Opening Skinner's Box - A Review (Chapters 1-10)

Chapter 1: Opening Skinner’s Box

Lauren Slater opens her book Opening Skinner’s Box with a chapter with the same title. She takes an intimate look at B.F. Skinner. She starts by discussing how infamous he is. Personally, I had heard about his experiments before, and I do not think I would consider him “infamous.” I think I would prefer the term “eccentric.” His experiments reflect a very different train of thought compared his peers and even among many psychologists today. He looked at the state of psychology at the time and how it was based mostly on anecdotes or observations. He applied principles derived from the scientific method and applied it to this “soft” psychology. He revolutionized the world not just with his experiments but also with his methods.  He thought out of the box (pun intended). He was a very analytical person, but at the same time he was very philosophical—a perfect fit for behavioral psychology.

A significant part of this chapter is Slater’s discussion of Skinnerizing her daughter to stop crying and demanding to be held at night. This anecdote lets the reader see how the application of operant conditioning is still relevant in everyday life. Most people also realize that we employ operant conditioning in training domesticated animals. It is almost disturbing how easy it is to condition someone to do what you want them to. Finally, when Slater meets Julie, one of Skinner’s daughters, I cannot help but think that she has been conditioned to adore her father. When she speaks of him, tears of love and memory swell up in her eyes and voice. She is also very defensive of him whenever anyone starts to criticize any aspect of his work or personality. It would not be too far-fetched to think that Skinner used his operant conditioning techniques to, perhaps unintentionally, condition his children to love him and to abhor any negative comments about him.

Chapter 2: Obscura

Because we, as a class, already had the opportunity to read Stanley Milgram’s Obedience to Authority, we had very good background knowledge about Milgram’s experiments. Nonetheless, Slater allows us to get a different perspective on Milgram and his experiments—one that is a little more subjective and humanistic. Slater begins this chapter with a hypothetical personal experience about participating in the experiment as the subject. I would have to admit that most of those thoughts would have reflected by own. However, I am still convinced that I would not go all the way to the end. I know that I would have gone most of the way though—even with a basic knowledge of lethal levels of electrocution. When I think about how obedient I am to any authoritative figure, I try to pick out the little things that I do to defy authority. Overall though, I obey without questioning. That is disturbing.

Milgram himself seemed to have a strange curiosity about people’s behaviors. He seemed especially interested in the nonobvious. He wanted to point out the counter-intuitive things that people do. For example, he experimented with people looking up at the sky solely because someone else was doing so. I wonder if his acute awareness of his mortality was a contributing factor to this personality trait. Furthermore, I wonder if he knew beforehand about the impact that he would have on the subjects that he experimented on. Whether they obeyed until the end or disobeyed at 150 volts, many of these people still feel the effects of the experiment as if it happened yesterday, not fifty years ago. Perhaps the biggest impact of Milgram’s experiments does not come from the results themselves, but, as Slater alluded to, it is the questions that people ask about obedience to authority.

Chapter 3: On Being Sane in Insane Places

I have always had a slight disdain for psychiatry. Maybe it was the images of the horrible insane asylums. Maybe it was the possibility of me being slightly crazy. Maybe it was Rosenham’s little experiment. Nonetheless, I find it hard to feel confident about psychiatrists telling me what is wrong with me. Rosenham’s experiment, although not perfectly scientific, exposed a lot of the troubles with psychiatry in the 1970s. It was so easy to diagnose someone with schizophrenia and throw them into an asylum. One voice that said only “thud” and that’s it! When people like Spritzer retorted with everything they had and even challenged Rosenham, they were humiliated again. Rosenham said that he would send pseudopatients to psychiatrists. They were convinced that they found forty-one such patients. He didn’t send anyone. Slater’s modern day version of the experiment reflected a shift in psychiatry. Now the doctors were more humanistic to their patients, but they were very quick to write prescriptions for drugs. This practice is also seen in the medical sciences. They all seem to be following the motto “when in doubt, medicate.” That is just as concerning for me as being called crazy.

It is ridiculous how context shapes our expectations, especially in a field such as psychiatry or even the medical sciences. If your profession is diagnosing sick people, you are going to expect that everyone you see has some sort of illness. These diagnoses can affect people in the worst ways. These doctors are affecting peoples’ wellbeing. Even when the intention is to keep someone alive or improve their health, they may at the same time be putting these people closer to death. These kinds of professions should critically analyze what is happening as a whole to these individuals who are adversely affected by their practices.

Chapter 4: In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing

I have heard of the concept of the diffusion of responsibility before in a sociology class that I took. I believe we also looked at the Catherine “Kitty” Genovese case. I still cannot believe what happened to that poor lady. It is the worst feeling, both physically and emotionally, to be stabbed repeatedly three separate times, know that people were around, but not getting any help. However, when I put myself in that situation, what would have I done? Would I have stood by listening to those screams? Would I have immediately called the police? I honestly think I would have done nothing. Darley and Latane’s experiments confirmed this. If you do not respond to an emergency within three minutes, you are ill-likely going to respond at all. There are multiple times when I could have helped someone who dropped their papers or was juggling books and a hurt appendage, but I did not. I thought to myself, “Someone else will probably help him.” No one else did.

We can make some connections from Darley and Latane’s experiments to Milgram’s experiments. When there’s an authority figure there, we rely on them to tell us what to do. When there is no authority figure, who is going to accept responsibility? Groupthink, peer pressure, and conformity also affect the outcomes of obedience and reaction to emergencies. Where is the independent thinking that Americans are so proud of? It seems to be there when the pressure is on you, the only person around. However, when there are other people involved, we appear apathetic and immoral. Maybe one day, everyone can understand these studies and experiments and be more conscious about their actions. The Kitty Genovese case should never happen again.

Chapter 5: Quieting the Mind

A staple in most psychology classes is cognitive dissonance, so its meaning is relatively well-known. Cognitive dissonance explains what happens when there is a conflict between one’s beliefs. Someone is more likely to modify their beliefs to fit the behavior rather than change their behavior to fit the belief. Essentially, this is the rationalization of incompatible beliefs and actions. Slater’s opening with the cult appears to be a clear-cut case of this. Arguably, religion in general contains many forms of cognitive dissonance. For example, there are religious texts that declare that women are lesser beings than men and those that dictate that people cannot eat meat. However, many of the people who follow these religious texts are feminists and/or love to eat meat. When people—especially the devout—are asked about these inconsistencies, they usually have some strange rationalization or perception about it that makes the belief and the behavior somehow compatible.

When I read about Linda and Audrey Santo’s story, it really made me sad. A young girl almost drowned to death, is now a vegetable, and has become, her mother claims, a direct line to God.  However, the different events that have occurred around Audrey are strange. How does one explain or rationalize the “hemorrhaging” oils? How does one explain the claims of being healed by these oils? Now Linda has breast cancer, and she refuses to be helped by her daughter. I wonder if this is a form of cognitive dissonance; Linda says that she refuses to be healed by her daughter because she does not want to make her suffer on her behalf. There is no way for us to know if she had tried already to be healed and just failed though.

Cognitive dissonance, like operant conditioning, does not explain everything about the individual person. It is only one piece of the extremely complex human being. It is impossible to claim that one theory explains everything about people and how they act. It is the intense mixing of all of these theories that piece together the human being. I think that Slater is not trying to make us focus on these different theories and people because she wants us to choose the one we like best. She wants us to understand the different pieces that make us whole.

Chapter 6: Monkey Love

Harry Harlow is a very interesting man. I do not think I would have been friends with him, but no one can deny the amount of contributions that he has made to our world. He was so obsessed with love that I could imagine him being a very clingy person. Slater also portrayed him as a very emotionally-dependent person. He looked for physical attention through affairs, he was always seeking to outdo himself to impress his colleagues, and his extreme focus on the mother and the child all reflect this desperation of outward emotional reconciliation.

