The persona portrayed by Dubner and Levitt in their novel Freakonomics is that of an unconventional Economist. Levitt’s introduction includes the quote "Morality, it could be argued, represents the way that people would like the world to work, whereas economics represents how it actually does work." (Levitt 13). This quote details an important distinction that characterizes the rest of Levitt's analysis. As an economist, he studies how the world actually functions, which tends to include deviations from what may be considered the moral.
“Perfect Parenting, Part II; Or: Would a Roshanda by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet” is the sixth chapter of Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. This chapter leads off tells a story of four different people with names that are not typical. One child, named Temptress, was charged in family court. One named Loser who became a success in every sense of the word. A man, named Winner, has a criminal record longer than this paper I am writing.
The book Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner is a unique book because it makes the reader think about our society in a peculiar way. The book take uncommon topics or two opposites ideas and compares the two together to show how similar they are. For example, the two authors compare the Klu Klux Klan to a group of real estate agents, which is interesting because the direct relationship might not be easily apparent, but however they are fairly similar. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, answer questions one may have never thought about or would have never come across, and answer them in a way that is applicable into the real world. Such questions in the book include things such as: What do School Teachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common, How is the Klu Klux Klan like a Group of Real-Estate Agents, and How to be the Perfect Parent….etc.
The book Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner talks about many different things, including cheating teachers and sumo wrestlers, how abortion lowered crime rates, how a street crack gang works, and whether the way parents raise their children even matter. These topics seem to have nothing in common, but all of these topics were identified in the same way: an economist (Levitt) looked at school test scores, crime data, and all sorts of other information, looking at them in unconventional ways. Because of that, he has come to many interesting and unique conclusions that make complete sense. These findings were based on some simple ideas: the power of incentives, conventional wisdom is not always right, things may not have obvious causes, and experts often serve their own interests instead of the interests of others. Perhaps the most important idea in the book is, as Levitt and Dubner state, “Knowing what to measure and how to measure it makes a complicated world much less so” (14).
1) Define psychology and trace its historical development. Psychology is the scientific research of the study of the human and animal behavior and mentalities. So in general the study is about how, what and why the human brain functions the way they do. As well as why mental illnesses exist.
Levitt and Dubner classify Freakonomics as a book having “no such unifying theme” (14), but all the unique topics discussed throughout the text connect back together in order to show the hidden side of human nature. The argument that the wide variety of topics and their abstract descriptions all link together draws the attention of a large audience and connects to issues that society is currently facing or has recently confronted. Freakonomics, organized as an argumentative piece, asserts that “commerce without morality,” or the conducting of business without a sense of what is right or wrong, is triggered by human actions that are led by incentives, causing changes in the economy. Levitt and Dubner do not explicitly state their argument, but through the use of ethos, pathos,
What exactly is psychology? While it may seem like a very basic question, it is one of the most common questions asked by students new to the study of psychology. During your first lecture of an introductory psychology class, your instructor might spend some time going around the room asking students to explain what they think psychology involves. During my first psychology class, one girl made a dramatic point of waving her fingers over another student's head and pretending to read his thoughts. Unfortunately, such misconceptions about psychology abound and part of the confusion stems from stereotyped portrayals of psychologists in popular media as well as the diverse careers paths of those holding psychology degrees.
Freakonomics is somewhat random grab bag of topics. The unifying theme of this book for me was finding ways to ask questions so that one's available statistics and data can provide an answer, time after time they used available statistics to provide some time of reasoning or answers to the question being asked. Some of these efforts were more successful than others. Some of the questions Levitt and Dubner study felt unnecessary, that no one really cares about. But there are also some good subjects.
Chapter 1 covers the definition of psychology and brief history of psychology. I learned that psychology is the study of the way people think, feel and behave. The goals of psychology are to describe behavior, explained, and predicted to control the behavior or change it. They are many types of psychological perspectives.
In chapter four of Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner discuss the criminal activity occurring in the United states and what the possible causes are for the decrease of crime rate in the 1990’s. The authors bring up several theories as to why the crime rates have decreased such as policemen, stricter gun laws, drug market changes and even abortion laws. Levitt and Dubner do a really good job in explaining the different theories in the decrease of crimes. The authors also provide very interesting points that might make you think differently about something. Some factors may seem hard to believe but it can cause a great impact in society like abortion.
In the third chapter of Freakonomics, the question that is asked is “Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?” The first phrase that is brought up in this chapter is “conventional wisdom,” and economist named John Kenneth Galbraith goes into detail and describes this phrase as a type of information, this type of information reinforces one person’s type of interest and well-being. Conventional wisdom is described at convenient and comforting, but it does not always have to be that. It takes a lot for people to even begin to doubt that conventional wisdom is not true. In the rest of the chapter Levitt tries to dispute the different points of conventional wisdom.
In the documentary Freakonomics, there were many key points to the advantages of economy in our society that could be the reasons from lowering crime rates, to incentives that allow students finishing schools and so on. I was amazed by the perception of how names can affect a person judgments on the person who they never met. Although, names cannot tell whether the person can be successful or a failure in a life, but in our American culture is an important way for institutionalized racism. An example that the documentary stated was the experiment by the Harvard professor, who had resumes with white names and black names applying for the same job with the same resumes, and how that whites are 30% likely to get called for the job than the black.
Having a degree in Psychology is beneficial because it is connected to a lot of career opportunities. It means that you have different options at hand. Studying Psychology is not just about improving one’s self but it can be a stepping stone as well to a great future. This degree means having a career of your choosing while enjoying what you are doing. By taking Psychology, you can learn how to understand other people and their behavior, the chance to do research and studies that can help humanity in the future and having a chance of developing a productive and working mind.
Psychology is defined as “the scientific study of the mind and behavior” (Introduction to Psychology, 2015). Psychology provides an overview of biology and behavior, sensation and perception, learning, memory, intelligence, language, motivation, emotion, abnormal psychology, and therapy (PSY 102 Course Syllabus, 2018, pg 1). Because psychology allows for a better understanding of how the mind and body work, this knowledge can be beneficial for any field of study or career. The theoretical and practical understanding of the basics of psychology can help with decision-making, critical thinking, stress management, time management, better understanding of others, improving communication, and even achieving goals and objectives, all components that allow someone to be more successful throughout their life. Throughout this course I hope to gain a greater understanding of historical and theoretical perspectives of human behavior and development (PSY 102 Course Syllabus, 2018, pg 2).
Let me start by telling you why psychology is a great choice for me. First, it can help people to solve their problems. With just talks,
