayakawa says animals fight for food and leadership; humans fight for things that stand for food and leadership. List five surrogates (symbolic possessions) that you think stand for status and five conditions (symbolic situations – non tangible) which stand for status.

2. Hayakawa says it is impossible to not make and use symbols; trying to renounce symbols is simply substituting one set of symbols for another. What does he mean by this? And, what do you think of this? Is there a real (non-symbolic) you?

3. Define Intensional.

4. Define Extensional.

5. What does it mean to say that there is no connection between a thing and the word for that thing? (For example, the object Chair and the word "chair.")

5. I have experienced people who think that Alex Trebek (host of Jeopardy) is very intelligent or that James Gandolfini (Tony Sporano) was at one time an actual Mafiosi (although he's type cast as a heavy, he got a BA in Communication from Rutgers and has been an actor since his 20s). What example have you seen of people mistaking a symbol for reality?

Assignment  5: Read Hayakawa, Chapter 3 -- Reports, Inferences, Judgments.

1. Statements of fact (reports) are verifiable. How would you verify these statements of fact?

A. "I have a GPA of 3.35."

B. "It's raining."

C. "The moon is made of bleu cheese."

D. "The Titanic was removed from the Atlantic floor last year."

E. "According to the New York Times, Tony Perkins, a prominent Christian conservative who has often denounced Mr. McCain, is warming up to him."

2. The definition of inference is a statement about the unknown based on the known. It is also known as figuring something out. Inferences can be well supported or not well supported. What inferences might you draw from these reports?

A. "He drives a red car." "He totaled it on the highway."

B. "She lives in Westport." "She Summers in Martha's Vinyard."

C. "He is a high school dropout." "He is in jail."

D. "My doctor went to Harvard Medical School."

E. "75% of people who smoke for more than 20 years develop a certain cancer."

3. What would be an example of a bad inference?

4. Judgments sound like facts but are not. They seem like they're talking about the object but they are really talking about the subject. For example, If I say "John is smart," it sounds like I'm talking about John but I'm talking about me (my reaction to John). Can you transform the following statements from statements of judgment to self-reports?

Example: "John is smart" à "From the things John says, I think he is smart."

A. "Jane is beautiful."

B. "That is a good movie."

C. "The health care plan is unworkable."

D. "Juno sucked"

E. "Jack is a typical college student."

5. Define "snarl words" and "purr words," according to Hayakawa.

6. Slanting is a way of selecting elements to give an impression. Using only reports, list five things that would make WCSU look like a bad place.

7. Now, list five facts that would make WCSU look like a great place.

Assignment  6: The News.

Here's something from the Danbury News-Times for February 1, 2008.

DANBURY - Police said there will be extra officers on the road Sunday during the Super Bowl game between the New England Patriots and New York Giants. Two additional officers have been assigned to work the 4 p.m. to midnight shift, Lt. James King said. "We expect there will be a lot of people out," he said. Along with New Year's Eve and Memorial Day, DUI arrests are traditionally high on Super Bowl Sunday.

1. Are any of the statements not reports? Are all statements of fact true?

2. Select any short news article in any newspaper and attach it to this assignment. Comment on the facts/inferences/judgments you find in it.