Harlow’s experiments were merciless. Harlow did not care about the separation of the rhesus macaque monkeys from their mothers, nor did he seem to think about the implications his experiments would have on the monkeys once they were grown and ready to mate. I think we are starting to see some of the same disturbing results more and more with people these days. In a more highly technological world, there is an increasing need for quick and easy methods to raise children. Women are choosing to work after they give birth, whether by choice or by necessity. Culture also plays a large role in influencing parenting styles. I think there is a lack of touch, play, and motion—apparently the necessary ingredients for love—which are creating children who are increasingly antisocial. I wonder what implications this will have in future generations. Also, is this something that is happening solely to Americans? Or is this a worldwide phenomenon that we need to be concerned with?

Chapter 7: Rat Park

Television shows like Intervention and Dr. Drew highlight the tragedies that follow drug addiction. We see it glorified with celebrities’ constant visits to high-profile treatment centers. It does not affect just the user; it also hurts the user’s family and friends. It is not until that person is willing to get help that they can begin the process of recovery. These shows reflect the predominant belief that drugs “cause” addiction. It is something that cannot be avoided, no matter how disciplined a person is. Everyone argues that addiction is a disease, which needs to be clinically treated. Addicts go through programs in order to get themselves to heal themselves. But it does not always work.

Bruce Alexander argues that drugs do not cause addiction—it is a “life-style strategy.” He conducted the Seduction experiment and compared rats in the rat park, a luxurious environment, and rats in a typical lab setting, a miserable environment. Predictably, the rats in the dismal environment chose to become intoxicated by drinking morphine-laced water. However, the rats in the luxurious environment did not care for the sugary morphine water. This experiment is especially interesting because it is a stark contrast what popular belief about addiction dictates. I never really heard about Alexander’s experiments, but now that I have, I have a completely new take on drug addiction. I still cannot let go of my intense need for medical and scientific evidence of addiction. At the same time, though, I can now look at these arguments with a grain of salt. Alexander’s arguments help explain how I have no interest in getting intoxicated myself, even with access to intoxicants. I oftentimes do not even want to drink alcoholic beverages. To me, intoxication is not a “life-style strategy” for me.

Chapter 8: Lost in the Mall

I am very aware of Plato’s and Freud’s concepts of memory. I personally like to imagine that my memories are stuffed away in unorganized filing cabinets in my brain. These memories, like paper, become more fragile with time and can even fall completely apart. Also, there are some memories that I lock away so that no one, not even me, can ever see them again. Those are my “repressed” memories—memories that should not see the light of day ever again. Sometimes I get some of these files get really dusty so I have to brush them off to read its contents. This is the process of remembering. After reading this chapter, I wonder if these dusty files are really my own or counterfeits.

Elizabeth Loftus is an interesting person. Her curiosity about memories and her drive to protect those who are accused of terrible things based on the “repressed” memories of others is compounded by bravery. Who has the courage to fight against someone who claims was raped? Who has the courage to defend the person who is being accused of the rape? Loftus shows us how easy it is to implant a memory of being lost in a mall and how elaborate these fake memories can become. This work needs to be publicized more. People’s lives are being vastly affected by these “repressed memories,” which may or may not be fabricated. As Loftus says, we must have corroboration to be more certain that events occurred. The memories of one person are not reliable enough to depend on. That is the reason why people keep diaries, journals, and (of course) blogs—to keep record of what has occurred.

Chapter 9: Memory Inc.

The last two chapters of the book took an extremely close look at the physical brain. In this chapter, Slater analyzed memory.  Her first story was about a boy Henry, now only known as H.M., who had his hippocampus removed by Dr. Scoville to stop intense seizures. Scoville was successful in stopping H.M.’s seizures, but he also stopped H.M. from being able to create new memories. I wonder if the benefit was worth the cost. In his old age, H.M. is able to control his movements, but he cannot record events in memory. I wonder if he even realizes this. I cannot fathom what it would be like to live for as long as he had and not have fond memories of my life. Brenda Milner was able to record H.M. and observed that the hippocampus somehow converted short-term memory into long-term memory. Eric Kandel, who broke memory down to the few neurons of slugs, was able to discover cAMP-response element binding protein (CREB), which was what made short-term memory into long-term memory—in other words, memory glue. He also discovered its repressor, which would cause one to forget.

Slater spent a large part of the chapter analyzing the possible implications of Kandel’s company Memory Pharmaceuticals. They could produce pills that make one forget, or they could produce pills that make one remember everything. If these kinds of pills were made available to the general public, I think it would create controversy as intense as those of abortion or cloning. There would be fervent supporters and opponents who would be willing to fight over these pills. I personally would find some benefit in being able to select what I want to forget and what I want to remember, but I worry about the abuse of such pills.

Slater said that Elizabeth Loftus and Eric Kandel offered conflicting arguments. I think theirs are actually complimentary. Kandel looks at how short-term memory becomes long-term memory. Loftus looks at how fabricated stories can become short-term memory and, in turn, long-term memory. Repression itself is a different issue altogether. Like Loftus said, corroboration is probably the best way to verify an event actually occurred. However, there are even flaws with corroboration if memory is involved.

Chapter 10: Chipped

This chapter looks how physical modifications to the brain can help heal people. Antonio Egas Moniz, who won the Nobel Prize for 1949 for the discovery of psychosurgery, started this long, dangerous, and beneficial journey into psychosurgery. To this day, there are debates over the costs and benefits of psychosurgery. In the United States, Walter Freeman and James Watt promoted psychosurgery as the means to fix any mental illness. This is one of the reasons why psychosurgery has such a bad reputation. The early pioneers of psychosurgery were willing to work on anyone for any reason. I am still affected by this reputation. I get anxious at the thought of someone poking around in my brain. I would rather take pills no matter what.

Slater’s story about Charlie Newitz provides a present-day example of the role of psychosurgery. Lobotomies are only allowed as a last resort for patients. However, the surgery on Charlie shows how far psychosurgeries have come since the 1950s. At the end of the chapter, Charlie says that he would be willing to have another surgery in order to stop his depression. This begs the question of whether or not someone could get addicted to psychosurgeries. Another question that arises is whether psychosurgery is better than prescription pills or vice versa. We live in a culture where, if anything is “wrong” with you, you can fix it with a little chemical modification here or a little physical modification there. Everyone is striving to live a “normal” life or be a “better” person. Unfortunately, this is causing people to become overdependent on drugs and surgeries to fix everything. Where will this lead us in the future? As more is discovered about the brain, many people may want to remember everything that is good, forget everything that is bad, dissolve anxiety or depression, and improve productivity. Is this a good thing?

Obedience to Authority - A Review

Obedience to Authority – Overall

Stanley Milgram’s book Obedience to Authority analyzes the series of experiments that he performed concerning the power of authority. While humans are generally moral, independently thinking beings, they are easily swayed by authority to do things that are against their personal virtues. There are multiple factors at work, but the two biggest factors are morality or obedience.

I had already known about Milgram’s experiments before I read the book, but it was merely a superficial summary of it. There was no reason provided as to why people obeyed or, more significantly, why they did not disobey. I had the same initial reaction as many other people to the results of the experiment; there was no way that almost everyone would shock an innocent person to death. Unfortunately, the data speaks for itself. When it comes to morality versus obedience, obedience often prevails.

After reading the book in its entirety, I think I understand the experiment a little more. Although the reasoning and procedure of the experiments are sound, I wonder if it was too narrow-minded in how different variables affected obedience. I think he should have explored more possible variables with more people involved. Variables such as age, socioeconomic status, and occupation should have been more closely analyzed. A person’s disposition has a lot to do with his or her tendency to obey. Statisticians say that having a sample size of at least forty-five is a good size, but many of his experiments included only twenty people. That is not nearly enough to get reliable data and draw conclusions from. Honestly, I would have been more satisfied with his results if he had several hundred subjects.

I was a little put off on how black and white Milgram was about the obedience. He said that all he focused on was whether the subject obeyed or disobeyed. There was a lot of stress and strain involved for many of the subjects. There are a multitude of factors at work when obedience and morality conflict. Milgram pointed out that the presence of an authority figure was sufficient to get compliance. However, when the authority figure is gone, or there is a precedence of disobedience, it is easier to follow one’s morality.

