TOEFL Integrated Speaking Practice Test

The girl is not happy that the children tutoring center is being moved far from the center of the campus simply because fewer students are taking the course. Even though she is taking the business program, she wants to become a teacher after graduation, and she thinks that this tutoring course provides a great opportunity for students who want to gain some teaching experience. The children tutoring course can help her to gain hands-on teaching experience, but she can’t attend this class if it is moved to NE10. In addition, moving the children tutoring center will only discourage more students from taking the course. So instead of solving any kind of problem, they’re just going to keep pushing the enrollment of this course down lower and lower. She thinks that in order to solve this problem, changing the tutoring center’s schedule will fix it more than moving the course to another building will.

The woman does not think the chemistry department’s plan to award scholarships to students who have received an average grade of 90% or above is a good idea. She makes a point to say that the current items on hand in the Chemistry lab are very outdated. The use of outdated equipment hurts the students because it doesn’t allow for them to understand or use the latest equipment being used currently in the Chemistry field. She also thinks that the department should spend the money on current students who are working hard and reward them for the hard work and their dedication to the department instead of trying to lure in potential students and spending money on them. For these two reasons, she is not in agreement with this campus announcement. She feels the funds need to be used in the current lab considering its condition or used to reward current hard-working students.

The girl thinks that the new coffee shop is a bad idea for two reasons. The first reason is she thinks the campus coffee shops only offer unhealthy food that’s not fit for students. She is enrolled in a health food course, so she has taken the time to research the food from the coffee shops around the campus, and she has found out that the food being offered has a high amount of preservatives. The second reason she thinks this new coffee shop is a bad idea is it could distract students from studying attentively. Chances are that this coffee shop will become a place where students will hang out, be loud, and spend time together and have fun, and she believes that this is an inappropriate choice. It is also her opinion that having food in the library is not a good fit. For these reasons, the girl thinks that this new coffee shop in the library is not a good idea and that it will not be helpful to the students who want to study there.

The boy thinks that Crest Field should not be made into a new parking lot. Even though Crest Field has rarely been used for sporting purposes ever since the new sports complex was built, many students still visit it to relax and hang out. It’s one of the only spots in the center of campus that’s outdoors where students can spend time. In addition, the boy said there were many parking spaces around the dorms, which are never occupied. Additionally, the teaching building does not have a parking lot around it and so it is extremely inconvenient for students who do not live on campus, they don’t have anywhere to park when they need to get to class. So if the school wanted to build a new parking lot somewhere, they should decide to build one there, because it would be easier for everyone. For these reasons, the boy thinks that it’s a bad idea to build the parking lot and replace Crest Field.

The school believes that by adding small desks and getting rid of the larger tables, they will be able to solve the overcrowding problem in the library. The school also believes that students will be able to study more efficiently with these small privacy desks and they will be able to fit more students in the library. However, this student disagrees with the school because it is his opinion that replacing the large tables with small privacy desks will make it impossible for groups to meet. If a group needs to meet to discuss, they will no longer be able to do so in the library. He thinks that by removing the large tables, many students are going to have to find alternative places to have group discussions and then overcrowd those, therefore wasting their time. He also says that he’s never seen the library full, so he’s not sure why they need to address an overcrowding issue. So in his opinion, this change in the library is not a good change and will not help the students at all.

Although the number of students going to the coffee house to study is small because they have complained that the lights are too dim, the student thinks that it should not be closed. First of all, he needs a place to have group meetings and discussions or even just a place to hang out with his friends at night, and this coffee house is the only place on campus where students can get together that’s open later at night. Therefore, it is his opinion that the school should spend its money on renovating the coffee house, instead of just closing it down. This would make it a suitable place for students to study and all they really have to do is make the lights a little bit brighter. He thinks that doing this would attract more people and students to the shop. However, what he is most upset about is the fact that the school is replacing the coffee shop with a faculty room because he says there are already many faculty rooms across campus, so replacing this place for students with another place for faculty seems very unfair to him.

The girl thinks that limiting the number of copies is a great idea for two reasons. The first reason is that since the school is now charging an extra 10 cents if there are over 10 copies printed, and because she has seen a great number of students throwing away blank paper, this will discourage students from making unnecessary copies and encourage them to review their work before hitting print. The second reason is she thinks the school will be able to utilize the money that they earn from this new rule to purchase even more copy machines, so that students will not have to line up to print their work. This will make an efficient change for everybody and it will help to save paper around campus. Therefore, for these two reasons, the girl believes that limiting the copy amount is a really great idea for the school and for the students.

The girl thinks cutting down on the electricity consumption in the library is going to inconvenience her and the other students. In order to save energy, the school is upgrading the library with energy-efficient lights and lowering the temperature by five degrees. She thinks that the reason students study in the library is because they want a well-lit room with a comfortable temperature, so upgrading the lights and lowering the temperature might discourage students from studying there at all. Therefore, she thinks the school is actually going against its green initiative campaign by doing this, because these new changes will make students decide to study in their dorm rooms instead of traveling to study in the library, and if they do this, they will all end up consuming more energy instead of saving it which is, in fact, the whole purpose of this campaign.

