LAVC Psy 60 Discussion 2 – Emotional and Intellectual Basis of Stress, Should, ought, must, & negative and irrational beliefs







During discussions, it is easy to pose a fallacious argument without realizing. When we use words such as ought, shall and must we suggest that, what we think will occur. Thus in an argument such as this: Since the amalgamation of the United States of America, all the presidents have been male hence in the future USA elections the president-elect ought to be men. We already assume the sex of the next American president even before the elections are held. Though the supporting statements are true, however, the conclusion is not. The word ought to have been replaced with most likely when expressing such an opinion.

An irrational belief can create a lot of stress as seen. Tupac Shakur was a gangster. Tupac was a rapper. Hence, all rappers are gangster. The belief was rational because it depicted the behavior of all rappers based on the character of one individual. It is a fact that not all rappers are gangsters; just the same way, not all white Americans are wealthy. It may be true that some rappers are gangsters, but this does not make them all gangsters. This argument is fallacious. It elicited a negative reaction from people, who though they agreed with the first two statements; they thought the conclusion was too general. A more positive approach would be to be either very specific in the argument or to generalize the conclusion in such a way that it is not fallacious. Thus, in the above case the argument should have been concluded by either of these statements: hence, most rappers are likely to be gangsters or Tupac came from a neighborhood with a lot of gangs. Everyone in the neighborhood was a gangster hence Tupac was a gangster.


Blonna, R. (2006) Coping with stress in a changing world, McGraw-Hill Humanities/ social Sciences/ L
























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