Milgram’s conclusions should be taken with a grain of salt. While it is surprising how many people will defy their own personal moral convictions to follow authority, there are those who would not allow it. After reading the book, the results are not as surprising as I originally thought because of the conditions that were used in the experiments.

In conclusion, Milgram offers us a very interesting study on the obedience to authority. When discussed, though, there should be discussion on the environment these subjects were in. The environment and other conditions greatly affected people’s tendency to obey, and oftentimes this was neglected when summarized. I think this sort of discussion should continue so that people are more conscious about not always blindly obeying authority when the situations arise.

Obedience to Authority - Chapter by Chapter

Chapter 1: The Dilemma of Obedience

I feel that this introductory chapter attempts to say too much before finding the results of the experiment. I appreciate Stanley Milgram’s brief discussion on the issue of morality versus obedience, but he delves too quickly into the conclusions of his series of obedience experiments before really describing them in detail. This first chapter left me with a bad first taste in my brain.

Chapter 2: Method of Inquiry

This chapter was a very straightforward chapter. Milgram outlines the procedures of the experiment and makes sure that the reader is sure that every step in the experiment was deliberate and well-thought out. Nothing special can be said about this chapter.

Chapter 3: Expected Behavior

The predictions on the results on the experiments were very clear: most everyone would not shock the learner after he protests. Of course, I would have said the same thing. On the surface, it is easy to see the moral issue of shocking someone against their will. Many of us would be quick to shout, “Stop the experiment! That poor man is in pain!” hypothetically. However, once we scratch deeper past the surface, we will find out that there is more there than the moral issue of hurting someone.

Chapter 4: Closeness of the Victim

Finally, we start seeing actual data from the first experiments on obedience. Of course, the results are extremely different from the predictions from the previous chapter. The data clearly shows that many people obeyed authority and shocked the learner all the way to the 450 volts. However, I believe that Milgram goes too far in overemphasizing the results in obedience. In the first experiment, where the learner was in a different room, even I would be able to say that there is a sense of detachment on the subject’s part to the learner. In experiments 2-4, there is a marked decrease in obedience because of the mere presence of the learner. A significant amount of people disobeyed when the learner began to protest. These are some results that, although possibly less significant than that which shows how many people went all the way, still need to be noted.

Chapter 5: Individuals Confront Authority

The personal stories from specific participants really interested me because it allowed me to find out about the people’s thoughts during the experiment and their reactions afterwards. However, I feel that Milgram was a little quick to make some of the judgments on how and why the people acted as they did. I wish he had just told us what they said and left it to the reader to analyze and deconstruct.

Chapter 6: Further Variations and Controls

The variations on the original versions of the experiment left me with a question that Milgram did not directly address: Where is the learner relative to the teacher? We already learned that proximity makes a huge difference on how people obey the experimenter, so I wonder where Milgram decided to place the two of them. It would have helped better analyze the results from these variations. Nonetheless, the variations allowed us to look at different factors affecting the subject’s obedience or disobedience in the experiment.

Chapter 7: Individuals Confront Authority II

This series of interviews included women this time. It still surprises me that women were not included in the original experiments. I also wonder if women are included in any experiments other than the one completely dedicated to the gender. This marked distinction between men and women concerns me a little because in the interviews that he chooses to share, Milgram invariably exposes some prejudice about women.

Chapter 8: Role Permutations

Now that I know the results of the previous experiments, the results of these role permutation experiments do not surprise at me at all. In Experiment 13, where an ordinary man gives orders, I find it the least believable for the subject, which could have partially compromised the premise of the experiment. I think that this experiment might be a little more complex than what Milgram describes.

Chapter 9: Group Effects

Milgram introduces a new factor to his experiments in this chapter: conformity. Peer pressure has just as strong an effect that obedience does, so this was interesting. When alone, the subject may not even realize that quitting in the middle of the experiment is okay. In these experiments, the precedent is there; the subject can quit if he wants. I think this, in conjunction with peer pressure, aids in getting more people to break the experimenter’s authority.

Chapter 10: Why Obedience?—An analysis

In this chapter, Milgram looks at why obedience is such a strong influencing factor in people’s behavior. His analysis seems quite obvious for me. As humans found mutual benefit in forming and maintaining groups, we needed order. We allow for someone to dictate this order in the group to ease the burden on oneself. Thus authority exists. In order for order to be maintained, we must learn to obey the authority.

Chapter 11: The Process of Obedience: Applying the Analysis to the Experiment

Milgram delves a little deeper into why obedience happens on a more psychological level. I did not find this chapter particularly interesting personally. Nothing really novel came out of this chapter.

Chapter 12: Strain and Disobedience

I am glad that Milgram included this chapter. He explicitly explained all of the strain that the different subjects experienced. This gives the dimension of clear conflict in moral standing versus obeying authority. Even though many people will obey authority over their own convictions, they were not blindly following authority.

Chapter 13: An Alternate Theory: Is Aggression the Key?

I think this chapter was mostly to address many people’s immediate reaction that the subjects in the experiment are horrible, mean people. This chapter, therefore, did not mean much to me. While there are truly mean people out there, many of them are moralistic and humane.

Chapter 14: Problems of Method

Milgram finally addresses some of the issues that I had with the experiment itself. To me the most significant factor to the experiment was the believability in the learner actually being shocked, but I think it would be easy to see that the shocks are not real. Many people, even if It was a minority, were not completely convinced that the learner was really being shocked, which may have skewed the results. Nonetheless, I appreciate that Milgram kept these subjects in his results and did not just dismiss them.

Chapter 15: Epilogue

In Milgram’s final chapter, he starts looking at the present and even at the future. In general, obedience to authority will not stop. The Vietnam War reflects some of the effects of obedience to Americans directly. I think this is the reason why people dislike the Vietnam War so much. This war really made Americans face the clear-cut conflict of authority versus morality. This conflict can be seen today in the War on Terror.

Gang Leader for a Day

Book Reflection

Sudhir Venkatesh’s Gang Leader for a Day was a very interesting book to read, especially since we had to read it for our Human and Computer Interaction class. Venkatesh was given a unique opportunity to observe and be an intimate part of the Black Kings gang and the Robert Taylor Homes through the gang leader JT. JT himself is a very interesting person; his willingness to let Venkatesh into his world even at the risk of Venkatesh getting him killed or incarcerated is uncharacteristic of someone in his position. Venkatesh’s years of “study” and involvement in the projects and the Black Kings gang gives a real human face to the poor black families and individuals in the America.

Venkatesh is from white suburban California, so when he was willingly thrown into the black projects of Chicago, we see a large clash in culture, behaviors, and norms. I think this was the biggest reason why his work is significant. He reflects the outsider’s—presumably the reader—views and thoughts on inner-city life. In Gang Leader for a Day, he admitted that he was playing the naïve student in order to find out about the intricacies of poor blacks in America. I do not feel that he was as naïve or careless as he portrays; he knew that there was a give and take—or hustle—that was necessary to achieve his goals.

JT was a charismatic leader who has seen both the legitimate and illegal ways of making money and surviving in America. He went to college and even got a “real” job. However, he came back to gang life when he realized that he found more respect, power, and opportunity for growth there. He made a conscious decision to be part of a gang. It appears that many other gang members share a similar sentiment. They only choose the gang because either: 1) they want to make enough money to do what they really want, 2) they feel like it is expected of them (i.e., self-fulfilling prophecy), or 3) they have no other choice. If other opportunities had existed, then they probably would not have chosen the gang life. For example, in other neighborhoods where there was a real opportunity to work and make a decent wage, it was harder for JT to recruit gang members. However, the practices seen in gangs are apparent in all walks of life. Ms. Bailey manipulates her tenants for her favor and personal gain. The police officers are not all-ideal enforcers of the law. Politicians want voters to elect them to higher positions of power within the government. Even students brown-nose their professors for recommendation letters and references for their careers.