The woman does not like the idea of converting the lounges and study areas of the main university dorms into these triple rooms that will house three freshmen students each. She thinks that students need quiet areas to get away from noisy roommates and also to be able to read and relax. In her opinion, the location of these converted areas would not be the best for these new freshmen. Since these areas are located at the corners of each floor, they are too far away from most of the other students, making the freshman year of dorm living not the typical experience that most students really look forward to. However, she does agree that if the space is really needed, then these areas should be converted. But, she thinks that sophomores should volunteer to live in these spaces, because they’re already familiar with the campus and they have also made their friends already, and they can help the freshmen.

The girl thinks that setting the heating temperature lower in the library after 2 pm is not a good idea for two reasons. The first reason is this will be a major inconvenience for her. She understands that the policy and the idea of it is to help reduce heating costs, but she often studies in the library after 2 pm and she gets cold easily. The second reason is there is a better alternative in her opinion for saving energy, she suggests the school should replace the old building windows with windows that can insulate the room better. This way, the school can reduce the temperature in the library and keep it comfortable for the students, while also saving energy, which is the whole purpose of this idea. For these two reasons, she does not think that this campus announcement and the policy that it is announcing are a good idea.

The peak-end rule is referred to in the reading passage and lecture as the way in which humans remember past experiences not by the sum total of emotions from a time, but by the peak moments, either of joy, sadness, or intensity. The professor explains the peak-end rule using her personal experience of remembering high school. Her memories of high school are associated with a time when she ditched school and was caught between a gunfight of rival gangs, the funny interactions with her school security guard, and a new teacher they were mean to. She judged and remembered high school based on those high points rather than taking into account the sum of all moments, most of which were simple non-memorable moments. The ability to judge based on the peak moments within a situation is the peak-end rule.

Paradox of choice is described in this lecture as a person’s anxiety to make decisions because of the overwhelming amounts of choices given today. The professor quoted Barry Schwartz in that he believes that eliminating consumers choices could greatly reduce shopper’s anxieties. The professor gave two examples one from his childhood and one from the present day. He mentioned that when he was a kid, he would go to a clothing store to buy a shirt and there would only be few choices all of which were poorly made. The shirts were oversized but he was still happy, because his expectations were low. He expected the shirts to be oversized, but he did not have a choice, so he bought them. However, in the present day, he has too many choices when buying a shirt, so it took him an hour to pick out one shirt. Although the shirt fit him perfectly, he was disappointed in himself, because the shirt did not meet his expectations. He felt that he could have picked out an even better shirt.

According to the announcement the campus fitness center will be closed. This is because the school can’t afford to maintain it properly, and students can go to private gyms in the city for free if they want to exercise.

The man opposes this.

To begin with, he points out that the university will still have to maintain the building even if the fitness center closes because it could become a dangerous fire hazard. On top of that, it will be very expensive to hire construction workers to tear down the building and replace it with something else. Moreover, he argues that all of the gyms in the city are quite far from the university, so it could be hard for students to reach them if they don’t have their own vehicles. The closest one is more than thirty minutes away by car. Additionally, it can be quite hard to find a taxi from campus into the city late at night.

According to the reading convergent evolution is when animals living far apart from each other evolve the same features or characteristics.

The professor elaborates on this.

First, he explains why antelope and pronghorns look similar. He says that their habitats are distant from each other, but both are flat grasslands with few trees. They need to be able to notice predators quickly and escape from them. As a result, both species have evolved legs and lungs that help then run quickly, and huge eyes that improve their vision.

Next, he explains that bats and dolphins share a unique feature. He mentions that bats live in dark caves and hunt at night and that dolphins live in the ocean, which is also very dark. To survive without being able to see well, both species have evolved to use echolocation to spot objects in their surrounding environment.

The woman believes that creating the community volunteer program could bond the school and the community together. Also, she thinks the students would be encouraged by it to become volunteers after graduation. However, the man in the conversation thinks the community volunteer program should not be made mandatory for students. He thinks forcing the students to participate in the volunteer program would cause them to lose passion and would not improve the relationship between the school and the community. In addition, he thinks that most students are busy and have a full schedule, so it could be difficult for them to make time to participate in the volunteer program even if it is mandatory.

The girl does not believe that adding a new mandatory computer course for students is a good idea. She thinks it will waste her and other students’ time. She understands that the school is concerned about students possessing basic computer skills, but she thinks it is a pointless course to require, because virtually every student knows how to use a computer as they use one for doing homework every day. Although the alumnus of the school newspaper said he is unemployed because of his lack of computer knowledge, she insists the students will keep learning even after school, so the school does not have to bother adding a mandatory course. For these reasons, she disagrees with the plan to add a mandatory computer course for students and thinks it will not be helpful at all.

All candidates applying for the computer lab part-time positions now have to pass a fundamental computer course to help the computer engineers lessen their workloads. The man thinks the new requirements will not solve this workload problem. He thinks just being able to pass a fundamental computer course is not enough to help the engineers, so there should be a minimum grade requirement for passing the course. He also thinks the skills the part-timers learn from the fundamental computer course will not provide enough understanding for the complex computer problems they would need to assist the engineers. Therefore, the part-timers will be incapable of solving the bigger computer problems, so the engineers will still end up doing the majority of the workload and in fact, have just as big of a, if not bigger, workload.

The girl thinks the school should not spend its money on building a new gym. Although the school believes an upscale gym would attract more top-notch students and local residents, she thinks it would not actually attract anyone. Instead, the library should purchase more books and widen its book selection to bring in a higher class of students. In addition, the local residents rarely watch sports events because of the poor performance of the local sports teams, so it does not matter whether the school has a new upscale gym or not. She believes that people will come to the school if the local sports teams start winning, but until then, improving the library by adding more books and having a wider selection is the better choice. For these reasons, she thinks building a new gym is a waste of the school’s time and money.

