I am a Chinese-American and a native San Franciscan who worked as an electrician (10 years) and an industrial engineer (20 years) for the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy. I retired in 2006. My current hobbies are doing tai chi, Bikram yoga, drawing, participating in Great Books Discussion groups, taking Coursera courses, and re-discovering Woody Allen movies. I would like to take a trip across American like how John Steinbeck described with his dog in his book, Travels with Charlie.

I believe in making this world a better place to live and so I serve my community by reviving the Great Books Discussion Groups movement in San Francisco. This is where groups of people would meet once a month to discover, discuss, and appreciate great works of writing by famous authors. The purpose is to have discussions where people discuss ideas and engage in critical thinking. Since 2009, my friend and I have formed eight groups. We eventually hope to form twenty groups.

Another way that I serve my community is to use my industrial engineering skills to improve the operations of the senior center near my home. The center has over 1,000 members and an overworked and undermanned staff. I have current projects such as designing a lottery system to facilitate the signing up of members for popular events, scheduling guest speakers for the general meetings, and writing policies for ongoing activities such as the operating of the Community Garden.

Here are five examples of how I use social psychology to create a positive social impression of myself: (1) A Thin Slice of Behavior - Whenever I meet new people, I carefully think what to say and then say it with logic, tact, and conviction. That way whenever I say something in the future, people will know it is important and will listen; (2) Attribution Behavior - when I make a proposal at my senior center, I try to appeal to people's sense of values (e.g., being fair and reasonable) so they will vote on it; (3) from Reading 2.1, the author talks about how the Western cultures are individual-oriented while the Eastern cultures are group-oriented. When I am dealing with my Great Books groups (which consist mostly of Caucasians), I will usually talk in terms of the participants' self-interests. However, when I am dealing with the senior center (which consists mostly of Chinese people), I will usually first talk in terms of the center's self-interests and the impact on the staff; (4) The principle that Behavior Comes before Attitude - I try to gain the trust of people by doing positive and beneficial actions before I talk about what kind of attitudes we should have; and (5) from Lecture 2.7, the Science of Persuasion on Reciprocity - I try to give of myself to my Great Books groups and then ask the people for help later.