ASSIGNMENT #2 – INSIGHT ABOUT ATTENTION
SAMPLE ARRANGEMENT from Sally Student –
Uses a Rogerian arrangement (where you lead with your refutation/qualifier first in the body) and notes support.
Title Material:
Raising Awareness of/about Attention
EXORDIUM/REFUTATIO 1:
Family – Story about Sarah’s family stressing importance of school in a particular way: Friday nights were all about what was going on at school over pizza, then one movie together, then the rest of the weekend expected to do school work and get ahead.
NARRATIO:
They were also teaching me where to put my attention…we are raised by our families to pay attention to some things over others. Everyone of us has a distinct personality with likes and dislikes and interests. Yet, we are born into environments that model for us what we should pay attention to and how we should invest our time. THESIS: Our environment has a direct impact on what we are raised to pay attention to; at the same time, when we raise our level of self-awareness we have the chance to impact our own habits of attention for the better.
REFUTATIO 2 Culture
Japan example of seeing a picture through relationships vs. things (O’Meara) Aaron’s example of generations living under same roof
Habits start in the family, which is often shaped by society and surrounding culture
PARTITIO
Negative/Positive
Habits of attention get passed around socially, environmentally. Starts in family, leads to culture. This can be good and/or bad: review pros/cons of aforementioned examples. Also, we can use attention to frame things negatively or positively (use Kare Anderson’s pessimist framework). Overall, raise awareness regarding (A) who holds attention, (B) what kind of attention it is, and (C) what you can actively choose to impact it.
CONFIRMATIO 1 (A): Who Holds our Attention Technology
Advertising People
CONF 2 (B): How to Change
Realize the power of Undivided Attention, and Awareness (use Kare Anderson) Seligman’s Decatastrophize, and then use Disputations
CONF 3 (C): Actively Choose
Cultivate a positive mind-set (Achor)
Distance from Temptation to bad habits (Jenny Anderson)
PERORATIO:
New OCU “family” – new one every time there is a show. How do we spend our weekends here? Attention is paid to….and when it is over, there is freedom of attention: perpetual chances to rethink and reset what I want to focus on. For now, it’s bettering myself to get into the next show.
SAMPLE ARRANGEMENT/DRAFT from Peter Pupil –
Opens with a draft of the intro, and then makes a list of further points. Title Material: Discontent with Being Discontent
Exordium/Narratio/Partitio:
From a young age, humans relate the amount of attention they receive— often relative to the amount their siblings receive—to how much their parents love them. This association becomes applicable to other relationships as we develop them. Over time the connection between attention and love grows less overt, and as adults we make the connection unconsciously. Part of being socially competent is relationship management, a skill of the emotionally intelligent. Being cognizant of the relationship between attention and love can help us to avoid emotional pitfalls that have real consequences. Sitting across from one another at the dinner table a spouse might feel dissatisfied with the amount of time their partner is spending tapping at their phone’s screen while insisting they are listening to their partners’ tales of workplace woes. This situation can become an issue when it occurs multiple times a week and isn’t addressed before climbing into bed night after night. One reason why a partner may feel insecure speaking to their significant other about what appears to be a trivial annoyance is that as adults we have been trained to minimize voicing emotional responses that would make us appear “needy”, signaling weakness. The consequences of adhering to this social convention may play out in this fashion: the
dissatisfaction turns into disdain and distress may follow if the offending partner remains
unaware of the source of their spouse’s ire, sparking an argument that on the surface seems to be about some trivial household matter, like buying the wrong laundry detergent, but the tone of which hints at deeper aggravations. Naturally, most of us have been guilty of the same offending behavior, so we may look to critique the response and not the action that caused it. The solution
lies in the deceptively simple action of paying attention. Relationship expert Sloan Sheridan-Williams (qtd. in O’Meara) points to the act of paying attention as vital to the success of
relationships, “Whether you’re in a new relationship or have been together for years, it is vital to the success and happiness of your relationship that your partner feels valued by you and the best way to demonstrate that is by paying attention.” Sloan-Williams points to making your partner feel valued as vital to the success of a relationship, and I would agree that this is best
accomplished by paying attention. Our relationships have changed since we were children, but our emotional needs remain largely the same; by paying attention to our partners we are able to anticipate their needs and wants and allow the relationship to grow. Our growth in love parallels our growth in life.
Learning how to competently navigate first our relationship with our parents, then our romantic partners through the distribution of attention prepares us for strong professional and communal interpersonal relationships. The depth of these relationships can determine our happiness, and in my case, what career I’ve chosen. Although we all assume we would do whatever it takes to be happy, being happy requires us to pay attention to our authentic selves, and that requires taking risks. For me, I am happiest when I am putting my creative attention into a community, working with others.
When we think of love often feelings and memories are conjured of sunny days and warm embraces. Less frequently do we think of the specific ways we give and receive love, and furthermore, how we miss expressions of love. To transform that, 5lovelanguages.com is a site that provides an assessment to guide millions of visitors to their “love language”—one of five modes for receiving love. The idea behind it is that consumers can improve the quality of their relationships by being knowledgeable of the needs entailed by their language of love and their
partners. Though five may be too small a number to encompass all the ways love manifests, these languages are universal expressions of how people give and receive attention. The author of the book The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Commitment to Your Mate and creator of the site, Gary Chapman, observes that the hurt found in unhealthy relationships results in life’s deepest pains, so conversely life’s greatest happiness is found in healthy, happy
relationships. To invest in people—partners, family, and friends, one must examine what kinds of/how much attention you give them. By investing in others to create healthy, happy
relationships you are really investing in yourself.
CONF 1: realize it's okay to have standards/pursue quality relationships
With five ways to start, people show love differently because their authentic selves differ. - I value this diversity, but I also have to balance being around a diversity of people with also "vetting" the quality of those I am closest to.
Only date my friends: trust is hard-earned
CONF 2: idea of better to give than receive, in terms of social attention Taught by my omma
CONF 3: think about how my work reflects my values/community/authenticity Costuming v. Fashion decision
REFUTATIO:
Finding an “other half”: many people compromise parts of who they are to be with someone else, who they think will elevate them...yet ultimately this is based on fear of authentic self's rejection and a lack of focus on self- improvement.