The girl thinks the school should not reduce the sculpture class size by half. However, the school believes that by reducing the class size, students will be able to receive more individualized attention from the professor and reduce the money spent on purchasing equipment. However, the girl says the sculpture class is required for all art majors, so by reducing the class size by half, only half of the art majors will be accepted into the class, and this will cause scheduling problems for them all and could make it difficult for them everyone to be able to graduate on time. In addition, she thinks students would not have a problem buying their own equipment if the school could not supply it, so the school does not have to worry about their equipment budget, and in this way they would not have to decrease the class size and could solve all the issues that were raised by the school.

The male student thinks first-year students should not be required to live on campus. The college believes that living on campus can help students study together and alleviate the problem of an over-crowded parking lot. The student, however, disagrees with this. He thinks students living on campus are more likely to watch TV or play poker than study. As for the existing over-crowded parking problem, he thinks if all first-year students live on campus, they would probably want to park their cars on campus as well, therefore making the parking lots even more crowded and creating an even bigger overcrowding problem. Therefore, forcing the first-year students to live on campus will not have the intended outcome and could in fact make the problem even worse.

The college is considering purchasing new video equipment as an addition to the old auditorium with aims of creating a more enjoyable movie-watching experience for the students. The student does not agree with this, however. He thinks it’s a bad idea overall. In his opinion, the auditorium is too old and so the building itself needs remodeling, not new video equipment. He also points out that the reason why students like to watch movies in the old auditorium is that there are no other extracurricular activities available to them. He suggests the school should invest more money in student clubs and extracurricular activities for the students so that they can have more choices available to them instead of only the ability to watch movies in an old building.

The school set up a mandatory seminar for all first-year students, and the boy in the conversation likes this idea for two reasons. The first reason is that he thinks the seminar will help all first-year students improve their study habits right at the beginning of their education. During his first year, he slept late and procrastinated until close to the final exam to finish all of his homework. Unfortunately, his grade reflected these poor study habits. However, if there had been a mandatory seminar during his first year, then maybe it would’ve helped him avoid these mistakes. He could have been prepared for how to succeed right away. The second reason is he thinks this would be a great place for students to socialize. While attending the mandatory seminar, he met someone who shares his same passions. Therefore, the boy in the conversation likes the idea of having a mandatory seminar for all first-year students.

Starting next term, the school will begin a new tutoring system where all first-year students will be assigned a senior tutor. The girl thinks this is a wonderful idea for two reasons. The first reason is she thinks taking notes is crucial to succeeding at school, so she thinks the senior tutors can teach the first-year students how to take notes effectively. The second reason is she thinks that the first-year students are inexperienced in selecting their courses, so having the experiences of the senior tutors will help them better understand which courses to take. For these reasons, the girl thinks the new tutor system is a wonderful idea that will be really helpful for the first-year students and allow them to benefit from the experience and wisdom of the senior students.

This student is against replacing the study area with a library extension. He not only feels as though the extension is unnecessary, but he also feels that the idea, in general, is not taking into consideration the thoughts and opinions of his fellow classmates. The study area has been there for many years, and it is the one constant on campus that has not been changed, in turn making it a well-known and comfortable place to study for all students. He has also made a point to bring up the idea of e-book conversion for the library, as a way to not only free up much-needed space but also to allow students more mobility when studying. E-book conversion is much cheaper and would allow for leftover funds to be used for other departments or programs within the school. Therefore, it is this student’s opinion that the study area should not be replaced, but some changes could still be made to make the best use of the space that is already available.

Establishing shots are described as those shots at the beginning of a movie or scene that create a larger context for the upcoming action by giving the viewer a wide view of the scene, characters, and the surrounding area. The professor illustrates the role of establishing shots with multiple examples from films. First, in the movie Babel, two boys are arguing about accuracy while shooting a rifle. The camera then pans away to show a large open expanse and a moving bus that the boys try to shoot at. This demonstrates the difficulty in shooting the moving bus with the rifle. In a similar scenario, a director shows a truck driver tapping the steering wheel, followed by a shot of the truck stalled on the side of the road in a desolate isolated location, helping the viewer see the predicament of the driver. In each instance the establishing shot allows the viewer to have a clearer understanding of the situation through the wide lens of the camera.

The student does not agree with the method used for this assignment. The student is uncomfortable leaving the study material and notes up to their classmates. They also feel as they will not have enough time to review each of their fellow student’s notes and in turn, they think that there is a good possibility that it will affect their grade in a negative way. The student thinks that if the assignment goes through that students will not take the time to study on any chapter, and in turn will not be able to fully grasp all of the concepts taught within the chapters assigned for regular class study and reading. The student is in disagreement with this assignment and in turn, it should be sent for further review.

The man agrees that a change is needed in the current bus routes. He thinks this decision would save students a lot of money by avoiding students’ needs to drive their personal car and pay for the high prices at the pump. In addition, he feels that if there were additional routes or multiple stops on the same route, it would in the end effectively get students to class on time. Things may happen that could prevent a student from catching the bus the first time it stopped, but if there were additional buses or stops they would be able to make it to class without delay or being tardy. For these two reasons, the student agrees with the campus notice and the decision made by the board to add additional routes.

