You will be working with 3 different
texts for this blog entry!1.
Read the two articles I gave you: "Why So Many Minds Think Alike"
by Elizabeth Landau and "Terror's Hidden Ally" by Laura Spinney.
2.
Write about something from the articles that you thought was
interesting or even puzzling. You can center your
discussion around one particular passage in one of the articles or some of the
writers' most interesting points. Just be sure that you are
talking about something specific from the text of the articles. No
generalizations!!
3. After you have discussed what you
found interesting or puzzling about the article, connect those ideas to
something specific you noticed in Act I of The Crucible.
You could connect to a specific character, quote, or exchange of
dialogue. Again be specific; no generalizations!
Cindy Dam
ReplyDeleteSomething that I found intresting and Puzzling From both the articles "Why so Many Minds Think Alike" by Elizabeth Landau And "Terror's Hidden Ally" by Laura Spinney was that, they both really prodived infromations on facts and pieced every infromation together. In the article " Why So Many Minds Think Alike" by Elizabeth Landau, there was a specific quote that stated "We show that a deviation from the group opinion is regaurded from the brain as a punishment," this was really intresting to me because it kind of relates as to Act 1 of The Crucible when basically Abligial gets into the girls minds that there they seen no such of her having the chickens blood on her face. That specific quote from that article is basically stating that you shoudl discard what you seen as as punishment. Going back to Abigail, she wants the girls to dicard what they saw her do with the chicken and what she says about John Proctor.
Tyler Gibson
ReplyDeleteIn the article "Why So Many Minds Think Alike." by Elizabeth Landau, the female participents changed their ratings because they thought they were voting with the majority. They only did this because they didnt want to be left out of the majority. In the crucible we see this happen when first Tituba is being blamed for what happened. When she is being talked down to she changes her opinion from nothing happened to it was Sarah Good and Goody Osburn.
Carley Pratico
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that, even though psychological treatment was the only thing that helped the children to recover, many people still believe that what made the children sick was caused by poisoning and not traumatic stress. It's also interesting that when the government said that there was nothing to worry about and that no one had been poisoned they didn't believe it and said that it was official duplicity. In the Crucible, Mr. Parris tells the town that witch craft is not the cause for Betty for being sick and that the devil is not at work in Salem, but the people in the town believe that he is lying and is trying to save his own skin.
Evan Goodspeed
ReplyDeleteThe paragraph that I found interesting was in "Terror's hidden ally" the four paragraph down. It says that a mass hysteria can cause society's belief to be reflected. In the past mass hysteria was blamed from witchcraft and there are still some places that blame witchcraft for it. Just like in act one of the Crucible there was a beginning of mass hysteria because the town's people thought that witchcraft was to blame for keeping Betty asleep. This led the girls, Betty and Abigail, to put the blame on other people like Tituba so they would not get in trouble from there elders.
Taylor Nielsen
ReplyDeleteThe second article, “Terrors Hidden Ally" intrigued me the most. What I found most interesting was was common this is around the world. Sicknesses go around all the time and eventually they could spread around schools making it ten times worse just like in Shelkovsk. This article relates to The Crucible in many ways. Laura Spinney says, "London says it causes tend to reflect a society's belief" The Crucible is big on beliefs in their town. Some believe there is witch craft going on which reflects on the society. If more people were to find out about the witch craft the society would go hay-wire, just like the people of Shelkovsk. The mass illness in Shelkovsk connects to The Crucible by the way the society reacts to the troubles in their town.
The article "Why So many Minds Think Alike" really bothered me and stuck out to me. It just brought me great sadness to think that is how we are now in society. Conformity is terrible to me, I very much disapprove of it. I won't lie, I used to conform. It took me a few years to open up my eyes, but I finally learned that I'm the only me there ever will be. I am not afraid to be myself, and express myself how I want to. I used to try to be like everyone else , but it was just boring. And I know I am better than that.
ReplyDeleteI can somewhat understand the fear part, I even find myself now afraid of things. If many people finish a test at the same time and I am still working, I will rush to finish in fear or someone thinking i'm stupid. That isn't me finishing up because everyone else is finishing and I want to fit in, it's me being afraid of judgement. That is different.
I am very opinionated, and I will never let society or other people influence my decisions I make. For example, thousands of poeple could come tell me how they think that gay marriage is wrong, but I will always stand by that it is nothing to be ashamed of, and is not in any way wrong. People changing their answers because others do is just upsetting.
People must know why we do this, right? It is because society gives us such low self esteem. I have little to none, but alas, I still manage to be myself, dress how I like, keep my own opinions. When the article talked about how women were changing their answers to the average, it was because they probably were afraid of being wrong. Even though it was their opinion, which is the weird part. They completely discarded their own thoughts and just used what everyone else did. It's a shame, it really is. Everyone is afraid to be themselves, speak their mind nowadays. And it needs to change. How are we supposed to come up with amazing ideas and be individuals if we are all acting and thinking the same?
