5.7: Chapter Exercises

Chapter Exercises

Section A:

For each of the following areas, answer these questions:

• 1. Can there really be experts in this area? If not, why not?
• 2. What sorts of people (if any) would be good experts in the field?
• 3. What sorts of people might falsely bill themselves as experts about the topic?
• 4. How could you try to determine whether an alleged expert in the area is a genuine expert (and, if so, how good an expert they are)?

1. How televisions work.
2. College football.
3. College football recruiting.
4. Shakespeare’s plays.
5. Who’s two-timing who in Belleville, Kansas [population 1,991].
6. Whether gay marriages should be legal.
7. The effects of your astrological sign on your behavior.
8. The existence of God.
9. Whether creationist theories about the origin of the universe are true.
10. How many days it will be until there is another mass shooting in the United States.
11. The artistic value of 1950’s rock and roll music.
12. The precise number of people who lived on earth exactly 100,000 years ago.
13. Whether an accused murderer was criminally insane at the time she allegedly took the pickaxe to her victims.
14. The safety of nuclear power plants.
15. The morality of abortion.
16. Losing weight and keeping it off.
17. Whether gun control is a good thing.
18. Which majors are most likely to get well-paying jobs after graduation.

Section B:

The following passages contain appeals to authority. Say whether the appeal is legitimate or not, and defend your answer. (from S. Chaiken “Communicator Physical Attractiveness and Persuasion,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37 (1979); 1387–1397)

1. Most people who teach critical reasoning are very skeptical of astrological predictions. But people have been using the stars to make predictions for hundreds and hundreds of years. They surely wouldn’t do this if there weren’t something to it.
2. Recent polls show that many people believe vaccinating children from measles causes autism.
3. According to Einstein, the idea of absolute motion is incoherent. And that’s good enough for me. (This is one where background knowledge is needed.)
4. Both the Surgeon General and the American Heart Association insist that smoking is a leading cause of heart attacks. So, it’s a good idea to quit smoking.
5. The following passage appeared in Phil Dalton’s column in The Oklahoma Daily (9/24/97, p. 4); how plausible is it?

I am not arguing for the legalization of marijuana. Instead, hemp should be legalized to help protect forests and woodlands and our rivers. (And yes, I did get all this information form the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Law Website).

6. Suppose that U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who champions campaign finance reform, is arguing that the huge campaign contributions that large companies give to political candidates lead to a substantial amount of corruption in the American political system (e.g., by influencing which laws get made). What questions should you ask to evaluate her argument? How might you go about finding information supporting the other side (that it really doesn’t lead to much corruption)? How would you evaluate what you hear or read on this issue?
7. Give your own example of an area where there are experts, but where it is likely that they will frequently disagree with one another. If you had to make a decision that required you to know something about the field, what would you do?
8. Give your own example of an area where there really does not seem to be experts at all. If you had to make a decision that required you to know something about the field, what would you do?
9. The average child will have seen at least 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence depicted on television before they graduate from elementary school. Suppose someone uses this to argue that we should restrict violence on television. What sorts of information would you need to evaluate their argument? Could you get it without relying on others? What people would be likely to have accurate information about the matter?
10. Wilbur and Wilma are discussing capital punishment.
    1. Wilbur argues that capital punishment should be retained because it deters terrible crimes like murder. How might we decide whether he is right? Are there any experts who might have useful information on the matter? If so, what sorts of people are likely to be experts here?
    2. Wilma counters that we should abolish capital punishment because it is morally wrong. How might we decide whether she is right? Are there any experts who might have useful information on the matter? If so, what sorts of people are likely to be experts here?
11. Give an example of a celebrity endorsement. Do you think that such endorsements are an effective way of advertising? If you think that they are, explain why you think they work.
12. Suppose that you wanted to know about the long-term behavior of the stock market, so that you could begin investing a modest amount of money now, while you are still a student. Are there people who would know more about this than you do? If so, who? Are these people likely to be experts? If not, why not? If so, how might you try to check the claims of one of the experts about how you should invest your money?

Answer

In many of the following cases there is no one right answer, but some answers are certainly better than others (and many possible answers are wrong).

1. How televisions work
   1. Likely experts: people who repair televisions, scientists and engineers who design televisions, some (though not all) people who sell televisions.
   2. Some salespersons act like they have more expertise than they do.
   3. Salespeople do often have something to gain by getting you to buy a television. Other things being equal, you would probably trust a salesperson who doesn’t work on commission. But there is a great deal of variation among salespeople, and you cannot make a blanket generalization about them.
2. College football
   1. Likely experts: College football coaches, sportswriters and sportscasters. Even the experts will disagree about some things here, but coaches who are successful year in and year out have something going for them.
   2. Monday morning quarterbacks consider themselves experts.
3. College football recruiting
   1. Sports journalists, high school coaches, and perceptive fans may have a good idea about recruiting, but the best experts here are probably good recruiters.
   2. Fans who consider themselves experts.
4. Answer not provided.
5. Who’s two-timing who in Belleville, Kansas [population 1,991]
   1. The point of this example is to emphasize that there are experts on all sorts of things. If you grew up in a small town (I did grow up in Belleville), you know there are town gossips who have all the dirt on everybody.
   2. Some gossips like to pretend they have the dirt even when they don’t. If you want accurate rumors, it’s best to find a reliable gossip (of course, as tabloid journalism attests, rumors are often more fun when they are inaccurate).
6. The effects of your astrological sign on your behavior.
   1. There are no experts on this, because the planets and stars have no discernible impact on your character or behavior. Astrology is a pseudoscience.