THINKER'S ALMANAC - July 18

Subject: Rhetoric - Ladder of Abstraction

Event:  Birthday of S.I. Hayakawa, 1906

Learning to write is learning to think. You don’t know anything clearly unless you can state it in writing. - S.I. Hayakawa

Today is the birthday of S.I. Hayakawa, who was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on this day in 1906.

 

Professor Hayakawa was best known for his book Language in Thought and Action (1939), a book on linguistics and specifically semantics: the study of the meanings of words and language.

 

Hayakawa taught English and Semantics at the University of Chicago and then at San Francisco State College, where he eventually became president in 1968.  That same year he disrupted a student anti-war demonstration, pulling the plug on an outdoor sound system. He was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Republican in 1976, and in 1981, he became the first politician to introduce a bill proposing that English become the official language of the United States.

 

After leaving office, Hayakawa founded U.S. English in 1983. U.S. English, Inc. lives on today. Its mission, according to its website, is "preserving the unifying role of the English in the United States" (1).

 

In his book Language in Thought and Action, Hayakawa popularized an amazing tool for writers.  It’s not a physical tool that cannot be bought in a hardware store; instead, it’s a metaphorical tool to better understand how to use words more effectively.  It’s called the ladder of abstraction.

 

                                                          Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

The ladder of abstraction is one way to visualize the range of language from the abstract to the concrete--from the general to the specific. On the top of the ladder are abstract ideas like success, education, or freedom; as we move down each rung of the ladder, the words become more specific and more concrete. When we reach the bottom rung of the ladder of abstraction, we should find something concrete that we can see or touch, hear, taste, or smell.

Rung 6:  Education

Rung 5:  High School

Rung 4:  Math Department

Rung 3:  Algebra

Rung 2:  Algebra 2

Rung 1:  Mr. Johnson’s 4th period Algebra 2 class

 

Notice, for example, the list of six words above. Imagine that each is a rung of the ladder.  On the 6th Rung is the abstract idea “Education.”  As we move down each rung, the words become more specific and more concrete.  When we reach the bottom rung, we find a tangible and concrete phrase to represent the abstract idea.

 

Writers should use the ladder of abstraction as a mental model to remind themselves that good writing is grounded with a solid, concrete foundation.  We certainly write about abstract ideas like love, education, and success all the time, but the best writing doesn’t just tell by remaining at the top or middle rungs of the ladder; instead, it climbs down to the bottom rung, to show the reader, using specific images, details, and examples.  

 

A writer, for example, who is unfamiliar with the ladder of abstraction might write the following telling sentence:

 

My substitute teacher in 4th period today was a bit odd.

 

“Odd” is a subjective and abstract idea.  Using the ladder of abstraction would allow the writer to craft a more showing description:

 

My substitute teacher in 4th period today began class by playing a medley of Beatles songs on his accordion, he demanded that we submit any questions we had in writing, and he when I asked for permission to sharpen my pencil, he shouted, “I’m sick of your insane and insolent demands!!”  At the end of class, he wouldn’t dismiss us until the entire class sang the “Marine Corps Hymn.”

 

To illustrate the meaning of the ladder of abstraction, using its name, the writer Roy Peter Clark gives the following description:  

That name contains two nouns. The first is “ladder,” a specific tool you can see, hold in your hands, and climb. It involves the senses. You can do things with it. Put it against a tree to rescue your cat Voodoo. . . . .The second word is “abstraction.” You can’t eat it or smell it or measure it. It is not easy to use as an example. It appeals not to the senses, but to the intellect. It is an idea that cries out for exemplification. (3)

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How does the ladder of

abstraction help us understand the relationship between abstract and concrete

ideas in writing?

Challenge - Lord of the Rungs: What concrete words come to your mind when you think of the abstract word success?  Select one of the abstract nouns listed below and brainstorm specific, showing details and examples of what the idea looks like, sounds like, or feels like in the real world.  Then, breathe life into the abstract idea by describing a specific scene that illustrates the word using concrete nouns at the bottom rung of the ladder of abstraction.  For a real challenge, try to not even use the abstract noun in your paragraph.  If you have done an effective job of showing rather than telling, your reader should be able to identify the abstract idea without being told.

