Note taking Content Analysis

My research study is completely based on secondary resources because I have used various books and case laws to support the argument and they are a rich source of citation in legal projects. 1) Library Research a) Analysis of Historical records b) Analysis of documents c) Reference and Abstract Guides d) Note taking Content Analysis 2) Researching through the Internet E-article B) Relevance Of The Topic / Scope And Purpose The project aims to give a brief overview of the corruption and bribery practices undertaken by the public servants and the Indian laws dealing with the problem. The main law, I. . The Prevention of Corruption Act 1988, is discussed in brief and the provisions pertaining to seizure of ill-gotten wealth and asset reinstatement have also been discussed. The problems and challenges faced by the country in fighting these challenges have also been highlighted. C) Research Questions: 0 What is meant by the term economic offences? 0 What are the various types of economic offences? 0 What is the need of having Economic Offences Wing in India? 0 Sectors most vulnerable to corruption and bribery practices 0 What exactly leads to corruption and bribery practices, undertaken by people? What are the various causes of corruption? D) Limitation of the Research: The research study carries with itself a few limitations, like, as it's restricted to the secondary research so, the quality of research is affected as the origins of the information maybe questionable. Secondary research never meets the specific needs of researcher because all those information, data, statistics have already been generated. Hence, I would suggest further researchers to critically evaluate and validate the reliability and credibility of the information gathered. CHAPTER II – INTRODUCTIONThe high potential of the domestic market which is driven by Indian's emerging middle class, cost competitiveness and its large talent pool continue to make our country one of the most preferre d destination for investors and businessmen. Despite the such as the United States, India remained stable. In fact, it registered growth in the foreign direct investment (FED)I . It garnered more than 110 % in the areas of telecommunication and chemicals, with a percentage of 103 and 227 respectively. L Now the question that arises is that, in spite of India being economically sound why re we still in a state of poverty?Why majority of our population still dowels in slum area? Why each day lots of children die out of hunger/ starvation? The most probable answer to these questions are the rooted instances of corruption and bribery in our system. The schemes/policies which are announced by the government each year in order to benefit the unprivileged are not being availed by them since there are certain loopholes in the system and the people who are not entitled to them take undue advantage and enjoy them. Corruption real or perceived is having a detrimental effect on our economy.On o ne and it is forcing investors to rethink about their investment in India and on the other hand, it is distorting the function of free and fair market and creating a state of unfair competition. ORIGIN/ HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: The instances of corruption and bribery form a part of our system from a long time. Take for an instances that an early stage of world war II, the Government of India realized that the vast increase in expenditure for war efforts had provided opportunities to both government officials and non-officials, for 1 www. Antistatic. Com indulging in bribery and corruption at the cost of public and the government. It was felt that the police and other law enforcement agencies under the state government were not in a situation to cope up with the situation. An executive order was therefore passed by the Government of India in 1941, setting up the Special police establishment under a DIG in then department of war with mandate to investigate cases of bribery and corrupti on in transaction with which war and supply department of the Government of India was concerned.Corruption has been blamed for the failures of certain developing countries to develop, and recent empirical research confirms a link between higher perceived corruption and lower investment and growth. What is Corruption? Corruption is a result of weak state management and exists when individuals or organizations have monopoly power over a good or service, discretion over making decisions, limited or no accountability, and low level of income.The frequently cited World Bank definition of corruption is the abuse of public office for private gain (World Bank 1997). Corruption not only affects broad macroeconomic variables, such as growth, and investment, but also income distribution. It has been further explained by United Nation Development Program (1997) that corruption increases poverty by creating incentives for higher investment in capital-intensive projects and lower investment in el aborateness's projects. Thus corruption causes poverty and income inequality.WHAT IS BRIBERY? Bribery is an act of giving money or gift that alters the behavior of the recipient, where the gift is of a dishonest nature. