Chapter 1

You are walking through a parking lot and notice someone quickly approaching you from behind. Without stopping to carefully analyze every possible explanation, you immediately move closer to a group of people because you think it might be safer.

After completing a weekend introductory workshop on web development, Alex feels fully capable of designing complex software applications for large corporations. In contrast, an experienced senior engineer with ten years of field practice feels cautious and admits there are vast areas of system architecture she has yet to master.

After watching continuous news coverage of commercial airplane crashes, Marcus refuses to fly for his upcoming business trip, believing air travel is far more dangerous than driving. In reality, statistical data shows driving carries a significantly higher risk.

Before an election, Sarah thinks either candidate could win. After Candidate A unexpectedly wins, Sarah tells her friends, “I knew Candidate A was going to win. It was obvious from the beginning.”

Johnny is a student in a cross cultural psychology class working on his final presentation. He is presenting on aspects of his own culture and mentions how religion is culturally and politically unifying in this Caribbean country. At the end of the presentation he cites research mostly  from theological journals and religious blogs at the end of his presentation. 

Brianna starts her first class at a new school and sees “NO ELECTRONICS ALLOWED” on the syllabus. Her professor believes that technology causes students to learn less because over the years as more technology was introduced in the classroom students performed worse on their major exams on average.

Malika, a transfer at Rutgers University, just received an athletic scholarship to play basketball for the Scarlet Raiders. On the first day of practice she looks at her teammates and thinks that they’re okay but she’s got to be the best. Later in the season, she found herself warming the bench.