You should not be afraid to be different. Infact you being yourself is normal. The people acting like everyone else, they're the different ones.
Now relating to the crucible, I am sure some of the girls there were only there because everyone else were making that little potion. The girl standing in the back watching, (I forget her name I'm sorry) that would be me. She was curious, curious enough to watch, not to be involved. I can imagine the intregue and wanting to witness what was going on, but not being involved. And she was probably one of the strongest girls there for not participating.
Andrew Canavan
ReplyDeleteI thought the article titled "Terror's Hidden Ally" was very interesting. The part where the author talked about how a person's psychological problems can cause physical symptoms was the most interesting. I didn't know that a person's thoughts can have so much influence on their health. In "The Crucible", Betty is frozen by her fear, this is a good example of what was explained in the article.
Stephen
ReplyDeleteI thought it was strange how the article explained that mass hysteria can lead to someone actually believing they have the symptoms of a disease. The article said that anxiety in the wrong person and situation can cause fits, rashes, or even comas. The brain is a very complex and important part of our body and for it to conform to ideas so easily is frightening. The first article discussed how the ideas of an individual can persuade the ideas of another individual. I think this is seen in the second article when it described the Shelkovsk region of Chechnya and how entire villages were self-diagnosed with deadly diseases. People saw others who appeared ill and out of fear started to believe they were ill themselves. Once again, the second article mentions that, "anxiety can manifest itself in the form of... (a) coma." This is somewhat seen in The Crucible when Betty and Ruth have a hard time waking up. They do not appear to have any actual medical symptoms which puzzles the town doctor. The girls put themselves in a state similar to coma due to anxiety. This is also proven when Betty wakes up on her own without any visible change.
Helen Leet
ReplyDeleteIn Passage One, I would agree with all of the aspects this article has addressed. This happens a lot in schools and public places that have judgmental people in them. Everyone may think that they are not judgmental, but somewhere inside them they know that they have done it one way or another, and it is not right at all. There are those few select people out there that don't care about what others think and they go on with their daily life not worrying. Or other people might think they have the authority to have only what they say go. A lot of the times it gets worse especially with bullying but most happens with other peoples appearances with themselves or others. If someone isn't wearing the right style, or they aren't going to a party, they are automatically are judged and that isn't right. To me, being different, like mentioned in the article doesn't seem to be a problem with myself. I know that I need to work on not judging others because I could be completely blind, and not realize their story behind it. A character from The Crucible that is dealing with the same thing would be Abigail. She has two different sides of her, and people automatically judge. The first side would be her crazy and anxious self. Her other side would be a loving person towards other people or herself, depending on the mood and situation. What I dont think people realize is how much terror and anxiety she has gone through in the past with her parents death right in front of her. Even though we haven't read much of the book that is my guess as to why she is so mean alot of the time. Alot of her past has influenced how what she lives by and how she feels. In the beginning of the story, when the girls were dancing around, I think Abby felt free and open for once, instead of trapped inside her anger. Although, she was told not to rub the blood of the chicken on her face, I think she was feeling a little rebellious and not caring what others think. As we read on, I think Abigail with express more of this tension inside her, and we can see what is really going through her mind.
Brenna R.
ReplyDeleteIn the first article "Why So Many Minds Think Alike" I found the sentence, "people look to the group because they're unsure of what to do, and that people go along with the norm because they are afraid of being different", was a bit confusing to me. I understand the first part of the sentence, not knowing what to do so you follow everyone else,but the second half, not wanting to be different, the confused me. I always hear people say things like "be an individual" and "stick by your opinions". I don't understand why people will change what they think just to fit in. In the second passage "Terrors Hidden Ally" I found it interesting how something like anxiety can tear a town apart. Anxiety is a treatable disorder and people are letting it get the best of them. This is also found in The Crucible. The girls were found in the woods doing things forbidden in their society, one girl won't wake up, another is sick and there are rumors going around of witches. This is enough to cause mass hysteria and to give everyone serious anxiety and send the town into panic.
In "Terror's Hidden Ally" the writer talks about the anthrax and white powder scares after 9/11. Many people claimed to have the symptoms of anthrax infection but most of the scares turned out to be false. This is interesting because we tend to look back at things like the Salem witch trials and the Red scare and think how stupid and crazy those people were but a similar thing has happened recently. It tells us that this isn't just about people being crazy or stupid, it's human nature. Fear and anxiety can make people do ridiculous things and when a large group of people are all scared of the same thing it could lead to dangerous results. In the Crucible we can see the people already anxious about things like, land, image, and money. Like when Putnam says "You load one oak of mine and you'll fight to drag it home" to Giles and Proctor when they say they will take some lumber on his property. This situation and the many other problems going around Salem puts everyone on edge, the only thing the people needed for everything to go bad was fear. And witchcraft was just the thing everyone was already afraid of.