 

curiosity, kindness, freedom, intelligence, stupidity, success, victory,

defeat, bravery, diligence, creativity, education, loyalty

 

Sources:  

1- U.S English, Inc.  http://www.usenglish.org/inc/default.asp

2 -Use The Right Word: A Modern Guide to Synonyms. (Edited by S. I.Hayakawa). Pleasantville, New York: The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1968.

3-http://www.poynter.org/how-tos/writing/23159/writing-tool-13-show-and-tell/

4-Backman, Brian.  Persuasion Points: 82 Strategic Exercises for Writing High-Scoring Persuasive Essays. Maupin House, 2010:  62.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - July 17

Subject:  Burden of Proof - Russell’s Teapot

Event:  Dorothy Kenyon cleared of false accusations, 1950

After the end of World War II, many began to fear that Communists were infiltrating the American government.  Capitalizing on these fears, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin began to make accusations, saying he had a list of Communists working in the State Department.  

In 1950, the U.S. Senate formed a committee to investigate McCarthy’s claims.  The first case brought before the committee was that of Dorothy Kenyon (1888-1972), a judge and activist.  Although Kenyon was on the record as being anti-communist, McCarthy claimed she was a member of a number of organizations that served as communist fronts.  In reality, several of the communist organizations that McCarthy named did not even exist.  

McCarthy’s tactic in the case against Kenyon is a logical fallacy called the Argument from Ignorance (also known as the Appeal to Ignorance).  This fallacy is committed when someone asserts that because a claim has not been proven false, it is, therefore, true.  For example, imagine if someone asserts the following:  There is no evidence that UFOs are not visiting Earth; therefore, we can conclude that UFOs do exist.

The key to correcting the Argument from Ignorance fallacy is to focus on the burden of proof.  In our court system, for example, the burden of proof is on the person who makes the claim.  Therefore, if your friend claims that UFOs exist, or if the State charges you with a crime, they have the burden of proof and must support their claim with evidence.  

In the case against Dorothy Kenyon, the members rightfully recognized that McCarthey had no proof to support his claim and did not allow the case to become a witchhunt by allowing McCarthey to shift the burden of proof.  All charges against Kenyon were dismissed on July 17, 1950.  Despite McCarthy’s attempted smears against her, Kenyon continued to work into her 80s for the public good.  She worked with the ACLU to promote women’s rights and also worked to provide legal services to the poor. 

  Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Writing in 1952, the philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) used an analogy involving a teapot to illustrate the Argument from Ignorance: 

If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. 

The lesson from Russell’s teapot and from the life of Dorothy Kenyon is to retain a healthy skepticism about the world and to pay attention to who is making claims and, therefore, who is responsible for the burden of proof.

Challenge:  Mind the Thinking Gap

Create a public service announcement (PSA) for one of the following logical fallacies.  Include a clear definition, examples, and a warning of why this type of erroneous thinking is dangerous.

Straw Man, Slippery Slope, Hasty Generalization, Begging the Question

Sources:

1-Cox, Elizabeth.  Can You Outsmart the Fallacy that Started a Witch Hunt?  TED-ed Oct 26, 2020.

2-Russell, Bertrand.  “Is There a God?” unpublished article for Illustrated magazine, 1952.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - July 8

How did a 29-year-old television executive change the way sports were televised in 1960?

Subject: Framing 

Event:  Birthday of television producer Roone Arledge (1931-2002)

Heretofore, television has done a remarkable job of bringing the game to the viewer -- now we are going to take the viewer to the game! -Roone Arledge

In 1960, the American Broadcasting Corporation signed a contract with the NCAA to broadcast college football games.  ABC was faced with the challenge of making the few regional games that they broadcasted each week appealing to a nation-wide audience.  If, for example, you are a viewer in New York, why would you care about a game between Georgia and Alabama?  The answer came in the form of a status quo busting memo from a twenty-nine-year-old television executive named Roone Arledge, who was born on this day in 1931.

