Unnatural Selections By Barry Schwartz

312 Words1 Page

In the article, “Unnatural Selections” by Barry Schwartz, he states the importance of the default option using multiple examples and persuasive writing techniques to explain his reasoning to the reader. In the beginning of his essay, Schwartz uses an example of Buffalo Wild Wings to explain his reasoning on defaults and why they should be changed. “Research evidence suggests that labeling the smaller portions ‘regular’ will move far more people to order them than if the portions were labeled as they are now.” (10). Schwartz uses this example to effectively show the reader that defaults do influence how we make a decision. Moreover, Barry uses persuasive techniques such as relating the problem of default choices to a serious issue like

Show More
Related

  • Trouble In Mind by Leon F. Litwack

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    Leon F. Litwack is the author of Trouble in Mind. Litwack is an American historian and professor of history at the University of California at Berkeley. He was born in 1929 in Santa Barbara, California. In 1951, Litwack received is Bachelor Degree and then continued to further his education. In 1958, he received his Ph. D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager wrote the book that sparked Litwack's curiosity in history. The book was The Growth of the American Republic. Litwack was in the eleventh grade when he first discovered his interest in history. In 1964, Litwack began teaching at the University of California, where he taught an excess of 30,000 students. Litwack has written other books besides Trouble in Mind. One of the books he wrote was Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery in 1979. In 1980, Litwack was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for history of this book and in 1981 he was the winner of the National Book Award. He also wrote North of Slavery: The Negro in the Free State, 1790-1860, Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America, and The Harvard Guide to African-American History. Litwack has also won many including, the Francis Parkman Prize, the American Book Award, and he was elected to the presidency of the Organization of American Historians. In addition to this, Litwack has been an outstanding teacher and received two notable teaching awards. Litwack's first teaching position was at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where he taught from 1958 to 1964. He also taught at the University of South Carolina, Louisiana State University, and the University of Mississippi. As one can see, not only has Litwack been an exceptionally outstanding author, he has also been a very popular and influential teacher.

    Read More

  • The Foolish Chris McCandless of Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people dream about leaving everything behind and starting a new life, but it’s not as easy as it seems. Learning how to adapt to a new environment may be a challenge. In the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Christopher McCandless has no knowledge of the conditions he’s going to face when he arrives in Alaska. I would classify Christopher McCandless as a fearless crazy guy, because he leaves his well-shaped life behind. McCandless is not prepared for his expedition to Alaska, because he’s not familiar with the different lifestyles. Making all of these changes to his life like, detaching himself from his family and changing his name to Alexander Supertramp was a bad idea; because losing all of his connections means that he has no help from the people who really know him.

    Read More

  • Chaim Potok's The Chosen

    1590 Words  | 4 Pages

    David Malter was part of the Jewish sect that took on a more modern approach. He is very understanding, and he cares very deeply for his son Reuven. Reuven and his father's relationship would be considered healthy by most people. They love each other very much, and they have a very open communication with each other.

    Read More

  • Chaim Potok's The Chosen

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the book The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, Reuven Malter is shaped by everyone around him. During this interaction his character becomes more developed and engaging. Through the interactions, it becomes apparent that Reuven’s father is always teaching his child how to improve himself. The conversations between Reuven and his father help prepare Reuven develop the mentality and the personal qualities, such as wisdom, compassion, and tolerance, necessary to become a rabbi.

    Read More

  • Morality In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    Certain societies rely heavily on tradition to uphold rules, regulations, and positions of power. Tradition allows for younger generations to relate to their elders by leading by example. Shirley Jackson wrote “The Lottery” in the late 1940’s, when society was dealing with the aftermath of World War II and the setting of the world was changing. Before the war, the world was more pleasant and safe. After the end of the war, America entered into a period of uncertainty and danger with the start of the Cold War and the boom of nuclear weaponry. In Jackson writing “The Lottery,” she is commenting on the time period saying that it was a time of unpredictability and immorality. She achieves this effect by using setting to depict the irony of the tradition of the lottery.

    Read More

  • Without Conscience by Robert D. Hare

    1924 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Without Conscience" by Robert D. Hare is one aimed towards making the general public aware of the many psychopaths that inhabit the world we live in. Throughout the book Hare exposes the reader to a number of short stories; all with an emphasis on a characteristic of psychopaths. Hare makes the claim that close monitoring of psychopathy are vital if we ever hope to gain a hold over Psychopathy- A disorder that affects not only the individual but also society itself. He also indicates one of the reasons for this book is order to correctly treat these individuals we have to be able to correctly identify who meets the criteria. His ultimate goal with the text is to alleviate some of the confusion in the increase in criminal activity by determining how my of this is a result of Psychopathy.