The student disagrees with the decision to ban gaming consoles in all dorm rooms. He believes gaming consoles help many students meet new friends and is a great way to hang out and socialize. However, he agrees that playing video games can result in loud noises that will bother other students, so he suggests a volume curfew when playing games and to only punish those who break curfew. That would allow students who use gaming consoles appropriately to continue using them, while removing them from those who are being a nuisance to other students. So for these reasons, he is not in agreement with this campus announcement. He thinks that the solution should be to set a volume curfew to be a minimal volume after a certain time instead of banning gaming consoles in dorm rooms.

The man agrees with the campus notice, and he feels that the three-day break is a very good thing. He feels that if students are given time before the midterms to relax, they can return to class and test with a refreshed and relaxed mind and body. He also feels that this additional day off can give students the extra study time that is so desperately needed in a busy college student’s life. The man sees nothing wrong with this decision and is very pleased with the notice and the idea behind it. Students can only benefit from this decision to allow an extra day for relaxation and study time.

The male student is excited about the announcement of a campus clean-up day. The university is encouraging students, staff, and faculty to participate so that funds for learning aren’t used for cleaning up and that everyone can take pride in their school. The male student agrees with this viewpoint in that funds are better spent towards academics and not for hiring cleaning staff. He also thinks that during this activity, he’ll be able to talk about some ideas with his English professor and hang out with his friends. Overall, the male student is looking forward to the clean-up day to help beautify the campus and to keep more money for academics, talk with his English professor, and be with his friends.

The student heard the university announcement about the University radio station, WZY-2. The station is adding folk music and jazz to their programming. It’s also expanding programming to more communities. The student likes this news because there will be more opportunities for interested students to learn about hosting radio programs and also how to be a DJ. Another reason he likes it is there will be more student work-study positions available to help with technical production because of the added listening communities. Overall, the student likes that the radio station is expanding in types of music and broadcasting areas. It is good for students. And it will help the listeners from the university and the new listening communities to get closer.

The university management wants to discontinue its free shuttle service because it is underutilized and costly to maintain. In the conversation, the man disagrees with the university’s strategy. He thinks this plan will encourage even more students to use cars instead of free university transport and this will make traffic congestion on campus worse. Secondly, he believes the university should rethink outdated route plans, do thorough research to find out where students actually live and adjust the routes accordingly. Finally, he believes keeping the shuttle service is the responsible environmental choice.

The professor discussed Altruism and animals as being individual animal sacrificing its own well-being for the survival of its species . He used two examples to demonstrate altruistic behaviours. The first example was regarding the squirrels. A squirrel would make a high-pitched sound to warn other squirrels that the danger is approaching. This help protect all the squirrels from predators except itself because predators can locate squirrels by following the sound. The second example was regarding ants. An ant has a special trick to protect its colony from invading insects. An ant can make a sticky substance that traps insects, but as a result dies. Therefore, an ant sacrifice itself to protect its colony.

From the reading passage and lecture, revealing coloration is referred to as the natural use of brightly colored markers on the bodies of animals to startle and intimidate predators in order to escape from harms way. The professor demonstrates revealing coloration by giving two examples from nature. The first example is the Australian frilled lizard which not only uses color but also a large neck frill, a gaping mouth, and a tail wagging to scare away threatening predators. In a second example, of the praying mantis, the insect uses color first to blend in with its surroundings, but then can employ a revealed color in the unlikely event that a predator disturbs it. In many instances animals use sudden revealed colors to startle predators and escape frightening situations in the wild.

The lecture describes the behaviour chaining as breaking down a task into smaller steps. The professor used one example to demonstrate the behavior chaining. The example was about how he taught his children washing their hands. Each day he taught his children a small part of washing their hands. For example, on the first day, he taught them to turn the water on, and on the last day, he taught them to turn the water off. Therefore, after a short time they put the whole process together and can watch their hands on their own. Therefore, this example demonstrates the behavior chaining which is using small tasks to break down a large task.

From the reading passage, clinal variation is described as the physiological changes that occur within a single species as a direct result of their bodies needing to adapt to differences in climate. The professor illustrates the idea of clinal variation with multiple examples from nature. First, sparrows from North and South America have adapted different sizes to meet the climates of their environments. In South America the weather is constantly hot, so the birds are small so as to have to cool smaller bodies. However in North America, sparrows are much larger to help insulate their bodies against the colder weather. Second, the professor explained how the size differences and ear shapes of African elephants versus Indian elephants is directly related to their differing climates. So, clinal change is the process of animals adapting physiologically to their environments.

The lecture describes a sunk cost as an unrecoverable spent sums. The professor used an example to describe the sum cost. The example was about purchasing a new but bad vacuum. The vacuum’s filter was small so they need to replace them constantly, and therefore the filter would end up costing more money than buy a better vacuum. However, the person did not want to waste their money on their purchases, so they decided to keep the vacuum. The example demonstrates that the vacuum is a sum cost. The person is throwing away more money on the filters than if they just replace vacuum itself. In addition, the person is wasting their time replacing and buying more filters. Therefore, this example demonstrates the sunk cost.

Diminishing returns refers to the economic principle that as time goes on a single source of value based return will diminish as the potential for satisfaction decreases. The professor explains this concept using her personal story about a man who purchased a Tesla electric car. At first he was able to speak with many people about the various features and enhancements of the car. These intense increases in interest made the man feel good. However, as time went on he ran out of people to show the car, diminishing his potential returns on interested neighbors. At the point where his one positive value lost potential returns, we are given the concept of diminishing returns.