Venkatesh’s personal involvement and biases really make Gang Leader for a Day less of an ethnography than a sort of memoir. His work shows some of the issues with ethnographies and the debates that go on about their legitimacy. If one becomes too involved with the culture they are studying, they may become blind to the little things that make the culture the way it is. However, if one becomes too objective and scientific, they lose those qualities that make cultures unique and human. I personally see some benefit of qualitative studies and quantitative analyses, but I cannot see if they are making a significant impact—in terms of federal policies or overall knowledge.

While I did not grow up in the projects or in the ghetto, I have seen the “darker” side of America: having to survive by less legitimate means. The culture of the United States creates these pockets of communities where the federal, state, or city laws do not always align with the activities that often occur openly. The government is failing and neglecting large sectors of people, so some of them must create their own ways to govern themselves. The close relationship of the Black Kings and the Robert Taylor Homes is an example of this. The gang was necessary to keep order (what they define as order) because no one else would.

Chapter Reflections

Chapter 1: How Does It Feel to be Black and Poor?

This first chapter really revealed how sheltered Venkatesh is. He walked into the Lake Park projects with no sense of needing to carefully watch himself and others. Even the first question on the questionnaire, “How does it feel to be black and poor?” and the use of the Likert scale was insensitive to those he intended to interview. I found that JT’s interest in Venkatesh was motivated by both curiosity and selfishness. I think JT wanted to know what Vankatesh’s intentions were with the gang just as much as Vankatesh wanted to learn about being black and poor. This simultaneous curiosity is probably what maintained their relationship.

Chapter 2: First Days on Federal Street

In this chapter, Venkatesh focuses on the people in the projects. He introduces many people to the reader, including Ms. Mae, Clarisse, and C-Note. He also introduces the Robert Taylor Homes and the dynamics between the tenants and the Black Kings gang members. There is a delicate balance between these two groups. Each needs the other for survival. The situation with C-Note and JT reflects this. JT wants to maintain this authority in the community, and C-Note knows this. However, C-Note needs to show that JT does not dictate the all of the happenings in the Robert Taylor Homes, which is why he talked back to JT yet took his beating with little resistance.

Chapter 3: Someone to Watch over Me

The third chapter was filled with a multitude of lessons that Venkatesh had never experienced before. He learned about how JT and the Black Kings had to work with politicians in order to operate successfully. It is surprising that Venkatesh did not realize how much politicians and gang leaders had to work together to maintain each other’s interests. Kris and Michael and Boo-Boo also offered him insights into how the Black Kings was, in a way, both a blessing and a curse. The Black Kings offered them protection and a voice, but they had to give up something in return—whether it was money or a little autonomy. Finally, JT had to be extremely explicit to Venkatesh about how he was affiliating himself. If he was “with” JT, he had different affordances compared to if he was “with” Autry. Venkatesh had to be really careful about how he affiliated himself, because that determined who could protect him.

Chapter 4: Gang Leader for a Day

When Venkatesh talked about being “gang leader for a day,” I think he glorified it to the point of narcissism. While he did make some “decisions,” it was ultimately JT who determined what happened that day. JT just wanted to see if Venkatesh could handle doing what he did on a daily basis. It is similar to how so many people think they can be president of the United States and do a better job than whoever is in office. The truth is, no matter how much education or know-how you have, you can never be prepared for such a job until you are put in that situation. This chapter sort of annoyed me because of Venkatesh’s haughtiness, but it allowed the reader to see the complexities of being a leader.

Chapter 5: Ms. Bailey’s Neighborhood

Venkatesh painted Ms. Bailey as the Taylor Roberts Homes equivalent to JT and the Black Kings. She takes care of the tenants because she sees how they can benefit her. She relishes the power she has and finds her happiness in controlling the tenants. This chapter also reveals the complex relationship between JT and Ms. Bailey. They both realize that they must cooperate together in order to achieve their goals, but at the same time they must distinguish their independence from each other to maintain their status in their respective arenas.

Chapter 6: The Hustler and the Hustled

It surprised me that it took four years for Venkatesh to question his legal and moral obligations as an ethnographer and observer. The IRB and the legal system have very explicit rules about what a researcher should report to the authorities. It also surprised me how shocked Venkatesh was when the people he had talked to about the ways they make money were mad at him because he told Ms. Bailey and JT. He could not have been that ignorant. I think he was playing too much into his naïve nature here. Catrina’s death was disheartening, but not too surprising to me. Also, although the subsequent writing workshop was in good faith, he should have expected the accusations of him having sex with the girls.

Chapter 7: Black and Blue

In the previous chapters, the police presence was portrayed as nearly nonexistent with the exception of Officer Reggie. Now, the reader sees that the police do get involved sometimes, but not always for what they would expect of them. It is sad that the police are so organized in their corruption; they sign up to raid gang parties! It is also sad how jealous they are of these gang leaders. It makes me wonder why they decided to join the police force. The demolition of the Robert Taylor Homes sounded like one of those predictable endings to a book, so when I read this, I felt like it was reading fiction instead of an ethnography.

Chapter 8: The Stay-Together Gang

The ending of the book saddened me. It really seems like Venkatesh was in it just for his research and dissertation. This contradicts his desire to humanize poor blacks in America. He was ultimately interested in using them for his dissertation. His dwindled relationship with JT also disappointed me; I think he should have at least acknowledged JT as somewhat of a friend. 

Ethnography Ideas

If I had sole discretion on the culture that I wanted to study for my ethnography project, I think I would choose the culture of the TAMU student organization Cepheid Variable. It is a club that supports "all things science fiction, fantasy, horror, science, and technology." I have heard of this organization from friends, and it seems like an organization that has created its own rules of acceptable behaviors and norms. I think this would be an interesting opportunity for me to immerse myself in their culture. I could also critically analyze how such an organization within the university can be so drastically different from the overall image that Texas A&M portrays.

An idea for other people's ethnography projects could be the Help Sessions that the Math department offers for math classes. Help Sessions offer opportunities for students in math classes like Calculus I or Contemporary Mathematics to get some help on a concept they learned in class or homework. The largest difference between the Help Session and other ways of getting academic help (Weeks-in-Review or visiting a professor during his/her office hours) is that the Help Sessions are run by undergraduate students, so there is a smaller difference in age between the staff and the students. This creates a different dynamic and atmosphere that could be analyzed.

Nonobvious Observation

As a precursor to our ethnography project, everyone had to record themselves doing some task that included interaction with other people. We will then use the videos to observe each other’s interactions in order to determine who that person might be. For our travel plan, the group that I was in decided to simply go to Spoons and get some yogurt. We felt this would give us an opportunity to show our personality through our selections of yogurt flavor and toppings and through the interactions that we had with the other patrons and the employees there. I noticed a wide range of reactions from almost every single person at Spoons, both obvious and nonobvious. The most significant thing that people reacted to was the head-mounted camera itself. Without going into detail—since it would reveal my video and identity—I must say that there were those who embraced the video recording and others who avoided me altogether. With the camera on my head, I noticed that I was significantly more conscious about my own movements. I could tell where my eyes were going and the pace at which I walked. It felt as though my personality became more apparent with the camera on my head. I really hope that all of the videos came out well and that everyone else will have as much fun watching the video as I had in making it.

The article about nonobvious things that reveal more about a person was very dry for such an interesting subject. I agree with Molly Ireland and James Pennebaker; when two people interact, there is a “dance” of sorts. When people interact, it is very normal for them to seek common ground. This does not only apply to interests, but it also includes how they speak and even their postures. The most obvious nonobvious thing to notice is gaze. If somebody’s gaze is similar to the other’s, then there is more of a connection. Ireland and Pennebaker state that listeners better understand the speaker when he or she matches the speaker’s gaze. I notice that when I speak, I sort of unintentionally try to match the way that the other person speaks. Especially in different circles, the manner in which I speak is different. I am adapting to the people with whom I am speaking. Ireland and Pennebaker say that this is an subconscious way to affiliate oneself with a group. You must speak like everyone else in order to be with everyone else. When I took a public speaking class, the professor told us that one of the most important things about speaking is not necessarily the speaking part. It is the nonverbal gestures and movements that make an impact. To engage the listener, look at them, do not speak in monotone, and stand straight. In public speaking, these are things that are clear to us. However, in everyday interactions, it is more subtle and not as obvious. They still have the same implications though.