Arledge’s idea was to do more than just bring the game to the viewer via television; his idea was to bring the viewer to the game.  What this meant was to frame each game for the viewer, giving them the context for the rivalry between the two schools.  Prior to 1960, television cameras focused solely on the game on the field; Arledge’s counterintuitive idea was to focus more on what was happening off the field.

Arledge understood the Framing Effect, which basically means that you must think about WHAT you are presenting, but you must also think about HOW you are presenting it.  For example, imagine you work in a grocery store and your job is to sell steaks.  You might put a label on a steak that says “20% Fat,” but a better way to present it to the buying public is to label it “80% Lean Beef.”  The steak has not changed, but the “Lean Beef” label changes the frame so that it is perceived in a more positive light.

Arledge’s memo captured the imagination of ABC’s executives so much that Roone was tasked with putting his ideas into practice by producing the upcoming telecast of a game between Georgia and Alabama. More than just broadcasting a football game, Arledge’s plan was to package it as a viewing experience.

                                                         Image by Keith Johnston from Pixabay

On September 17, 1960, the broadcast began not with a shot of the football field, but with a pregame scene of enthusiastic fans on the University of Georgia campus.  Furthermore, Arledge oriented all viewers by giving them the emotional backstory of the game:  One year before Alabama had been humiliated by the Georgia Bulldogs, and the team, lead by their fiery coach Bear Bryant, was out for revenge. Arledge’s framing made this more than just a game; it became a must-see spectacle.  The camera operators were instructed to get close-ups of the game’s personalities, such as Georgia’s wiry quarterback Fran Tarkenton.  And once the game began, the camera didn’t focus exclusively on the game; instead, they panned up to the fans in the stands, the coaches on the sidelines, and, of course, the cheerleaders.

Today, we take it for granted that a televised sporting event will follow Arledge’s framing approach.  In 1960, however, it was a radical change from the way sports was covered.  After working on college football, Arledge took his framing template to international sports on a show called the Wide World of Sports.  There he continued his tried and true formula of getting viewers to care about the sporting contest by giving them the context and the backstory.  Before he died in 2002, Arledge had won thirty-six Emmys.  Rather than just assuming his audience would tune in to see a sporting contest, Arledge primed his viewers’ curiosity, creating interest and a desire to be a part of the action.

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is Framing, and how did the change in how football games were broadcast by ABC and Roone Arledge change televised sports?

Challenge:  Frame Game

What are some other examples of Framing in the real world?  Research this psychological effect to discover other ways it is used to influence the perception in government, marketing, entertainment, and other areas of society. 

Sources:

1-Heath, Chip and Dan Heath.  Made To Stick:  Why Some Ideas Die and Others Survive.  New York:  Random House, 2007: 90-92.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - July 7

Innovation - Chocolate and Sliced Bread

Event:  Chocolate introduced to Europe, 1550, and sliced bread first sold, 1928

My wife can't cook at all. She made chocolate mousse. An antler got stuck in my throat. -Rodney Dangerfield

On this day, nearly 400 years apart, two well-known menu items first appeared.  

First, July 7 is World Chocolate Day, celebrating the summer day in 1550 when chocolate was introduced to Europe.  Both Christopher Columbus and Herman Cortes, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico, brought cacao beans from the new world to the old.  Long before energy drinks became a thing, Cortes praised it as a “divine drink which builds up resistance and fights fatigue. A cup of this precious drink permits a man to walk for a whole day without food.”  Once it arrived in Spain, peripatetic Dominican friars spread the word about this gift from the gods (1).

                                                             Image by LensPulse from Pixabay

Another miracle occurred 378 years ago on this date, perhaps even better than chocolate since today it has become the standard for “the best thing,” as in “the best thing since sliced bread.”