    Read More

  • Crisis Management: Why Businesses Should Have an Active Crisis Plan

    1751 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ulmer, R,. Sellnow, T. (1997) "Startegic Ambiguity and the Ethic of Significant Choice in the

    Read More

  • Junk Science by Lee Ann Fisher Baron

    1609 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Lee Ann Fisher Baron’s “Junk Science,” she claims that the “food industry with the help of federal regulators” sometimes use “[a science that] bypasses [the] system of peer review. Presented directly to the public by…‘experts’ or ‘activists,’ often with little or no supporting evidence, this ‘junk science’ undermines the ability…[for] everyday consumers to make rational decisions” (921). Yet Americans still have a lot of faith in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to a 2013 Pew Research study, 65% of Americans are “very favorable” or “mostly favorable” of the FDA. When it comes to what people put in their bodies, the FDA has a moral obligation to be truthful and transparent. The bottom line of the FDA’s myriad of responsibilities is to help protect the health of Americans. Deciding what to eat is a critical part of living healthily, and consumers must be able to trust that this massive government agency is informing them properly of the contents of food. While the FDA does an excellent job in many areas, it has flaws in other areas. One of its flaws is allowing the food industry to print food labels that are deceptive, unclear, or simply not true (known as misbranding). This is quite the hot topic because a Google search for “Should I trust food labels” returns well over 20 million results, many of which are blog posts from online writers begging their readers not to trust food labels. HowStuffWorks, a division of Discovery Communications, published an online article whose author claims that “[the food industry] will put what they want on labels. They know the game….” While the food industry is partially at blame for misbranding, the FDA is allowing it to happen. If a mother tells her children that it is oka...

    Read More

  • Sacrifice in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    The point of view of tradition in The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is the normal once of year gathering on the townspeople. This gathering is held in order to pick, via a lottery drawing, to decide who in the town is going to be stoned to death. “The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o’clock; in some towns there were so many people the lottery took two days and had started on June 26th, but in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, and the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o’clock in morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2013, pp. 251). The fact that the people gather and discuss everyday issue prior to the start of the lottery all point to the blind tradition of selecting some to be stoned to death.

    Read More

  • Dehumanity In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    Set in 1948 and published in The New Yorker, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson describes a village ritual of sacrifice. Contrary to the positive feeling associated with the word “lottery,” the story strikes fear into the readers’ hearts as the winner is stoned to death. Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” uses symbolism and genre conventions of a classic dystopian story to show the different ways in which human cruelty can occur.

    Read More

  • Sociological Argument

    2378 Words  | 5 Pages

    In five of the ten choice pairs, one option would be healthy and the other would be junk food (e.g., apples or brownie). Participants would be told that they would receive one of the items they chose, making their choice more consequential. Those in the audience present condition would read that the other participants in the study would have access to their choices and would be asked to form impressions about them based on the choices they made. This would not be true for those in the audience absent condition, who would be making their choices in isolation. The main DV of interest in this study is the total number of junk food items each participant

    Read More

  • Traditions in The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    Thesis: After a long period of time passes people forget the true meaning of their traditions by slowly disregarding as the years pass.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Class In The Lottery, By Shirley Jackson

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are some people who will never believe anything from what they think to be true. In the short story, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the small town of villagers have a day each year where they sacrifice one human amongst them, just because they have never imagined a time in their culture when they did not do such a thing. This impairs each characters’ judgment so that concepts that would normally be taken for wrong are somehow taken for right. It affects the town’s ability to grow because they cannot accept new ideas within their community. Therefore, “The Lottery” is an example of what happens when society can only distinguish two classes, specifically the working class and the wealthy leader class, which in this case would be an example

    Read More

  • The Unhealthy Diet of College Students

    1984 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...omething to go. I found out that college student’s want foods that are quick, taste good, and cheap. The limitation to my research was that I only passed out ten surveys all at the cafeteria. Perhaps if I did more or passed them out at a different location I might have gotten different results. I also only interviewed two people, and a larger sample might have changed my results. Also only observing my roommates shopping might have limited me to what I always eat, other college students might buy healthier foods when they shop. Take a minute now and think about what you eat in an average day and see if you fall into the categories of eating unhealthy with the majority of college students. Next time you buy something to eat take a second and look what’s in it and think to yourself. Should I be eating this? Or is there something healthier that I could be eating?

    Read More

  • The Use of Selective Exposition in The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    A typical story is littered with details, explaining the history of the world the story takes place in, who the characters in the story are, all the while remaining correlated to the plot and subplots that drive the story forward. The story The Lottery by Shirley Jackson however does not follow these conditions, as the reader is left to interpret a majority of the story on their own as it progresses. Jackson is not the only writer to incorporate a style of selective exposition in their work; Raymond Carver is widely recognized for his rejection of explanation and the use of characters that do not always communicate with one another, both of which are elements which Jackson incorporates into her own story. Initially, a lack of exposition may seem detrimental to the story, but instead it plays to the “mysterious nature of story” according to Charles E. May in his essay ‘Do You See What I’m Saying?’: The Inadequacy of Explanation and the uses of Story in the Short Fiction of Raymond Carver. Therefore, by refusing to expound upon setting, characters, and plot allows the author to create mystery, and the reader to form their own interpretations of the story.

    Read More

More about Unnatural Selections By Barry Schwartz

Open Document