From the reading passage, entertainment merchandising is defined as the marketing practice of the entertainment industry by which they take images from one brand and use them in other forms to sell products naturally unrelated to the images they project. The professor illustrates entertainment merchandising by giving two examples. The first example is a video game she saw a kid playing that was Lego Batman. This is an obvious collaboration between Marvel’s Batman and Lego’s that was then taken and turned into a video game. The game industry has marketed the original idea of Batman and Lego’s in order to sell its own product. The second example is the use of the images of The Avengers in selling everything from toys, to video games, to sheets and pajamas. Therefore the idea of entertainment merchandising is the use of brands and images to sell products in a different market.

Inequity aversion is described in the reading and lecture as the dislike that both humans and animals show towards unfair situations or rules imposed upon them within social settings. The professor explains inequity aversion through the experiments of scientists working with monkeys. In the experiment they asked monkeys to perform a simple task and in exchange receive a reward. After completing the task, some monkeys received grapes as a reward and others received cucumbers. Knowing the grapes were a better reward, the monkeys who received cucumbers refused to participate in the experiment a second time and even at times were defiantly angry. This demonstrated the propensity for avoiding inequality, which we call inequity aversion.

Target marketing is explained in the reading and lecture as the process companies use to advertise their products to a single interested audience instead of spending money advertising to every possible purchaser. The professor explains target marketing through his experience of purchasing an anniversary ring for his wife. After going online to peruse rings at various websites, he then began reading sports related websites. Despite reading about sports, the advertisements on the side banners were for the purchase of jewelry. Obviously the web browser learned that he was a potential purchaser of jewelry and adjusted their advertising to appeal to a realistic purchaser instead of every internet user. This process by which companies adjust their advertising strategy to focus on only those most likely to be interested in their products is the idea of target marketing.

Target marketing is explained in the reading and lecture as the process companies use to advertise their products to a single interested audience instead of spending money advertising to every possible purchaser. The professor explains target marketing through his experience of purchasing an anniversary ring for his wife. After going online to peruse rings at various websites, he then began reading sports related websites. Despite reading about sports, the advertisements on the side banners were for the purchase of jewelry. Obviously the web browser learned that he was a potential purchaser of jewelry and adjusted their advertising to appeal to a realistic purchaser instead of every internet user. This process by which companies adjust their advertising strategy to focus on only those most likely to be interested in their products is the idea of target marketing.

Display rules are described as those emotional responses that a society determines are acceptable to display within various socials settings. The professor explains display rules through the personal example of her interaction with her daughter. Before her young daughters birthday she informed her that even if she received a gift that she didn’t like, she should keep those emotions to herself and pretend that she loved each gift. For most of the gifts the girls loved them and was easily able to display her joy at receiving the present. However, with one gift from her grandmother, she disliked the gift and struggled to hide her disappointment. So the accepted emotional responses of a situation are the various display rules.

Illusion of transparency is described in the lecture as someone being conscious of the fact that other people can see their emotions. However, people’s emotions are not seen as easily from other people as the individual feeling the emotion believes. The example given in the lecture is about a public speaking test where three groups control, reassured, and informed will be tested for their speech quality and stress levels during a 5 minute speech in front of a crowed. The first group, group control, gets no help from the testers, while group reassured gets reassured that feeling nervous and anxious before a speech is normal, and group informed gets told about Illusion of Transparency. The resulting scores proved that it is in fact true that people believe that other people viewing them can see their emotions and that belief will cause that person to feel more uncomfortable. but in fact, the observers cannot actually see the speaker’s emotion, hence the informed group scored much higher in speech quality and had lower stress levels, than group control.

The professor describes self-fulfilling prophecies as a false statement affecting the people’s perception of a situation and therefore indirectly causing the statement to become true. The professor used two examples. The first example was, a woman destroying her marriage because she believed her marriage would fail. Her fears and confusion actually caused the failure in her marriage to happen. The second example was about a bank that was running well and had many clients. One day, a group of people came to the bank together and caused other clients to perceive the situation as the bank being in financial trouble. All the clients began withdrawing their money and inadvertently caused the false rumor to become true. The bank could not handle all the withdrawals and went bankrupt. Therefore, the false perception of the banks situation, caused the perception to become true.

The reading is about children’s emotional development and how it is influenced by the environment in which they live. If children grow up in a family that shows love and affection towards them, they are most likely to be less aggressive themselves when they grow up; they experience less anxiety and stress, too. The professor illustrated this concept through his example of his brother raising twins differently from each other. His brother used physical discipline with the son and no praise. Consequently, his son got into lots of trouble and joined a gang. However, the daughter received only positive attention and grew up to be a “normal” teenager with good friends and good grades.

The first example the professor uses is regarding people’s reactions to a positive and negative of speaking a phrase. A weather forecast can either say there is a 50% chance of rain or there’s a 50% chance of sun. By saying a 50% chance of rain, people will bring their umbrellas with them. However if the forecasts says 50% of sun then less people would bring their umbrellas. The second example relates to how a positive advertisement can attract people more than a negative advertisement. Using the example a medicine company advertises that their product works for 90% of people while another company advertises that their product does not work for 10% of people. In both cases the medicine has the same percentage. But, people are attracted to the first one. Ultimately, both examples used by the professor explained how word framing can alter people’s perception of a situation.

