critical response

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Critical responseChapter 3 Beyond Rivalry By Elizabeth Stark Psychology today

The article named: Beyond Rivalry is the first article that make strong impression on

me. I totally agree with all ideas the author mentioned. It cannot deny that siblings play

an important part of each person’s life. People may be busy with their social

connections, but in the end, the relationship that last forever is with their brothers and

sisters. Some “critical events” in their life can bring them back and make them closer,

but some will tear them apart; they may even consider each other enemies, but it is

very hard to end this relationship. Most of the time, when parents are sick or die,

children will be together to take care of their parents or share the pain of losing their

beloved people which will shorten their distance and make them closer than ever.

However, “inheritance disputes” may create a huge distance among them and destroy

their relationship. When they get older; they become closer and spend much time

together. They worry about their siblings’ health problem, regard their siblings as

supporters and need their brothers and sisters to recall old memories. They may live far

or near, but they still think about each other as the solace. However, when they have

problems some of them don’t ask each other for help because their siblings are in the

same situations, or they’ll look for their siblings when no one else can help them, or


they hate the feeling of being a failure. In conclusion, whatever happens, nothing can

change the truth that they are siblings and they need each other.

Word count: 262

Middle children and their position in the family. by Dr. Kevin Leman (Excerpt from living in a step-family without getting stepped on)

Along with the first article about sibling in Chapter 3, article named middle children

and their position in the family is also an interesting article about middle children who

seem not to have a special place in family. In my point of view, before becoming

middle children, those ones used to be the last. Therefore, they used to be indulgent.

When parents give birth to other siblings and don’t take much time for them like

before, they may feel self-pity, which create the distance between them and other

family members. They tend to take fewer pictures with their family, have many

relationships outside the home than the first and the last, live faraway from home and

tend to be a “mediator or negotiator” to connect two other siblings in family. Although

the author just gives his conclusions after polling and observing, they are very

convinced.

Word count: 145


Chapter 4 Who lives longer? by Patricia Skalka McCall’sHow can we extend our life expectancy? This is the question that everyone wants to

know the answer. Capturing this psychology, Patricia Skalka wrote an article named

“who lives longer?” with the aim of revealing some simple ways to extend life

expectancy. First, he mentioned two categories affecting to the length of life: fixed

factors and changeable factors. Fixed factors which are available when we were born

like race, gender and heredity tend not to be changed. Meanwhile, Changeable factors

are easily impacted and interfered by our daily habits and lifestyle. Therefore, by

changing our lifestyle and habits, we can lengthen our life span. In the article, the

author mentions 7 different aspects people should notice such as “health measures”,

“psychological factors”, “social integration”, “the feeling of autonomy”, “stress and job

satisfaction”, “environment” and “socioeconomic status”. All statements are very

convincing, because after giving each factor, the writer cites researches related to this

state to enhance the reliability. For example, when mentioning “cutting calories”, the

author cites in detail that “experiments have shown that in laboratory animals, a 40%

calorie reduction leads to a 50% extension in longevity”. In addition, at the end of the

writing the author one again emphasizes the message from the expert “many of the

factors related to longevity are also relate to life satisfaction”.


Word count: 158

More senior Citizens, fewer kids By Jessie Cheng Free China ReviewTo begin the article, the author point out the reality of graying population in Taiwan by

giving the conclusion of Chen Kuanjeng “thirty years from now, it will be rare to see

children along the streets of Taiwan” and to cement and make clear this statement, he

gives many proves and numbers. At first, she lists two main problems Taiwan is facing

are the “declining of birthrate” and “growing proportion of elderly people”. Then, she

shows how they affect to Taiwan in the future and points out what potential problems

this population shift might create. Finally, she gives reasons why the birthrate

decreases. Actually, the author is very clever when putting the cause of the decrease of

birthrate at the end of her article to convince that the policies in population control “has

gone too far” and need to be changed.

Word count: 141

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