6 Chapter 5: How Cults Rewire the Brain

Diane Benscoter spent five years as a “Moonie.” She shares an insider’s perspective on the mind of a cult member, and proposes a new way to think about today’s most troubling conflicts and extremist movements.

Diane Benscoter, an ex-Moonie, is now invested in finding ways to battle extremist mentalities and their potentially deadly consequences.

https://www.ted.com/talks/ex_moonie_diane_benscoter_how_cults_think

• Rebecca Newberger Goldstein and Steven Pinker
• The Long Reach of Reason

Here’s a TED first: an animated Socratic dialog! In a time when irrationality seems to rule both politics and culture, has reasoned thinking finally lost its power? Watch as psychologist Steven Pinker is gradually, brilliantly persuaded by philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein that reason is actually the key driver of human moral progress, even if its effect sometimes takes generations to unfold.

https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_and_rebecca_newberger_goldstein_the_long_reach_of_reason

• Daniel H. Cohen
• For Argument’s Sake

Why do we argue? To out-reason our opponents, prove them wrong, and, most of all, to win! Right? Philosopher Daniel H. Cohen shows how our most common form of argument — a war in which one person must win and the other must lose — misses out on the real benefits of engaging in active disagreement.

• 
• https://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_h_cohen_for_argument_s_sake

Cooling Down After the Lecture

The notes you take are like another book for your class. You need to use them like you would a book to study for your class, which mean that your notes have to have some of the same qualities a book does. Here are some ways to organize your notes:

• Create an “index.”
• Use a highlighter to mark important terms.
• Use a different colored pen and/or highlighters to go back to your notes and make your own headings and subheadings.
• Tab your notes.

Having well-organized notes is a great start, but it isn’t quite enough. After you organize your notes, you need to review them. Here are some ways to review your notes:

• Ask yourself why your instructor decided to lecture over this material in the way that he or she chose to do. What type of lecture is it? Hand-in-Hand or Jumping-off-point? Why do you suppose he or she chose to deliver that type of lecture to the class today? How does the lecture relate to other course materials you have to read for the course?
• Make sure you understood the lecture itself. When you review, pretend you need to tell a classmate who missed the lecture what the main ideas were. Actually explain the notes—either out loud or silently.
• Add additional notes of explanation you didn’t get a chance to add in class. Make sure you understand any abbreviations you might have used.
• Identify concepts that were not clear to you. Mark confusing parts up with questions marks and find a classmate, a tutor, or your instructor to get the concepts clarified.
• Share notes with a classmate. What did he or she write down? How is it different from what you wrote down? What can you add to one another’s notes?

Academic Skill 2: Focus on Writing

Now that you’ve read the textbook chapter on Logic and watched several lectures on similar subjects, you’re ready to write the essay.

In this activity, you will write an argument essay. You can find prompts using this link.

https://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/05/301-prompts-for-argumentative-writing/

There are 301 prompts, so you have a lot of freedom. However, in addition to writing an excellent essay, this essay will also be graded on the reasoning. Have you applied the concepts from the textbook chapter to the supporting points in your essay?

Let’s take another quick look at the strategies you can use to write this essay.

	Activity
Warm-up	To warm up your brain, carefully read the prompt you were given for your paper. Think about these questions: What information should be in my introduction? What information should be in the body of my paper? How will I end my paper? Take a few notes about what you think you should do and then re-read the prompt. Do your ideas still seem to make sense?
Work out	To work out in writing, you need to write your paper! This will involve selecting strategies that will help you make your point most efficiently.
Cool Down	To cool down in writing re-read what you have written and re-read the prompt. Make sure your writing choices still fit the prompt. Ask yourself “If a stranger were to read my paper over my shoulder, would it make sense?”

Structure for an Academic Essay

Introduction Your introductory paragraph will have two main parts.	Part 1: Establishing Authority- When you establish authority, you are doing two things—1) convincing your readers that you are expert enough on the topic to be worth listening to and 2) providing them with the information they need to understand your paper. The Establishing authority part of your paper begins with the very first sentence and ends just before the thesis.
	Part 2: Thesis- The thesis statement is a sentence that tells the reader what you will prove in the paper. In shorter essays, the thesis sentence is always the last sentence of the introductory paragraph—just after the establishing authority.

Body Paragraphs Each body paragraph will have three parts.	Part 1: Topic Sentence- in most academic essays, the topic sentence is the very first sentence of the paragraph and it plays an important role. It makes a claim that the rest of the paragraph will prove or support.
	Part 2: Evidence– in an academic essay, the evidence section is the middle of the paragraph and longest part of the paragraph. Here is where you will actually work to convince your reader that the claim you made in your topic sentence is true.
	Part 3: Evaluation– In the academic essay, the evaluation usually comes at the end of the paragraph and it helps the reader understand why the evidence is should be taken seriously.

