Attribution bias

Throughout this week we had to observe our behavior and more specifically observe how much we use a certain bias. I chose to observe my attribution bias, which led to interesting results. I know some cases from my past where I have truly thought that someone is just lucky when they get something and I worked hard if I get something, but I didn't realize that I do it almost every day.

Most common ones were usually to do with school work results.When I got a good score for example in geography then I worked hard for it, but if someone got the same result or even better one, then in my mind they obviously hadn't worked as much for that as I had. And it even made me feel a bit disgusted.

We also had a visit by a university, where a woman shortly introduced us to a few students who study in their school and again I discovered myself of thinking how those people probably just bought themselves in because they were just lucky to be born into a rich family, but if I am going to get into that school then through hard work and effort.
On Friday we had a huge football and volleyball match between the boarders and school staff. I was playing on the volleyball team and gave all that I could. "That was just a lucky hit","She didn't even do anything","I at least tried to do something" and similar thoughts went through my head that evening quite a lot.

Last thought was at The Plonchet Fair we visited this Sunday, where people got to throw 3 balls at cans, and had to knock them over. When they got some cans down then in my mind it was again obviously because of luck because there is no way they had put as much effort in throwing the cans down as I did. 

This all shows us how egoistic our mind is and how evil it may be towards others, but as we try, how can we really know who is actually just lucky and who has  put their heart and soul into the task?

War

Who is the real terrorist?

Recently I saw a very interesting video about war and terrorism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jHQkfZT4Qw

In this video a young American university student is having a debate with a fellow Islamic classmate. She claims that Islamic countries are plagued with terrorism. But her teacher brings out and the boy explains the point that USA might be just as much of a terrorist than Islamic countries.

The word "terrorist" derives from the word "terror" as in the person who causes terror. So, how can we measure the amount of terror one country has caused? Who here is to blame?

The most biggest source to search for terrorist right now is exactly as mentioned in the clip, the wars going on in Afghanistan and nearby places. Who there is really to blame for war? Is it the Americans who claim they are there to free people from their awful regime but actually might be there causing terror just for the oil? Or is it the Islams who have caused many bombings killing thousands, but might be doing it just to get the Americans out of their homeland?
How do we know what truly makes a person a terrorist?

I think that as a bystander we seem to agree, with who is the terrorist, with a country we have more in common. But as a person living in one of the fighting countries then of course the terrorist is the one doing harm for us. We never seem to just stop for a second and think of the cause  and aim of one or other attack. We never seem to think that maybe there might just be a problem in us not the country we are fighting with. We don't realize that we might be the terrorist. But then again how can we be completely certain that it is or isn't us?

Terrorists can even be seen in such "simple wars" as civil wars or up-rises. As in people starting a war and terror towards the government because they have been terrorized. Many might say that in this case it is the government that has been unfair and terroristic towards it's people. But considering for example event's going on in Bangkok right now, then I would say the government and the people are terrorizing each other equally. How do we know who here is really to blame in terrorism?Who is the real terrorist

Vase sketch

     On Monday in class we had to draw a picture of a vase our teacher put in the middle of the class. No more instructions were given and the results of pictures were very various.

Here is the picture I sketched.

Since no further instructions weren't given, I decided to use a realistic approach. In this picture I tried to reflect everything as I saw, leaving nothing out. You can see the flowers in the middle of the sketch. I think that although the flowers are in the middle of the picture, they aren't drawn with enough detail and energy to make it look superior.

But realistic approach wasn't what everybody did. The methods varied as well. Most people just drew the vase as a single object and tried to sketch the flowers with as much details as possible, leaving out everything surrounding the vase.

The way I drew the flowers shows that I literally draw what I see, as in seeing is a strong sense perception in my case. I think the picture might also show that the way I see the world is that I like to see everything in the picture and see the wider perspective, not just focus on little things.
If I was asked to pick the best flower out of all the sketches my classmates did then I would base my knowledge of beauty on amount of details in the picture and the angle of the picture.