In the novel, Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence (by Rick Hanson).

Part 1: Summary 

In this section, please summarize the book's key claims in your words, including the overall arguments and evidence for these claims. You do not need to worry about minor details here; the goal is to give the reader a “birds-eye-view” of the book by highlighting its core ideas and arguments.

Part 2: Connections

In this section, you need to identify two different concepts or research findings that are in some way related to the book. For each connection that you identify, you are asked to: (1) clearly summarize – in your own words – the relevant concept or research finding; and (2) elaborate on how that concept or research finding is connected or applies to the book, and specifically, how it has informed your understanding of the book.

 

Some concepts are:

Four Psychological Barriers to Happiness;
1) The hedonic treadmill: Does pleasure keep its promise?
2) Negative emotions: Good reasons for bad feelings?
3) Affective asymmetry: Is bad stronger than good?
4) Modern environments: Are we throwing fuel on the fire?

 

The pursuit of happiness: Paradoxes and Puzzles;
1) Uncertainty and adaptation
2) Satisficing versus maximizing
3) Valuing happiness

 

Four Key Types of Questions;
1) Conceptual questions
2) Methodological questions
3) Epistemic questions
4) Philosophical questions

As just one example, if you feel that the concept of the hedonic treadmill is relevant to the book, you can focus on that as one of your two connections. In that case, you would: (1) summarize clearly what the hedonic treadmill is by describing the concept and any relevant supporting details (e.g., concrete examples of the hedonic treadmill and supporting evidence); and (2) elaborate on how the notion of the hedonic treadmill relates to the points expressed in the book. For instance, does the book discuss whether people return to a baseline state of happiness after positive or negative life events?


Part 3: Critique

In the next part, you are asked to offer an independent critique and evaluation of the main points within the book. Your critique should focus on at least two of these questions:

 

(1) Do you find the book’s core arguments and ideas convincing or not, and why?

(2) Does the book ignore or overlook important ideas that should be considered?

(3) If you could make changes to the book, what would you edit and revise, and why?

(4) Do you think the book can guide future research in happiness and meaning, and if so, how?

For this assignment, you will:

• Read the passage (below) from your textbook.

• Think about the main ideas contained in the passage.

• Make a list of four (4) main ideas contained in the passage.

• In your own words, summarize the main ideas in paragraph form with a minimum of four (4) complete sentences.

Textbook Passage:

“...how much of our behavior is a consequence of our unique and special qualities, the individual differences that differentiate us from other people? Conversely, how much reflects the culture and society in which we live, stemming from universal principles that underlie the behavior of all humans? Psychologists who rely on the neuroscience perspective tend to look for universal principles of behavior, such as how the nervous system operates or the way certain hormones automatically prime us for sexual activity. Such psychologists concentrate on the similarities in our behavioral destinies despite vast differences in our upbringing. In contrast, psychologists who employ the humanistic perspective focus more on the uniqueness of every individual. They consider every person’s behavior a reflection of distinct and special individual qualities.”

Procedural details:

1. The continuous EEG of thirteen unique participants were recorded over 12 experimental sessions. One participant took part twice. All participants natively spoke a language that made the [tha] versus [da] distinction.
2. Stimuli were natural productions of [tha] and [da]. Stimuli were produced by a native female speaker of North American English.
3. There was only one experimental block. The aspirated [tha] was the repeated standard and unaspirated [da] was the infrequent deviant.
4. Data from Fp1, Fp2, Cz and Fz were recorded.
5. Two mastoid channels were recorded and linked in post-processing to create an average mastoid reference.
6. The participants heard 60 repetitions of the deviant [da] and approximately 420 repetitions of the standard [tha]. This was a ratio of approximately seven standards for every deviant that was presented to the participant.
7. Offline, the data was epoched, with 100 ms before the presentation of the stimulus and 800 ms after the presentation of the stimulus.

Questions:

1. Consult EEG and speech processing. What kind of experimental design is this? How do you know? 
2. Given the Procedural details above and course content, provide specific predictions for what you expect? Assume that the participants can contrast [tha] and [da].
1. Do you predict there to be differences? 
2. If so, at what time points? 
3. Which response do you anticipate to be more negative? 
4. What is the unit of Time measurement on the x-axis in a plot based on the experiment?
3. Now imagine that the participants were speakers of a language that did not contrast [tha] and [da], e.g., Spanish or Russian. State explicitly your predictions along the same lines as the answer to Question 2. 
4. According to the experiment/procedures, which predictions are met? Be specific. Make particular reference to the imaginary plot and identify any parts of the ERP responses that might be different between the two conditions.

