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 She makes a point to say that the current items on hand in the Chemistry lab are very outdated. The use of outdated equipment hurts the students because it doesn’t allow for them to understand or use the latest equipment being used currently in the Chemistry field.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 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.

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.