The first chapter of The Secret Life of Pronouns, written by James Pennebaker, is a really interesting read. I really made me think about how I talk. I even tried to go to the analyzewords.com website to analyze my tweets, but I have not posted enough to get an analysis. Pennebaker’s fascination with how writing reflects the writer’s internal emotional and physical state was his motivation for his work, and I think this is an important subject to be researched, not only for social psychology but also for other fields like HCI. Because this is only the first chapter of the book, I am skeptical about how one can run an objective, scientific analysis on people’s writings--especially writings about traumatic experiences. Martha E. Francis’s computer program Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) seems to try to make this as scientific as possible. However, the development of the dictionaries is based on people’s subjective perceptions of words. Nonetheless, Pennebaker’s conclusions about healthy writing are profound. He said that, when writing about traumas in life, one should “acknowledge the negative but celebrate the positive,” value the construction of the story, and look at the situation from different perspectives. I hope the rest of his book is as interesting as the first chapter.

Ethnographics

The definition of “ethnography” can be found in the word itself. The ethnos part refers to people, and the grapho part means to write. The dictionary definition describes how ethnography is a qualitative work studying cultures or individual people. However, to many other people—like Malinowki, Levi-Strauss, and Geertz—ethnography is much more than a study of cultures. Sanjek divides ethnography into two subcategories: the product and the process. I tend to see ethnography as more of a process, where one immerses himself or herself into something that is not completely familiar. Ethnography is not just crunching numbers and boiling things down to a science. It is much more fluid because it involves people, who themselves are always changing.

Before this class, I could not even pronounce the word correctly without stumbling over it first. Now, I have to wrap my mathematical head around this sort of anthropological and sociological thinking. One of the most difficult parts for me to comprehend is how to be completely objective in a study of cultures. I know that everything that I think of and do is influenced by my own culture and mindset. How can I set that aside and objectively view and/or experience another culture? I guess this is part of the ongoing debate about the value of ethnographies. When I got to the section in the Wikipedia article on Ethnography that discussed ethnographies in other fields, I realized how this applies to HCI. We have to understand the people that we design for in order to better serve them. After all, our programs and products are for them, not for us.

Margaret Mead’s Coming of Age in Samoa sounds very interesting, especially since it was done in the 1920s. Mead really paved the way for anthropologists and ethnographers in general. Her exploration into the adolescence of young women took her to a completely different culture compared to that of the United States. Her work seemed very thoughtful. She did not throw away her American upbringing; she used it to give her some perspective on the upbringing of the Samoan teenagers. In the end, she found that adolescence in Samoa was not filled with awkwardness and rebelliousness like in the United States. She said that the transition from childhood to adulthood was “smooth.” I think her conclusions make sense. The things that the United States is proud of are what make adolescence so difficult. Children in the United States must learn to assert themselves because of the need to be independent at the end of their adolescent years. Rebellion, making personal philosophical decisions, independence, and many other life-altering choices are the hallmarks of the culture in the United States. This is contrasted with Samoan society, which was monocultural and did not hide the “basic human facts” of sex, bodily functions, or death. I think that this openness of sex was probably a culture shock to Mead’s readers, considering the time period in which her work was published. Even today, sex and death are awkward topics to discuss. Derek Freeman tried to discredit Margaret’s work so fervently. However, it is obvious, in hindsight, that he simply had some sort of vendetta against her. Such bias and disregard for courtesy and respect really disgusted me. I am glad that he was discredited in that aspect for the most part by later research on other cultures and her preserved notes. 

Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things - Chapter 1: Attractive Things Work Better

When I read the title of the first chapter of Donald Norman’s book Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, I was struck by shock. I asked myself, “How can someone who wrote The Design of Everyday Things be talking about pretty things?” It baffled me. Nonetheless, I read on. This chapter is a stark contrast to the book he wrote decades earlier. Instead of focusing on the physical layout of an object or device, Norman is now looking at how attractiveness improved its usability. Personally, I think this first chapter is a good introduction to Emotional Design. However, I am skeptical on how Norman can provide techniques or strategies on designing pretty things.

Norman’s anecdote about Israeli scientist Noam Tractinsky, who was convinced that the Japanese researchers Masaaki Kurosu and Kaori Kashimura’s results of their pretty ATM study was the result from a cultural disposition of aesthetics, really started things off on the right foot. I, too, was convinced that it had to be a random occurrence. However, one cannot dispute the continued concrete evidence that attractive things are perceivably easier to use. Norman’s explanation of why this is the case was that when people feel good, they think more creatively, and therefore can figure out how to use things more easily. In Design of Everyday Things, Norman put most of the burden on the designer to make everyday things easy to use for the everyday user. He focused on aspects like the conceptual image matching the system image, visibility, good mappings, and good feedback. He even had a cycle of actions that people go through to find out how to accomplish a goal and how designers should make that process easier.

Emotional Design delves into the user-centric world by analyzing how the three levels of processing—visceral, behavioral, and reflective—affect a user’s ability to use an item. Once again, in contrast to Design of Everyday Things, the burden comes off of the designer in a way and puts the burden on the mental state of the user. If the user is relaxed and happy, then they are more capable to deal with minor problems of a device. This is enhanced if the device itself is fun or pretty. If the user is anxious or upset, then they are more focused; they look at the details and neglect the bigger picture. This is when the principle that Design of Everyday Things comes in. The design on consoles and devices then must reflect the situation. If the user is working at a nuclear power plant, there needs to be lights and sounds that create anxiety. Similarly, there can be light whimsical background music that creates happiness. The designer now has to take into account not only the technical aspects of a device; they need to be very aware of the emotional and mental state of the user. Are they working on instinct (visceral), are they doing contemplative work (behavioral), or are they thinking philosophically (reflective)? Norman also warns about going to the extremes, especially in high stress situations, like a fire, when people are acting instinctively and not logically.

The Norman’s lists of pleasant things and negative or stressful things to evoke positive or negative feelings, respectively, are interesting. People have adapted to some of those things, like heights, so that they are not so affected by them. The things that make us human are the things that make it so difficult for designers to create products that satisfy everyone. This is highly contrasted to Design of Everyday Things because in that book, we did not differentiate between people. We designed for the generic user with no thought of their personality or preferences. In Emotional Design, we are given an extra level of complexity because we have to be able to design for people in different emotional states and with different traits.

While this first chapter of Emotional Design seems very psychologically-oriented, it has the same implications as his earlier work The Design of Everyday Things. The designers of products and devices need to keep the user in mind because they are the ones who will be using their products in the end. If the user is unhappy with it, then the designer has failed. Adding emotional factors into design seems extremely intimidating for the designer. I hope that Norman can offer some effective ways to accomplish this in the rest of his book.

The Design of Everyday Things - Overall

Reaction: The Design of Everyday Things

I really enjoyed reading The Design of Everyday Things. It  gave me a new outlook on the things that I use in everyday life. It was not exactly from the perspective of computer science or computer engineering, which allowed me to see what people from other fields think about and how they react to things that we design. This book also made me consciously aware that I need to keep the consumer in mind when I design and produce programs. The use of anecdotes really helped me put myself into the person's place and recall my own experiences with similar things. I do wish that Donald Norman had offered more examples in his book. He tended to focus on a few extreme examples. These included the doors, the video projection devices, like the projector and VCR, and sink faucets. It was not a hindrance on conveying his messages, but it would have been nice to have more variety in his examples. Furthermore, his reiteration of his principles helped me further internalize the things that he was explaining. He designed his book well!

Reaction: Chapter by Chapter

Chapter 1: The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

I had never thought about even the most mundane things in my everyday life having such complex effects. For example, I have encountered similar glass swinging doors that Norman told about. I, too, was confused when I thought I was supposed to push a door, but it was actually intended to be pulled. It usually happens at department stores when they have the minimalistic look or at small shops whose handles go horizontally across on both sides, making the implication of pushing or pulling ambiguous. The discussion about the complexity of the simple telephone made me laugh. It reminds me of the telephones that I have to use at my workplace. I work in retail, so the telephones are mostly used when a guest calls or when we must page for someone in the store. It has the standard numberpad and several buttons on the right hand side. Some of the phones have a template attached that shows what each button does, but for some reason or another, some of the phones have lost these templates. All you see is a column of white buttons. When any of the employees encounter these phones, they have to pause and figure out which button to press in order to page someone. Some people actually memorized (it's the fifth button down). Others just avoid those particular phones all together.

