Exercise One:  Urban Myth

CRTW 201

Dr. Fike

 

Before class:  You will need to read the urban myth at the following website:  http://urbanlegends.miningco.com/library/blkidney.htm.  Bring it to class.  It may help to refer to Nosich’s comments on assumptions, pages 54-56, and Exercise 2.6 (identifying assumptions) on page 83. 

 

The exercise has two main objectives:  First, you will enhance your understanding of the role of assumptions in our critical thinking process.  Second, you will become more aware of how faulty assumptions lead to erroneous conclusions.  Here is the question at issue:  why do our assumptions make us vulnerable to fake news?

 

Your in-class activity appears below:

 

Part One:  WRITING IN CLASS:  Identify, list, and write a brief analysis of the assumptions that you find in the kidney theft myth. First, list the assumptions.  Pay particular attention to the difference between the assumptions that you bring to the text and those that are embedded in the text.  (You should create a T chart:  your assumptions on one side, those in the text on the other.)  Second, write a paragraph in which you analyze each assumption (i.e., explain why it is faulty).  What is built into the story may not be the same thing as what you bring to the act of reading.

 

Part Two:  SMALL-GROUP DISCUSSION:  Discuss your T charts and analyses with your group members.  Think in particular about the following questions:  How does the story play on our fears?  In particular, how does the myth play on our assumptions about the feminine, the city, and the hero’s journey?  Decide which assumptions you want to share with the whole class.

 

Part Three:  LARGE-GROUP DISCUSSION:  Share your discoveries about selected assumptions with the whole class.

 

DID YOU NOTICE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ASSUMPTIONS AND IMPEDIMENTS?  WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THAT RELATIONSHIP?

Step Four:  MORE LARGE-GROUP DISCUSSION:  Take your analysis of the story a step further by answering the following questions.

  1. Is all-vs.-nothing thinking here?  (Nosich, page 22)
  2. What shifts do we find in the tale?
  3. Who wrote it—man or woman?  Note difference between the persona and the author.  Can you make an argument that a man or a woman is the author?

Step Five:  STILL MORE SMALL-GROUP DISCUSSION:  Use the questions on pages 71-72 to analyze the urban myth.  (Obviously, you do not need to include assumptions.)  One person should be a scribe.

Step Six:  Final question:  What have you learned about your thinking today?  What have you learned, in particular, about the nature of assumptions?  Some things you might have learned:

  1. Assumptions are linked to universal patterns called archetypes.
  2. Assumptions can be activated in the unconscious.
  3. Assumptions are part of our intuition; N 27:  "decisions can be made below the level of our awareness."
  4. Assumptions relate to our impediments, background stories, and personal limitations.