Conclusion Your conclusion will have two parts.	Conclusions sum up what you have already said. New information should not appear in a conclusion, although you may wish to leave your reader with something interesting to think about. Part 1: Restate the thesis– Here, all you need to do is go back to the thesis statement that is at the end of the first paragraph you wrote and state it again in your last paragraph with slightly different words.
	Part 2: Sum up main points– In this part of the conclusion, you just need to go back to each body paragraph and sum up its main point.

Warm up for Writing

Before you actually begin to write your paper, there are three things to consider that will help you decide how to approach your paper.

• What were you told to do? Make sure to carefully read the prompt you were given. Does it give you information about what the instructor wants? Often, the prompt your instructor gave you will directly tell you what he or she is looking for. For example, if a prompt says, “In your introductory paragraph, summarize Smith’s theory of education . . . .” then you know that you will use summary in your introduction.
• What are your goals? If your goal is to explain how an experience you had in high school caused you to realize you want to become a physical therapist, then you need to use narrative to explain what happened to you.
• What are your preferences? If the prompt does not provide you with information about what strategy to use, and several strategies might help you achieve your goal, then you can choose the goal that work best for you.

Working Out while Writing a Paper

The charts below describe the strategies you might use in three parts of your paper—the establishing authority part of the introduction, the evidence part of the body paragraph and the evaluation part of the body paragraph. Your job will be to select the strategies that are most likely to help you achieve your goal.

Strategies for Establishing Authority Remember, the goal of establishing authority is to provide the reader with the information they need to understand your paper and prove to them that you are worth listening to. The following strategies will help you do that.
Summary	If you are responding to an essay, a video, a lecture or a book, you might choose to summarize its main ideas. This will help your reader understand the source you are responding to and prove that you are an expert—if you read a source and can summarize it, then you are an expert.
Narrative or short personal story	If you are writing an essay that relates in some way to your life or the life or someone you know, you might choose to tell a personal story to establish authority. Doing so will prove to your reader that, because you have lived this, you are an expert.
Facts and History	Sometimes statistics, percentages, dates or a brief historical overview are the best way to help your reader not only understand the issue you are writing about, but to show them you know your stuff.
Definition	If you are writing about something your reader might not understand, define it so he or she will be able to understand your paper. When you are able to define a word or concept for your reader, they will see you as an expert.
Description	If you are writing an essay that relates to your personal life, you may choose to describe something significant to your life such as an object or an emotion.

The chart below lists different strategies you can choose from when you present evidence in your body paragraphs. Notice that many of the strategies are the same ones you can use to establish authority.

Strategies for Presenting Evidence Remember, the goal of presenting evidence is to provide the reader with the information they need to agree with the claims you are making in your paper. Evidence proves to the reader that what you are saying is true. The following strategies will help you do that. Note that many of the strategies are the same ones you can use to establish authority.
Summary	If you would like to use the ideas in an essay, a video, a lecture or a book to help you prove your point, you will need to summarize its main ideas in the evidence part of your body paragraphs. This will help your reader understand the source you are responding to and prove that you are an expert—if you read a source and can summarize it, then you are an expert.
Narrative or short personal story	If you are writing an essay that relates in some way to your life or the life or someone you know, you might choose to tell a personal story for your evidence. Doing so will prove to your reader that, because you have lived this, you are an expert.
Facts and History	Sometimes using statistics, percentages, dates or a brief historical overview are the best evidence you can give your reader to help him/her see that your viewpoint is worth considering.
Definition	If you are writing about something your reader might not understand, define it so he or she will be able to understand your paper. When you are able to define a word or concept for your reader, your evidence will make much more sense.
Description	If you are writing an essay that relates to your personal life, you may choose to describe something significant to your life such as an object or an emotion.
Quotes from Experts	Sometimes the words of an expert is the best way for you to prove your point. Using quotes from sources is a great way to prove your point.
Compare/ Contrast	In the evidence part of your body paragraphs, you might choose to compare/ contrast two or more things, people, places, concepts or events in order to make your point.

The chart below lists the strategies you can use when you evaluate your body paragraph. Remember, EACH body paragraph needs it’s own evaluation. The strategies below are possible ways you can evaluate your paragraph.

Strategies for Evaluating Your Paragraph Remember, the goal of the evaluation part of a paragraph is to explain to your reader why or how the evidence you presented proves the topic sentence you wrote. The following strategies will make it clear to your reader what exactly your evidence proves. In shorter academic essays, the evaluation is the last 2-4 sentences in a body paragraph.
Why is this evidence important?	Explain why a person, concept, event, etc. is important. What will people be able to do or understand as a result of knowing the information you just presented?
How is the information presented in the evidence part of the paragraph related?	Sometimes readers don’t understand the purpose of your paragraph unless you tell them directly. If your goal is to explain how two things are connected, similar or different, you will need to point that out at the end of your paragraph.
How did the information presented in the evidence in the evidence part of the paragraph affect me or someone else?	Explain how a person, event, idea, etc. affected a person, a group of people or a series of events. Sometimes, it isn’t clear to a reader how something affected you (if you are writing a personal essay) or someone or something else until you explain it.
What did I learn as a result of the evidence presented? How did I change?	Explain what you or someone else learned or how you or someone else change as a result of an experience.

