Free Writing

            The topic of my research paper is the psychology behind buyers of the lottery. More specifically, it will focus on the mindsets of winners and losers, as well as the common types of buyers. This will include social and economic classes, and the behaviors of participants in the lottery system.

            There are several sources I have already acquired for my research project. This includes the encyclopedia description of what a lottery is. This may be helpful in the introduction of my paper who are unfamiliar, or who may not quite understand much about the lottery. There are also two articles, which describe the demographics of common lottery ticket buyers, and the altered mindsets of lottery winners. Both of these articles will be helpful in describing social classes and behaviors of participants. I also included a documentary called the “Curse of the Lottery,” which while not supported by a scientific sponsor, does have many interesting true life examples of lottery winners, which could be useful. Lastly, I found a report from the Psychology department of Nottingham Trent University, which researches the idea that lottery tickets are a “gateway to gambling.” It also identifies and describes the mindsets of different types of gamblers. This would be used in my paper as a description of the behaviors of winners and losers of the lottery system. For more sources, I will probably need more articles and scientific documentaries that focus on the behaviors of lottery ticket buyers.

            Some problems or obstacles I will probably encounter will be creating a narrow enough topic that I can form a true thesis, as well as a struggle to find pertinent sources. Since it is an unusual topic, I will need to search very carefully for sources, as well as potentially find seemingly unrelated sources I can use to prove my thesis, whatever it may be.

Research Paper Sources

Psychology of the Lottery Sources:

1.   http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/348555/lottery
I chose this source because it gives a good overview of what a lottery is, for those who may be unfamiliar. The encyclopedia article goes over how the lottery system works, as well as the history of the lottery system.

2.   http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0889149/
I chose this source because it is a video source, which I thought would be interesting. It gives a lot of personal experiences of the negative side effects of the lottery.

3. http://www.science20.com/news_releases/psychology_of_poverty_why_poor_people_buy_lottery_tickets

This source talks about why poor people specifically seem to buy more lottery tickets than other social groups. This specifically relates to the aspect of my research topic that has to do with the rise of people buying lottery tickets during an economic downturn.

4.   http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/broken-hearts/200908/winning-the-lottery-instant-millionaire-or-instant-griever
I chose this article because it explores the negative effects winning the lottery could have on a winner. Apparently there are many psychological effects that come from winning the lottery, which could be because even though so many people spend money on lottery tickets, they never actually expect to win.

5.   https://www.european-lotteries.org/data/info_130/Wood.pdf
This article explores if the lottery is “gateway gambling.” It explores different kinds of gamblers, and the mindsets of each.

Research Paper Topics

1. How media effects self-image
2. Psychology behind the Lottery-- during economic downturn

Visual Argument Assignment

Dawn predominately uses an ethical argument as it's advertising strategy.

Possible Images for Visual Rhetoric Assignment

 

September 5, 2011

 In Susan Orbach’s article, Fat is an Advertising Issue, she addresses the now well-known negative effects of beauty advertisements, especially towards women. In today’s media-drenched society, women are bombarded by an estimated 5,000 advertisements a day. As a woman who has grown up in this generation of constant propaganda, I can appreciate both the pros and cons of advertisements on females.

Advertising can both have negative and positive effects on their audience. Though most advertisers either do not realize, or do not care, about the negative effects their advertisements can have on a person, ads with women like Twiggy as their model send a clear message to the viewers: you must look like this to be beautiful. The correlation between eating disorders in adolescents and the amount of images like those of Twiggy they see is clear. This is obviously a negative aspect of some advertisements.

Obviously, not all advertisers use waif models to sell their product. They do not believe that presenting their product in such a way is an effective tool of advertisement. It is because of these advertisers we have adds like those for UnderArmour, which presents women who are still thin, but look healthy and active. I personally see nothing wrong with advertising that may make some women feel inadequate, but is meant to promote healthy living. If feeling inadequate is what it takes to make overweight Americans live a healthy lifestyle, then the negative feelings the advertisements can cause can have a positive effect of on society.

In general, I do think that Susie Orbach makes several valid points in her article, Fat is an Advertising Issue. However, I believe she over generalizes the advertising world and lumps all advertisements together in a way that is simply not true. Though Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign is an admirable improvement, the idea of advertising all body types should do just that; advertise all body types. Not just the beautiful, overweight women, but the healthy thin women and the naturally waifish women as well.