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black law dictionary, as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legal duty. Offering a discount or a full or partial refund to all purchasers of the same kind, quality and quantity of product or service, is a legal rebate, and is not bribery.For example, it is legal for a 7 employee of a Public Utilities Commission involved in electric rate regulation to accept a rebate on electric service that reduces their cost for electricity, when the rebate is available to other residential electric customers. If the rebate was done to influence them to look favorably on the electric utility's rate increase applications, howe ver, that would be bribery, and unlawful. Now both corruption and bribery form a part of economic offences. Since they have decision of potential investors but they hamper the growth of free and fair market practices.Special Acts notified under section 3 of DOSE Act mainly pertaining to serious frauds in Banks, Stock Exchanges, Financial institutions, Joint Stock Companies, Public Limited Companies, misappropriation of public funds, criminal breach of trust, violation of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, Customs Act, IMMIX Laws, counterfeiting of currency, narcotics, drug trafficking, arms peddling and offences related to antiquities, adulteration, black marketing etc. Www. Sibylline. Com 8 However after the Securities and Stock Exchange scam of 1992, a need was felt for strengthening and expanding the Economic Offences Wing of CB.The reorganization of the OWE was sanctioned by the Government of India vide DIP&T Letter No. 201123/92-AVID-II, dated July 22, 1994 and September 22, 1994 and a full-fledged Economic Offences Division came into existence , vide Order No. 4. 6/86-OLD, dated November 26, 1994. WORKING OF THE ECONOMIC OFFENCE WING:4 The Economic Offences Division is headed by a Special Director/Additional Director and it consists of four Zones. Each Zone is headed by a Joint Director. Every Zone has two or three Regions each headed by a DIG. Each Region comprises of two or three Branches headed by Superintendents of Police.Out of the four Zones of Economic Offence Division, one of the Zones deals exclusively with large and complicated security and bank frauds. This zone is also known as Banking Securities Fraud Cell (BASS). The other three Zones take up the investigation (of various types of Economic Offences, in general. The Court trials of the cases charge sheeted by the various OWE Branches are also conducted by the respective Branches. The economic offences taken up for investigation by Branches are usually cases of complicated and intricate nature in which PC offences, as also offences under arioso Central Acts are alleged to have been committed.The investigations usually involve collection and scrutiny of voluminous documents from banks as also from various Central/State Government departments. Many a time, investigation is www. CB. Nice. In/about/about. PH 9 Various type of economic offences Bank fraud Insider trading Money laundering Walla Betting and match fixing BANK FRAUD: bank fraud is the use of illegal means to secure money, assets or other property owned or held by a financial institute or to obtain money from depositors by redundantly posing as a bank or some other financial institute.People who are willing to deceive other people and obtain their money or assets through illegal means may set up companies or create websites with names that might sound similar to the existing banks, or even assume titles conferring notability to themselves for plausibility, then flee with the deposited funds. INSIDER TRADING : insid er trading is a trading of a company's shares or other securities by directors, employees, executives or other authorities of a company that have to access the material, non-public information of the company.Whereby ‘Material information' means any information that can cause a change in the stock prices. Not only does illegal insider trading give an unfair advantage to those who resort to it, but also leads to a loss for the masses, and enormous gains for a few. This makes investors refrain from investing in the capital market as they lose their faith in the system. Also since the investors are the lifeline of these companies, since they provide capital to facilitate liquidity, the economy is affected as a whole.Insider trading exists in India due to multiple reasons such as shortage of investigative powers and tools of SIB, as they cannot use wire tapes, and merely search phone records. Also, eighteen the overburdened Indian courts lead to delays in cases or the punishment is too light even if one is found guilty. 10 obtained money, typically by the means of transfers involving foreign bank or legitimate businesses. It is the process by which large amount of illegally obtained money is given the appearance of having originated from a legitimate source. WALLA: one of the most practiced illegal activity is Walla.It is a transfer of money without physical movement of money. Walla is an Arabic word which means ‘Transfer'. This process is most prominent in South Asia. It completely takes place on honor system and no promissory instrument is involved. Usually the Walla Walla charge a commission of 0. 5 % – 1% for domestic transfer but when the transfer is international along with the commission they also earn profit by bypassing the currency exchange rates. 5 SPOT FIXING: It refers to an illegal activity in a sport where a specific part of a game is fixed.