The lecture describes exposure therapy as getting used to something by stimulating the fear over and over again. The professor used the fear of flying to illustrate how exposure therapy works. By entering exposure therapy with the fear of flying, you will be exposed to flying in a plane repeatedly. After experiencing flying in a plane enough times, your fear of flying should be resolved and you should feel flying is safe. Therefore, this example demonstrates how exposure therapy uses your own fear to eliminate the fear itself.

The lecture defines cognitive bias, which is also referred to as the halo effect, in which a person’s appears relates to who they are and what they know. The professor gave two examples from his own life to demonstrate the halo effect. The first example was about one of his jobs that dealt with clients’ accounts. He observed that the most attractive working in his company had either the most clients or the most influential clients and that the most competent and diligent workers were overlooked by new clients because of their appearance. His second example was about people judging him because he wore glasses. Many people believed because he was short sighted, that he was a nerd and shared the same interests as them.

The lecture described the familiarity principle as peoples’ preferences based on familiarity. In other words, people tend to gravitate to things they already know. The professor used several examples to illustrate the familiarity principle. One example was that he uses the same hairstylist to cut his hair. This example demonstrates that people like a familiar place where they feel safe. Another example he used was how his aunt always uses the same electronic products. She buys all her electronics from the same Japanese company because she trusts it; the electronics from this company has not failed her and so there is no uncertainty and no surprises. Both examples demonstrate a person’s natural gravitation to use things and be in places that they feel safe with no surprises.

Reward theory of attraction is described in the reading passage as the idea that people like others whose behavior is rewarding or whom they have things in common with. The professor demonstrates this idea through two stories as examples. In the first example, the professor was attracted to and liked his neighbour because they were able to talk about books and baseball, things they were both attracted to. In another scenario, the professor didn’t like his new neighbor because they shared no interests. So the reward theory of attraction says that people will be attracted to those with whom they share interests and find rewarding.

Behaviour modification is described as the conscious change in behaviour displayed by both humans and animals when faced with the prospect of rewards or punishments, and then remembered. The professor demonstrates behaviour modification through two examples of times when animal and human behavior was altered based around rewards. First, a group of scientists were able to teach mice to follow the correct path out of a maze by rewarding correct movements with cheese, and likewise punishing poor choices with electric shocks. The second example was about his young son, who learned to associate good behavior in company with candy as a reward, and no cartoons as the punishment for bad behaviour. In both instances the subject learned to alter their future behaviour based upon their memories of the reward or punishment they received for those previous choices they made.

Nonverbal language is referred to as the emotional expression people make that don’t include verbal statements, but may be facial cues or body movements that reveal something about our feelings. The professor explains nonverbal language through a personal example from his youth. As a child the professor would often lie to his mother about things, and his mother would always instantly know the truth. When he was an adult, his mother revealed to him that when he would lie as a child he would never make eye contact, would shuffle back and forth, and rub his sweaty hands together. These nonverbal cues always informed his mother that he was lying to her, despite his lack of verbal confirmation. Those emotional expressions are what we call nonverbal language.

Groupthink is referred to in the reading and lecture as the instances in which groups of people make bad decisions or adhere to bad rules because of fear of being disliked, not being included, or even losing their job. The professor explains groupthink through her own personal experience with a job. After accepting a job at the recommendation of a friend, she came to realize quickly that the hours the job required were not the same as she agreed to in her contract. Also, she discovered that she was being paid less money than others doing the same job. When she spoke about this with her co-workers, they all expressed their unhappiness, yet nobody did anything to change the system for fear of losing their jobs. This willingness of an entire group to go along with a bad or improper decision, even in the light of knowing it’s wrongness, is what is called groupthink.

The lecture described social interaction as two people being aware of each other in an interaction. The professor used two examples to demonstrate social interactions. The first example described two friends writing letters to each other. In this case, both friends were aware that they were each sending each other letters and so is considered a social interaction. The second example demonstrated a non-social interaction by describing a friend sending an anonymous letter to another friend. In this case, only one friend was aware and so it is not considered a social interaction. Therefore, these two examples demonstrated the difference between a social interaction and a non-social interaction.

The professor describes the majority influence as larger group of people influencing an individual or smaller group of people to change their attitudes or belief. and this is the most common form of influence. The example the professor used in the lecture was about an introvert individual influenced by the majority of his new colleagues to go out to drink. Even though he may not enjoy going out drinking, he went against his belief to fit in and not seemed like the odd one out. A minority influence was described as an individual or smaller group changing the belief of larger group. This influence is more difficult than the majority influence because smaller group must be steadfast in their belief and able to explain why their belief was worth adopting. The example the professor used in the lecture was about musicians or actors creating a new fashion trend that was a little weird getting majority of people seem to follow it.

Ergonomic design makes the objects we interact with on a daily basis more comfortable and convenient to use. Making small improvements to the shape and material of chairs, handles, and other necessary items protects people from experiencing repetitive strain injuries. The professor illustrates this idea by providing an example. Phones used to be held between a person’s neck and ear, but this awkward position could cause neck pain. The ergonomic design of headphones both reduces the chance of neck pain and also improves efficiency. This example shows how a manufacturer can utilize ergonomic design by considering human anatomy to limit injuries or the possibility of pain.

Internal attribution is defined in the reading passage, and through the lecture as the act of putting blame on yourself as the cause of certain events. The professor demonstrates this act through two different examples of internal attribution. First, the professor speaks about how when a person gets a bad grade on a test they can blame their poor study habits and lack of preparation for their poor grade, rather than an external factor like the teacher disliking them. Second, the professor gives an example of a person who goes to a party late at night and is late for work. Using internal attribution that person would blame themselves for not saying no and choosing to go to the party and for forgetting to set the alarm to wake them up.