Chapter 2: The Psychology of Everyday Things

I have experienced almost everything that Norman had described in this chapter. To this day, projectors completely baffle me. I understand the overall workings of a projector, but I would never even attempt to use one. I do tend to blame myself when I make mistakes--even if they are not really my fault. For example, my laptop has a touchpad that controls the mouse under the keyboard. Sometimes when I type, I occasionally lay my wrist down and accidentally touch the touchpad with part of my left palm. This causes the touchpad to think that I am trying to click something. I had thought I was just doing something wrong. Now, I realize that the real culprit is bad design. The designers should have taken into account a user's hand positions and placed the touchpad strategically away from resting hands. I know a lot of people who have been taught helplessness, especially when it comes to math. I have helped tutor a couple of people in algebra and calculus, and when they get frustrated, they just throw their arms in the air and exclaim, "I won't ever get math!" It is hard to get them out of that mindset, especially because it has been years since they started becoming frustrated in the subject.

Chapter 3: Knowledge in the Head and in the World

I have a job in retail as a cashier. This would imply that I know what U.S. currency looks like. However, after trying for several minutes to figure out what the penny really looks like (without actually pulling out a penny), I noticed that I only take the shape, color, and weight into account when it comes to coins. This is so embedded in my mind that, whenever a dollar coin comes my way, I am usually thrown off. It is not a typical coin that customers pay with. The same thing happens when I get a two-dollar bill. My brain has to pause to process what it is and that it is an acceptable form of currency. When Norman listed all of the things he had to memorize, I realized that I had a lot to memorize, too. I have to remember usernames and passwords to my multiple email accounts, my UIN, social security number, my ID number at my job, birthdays, essential phone numbers, and much more. Knowledge in the world definitely takes a load off my brain, which is much appreciated.

Chapter 4: Knowing What to Do

In contrast to Norman, I find VCRs pretty intuitive in terms of operation. They used standardized symbols for playback; it was even easy to set the time on the VCR. The only thing that I could never figure out was how to record shows on video cassette. The biggest issue was that I had no feedback. Just as Norman said, an onscreen visual of what was going on when setting the VCR to record is necessary. The designs of doors and light switches are extremely important! There is a set of light switches in the living room. There are four little switches on the plate. One is for the ceiling fan, one is for the main light, one is for the light for the hallway, and one is for the light above the fireplace. I still don't remember which goes to what because there is absolutely no logical mapping from one light to the other. I ended up just putting a label for each light, which looks ugly but makes life so much easier.

Chapter 5: To Err is Human

I never really thought about the difference between slips and mistakes, but I guess it is appropriate to distinguish the two. Slips are unconscious and unintentional; mistakes are conscious and deliberate. It seems to be difficult to prevent slips because even preventative measures can become streamlined in many people's minds. For example, when I have to confirm a file's deletion, oftentimes I find myself just hitting the "Okay" button when the confirmation screen comes up. Usually, it is okay if I later find out that I need the file since there is the Recycle Bin which holds everything I delete. Unfortunately, on flash drives, the files are deleted permanently, which has caught me off-guard several times. Norman's discussion on the structure of tasks is interesting; it completely makes sense. Norman did not discuss mistakes themselves as much as I would have preferred, but it was interesting learning about the various ways big companies have tried to fix or prevent mistakes.

Chapter 6: The Design Challenge

This chapter might have been the most out-dated chapter out of all of them. Norman talked about the issues with keyboards, sink faucets, and computers. At present, keyboards, with an occasional slight variation in orientation (ergonomics) and relative size (correlated with the size of of a laptop), have not changed. We know that a sink faucet is sensor activated since there is an absence of sensors. Also, I do not find the lack of a temperature adjustment feature to be a big deal. There are even some sinks that are sensor-activated that include a small lever to temperature adjustment. Finally, computers have come a long way since the 1980s. Everything that Norman said he would have liked is now an integral portion of many people's lives. I am glad that he has gotten to see his hopes come to fruition. It makes me wonder how he would have written this chapter if it was written today instead of thirty years ago.

Chapter 7: User-Centered Design

This final chapter was mostly a recap of the first six chapters. There was not much new content; there was more summary and rewording of several points that Norman wanted to emphasize. He also provided some closing thoughts. His insertion of the Velcro shoes interested me. These days, children seem to be relying more on using Velcro straps before learning to tie their shoes with shoelaces. Of course, they do usually learn to tie their shoes. However, I wonder what kind of implications such a small thing like this has. I wonder if it has been translated to other things? How has the design of everyday things changed in the past couple of decades?

Good Designs of Everyday Things

1) Hole Puncher

This is a standard hole puncher that you can find at a generic office supply store. However, as common as it is, it is very well designed. Everything about it is intuitive. It is so easy to use that it did not even come with instructions at all!

Good conceptual model: One can mentally simulate putting a piece of paper in the only slot available and depressing the lever and, therefore, creating holes. The system image matches the conceptual model perfectly. This is why it is so easy to use.

Good mapping & visibility: The lever with which we depress to actually punch the holes is the most noticeable thing on the hole puncher. It even has a different texture on the middle of it to indicate where you should grip or press down. You know that when you press it down, the the mechanism actually goes down to punch the holes because you can feel the punctures.

Good constraints: There is only one place where a piece of paper can fit. Hence, we know where the piece of paper goes. We know which way to orient the paper because only longer side matches with the length of the hole puncher. We know how far the paper should go because there are raise edges in the hole puncher to stop the paper. There is only one way to move the lever--by pushing it down. There are no additional movements required to punch the holes.

Good feedback: The feedback is very simple and apparent, which is what we want in a hole puncher. You can verify that the paper has been hole punched after you depress the lever by pulling out the paper and you see holes in them.

2) Hot Sauce Dispenser

When we eat, we want the things that we use (i.e., forks, spoons, condiments, hot sauces) to be straightforward. Hot sauce is especially important; you want to control how much you get out, and you do not want it to spill it everywhere when you put it away. This particular hot sauce is great about doing that. Its bottle is squeezable, which allows you to control the flow by the amount you squeeze. Its cap twists to open and close very distinctly. This is another everyday thing that does not need an explicit set of instructions.

Good conceptual model: My conceptual model of how this hot sauce bottle matches the system image. You twist open the cap in the standard counterclockwise direction to open it. Then you squeeze the bottle itself to make hot sauce dispense. Finally, you twist the cap clockwise to close it and store it away.

Good constraints: It is easy to distinguish when the bottle is open and when it is closed. In both cases, it does not let you twist the cap more than a certain amount before it stops turning. There is a limit on how much you can squeeze out also because of the properties of the plastic that comprises the bottle.

Good mapping & visibility: For the twisting cap, there is a grip with which one can use to twist the cap to open and close. You know that it is open because the piece of plastic that appears when closed appears to recede. Likewise, you know that it is closed because the piece of plastic reappears and blocks the nozzle from dispensing the hot sauce.

Good feedback: The feedback for this device is very apparent and very delicious. I know when it is open because of the plastic piece that recedes. Also, I know that it is dispensing when I see hot sauce on my tasty meals.]

3) Air Freshener Spray

When a room stinks, you want to make it smell better immediately. Fortunately, this air freshener spray made sure that it was easy to use in emergency situations such as this. With an elegant design and a great spray mechanism, we can see good design of everyday things at its best.

Good conceptual model: This can of air freshener does exactly what you think it should. When you point it in the direction that you want to spray in and pull the trigger, it dispenses a mist of freshness. The direction in which you spray is clear from how you must position your hand in order to use the trigger. Even the shape of the top part of the spray indicates the direction in which the spray will disperse.

