AP Lang worldly knowledge sheet

Freakonomics By: Steven Levin and Stephen Dubner

KKK was compared to realtors because of their secrets and knowledge only being known to some people, but when their knowledge is open to everyone,e they lose power same with selling houses (tips to sell for more money) Comparing sumo wrestlers and teachers when given the correct opportunity with the correct incentives will cheat and take advantage of the situation.  Compare drug dealers living with their moms to aspiring artists, actors, and athletes. They say that they live these lives with the hope of a good performance. They are at the bottom of a highly competitive hierarchy with a very small chance of striking it rich.

Hillbilly Elegy By: J. D. Vance

Almost failed out of high school and left to go start working a job where he didn’t think he had a future.  Suffered the temptation of addiction due to his surroundings  Observes that white “Hillbilly” Americans have the most pessimistic view of pretty much all other group views and then draws the conclusion that something is wrong with the American system, causing that.

MTV Video Music Awards Speech By: P!NK

She speaks about her daughter having a hard time with her image, thinking that she is presenting too masculine and that makes her ugly subjectively, but as she continues, she shares that we should all have confidence in what we choose to look like because that's our own authentic self

Daughter asked her mom if she was ugly because other kids said she was ugly because of her masculine-presenting looks 

Mom made a PowerPoint presentation saying how that was silly, and everyone is pretty in their own unique self

Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do-By: John Bargh Part 1

• Adaptive unconscious: Our unconscious minds are always looking to notice patterns around us then use those patterns or things we learned to make decisions guiding us as people without us noticing.

• Things we hear or commonly see can influence how we act like when people get older they walk slower 

• Our brain makes decisions before we are fully aware of them so we often notice our quick second choices after they’ve already begun 

• With our social surrounding our environmental expectations, like eating or basic things, can evolve into goals that we don’t even know we had. For example, if your sibling did their homework, your brain might have a big goal to beat them the next day. If that happens, the brain can be upset without you even knowing why, which can cause detrimental outcomes

• Repeated behaviors become automatic so our brain can save energy to focus on new or tricky problems

Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do-By: John Bargh Part 2

Priming is a process where people can be exposed to outside cues and it will affect how they act without them knowing (ex: experiment where someone is exposed to more “eldelry words and they tended to walk more slowly”) shows that what we do is hugely shaped by environment Our goals don’t always need conscious thought to affect us. Sometimes, situations or surroundings trigger goals automatically.. If you are in a place with a lot of teamwork unknowingly 8/10 times you will pick up teamworking traits Social behavior is the copying of one anothers traits over and over again and you can tell a lot about someone depending on how they copy your habits and hand placements. if  you itch your nose frequently and someone notices they will probably scratch their nose too without thinking. it represents an understanding of eachother without a forced mental thought  Unconscious mind makes the decision and the conscious mind explains and justifies it (we think we made a choice on purpose but  truly it was automatic based off of feeling) unconscious mind makes the decision based off of what we have seen in the past and the effects that have happened based off of the related decisions Relying on the unconscious processes of the mind save so much mental energy - habits, routines, and morals are all automatic and makes us “efficent” without knowing our core influences

Driving: It’s Going Out of Style By:Emma Chiu

Obtaining a driver's license, traditionally an American coming-of-age ritual, is declining due to changing teen perspectives and the development of self-driving cars.  The shift towards autonomous vehicles is primarily driven by dramatic safety improvements, changing attitudes among younger generations, coupled with high car ownership costs, and potential efficiency and environmental benefits

Walden-1954 By: E.B. White

White’s summary to Thoreau is that while the tools and speeds have changed, the fundamental human struggle between material accumulation and spiritual simplicity remains as lopsided as ever. White illustrates how modern improvements—like motorized lawnmowers and high-speed travel- often complicate life rather than simplify it, effectively mastering the humans they were meant to serve. The Increasing Pertinence of Simplicity, He argues that Thoreau’s experiment in minimal living becomes more relevant every year; as society accumulates more material goods without increasing well-being, the appeal of an existence without "material adornment" grows.

Second Inaugural Address By: Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (1865) called for national unity and healing at the Civil War's end, urging reconciliation over retribution  and acknowledging shared blame for the war's cause (slavery), and viewing the conflict as divine punishment, setting a tone for merciful Reconstruction and binding the nation's wounds

The primary goal was to begin healing a divided nation, focusing on forgiveness and a shared future rather than celebrating Northern victory.   He used biblical allusions to suggest the war was God's punishment for the nation's complicity in slavery, as described in the Book of Genesis.