ReplyDeleteZeynep balto
ReplyDeleteIn the aerticle "Why so many Minds Think ALike" by Elizabeth Landau she is talking about how do you feel? if holding the opposite view than the other people of some topic. I found interesting that "when people hold an opinion differing from others in the group, therir brains produce an error signal" because it is true they are afraid of being different or they are afraiding of that people can judge you because of your different idea. In the article "Terror's hidden ally" by Laura Spinney she is talking about the fear, mass hysteria can cause of some diseases or poisoning. It says that it is because of duplicity I think its true because people are acting different from person to person. It could be cause of diseases because it makes people to afraid for everything. In the Crucible the characters are arguing about the things like ministery, salary, preaching, childrend jeaoulsy etc. the article that talking about mass hysteria is said that "in the past witchcraft was often blamed but in the industrialized world environmental contamination is more often seen as culpit and in the book the characters that has argue with eachother are all need is witchcraft.
Jacob Cornish
ReplyDelete"Why so Many Minds Think Alike" by Elizabteh Landau and "Terror's Hidden Ally" by Laura Spinney were both very interesting. In "Terrors Hidden Ally" what was really interesting was how Laura Spinney explained how society twists things and makes them worse than they already are. It described how after a traumatic event everyone is stress and mass hysteria breaks out. This causes everyone to think they are sick or dying. Fear and anxiety take over and spread through the population like a common cold. Everyone is in panic and shock and thinks everything is worse than it is.
This relates to the crucible very well in the fact that everyone in salem is panicing over some sick girls. There is witch craft being talked about and everyone freaks out. They start to argue and point fingers at eachother.
I found it interesting that in "Why so Many Minds Think Alike" the participants changed their answer after they heard the average rating. I found this interesting because even though there was no one else in the room other than the researcher they still changed it just based on something that they heard.
ReplyDeleteThe Crucible connects to the article because when the girls are together in the woods they are all crazy and dancing, singing and doing witchcraft, but in the back of their minds they know what they are doing is wrong but they keep it to themselves. Mary Warren was the only one who was just standing in the background watching, not wanting to take part for she feared what could happen.
Sahar Shakeel
ReplyDeleteI thought the article, "Why So Many Minds Think Alike" by Elizabeth Landau, was very interesting because its very true. I often see it in public time to time, for example, if a teacher tells each group of students to tell the class what was the answer they got to a problem, the students whose answer was way off from the rest, would choose a number closest to what the other students’ answer is. This happens because they want to be correct and not different so they won’t have to stand out from the rest. I believe people who chosen a different answer from what they got or believe, is because they want to have a feeling of safety and being in a group. They don’t want to stick out from the rest because they fear of being different, as Dr. Gregory Berns said from the article, “...people look to the group because they’re unsure of what to do, and that people go along with the norm because they are afraid of being different…”. This is the same to sharing opinions. To share an opinion is to state out what you believe, but if what you believe is different from everyone’s opinion, it might make you change your opinion, just because you don’t want to look different in their eyes. In the Crucible, Abigail acts mature an innocent in front of the adults. “Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it - and I’ll be whipped if I must be,” (Miller 10), Abigail here acts innocent and tells her uncle about what happened the night before and how she would be punished for it. But when Abigail is with other girls, she acts herself and frightens them to let them know they shouldn’t mess with her, “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bright a pointy reckoning that will shudder you.” (Miller 20). Abigail acts like an “adult” with the other adults because she doesn’t want to act different to get in trouble. But she acts like herself with the other girls like she doesn’t really care what they think of her.
Rachel Walsh
ReplyDeleteI found the article “Why So many Minds Think Alike” by Elizabeth Landau very interesting. It was very fascinating how, “people tend to go along with the majority view, even if that view is objectively incorrect.” I do not understand why people would change their own opinions just to go along with everyone elses. Everyone is different, so everyone will have their own opinions on things. You should feel free and not care about what everyone else says or does. If everyone jumped off a bridge would you do it? The answer is no, so why do people think that they should go change their opinion and go along with the crowd. Express yourself, everyone is unique and different. No one will make fun of the person for not going along with everyone else. If you express your thoughts, you may find that people understand and may even change their thoughts too yours. However, I admit that I have changed my opinion to go along with everyone elses. I was nervous that mine was wrong and I did not want to be the only one with the wrong answer. I changed my answer even though I knew that it did not seem right. Also, in this article it said, “when people hold an opinion differing from others in a group, their brains produce an error signal.” This confuses me because I do not understand how the brain could function like that. When people have different thoughts than others, do their brains think it is the wrong answer automatically? If the brain thinks it is a wrong answer, then how do some people stand up against what their brain is telling them, how they find the courage? This has happened to me before. I was the only one raising my hand for a certain answer and my brain told me it was wrong since I was the only one doing it, so I put my hand down. I bet this happens to a lot of people. This passage from this article relates to a character in the Crucible. The character is Tituba. Tituba is afraid to tell Parris what really happened in the woods. She is afraid to defend herself and speak her own opinion. She lies and goes along with the theory of witchcraft. She puts the spotlight off herself and blames another women of witchcraft. She knows they want to hear about witchcraft, so she tells them what they want to hear even though she knows its not true. She says, “I do believe somebody else is witchin’ these children”(miller 45). This brings the blame off her and on another person. It is almost as if something in her brain told her if she spoke the truth and told them her opinion to defend herself, she would be blamed for the witchcraft. She listened to what her brain told her and went along with everyone else. She is a follower like most people today.