Good constraints: There is only one way to use the trigger: by pulling it! It is positioned so that it sprays in the direction indicated by the trigger. There is no other way to comfortably use the spray.

Good mapping & visibility: As explained earlier, the positioning of the trigger allows one to know in which direction the spray will disperse. The trigger is easy to see, too, which aids in its ease of use.

Good feedback: We know that we have used the air freshener spray correctly when we see a mist coming from the nozzle, hear a small sound from the dispensing mist, and smell the fresh air. This sort of feedback is also useful when we find out that the air freshener has run out.

4) Lip Balm

Lip balm is great to use when you have chapped lips. It is even better when it is well-designed novel packaging. Its egg shape makes it easier to apply the lip balm. Furthermore, the designers included a couple of flat parts in order for it to stand on its own and in order for it to be gripped and twisted open easily. This is an extremely popular product among several circles of people.

Good conceptual model: When I first took the lip balm in my hand, I could tell that I open up the egg by twisting it. Once I open it, I know I can use the lip balm stored inside. This conceptual model matches the actual functioning of the lip balm. It was also very smart to give the egg a flat base so it can stand on its own.

Good constraints: The lip balm uses a twist off motion in order to expose the lip balm itself. You predictably twist the top half clockwise to open the egg. You know it is closed when you twist counterclockwise until you feel and hear a click.

Good mapping & visibility: It is really easy to twist off the cap. There is a small indentation which allows you to naturally grip the egg with both of your hands and twist it off. The indentation is also large enough to find without looking for it but small enough not to detract from the packaging. You know which side is the top and the bottom of the egg from the flattened base (which is clearly the bottom).

Good feedback: The feedback is straightforward. If you are able to twist off the top, then you will be presented with lip balm. If you want to make sure the top is secured back in place, then you twist the top until it stops letting you twist and makes a small clicking sound. Also, the indentations of the top and bottom halves will line up nicely.

5) Rice Cooker

Rice cookers provide a convenient and quick way of making lots of rice. Because of they are supposed to be convenient, rice cookers need to be easy to use, too. I think this particular rice cooker is an everyday item full of good design.

Good conceptual model: When I look at the rice cooker, I think that it will cook my rice. If the "Rice Cooking" light is not lit, I need to press the lever to change the state. This intuition is what the rice cooker does. It has two functions: cook rice and keep the rice warm. There is only one lever needed then. When depressed, it cooks. Otherwise, it is keeping the rice warm.

Good constraints: As mentioned before, there is only one lever. By physical constraints, it just needs to be pushed to start cooking. Another constraint is the button at the top of the rice cooker. You can see which way the lip opens by the placement of the button. Also, you know that the lid opens by pushing down on the button.

Good mapping & visibility: The button at the top of the rice cookers maps the area where the lid must be opened. The button and the handle also indicate the hand placement in order to open the lid. Both the button and the lever to make the rice cooker are very visible. The button is large on top of the rice cooker, and the lever is on the front of the rice cooker itself.

Good feedback: We know the rice cooker is actually cooking with a light on the front. We also know that the rice is being kept warm by the other light. These are the only two states that the rice cooker can be in when plugged in. When it is not plugged in, there is no light on. Also, we know the lid is open or closed because there is a clicking sound from the locking mechanism.

Bad Designs of Everyday Things

1) Keyboard's Key Placement

I love this laptop. It has great battery life. The screen is gorgeous. The specifications are amazing. The keys are pretty. Unfortunately, not all of the keys are usefully placed on the keyboard. The keys boxed above give me so much trouble! When I want to scroll through a page or want to jump to the beginning or end of a line, I am hindered by having to consciously figure out which key I am supposed to use. This is a clear case of bad design.

Bad conceptual model: When I type, I do not usually look at the keyboard because it is time-consuming and tedious. Therefore, I expect the keys to placed in strategic locations so that when I need to use the Delete button or the Page Up button, the keys are placed strategically well. Unfortunately, they are not. I usually press the wrong button or I have to actually look at the keyboard to figure out which key is which. Where my finger thinks the key does not match where the key actually is.

Bad Constraints: There are no constraints stopping me from pressing the wrong button. There is no spaces between the related keys nor are there any sort of raised segments like those placed on the 'F' and 'J' keys.

Bad mapping & visibility: The  mapping of these six keys illogical. I have to arbitrarily remember that the left key (of the two related keys) is the one that will take me back to the beginning or top of the page and that the right key takes me to the end or bottom of the page. It would be more logical to place them vertically, so I can see that to go up or to the beginning, I choose the top button and vice versa.

Feedback: The feedback of the keys is fine, since they do perform the actions indicated. However, it is not the feedback I want. This causes a delay in completing the task or accomplishing my goal.

2) Math Equation Clock

I have a terrible reputation for not waking up when my alarm rings. I tend to sleepily hit the snooze button too much. So when I found this alarm clock, I had to get it. When the alarm goes off, I have to solve a simple arithmetic (addition or subtraction) equation in order to turn it off. However, as cool as it is, it is poorly designed. What a terrible way to start my day!

Bad conceptual model: The use of the clock to turn off the alarm is pretty intuitive: just twist the numbers until you satisfy the equation. This is where the the conceptual model and system image agreements stop. Usually alarm clocks have a snooze button to allow people extra time to work on waking up or to continue sleeping. This clock does not have a snooze option, even though on the '=' sign there is the text "snooze on." So the first few nights when I thought I could set a snooze, I was quite mistaken. This frustrated me a lot.

Bad constraints: Fortunately, the twisting motions are limited to the numbers and the mode of the clock (time set, alarm set, alarm on). However, it is not constrained enough. Sometimes when I am sleepy and trying to turn off my alarm, I twist into a different mode, making it frustrating to turn off the annoying buzzing sound. Also, I sometimes try to circumvent the lack of a snooze option by setting the alarm for ten minutes later. Unfortunately, I have changed the time itself instead of the alarm because the images of the clock and alarm on the clock is hard to distinguish.

Bad mapping & visibility: The little buttons to the right of the clock allow to you to set the time and alarm themselves. However, if I am not careful, as mentioned before, I might set the alarm in the time mode and vice versa. Also, it took a little while to realize that the first button was "set" button, that the second was "+," and the last button was"-." Then I realized that they were actually written in really tiny print on the actual buttons.

Bad feedback: The alarm clock uses a series of beeps every time you do anything with it--except when you turn the numbers. So every time I change modes, it beeps, for every minute that I adjust when setting the alarm, it beeps. It beeps too much. Norman warned about the abuse of sounds of feedback, and this is the perfect example.

3) Clothes Washer

It is an all-day affair to wash all of my clothes. I am thankful that I have a washer and dryer in the place where I live. However, sometimes I cannot help but feel very frustrated when I use this particular washer. I remember my first time using it; it took about ten minutes to figure it out. Even now I still have to take a significant amount of time to set it and start it. This is a clear case of too many functions.

Bad conceptual model: When you wash clothes, you just think about whether you need hot or cold water, if the clothes are lights or darks, and the intensity of the cycle. This thing offers way too many options for spin cycle speed, whether you want extra cycles, and different modes. I just simply do not understand the significance of them or do not understand their function at all.

Bad constraints: Each of the options are able to be selected discretely, through dial or button. However, they offer way more options than needed in an at-home washer. It confuses me and I have to consciously go through each option to make sure everything looks okay (I hope).

Bad mapping & visibility: While the knobs are pretty decent mappings for those options, I think a couple of the other options should be knobs, too. It was hard to recognize that I had to just press the button again and again to cycle through my options. A dial would have been more intutive. Also, it took a long time to figure out how to put in the detergent. It is actually on the far left side of the washer. Thre is a thing that I have to push to the right so that I can pull it out.

Bad feedback: I am still unsure about whether or not the washer does what I want it to do. At the very least, it does clean my clothes, but I am always unsure whether or not I used the right settings for each load.

4) Light/Fan Switches

I know Norman talked about light switches already, but I really had to show mine. This set of switches goes to four things. One goes to a spotlight above the fireplace, one is for the ceiling fan, one is for the light right under the ceiling fan, and one is for the hallway light. It is just one big mess. Do you like my masking tape labels?

