Synthesis Essay
The results are in. You scan through the dark words on the bright white paper, your hands shaking and your heart racing. The perpendicular lines seeming to pop off of the page. Positive. You have brain cancer and your doctor gives you only a few months to live. Time stops. You are thrown into a life of medical treatments and doctor visits. Now, you have a decision to make. Will you let this diagnosis get the best of you and keep you from living your life, or will you push through the pain and enjoy what little time you have left on this earth? Recent scientists believe no one is capable of making extreme decisions, such as this one, in a wise, well thought out manner. Evidence shows that several factors can thwart our attempts …show more content…
When we are placed under any amount of pressure it is hard for us to think in general, much less reasonably. In his book You Are Not So Smart, David McRaney states a statistic presented by John Leach, a psychologist at the University of Lancaster, which pertains to our actions during high pressure situations. “[A]bout 75 percent of people find it impossible to reason during a catastrophic event or impending doom.” Contrary to popular belief, our fight-or-flight instincts will not automatically kick in to protect us from harm. When in the midst of a dangerous predicament, we, as humans, are highly unlikely to be able to have a well thought out plan of action. When our heads are clouded with fear, must of us will struggle to think rationally. In certain circumstances, even professionals struggle to reach a truly justifiable verdict. In the middle of a heated ballgame, umpires and their decisions are easily affected by the pressure and weight being placed on them. “[U]mpires were 13 percent more likely to miss an actual strike in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game than in the top of the first inning” (King and Kim). Because the umpires knew the importance of their decision, they were more likely to make mistakes. Pressure messes with our heads. We try to think clearly, but we struggle to see every point of view, every positive and negative. Under stress, we may be more inclined to do something we never would have thought to do in an easy-going environment. One such scenario that can lead to inappropriate, unprecedented decisions is when a person is surrounded by their friends. After asking several teenagers to play a driving game, either alone or with two similarly aged friends watching them, Laurence Steinberg, a college professor of psychology, compared the number of risks taken and number of crashes created in both situations. “The mere
The results are in. You scan through the dark words on the bright white paper, your hands shaking and your heart racing. The perpendicular lines seeming to pop off of the page. Positive. You have brain cancer and your doctor gives you only a few months to live. Time stops. You are thrown into a life of medical treatments and doctor visits. Now, you have a decision to make. Will you let this diagnosis get the best of you and keep you from living your life, or will you push through the pain and enjoy what little time you have left on this earth? Recent scientists believe no one is capable of making extreme decisions, such as this one, in a wise, well thought out manner. Evidence shows that several factors can thwart our attempts …show more content…
When we are placed under any amount of pressure it is hard for us to think in general, much less reasonably. In his book You Are Not So Smart, David McRaney states a statistic presented by John Leach, a psychologist at the University of Lancaster, which pertains to our actions during high pressure situations. “[A]bout 75 percent of people find it impossible to reason during a catastrophic event or impending doom.” Contrary to popular belief, our fight-or-flight instincts will not automatically kick in to protect us from harm. When in the midst of a dangerous predicament, we, as humans, are highly unlikely to be able to have a well thought out plan of action. When our heads are clouded with fear, must of us will struggle to think rationally. In certain circumstances, even professionals struggle to reach a truly justifiable verdict. In the middle of a heated ballgame, umpires and their decisions are easily affected by the pressure and weight being placed on them. “[U]mpires were 13 percent more likely to miss an actual strike in the bottom of the ninth inning of a tie game than in the top of the first inning” (King and Kim). Because the umpires knew the importance of their decision, they were more likely to make mistakes. Pressure messes with our heads. We try to think clearly, but we struggle to see every point of view, every positive and negative. Under stress, we may be more inclined to do something we never would have thought to do in an easy-going environment. One such scenario that can lead to inappropriate, unprecedented decisions is when a person is surrounded by their friends. After asking several teenagers to play a driving game, either alone or with two similarly aged friends watching them, Laurence Steinberg, a college professor of psychology, compared the number of risks taken and number of crashes created in both situations. “The mere