From the reading passage and lecture implicit memory is defined as the memories that a person has that cannot be attributed to any single event but are nonetheless influential in their actions. The professor describes implicit memory through two examples. The first example is a lifelong dislike of cooking spoons, which he later learned was due to the fact that his mother once hit him with a cooking spoon, thus creating an implicit negative memory. The second example was related to his modern life and interactions with video games. His brother plays many video games and unconsciously controls characters without having to think about where the buttons are, or what they do. This type of mental recall without conscious thought is a prime example of a time when people use their unconscious thinking to empower their implicit memory.

Cognitive dissonance is described in the reading and lecture as the experience people have by which their beliefs and their actions don’t align so they choose to interpret something differently to justify the discrepancies in their thoughts. The professor explains cognitive dissonance through the example of one of his college friends. This friend was a highly religious person, constantly motivated by his religious notions. However, one night the friend confessed that he was actually an atheist. He had grown so used to being religious, and didn’t want to disappoint the people who were a part of his community, that he continually dismissed his thoughts about god in order to justify his actions. This perfectly explains cognitive dissonance through illustrating this man’s ability to think and act according to different principles and yet find a way to justify it.

From the reading passage, mental set is described as the limitations people have when solving problems because they are limited by their previous experiences in solving and approaching problems. The professor illustrates mental set by giving two examples of a group of students trying to solve math problems. In the first example all the students solve the math problems the same way, resulting in the same answer. In the second example, however, some students try to apply the same approach to solving the next problem and it causes them to have the wrong answer. This shows how the concept of mental set describes the way that people’s problem solving can be limited by their previous knowledge.

Insight learning is described as people’s experiences with sudden revelations in which they come to an answer to a problem not through outside information or contemplation, but rather through a single moment of sudden realization. The professor explains insight learning using her experience with playing Tomb Raider. In the game she enjoyed the many puzzles and challenges until one day reaching a point in the game that she didn’t understand and couldn’t pass. Rather than looking up the answer to the puzzle, she went about her life until one day she had a sudden revelation as to how to solve the problem. The answer struck her out of nowhere as occasionally happens to people in an “aha” moment of realization about how to solve a particular problem.

A behaviour contract is described in the reading passage as the agreements made between students and teacher about the expected behaviours, attitudes, approaches, and possible rewards that the two can agree on to help motivate a student to greater success. The professor explains behaviour contracts through her personal experience with a teacher in her youth. As a young student the professor struggled to focus and motivate herself in school. Through mediation with the teacher, they were able to establish some agreed upon rules and associated rewards for her putting in more effort to daily activities. Because she played a role in establishing the rules, she felt more obligations to comply and in turn reap the rewards she had desired.

From the reading passage, source amnesia is defined as a person’s ability to recall factual information, yet to not be able to recall the source of that information. The professor illustrates the concept of source amnesia by giving two examples from her life. The first example concerns her grandmother, who often can recall information about current news, such as epidemics or tragedies, but cannot recall where or how she acquire such information. The second example she gave was about a friend of hers testifying in court. He could remember factual information about the scenario in question, but couldn’t recall why he knew the information. In both examples, a person knew factual information, but couldn’t recall their source, which is source amnesia.

Negativity bias is the psychological process by which people recall negative events more often or more clearly than positive events. The professor explains negativity bias through the example of her father as a boy. Although he always loved camping, he had one bad experience when he put down his fishing pool to go pee in the woods. While peeing he had a snake fall out of a tree and land on his shoulder, scaring him. After that negative event, her father was never able to stand under a tree or enjoy camping the way he had before his negative event. So negativity bias has to do with humans ability to relegate positive information to the back of the mind while focusing on the negative events in life.

Impact bias is described in the reading as the idea that people assume higher levels of negative response then what they actually end up feeling after something bad has happened. The professor explains impact bias by using the example of his friend Jack. In the story, Jack was dumped by his girlfriend, which he thought would be the most devastating thing he’d ever felt. However, after a few days he was beginning to feel better, and after a long enough time he felt like himself again. In the end Jack felt that it was a good thing because the end of the relationship removed a lot of stress that he had felt, and he ended up being happier even though he originally thought it would be the worst thing to ever happen to him.

A sweeping generalization is defined as the attempt to apply a common rule to an exceptional situation, often in which that rule doesn’t apply. The professor explains a sweeping generalization through the example of a kid that she babysat when she was younger. In her example she explains that it had always been her experience that kids love chocolate and sweets. However, at one job she found a quiet and reserved kid who wouldn’t respond to her offers of candy and ice cream. What she discovered was that with this particular kid, the sweeping generalization that all kids like sweets wasn’t true. This kid liked reading books and didn’t enjoy sweets. So a sweeping generalization is a common rule, but one that can have exceptional situations.

Customer lock-in is defined in the reading as the process by which companies will create complementary products that cannot be used alongside products that are manufactured by another company. The professor explains customer lock-in using his personal experience with trying to buy a zoom lens for his camera. He found a lens that he thought was the perfect quality and price, only to discover that it was from a manufacturer that was incompatible with his camera. Therefore he had to buy a zoom lens that was made by his camera company but was not the one he desired. That need to buy a complementary product is a prime example of customer lock-in.