It was a jeweler named Otto Frederick Rohwedder who came up with this quintessential innovation.  He, along with many others, had worked for years to create a slicing machine that could both slice the bread correctly and package it so that it didn’t go stale.  Finally, Rohwedder perfected the process with a machine that both sliced the bread and automatically packaged it.  He then persuaded his friend, a baker named Frank Bench, to buy the invention.  On July 7, 1928, Bench began selling sliced bread from his bakery in Chillicothe, Missouri (2).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What were the origins of both chocolate and sliced bread?

Challenge:  Research another menu item that you are curious about.  What is its history, and how did it become the popular menu item it is today?

Sources:

1-Hart, Hugh. “July 7, 1550: Europeans Discover Chocolate.” Wired.com 7 July 2010. 

2-Ridley, Matt.  How Innovation Works and Why It Flourishes in Freedom.  New York:  HarperCollins Publishers, 2020:  5-6.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - July 6

The Lake Wobegon Effect - 

Event:  First broadcast of Prairie Home Companion, 1974

One reads books in order to gain the privilege of living more than one life. People who don’t read are trapped in a mine shaft, even if they think the sun is shining. -Garrison Keillor

Today is the anniversary of the first broadcast of the radio show the Prairie Home Companion. The show was conceived by Garrison Keillor, the show’s host.  Keillor modeled his show on the Grand Ole Opry.  

In addition to commercials for imaginary products and live music, each week's show featured a monologue by Keillor about his mythical hometown Lake Wobegon, Minnesota.  Each monologue began the same way:  “It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon,” but the stories that Keillor told about the Lake Wobegon residents were always different.  Keillor’s colorful descriptions, humor, and insights into the human condition brought his characters to life and brought listeners back each week.

In addition to using the same opening, Keillor also used a stock concluding line each week for his monologue:  “That’s the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.”

                                                              Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

It’s the last part of Keillor’s sign-off, “all the children are above-average,” that has captured the imagination of sociologists who have adopted Keillor’s fictional town in what they call the Lake Wobegon effect -- the tendency for groups of people to overestimate their achievements and competence in relation to other groups.

The term entered the lexicon in 1987 when Dr. John Cannel published a study revealing that every state claimed that their students’ test scores were above the national average.  Although Cannel’s finding is sometimes called in-group bias, the Lake Wobegon moniker is a much more colorful and whimsical metaphor for the phenomenon.

Often we think of metaphor as the exclusive tool of poets.  The fact is, however, that every good communicator understands and uses metaphor to connect the known and the unknown.  Scientists, business people, psychologists, sociologists, and doctors all turn to metaphor to communicate their ideas, theories, and discoveries.

This is done so frequently that there’s an entire book of these metaphors called The Babinski Reflex.  The author, Philip Goldberg, calls them metaffects:

. . . a recognized effect, law, or principle whose official meaning can be transferred to another context.  The Babinski Reflex, for example, is a term describing an automatic response in the foot of an infant, thought to be a vestige of our primate ancestry.  As such, it resonates metaphorically with certain forms of adult behavior that might be considered primitive or infantile . . . .” (1)

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  What is the Lake Wobegon Effect, and how is it different from another specific metaffect?

Challenge:  Cause for the Effect

What is an example of an effect that happens frequently enough to be named?  Research one of the effects below or create your own based on your experience and/or observation.  Write a definition of the effect, as well as some background details on its causes along with when, where, and why it occurs.

Cocktail Party Effect, Eureka Effect, Butterfly Effect, The False Consensus Effect, Hawthorne Effect, Boomerang Effect, Bandwagon Effect, Barnum Effect, Dunnin-Kruger Effect, Pygmalion Effect.