1. Is this in the time window that you expect?  
2. Is it in the appropriate direction? That is, is the response that is expected to be more positive, indeed more positive and the response that is expected to be more negative, indeed more negative? Also, did you expect to observe a more pronounced peak to the standard or to the deviant? 

1. 1. Can you conclude that the particular design is tapping into phonetic or phonological representations? Make specific reference to the potential levels of sound representations (e.g., acoustic, phonetic, phonological). Explain why you can or cannot conclude that this design taps into a specific level of representation.  

Use references: 

1. Kazanina, N., Phillips, C., & Idsardi, W. (2006). The influence of meaning on the perception of speech sounds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(30), 11381-11386.
2. Phillips, et al. (2000). Auditory cortex accesses phonological categories: an MEG mismatch study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 12(6), 1038-1055.

The question sounds pessimistic but it is significant which needs to be answered if really we are to meet the President’s goal of working to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa. Many things suggest a step forward and many steps backwards in our bid to become the cleanest city.

Perhaps, the biggest of the factors inhibiting our ability to make the city of Accra clean is the political will of governments in power over the period.

From the era of Kofi Portuphy (1991-1992), those of Ishmael Ayeetey (1992-1993), Nat Nunoo Amarteifio (1994-1998) and Samuel Adokwei Addo (1998-2001),      , has seen the MCEs cocooned into their offices in order not to court the anger of their ‘seniors’, in whose hands their destiny of continuing in office is assured or otherwise.

We have not forgotten so soon the vibrancy with which Metropolitan Chief Executives such as Solomon Ofei Darko (2001-2003) and Stanley Nii Adjiri Blankson (2003-2009) started but the coldness set in no time.

Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije (2009-2017) continued. We saw him on foot with his lieutenants at Kaneshie, Mallam, and the central business district especially after floods, with determination to do away with the filth to end once and for all the resultant effects of the filth in the city. But Oko chickened out later. Some elements in his party had criticised him in public that as they struggled to fill the barrel with water he was busily emptying it with his actions. Would he have had the courage or stubbornness to continue? We mustn’t forget that his political fortunes were tied to how other actors, especially in political circles, scored him.

What also didn’t Mohammed Adjei Sowah (2017-2021) do to ensure discipline and a clean city? Other decongestion exercises were done. War was waged on indiscipline and lawlessness especially the wrongful parking of vehicles and hawking in the major streets. It was his time the President declared the government’s determination to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa.

Henry Quartey

Even with the highest influence and support for him, Adjei Sowah chickened out in the end. It only took the new Regional Minister, Henry Quartey, to start cracking the whip on the lawlessness.

He literally and virtually took over the task from Adjei Sowah. A lot of successes have been achieved since. The age-old problem of the onion market has been relocated to Adjen Kotoku. A big task whose success had eluded the city and the country in general over the years had finally been chalked up. The electronic waste collectors have been dislodged from the banks of the Odaw River and the place fenced.

Worry

But a worry has sprung up. The citizenry do not see any progress beyond the relocations and the erection of th   e wall. Were we interested in just clearing the area of the people without having any immediate plans for the space? The vim with which the regional minister started is by all indications also dying down.

Ready for clean city?

Are we ready to make Accra the cleanest city? This is the biggest question agitating the minds of many. The seeming pessimism from some of the people is justified.

Many actions have been taken over the years. But it is like the profound statement from the legend reggae superstar, Robert Nesta Marley, “One step forward two steps backwards.”

Has the regional minister relaxed waiting for the new MCE, Elizabeth Naa Kwatsoe Tawiah Sackey, to continue from where he has left off? Will Elizabeth Sackey’s tenure provide and produce the vibrancy, boisterousness and tact needed to rid the city of filth to meet the President’s ambition of Accra, the cleanest city in Africa?

Work to do

The solution lies in looking at what we have done to make the stretch between Kotoka Airport and Kempinski/Movenpick clean; then replicate it. We need to create a framework for people to work with; otherwise it will be a losing battle.

Let’s start by giving traders somewhere decent to trade from; then ban trading in places we don’t want trading to occur. Let us start by giving people places to throw their filth; then impose and rigorously enforce penalties for littering.

We have demonstrated that we can do it, because there are a few parts of Accra that are very clean. We just need to learn from our successes and rigorously apply them across the board as they do here - there is no other way out.

You are required to:

1. Summarise your above passage in 120 words 
2. Write summarized Argument in the standard form 
3. Insert any assumption you identify and include them in your standard form 
4. Evaluate your argument using the ARG conditions and determine if the argument is cogent or not