Bad conceptual model: Without the masking tape labels, I simply had no clue about which switch turned what on. I only know that the switches were for the living room area. Nothing could be determined from the system image.

Constraints: The constraints were not really an issue here. There was only two options: flip the switch up or flip the switch down.

Bad mapping & visibility: As I made clear, I had no idea which switch controlled what device. It is so difficult to remember the arbitrary "mappings," that I ended up making the labels for them.

Feedback: Feedback is not really an issue here either. If I flipped a switch, something turned on or off. If the feedback was poor, I would have never been able to figure out which switch controlled what.

5) Window Blinds

I think I have had bad luck with window blinds all of my life. When I moved to my current residence, I thought my troubles were over. Boy, was I wrong. They cause a lot of trouble for me, too! For such aesthetically pleasing blinds, they are a design nightmare. I cannot pull them up or bring them down without having unnecessary issue with them.

Bad conceptual model: There are three main pieces to these blinds: the blinds themselves, the rod, and the pair of strings. It is easy to conclude that you turn the rod to turn the blinds. However, which string pulls the blinds up? Which one brings them back down? There is no way of realizing this without guessing (and usually being wrong).

Bad mapping & visibility: All three parts of the blinds were visible, but it was not clear what maps what to what. From experience or through logical conclusions, one can figure out that the rod is used for opening and closing the blinds; they both rotate to accomplish their tasks. However, I have to pull one of the strings to pull up the blinds and pull another one to bring them back down. Pulling a string does not exactly map to bringing the blinds back down. If the string to pull up the blinds were distinguished from the mechanism to bring down the blinds, this product would not create such headaches.

Bad feedback: We know that turning the rod and pulling the strings (even together) will open the blinds and pull the blinds up respectively. When I try to bring the blinds down, though, I have to pull the string in a certain way, and it does not always work. I have to stumble around with each string and trying to pull down the blinds manually to see if it is the right one. There is a clicking sound, but it does not always indicate success in pulling the blinds down.

The Design of Everyday Things - Chapters 2 Through 4

Chapter 2: The Psychology of Everyday Things

I have experienced almost everything that Norman had described in this chapter. To this day, projectors completely baffle me. I understand the overall workings of a projector, but I would never even attempt to use one. I do tend to blame myself when I make mistakes--even if they are not really my fault. For example, my laptop has a touchpad that controls the mouse under the keyboard. Sometimes when I type, I occasionally lay my wrist down and accidentally touch the touchpad with part of my left palm. This causes the touchpad to think that I am trying to click something. I had thought I was just doing something wrong. Now, I realize that the real culprit is bad design. The designers should have taken into account a user's hand positions and placed the touchpad strategically away from resting hands. I know a lot of people who have been taught helplessness, especially when it comes to math. I have helped tutor a couple of people in algebra and calculus, and when they get frustrated, they just throw their arms in the air and exclaim, "I won't ever get math!" It is hard to get them out of that mindset, especially because it has been years since they started becoming frustrated in the subject.

Chapter 3: Knowledge in the Head and in the World

I have a job in retail as a cashier. This would imply that I know what U.S. currency looks like. However, after trying for several minutes to figure out what the penny really looks like, I noticed that I only take the shape, color, and weight into account when it comes to coins. This is so embedded in my mind that, whenever a dollar coin comes my way, I am usually thrown off. It is not a typical coin that customers pay with. The same thing happens when I get a two-dollar bill. My brain has to pause to process what it is and that it is an acceptable form of currency. When Norman listed all of the things he had to memorize, I realized that I had a lot to memorize, too. I have to remember usernames and passwords to my multiple email accounts, my UIN, social security number, my ID number at my job, birthdays, essential phone numbers, and much more. Knowledge in the world definitely takes a load off my brain, which is much appreciated.

Chapter 4: Knowing What to Do

In contrast to Norman, I find VCRs pretty intuitive in terms of operation. They used standardized symbols for playback; it was even easy to set the time on the VCR. The only thing that I could never figure out was how to record shows on video cassette. The biggest issue was that I had no feedback. Just as Norman said, an onscreen visual of what was going on when setting the VCR to record is necessary. The designs of doors and light switches are extremely important! There is a set of light switches in the living room. There are four little switches on the plate. One is for the ceiling fan, one is for the main light, one is for the light for the hallway, and one is for the light above the fireplace. I still don't remember which goes to what because there is absolutely no logical mapping from one light to the other. I ended up just putting a label for each light, which looks ugly but makes life so much easier.

The Chinese Room - A Response

The Chinese Room is an interesting thought experiment. John Searle presents it in such a way that it is hard to refute him. In summary, the Chinese Room consists of a computer that takes Chinese characters as input and, after following the instructions of a computer program, produces Chinese characters as output. This computer passes the Turing test, which means that a human Chinese speaker cannot tell if he or she is actually communicating with a human (presumably a Chinese speaker) or a computer. Searle presents many arguments that others have made against the Chinese Room experiment. First, there is the systems reply, in which one should consider the whole system and not just the individual person. Next, there is the robot reply, which supposes that the computer is part of a semi-humanoid robot. Third, there is the brain simulator reply, which simulates the actual neurological processes of the brain. Finally, there is the combination reply, which takes all three of the above counterarguments and puts them together.

In my personal opinion, I agree with Searle to a point. I do not think a computer in the traditional sense can have “intentionality.” A computer takes some input given to it, processes it through a computer program’s steps, and then outputs something.  No matter what, when presented with the same conditions, this computer should produce the same output given an input. However, with human “intentionality” and “understanding,” it is not necessarily true that the same input will produce the same output. In a directly related example, if two people were to read about the Chinese Room experiment and talked about their reactions to it, they would produce two completely different reactions. These two people both have brains, which some would equate to the “computer” or "computer program." However, their “understanding” produced different outputs, each with their own merits and each valid based on their reasoning.

Another good example is the calculator. The calculator is a computer, albeit a simple one. However, it does not “understand” that two plus two equals four. It is programmed to output four when presented with that equation. In other words, it cannot prove, in a mathematical sense, why two plus two equals four. Similarly, it does not realize that the square root of two is an irrational number; it is just outputting what the number is (to a certain accuracy). However, in mathematics, there is a formal proof that leads one to the conclusion that the square root of two is irrational. This proof in itself is based on approved assumptions (axioms) that require human “understanding” to fully grasp. It is important to note, though, that there are computers that have aided in producing mathematical proofs that humans were not able to achieve. However, these computers do not fully “understand” what these proofs really mean; they are just taking the information given to them and linking them together in such a way that produces the desired output.

Even though I agree on some points that Searle makes, I do not completely agree with his reasoning. When countering the arguments against his thought experiment, he used the same argument to make his point: the computer (or system) does not understand Chinese. Therefore, it does not have intentionality like a human who understands Chinese actually does. This made his arguments seem very circular. Furthermore, I think in Searle’s counterarguments to the counterarguments, he was beginning to allude to things that make humans “human.” There is an x-factor that gives humans “intentionality” that computers cannot acquire. It is similar to how idioms have special meanings in certain languages, and they only truly make sense if one actually understands the language (versus simply being able to translate the words literally).

The Chinese Room is quite the controversial subject in both the fields of philosophy and of artificial intelligence. However, just as the Wikipedia article stated, it belongs more to the field of philosophy of the mind debate versus that of artificial intelligence. I took an artificial intelligence class, and I was honestly more concerned about creating programs that would perform what I wanted them to. If I wanted my robot to get out of a maze without falling into a pit, then that is all I was concerned about. Of course, there are implications in the artificial intelligence field, but it should not define the whole field.

I think Searle’s argument is becoming harder to harder to see in the modern day. Because of the development of non-traditional computers, like quantum computers, the line between “intentionality” and programming is becoming fuzzier. Searle’s arguments might have to be modified to apply to different types of computers. I do not believe his arguments are quite complete or completely convincing. Nonetheless, Searle presented a thought experiment that is definitely thought-provoking and interesting. It has captivated many people for the past thirty years in a significant way, and I think it will continue to do so for years to come.