ALSO ON THIS DAY:

July 6, 1535:  On this day, Sir Thomas More was executed in London.  In his 1516 novel Utopia, More envisioned a perfect island state with universal education, common land ownership, religious tolerance, and shared labor.  Unfortunately, his imagined vision did not match reality.  More was caught in the middle of religious and governmental conflict when Henry VIII established the Church of England, separating from the Catholic Church.  Because More disagreed with the King’s decision, he resigned his office in the English Parliament and refused to take a loyalty oath. As a result, he was imprisoned and eventually beheaded.  More’s severed head was set on a spike on London Bridge where it remained on display for a month as an ominous warning to “traitors.”  When the head was finally taken down, it was discarded in the river, where More’s daughter Margaret Roper retrieved it and attempted to preserve it with spices.  When Margaret died in 1544, More’s head was finally laid to rest with her in St Dunstan’s Church, Canterbury (2).

Sources:

1-Goldberg, Philip. The Babinski Reflex. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1990: 130-3.

2-Larson, Frances.  Severed:  A History of Heads Lost and Head Found.  New Yori:  W.W. Norton & Company, 2014:  93.

THINKER'S ALMANAC - July 5

The Barnum Effect

Event:  Birthday of P. T. Barnum, 1910

Nothing draws a crowd quite like a crowd. -P.T. Barnum

Here is your horoscope for today:

Today may mark a red-letter day for you concerning your work or career.  An important development may transpire that will have a direct effect on bettering your life.  Your inner voices are sometimes critical, but today is a day not to listen to them; instead, take the bull by the horns and capitalize on your hidden talents and untapped potential.

Can you see anything in the horoscope that applies to you?  Most people can because the writers of horoscopes know something about the way humans think:  if we want something to be true, we will believe it whether or not it’s really true.  Psychologists call this the Barnum effect after P.T. Barnum, the American showman and marketing genius who was born on this day in 1910.

                                                           Image by Jonggun Go from Pixabay

Barnum probably learned some of his psychological insights from his grandfather.  Although Barnum was born into a poor family in Bethel, Connecticut, his grandfather told him as a boy that he was the richest man in town because he would one day inherit Ivy Island, a valuable piece of land.  Young Barnum frequently imagined the vast real estate he would one day possess, and although he frequently asked his grandfather to see his inheritance, he didn’t finally visit the island until he was twelve years old.  As he approached his prized land, his feet sunk into the mud.  At that point, he realized that Ivy Island was nothing more than mosquito-infested swamp land. 

Despite the fact that he had been hoodwinked, Barnum turned lemons into lemonade by using the worthless land as collateral when, in 1841, he purchased the building that made him his fortune, the American Museum in New York (1).

Millions of visitors flocked to Barnum’s museum to see his many curious attractions, such as the conjoined twins Eng and Chang, a mermaid skeleton, a bearded lady, and a man who stood just over two feet tall, General Tom Thumb.

There were so many curious things to see at the museum, in fact, that people spent the entire day there.  To solve this problem and free up space for more paying customers, Barnum came up with one of his most ingenious schemes. He put up a sign that read “This Way to the Egrees.”  Thinking that the sign led the way to another strange attraction, patrons were surprised as they walked through the door and found themselves on the street; they failed to realize that “Egrees” was just a fancy word for “Exit.” 

The Barnum effect explains why people fall for pseudoscience, whether it comes from an astrologer, a palm reader, or an advertiser:  we all are willing to suspend our incredulity when it comes to flattering statements that appeal to our vanity -- even if those statements are so general that they actually would apply to just about anyone (2).

Recall, Retrieve, Recite, Ruminate, Reflect, Reason:  How was Barnum fooled by his grandfather, and how did Barum, himself, fool customers who visited his museum?

Challenge:  The Gig is Up

Look for examples of the Barnum effect being used in actual horoscopes or advertisements.  How do the writers tap into the universal qualities of humans to make their written copy general enough to snag specific readers?

Sources:  

1- Riedel, Michael.  How P.T. Barnum pulled off one of the world’s biggest hoaxes. New York Post  16 December 2017.

2.  Goldberg, Philip. The Babinski Reflex. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc., 1990: 28-29.