Angelo Cavallaro
ReplyDeleteI find it funny how our brains see it was punishment for us being different from one another. it just shows how even on a subconscious level we want to conform. I think that it's too bad that human nature is to conform and stay as a group. It would be better if the norm was for everyone to be different. In the crucible, everyone wants to conform to the way everyone else thinks is correct. And when someone does something that is different, everyone needs someone to blame which causes problems just like in modern society.
Ayia Abdelmagid
ReplyDeleteIn the article "Why So Many Minds Think Alike" by Elizabeth Landau, I found a lot of things interesting but there was one thing that interested me the most. In the article it says, "All female had to rate 222 faces based on physical beauty on a scale from 1 to 8. Afterwards, researchers told each participant either that the average score was higher or that it was lower that her rating.Some participants were told the average rating was equal to her rating. The researchers than chatted with the participants before suddenly asking the participant to do the rating again. Most subjects changed their opinion toward the average." What i found interesting about this passage from the article was that even though the participants rated by themselves with no one else around them, they still ended up changing there rating because they wanted to be close to average. Participants didn't wanted there rating to stick out, be different from average.The Crucible connects to the article because when Tituba was being blamed for witchcraft, Tituba refused to say she has anything to do with witchcraft.But at the end when they convinced her that nothing would happen to her, she admitted it and tried to wake Betty up.
Radine Anne Nieva
ReplyDeleteI found interesting in the article "Why So Many Think Alike" by Elizabeth Landau is that some people have their own opinion and some don’t have any opinion. People tend to change their opinion after they found out which has the majority vote. In the Crucible, the people in the salem change their opinion to the girls like Betty, Abigail, and the other girls who are dancing deep in the wood. People starting to believe that Betty and Ruth were possessed by a demon.
Carissa Jesmain
ReplyDeleteWhat I found interesting about the article “Why So Many Minds Think Alike” by Elizabeth Landau how the majority of the women change their votes because of what they found out what other people said on average. This is most likely because they are of what people might think of them or how they might be judged or punished. The character I find most relates to this article is Abigail because in the woods she was dancing and having fun with all the other girls but once people start thinking there might have been witchcraft involved she starts to blame the other girls because of her image.
Rebecca Boodhoo
ReplyDeleteIn the article "why so many minds think alike" by Elizabeth Landau, the part of the article interested me the most was the passage "People look to the group because they're unsure of what to do, and that people go along with the norm because they are afraid of being different". This interested me because I wonder how people can be so unsure of themselves to go along with whatever other people think. I don't understand how people could be so weak to not have their own opinion about certain subjects. I understand that some people are not as out spoken as others but I don't understand how they could just go along with whatever the group says. People lose their individuality and sense of self as soon as they have a different view of something. In the article "Terrors Hidden Ally" I found it so surprising that something like a little anxiety would make the entire town fall apart. Its surprising to me that this happens so often because the same thing happens in The Crucible and no one is strong enough to make it stop and make people realize how illogical they are being. In The Crucible people just went along and listened to whatever one person said with no proof. Abigail made such a large accusation about Tituba and no one questioned her. this puzzles me how can one person say one thing and cause so much uproar and no one questions it. this seems crazy but its kind of like rumors today. A lot of people believe anything they hear, its not just a crazy town a lot of people today are the same way people were then.
I felt that both the passages were very interesting because of how true they really are, in the beginning of "Why so many minds think Alike" by Elizabeth Landau the first sentence perfectly explains the whole thing about mass hysteria and conformity to others ideas, cause its right i would not say no to an idea if every other person says yes, its like you don't want to be pointed out and the different one, you don't want to be subject to questions and ridicule for you decision so you join everyone else with there idea. like in the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller all of the towns people thought that the girls were being possessed and who they said who were whichs so everyone freaked out
ReplyDelete