Cooling down After Writing a Paper

After you write your paper, re-read it carefully. To do this, go back to the “Structure of an Academic Essay” graphic and go through your paper section by section. Do you establish authority? Do you have a thesis statement where it belongs? Do you have a topic sentence for each body paragraph? Do you present evidence and write an evaluation for each paragraph?

Finally, re-read the prompt. Make sure your paper meets the instructor’s expectations.

Eventually, your instructor will read your rough draft and provide comments for you. You will then have to revise. It is not uncommon for students to re-write papers five or six times before “getting it right.” Be patient with the revision process!

Academic Skill: Focus on Discussions

After writing your paper, you will participate in the following type of discussion.

Evaluation Discussion– An evaluation discussion focuses on evaluating another student’s work. Students are often particularly hostile to evaluation discussion because they feel they are grading one another’s work—which is the instructor’s job, not theirs. They may think, “I barely understand this myself, why should I have to comment on someone else’s work?” They may say “Only the instructor’s opinion matters since that is where my grade comes from. Who cares what my classmates, who are as clueless as me, think?” However, your instructor sees evaluation discussions very differently. You will be asked to read and comment on one another’s essays.

The purpose of an evaluation discussion is to help students develop judgment about what is and is not effective work. Usually, this means applying ideas you have learned in the class about effective writing, problem solving, etc. to that students works. You’ve now learned about using logic to support an argument and written an essay supporting your own argument. You will now read another student’s essay to determine whether the support is actually supporting the argument proposed in the essay.

Also, when you leave the class, you will have to actually use whatever you learned in the class on your own—for example, when you complete your composition class, you are expected to write an academic essay on your own. Evaluation discussion provide you will practice being independent and using your new skills while your instructor is still nearby to help you if you get confused.

	Activity
Warm-up	Review the notes you have taken on the textbook and lectures about logic. What will you need to be looking for in another student’s essay? How will you know if the support the student is using is logical?
Work out	To work out in a discussion is to fully participate in the discussion by devoting you full energy into understanding and doing what your instructor is asking of you. It also means listening carefully to classmates and committing to the idea of saying something yourself.
Cool Down	To cool down after a discussion is to simply think carefully about which of the three purposes (or which combination of purposes) your discussion served. Ask yourself “What was I supposed to get out of this discussion?” Answering that question will help you determine what you instructor thinks is important.

Warming Up for Discussion

In order to get the most out of a discussion make sure you review the notes you have taken on the textbook and lectures about logic. What will you need to be looking for in another student’s essay? How will you know if the support the student is using is logical?

Your instructor might say something like “On Monday, we will have a workshop over your papers” Most instructors expect you to come to class with your papers written. What they hope to accomplish during class time is to have you ask questions about what you did not understand or to review other students’ work so you can comment on what they did well and what they need to work on. These activities are impossible if you haven’t done your homework ahead of time. However, sometimes students expect the class will be like a study hall where they can begin an assignment, or simply work on it on their own. In college study-hall like classes are fairly rare—since classes only meet two or three times a week, instructors generally expect you to actually do your homework outside class, while class time is usually spent either getting you ready to do homework and papers, getting you ready for exams or helping you evaluate work you have already done.

When the instructor expects students to peer review a paper they have not written or to discuss a chapter they have not read, this leads students to believe that these class days are simply a waste of time and that their instructor is boring. The truth is that the activity is a waste of time because the student is not prepared for the discussion. If a hockey player showed up for practice with no skates or pads, he or she would have to sit on the bench and watch everyone else practice. Practice will go on without him or her with the players that did show up prepared. This doesn’t mean the practice itself is a waste of time or ineffective. It means that it was a waste of time for the player who did not show up prepared. The same is true for your classes—if you show up prepared, you will get more out of class.

Working Out During a Discussion

Your instructor has an evaluation discussion when he or she wants you to provide feedback to other students in the class on something they have done—like a paper or an art project. Of course, you should also receive feedback from other students. Your instructor has these kinds of discussions because he or she wants to give you opportunities to practice skills you have learned in the class so you will slowly but surely be able to do these things on your own. The question to ask yourself during an Evaluation discussion is, “Have a mastered these skills I am learning well enough to be able to apply them to my own work and the work of other students?”

Cooling Down After a Discussion

A cool down for a discussion is fairly straightforward. When you are doing your homework for the class later on, ask yourself these questions:

“What did my instructor want us to get out of today’s discussion?” Jot down all the answers you could think of. You might say “My instructor wants us to learn how supply-demand graphs work” or “My instructor wanted to know how well we understood cell division.”

Next ask yourself, “How will the concepts I learned in this discussion help me achieve future goals in the class?” Again, jot down your answers. You might say “My instructor wants us to learn how supply-demand graphs work because we will have to do them on the exam in two weeks.”

Finally, ask yourself how confident you are that you understand not only why you had this sort of discussion, but if you mastered the skills or concepts you were working with.