From the reading passage, opportunity cost is defined as the value that is gained and lost by making alternative choices. The professor illustrates the idea of the cost of not choosing something through two examples. The first example is the choice a school must make between building a swimming pool or a library. By building the swimming pool they will gain certain things, but lose out on a place for students to read and study. In the second example a student faces opportunity cost when they choose to go school and take out loans, whereby they miss out on the money they could have made working instead of going to school. In either case opportunity cost is referred to as that price that is paid by making one choice over another.

The lecture described a strategic alliance as an agreement between two companies to help reach their goals. The professor used two examples to demonstrate strategic alliance. The first example described a financially resourceful company creating an alliance with a technical company to increase both their profits. The second example described a company with huge sales potential creating an alliance with a nationally recognized brand company to help increase profits for both companies as well. In both examples, all the companies, which formed a strategic alliance, benefited from the reciprocal company’s resources or expertise. Therefore, these two examples demonstrated strategic alliance.

The founder effect is described as the limitations of genetic variation that occur when a small number of a species is relocated away from the main population, resulting in distinctly different population. The professor explains the founder effect through an example of chrysanthemums in Australia. He describes how a small population of seeds was blown to a nearby island. In this new location the seeds had limited genetic variation, which in turn made them more susceptible to weather and environmental factors that could alter their genetic makeup. This is used to explain the potential for evolutionary change within a species based upon limited genetic variation, otherwise known as the founder effect.

The lecture describes vertical migration as creatures’ movements in water where the creatures move from the bottom to the top of the water or the top to the bottom of the water in accordance to light levels. The professor takes the squid as an example to illustrate why this vertical migration takes place. During the day, the sun light makes squids visible to their predators, so a squid will stay far from the surface of the water to hide. However, during the night, a squid will move up to the surface of the water, since their predators cannot see them, to feed on their prey. Therefore, the professor used a squid as an example to explain vertical migration.

The letter writer thinks the university authorities, who want to increase art awareness on campus, should display painting and other artworks by students in the lobby of the student center. The letter writer thinks this is a good venue because hundreds of people will see the art every day and because the lobby has a lot of natural light. In the conversation, the art student disagrees with this proposal for three reasons. Firstly, she thinks the space will be overcrowded and this will make it difficult to view the artworks properly. Secondly, she fears that the artworks cannot be protected properly in a public space and may be damaged accidentally or deliberately. Thirdly, she points out that natural light is not ideal for displaying artworks because it is not consistent enough.

The university has decided to lower the temperature in classroom buildings every workday and on weekends in order to save on heating costs. The woman is opposed to this plan. She points out that the buildings are often used after hours for group meetings. The library does not have enough dedicated meeting rooms to accommodate all of the group activities that currently take place in classroom buildings after hours. In the middle of winter, especially, this becomes a big problem. She feels the solution is not to lower the temperature in the classroom buildings but to improve their energy efficiency by improving insulation and reducing heat loss through the windows and walls. She thinks the university should seek advice from a specialist in the field of energy efficiency.

The university plans to stop serving hot breakfasts in university dining halls. They claim that serving only cold breakfasts is healthier and more cost-effective. In the conversation, the man questions the university’s decision. He thinks the decision makers are not honest when they claim the decision is driven by both health and financial considerations. First of all, he questions the claim that cold food such as yogurt is healthier than warm food such as eggs. He quotes research about low-fat products, animal fats, and smoked foods to back up his point. Secondly, he points out that students who choose to eat hot breakfasts, especially in winter, will be forced to buy off-campus where prices are more expensive. Having to go off-campus will also be inconvenient.

The male student does not agree with this campus notice. He feels that fourth-grade kids are too young to be trusted with the lockers. He feels as though students may remove books from the library, placing them in their lockers, and never checking them out. Another reason he is not for this notice is due to the fact that the entire school has to carry their books while in the library and he feels as though this separation or show of favoritism is unfair. If the fourth-grade students are allowed to use these lockers provided by the library, then every student who utilizes that library should have the same exact access to those lockers. The male student understands that the fourth grade may use the library more often, but when it comes down to it, the idea is not fair.

According to the letter, the university should implement quiet hours in the dorms from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. This is because it’ll help students to study at night and make it possible for everyone to get enough sleep. The woman doesn’t think this is a good idea. First of all, she says that not everyone has the same schedule so this change could be overly restrictive. She notes that some students want to socialize after coming home from late classes and the change will make that impossible. She says that if people really want to study at night, they can go to the library which is very quiet. Moreover, she says that this change might cause students to miss out on the social aspect of dorm life which sometimes does involve staying up late and socializing. She says actually that socializing is probably more important for the well being of students than actually getting enough sleep at night. These are the reasons why the woman opposes the plan to implement quiet hours in the university dorms.

Social impact framing is when companies emphasize their positive social contributions in order to attract customers and enhance their sales. The professor gives a couple of examples of this. First, he mentions how a fashion company with a new line of clothes might choose to emphasize their environmentally friendly practices.  They could do this by having advertisements that emphasize how they use recycled materials in the manufacturing process, they might put slogans about recycling in the ads.  And they could even include images of their recycling facilities. Secondly, he mentions how a tech company with a new cell phone app to teach kids to read might emphasize how the app can really help low-income families.  For instance, they could have videos of kids holding up their report cards while smiling and being proud of themselves after they’ve used the app to improve their reading ability.  This can improve the company’s image and its sales.