Customers’ culture Essay

Once, one of our teachers told us that in order to ensure the success of our business, we must associate our potential products with the culture of our target market. It is in fact better if we are able to make our products become part of the customers’ culture itself. This is because doing so may not only translate to higher sales upon our entry to the market but, also, to a good amount of loyal customers. The more you position a product as if it is part of the customers’ daily lives, the more they would use it, the more they would demand for it. This may be great news for the entrepreneurs out there but is it also great news for the market that they are trying to penetrate? Coca-cola is one of the companies that I admire in terms of their marketing strategies. In my opinion, they are one of the companies that best produce advertisements and promos that fit consumer interests. I am often amazed how they manage to tweak various situations and events and put Coke in the picture to become part of our lives. I commend them for being so effective in making us feel what they want us to feel. On the contrary, I dislike them for being able to do so. Coca-cola’s ability to effectively deliver messages through certain media also gives them the power to influence numerous people just in a few moments. That saying, it would only take Coca-cola or any other firm a few moments to change a part of our lives somehow the way they want to without us knowing. The 1950s commercial of the company in the Philippines clearly showed us various things about the country, the Filipinos, our culture, and how their product became part of us. It was reflected in the advertisement how the entry of foreign entities gradually changed our way of doing things. We became more civil in the eyes of the foreigners; however, we’ve became rude for forgetting a part of our culture. From having get together of villagers that is full of dances and accompanied by food and drinks to backyard gatherings wherein people just sit, talk and eat sandwiches and juices. From enjoying native Filipino sports such as Sepak Takraw to becoming a lover of western sports. Slowly we are embracing the culture that wasn’t ours but was just merely injected by the foreign entities that came to our country. A perfect depiction of this scenario was a painting done by Antipas Delotavo entitled â€Å"Ang Itak sa Puso ni Mang  Juan†. In his painting, a Filipino old m an can be seen standing, with his shoulders dropped, head slightly bowed down, and face looking sad. His posture and gesture resembles that of a man who has just surrendered and no longer has the power to continue the fight. On the background, the famous logo of Coca-cola can be seen. It was the tail of the company’s letter â€Å"C†, however, that made the painting more interesting. The tail of the letter â€Å"C† was shaped like that of a dagger and was pointed to the heart of the old man. The Coca-cola background shows how the Western companies have dominated us in a way that we are unaware of. They have become bigger and managed to penetrate our land and countrymen without us noticing it immediately. They showed us how better off we are and will be with them operating in our lands as they said in the commercial. The only difference now is that these foreign entities were able to restructure their strategies and sugar coated their way to us. The coming in of these foreign firms and other entities is like a dagger to us, our culture, and our country because although we could say that we are improving economically speaking; we are placed in a situation that endangers our identity as a Filipino citizen. Unfortunately, we are almost giving up.

Martin Luther King College Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Martin Luther King College - Essay Example stood by the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Much to the knowledge of everyone, he delivered what is regarded as one of the greatest speeches in American history. King himself seemed to sense the historic importance of the moment as he opened his "I Have a Dream" speech by calling the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom "the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation." The landmark protest, which drew more than 200,000 people, announced a turning point in the civil rights movement and set the stage for the movement's two most important legislative achievements, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Microsoft Encarta 2005). It is interesting to speculate on what the course of American history might have been, if Martin Luther King, Jr. had not gone to Montgomery, Alabama in 1954. But he did go, and the America he had grown up in was forever changed. The historic bus boycott that began there in late 1955 brought him national recognition and triggered a decade of direct-action protest that permanently altered the status of black Americans. Andrew Young once said that Rosa Parks thrust greatness upon King. Rosa Parks is a leading member of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), who was famous for her refusal to give her bus seat to a white man. Certainly she shaped the setting in which he emerged as a national figure and challenged him to translate his theory of nonviolence into practice. King had no intention of initiating a major campaign in Montgomery, but Mrs. Parks' refusal to yield her bus seat to a white man on December 1, 1955 forced the first s erious test of King's willingness to undergo personal sacrifice for the sake of Negro freedom. She has never claimed much credit for what happened in Montgomery, but Rosa Parks' action was a catalyst in King's rise to prominence and the emergence of the southern civil rights movement that dominated American social history for a decade (SCLC/NH, National Conventions, 1980). Local leaders of the NAACP, especially Edgar D. Nixon, recognized that the arrest of the popular and highly respected Parks was the event that could rally local blacks to a bus protest. Nixonalsobelievedthat a citywide protest should be led by someone who could unify the community. Unlike Nixon and other leaders in Montgomery's black community, the recently arrived King had no enemies. Furthermore, Nixon saw King's public-speaking gifts as great assets in the battle for black civil rights in Montgomery. King was soon chosen as president of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), the organization that directed the bus boycott. By the time the Supreme Court upheld the lower court decision in November 1956, King prominence elevated him to become leading black national figure. His memoir of the bus boycott, Stride Toward Freedom (1958), provided a thoughtful account of that experience and further extended King's national influence. Another important contribution of King is the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an organization of black churches and ministers that aimed to challenge racial segregation. As SCLC's president, King became the organization's dominant personality and its primary intellectual

'The Pleasure of Architecture' Bernard Tschumi Essay

'The Pleasure of Architecture' Bernard Tschumi - Essay Example Predicting Reactions to Architecture There are specific expectations which are associated with architecture and which build an understanding of what will be accepted or rejected. This begins with the ideology of social and cultural acceptance of what is pleasurable and what is rejected within a given society. When looking at Tschumi’s response to architecture, it can be found that he believes there is always an undertone to architecture. In the past, this was based on the concepts of morality and the aesthetics of a design, specific to geometries, use of space and other ideologies of the use of materials for a building (Tschumi, 1977: 214). The same concepts are used for today, specifically with the definition of aesthetic pleasure which is termed by society, culture and the other buildings that have been used within society. Creating a specific atmosphere which is set with the normal ideologies within a society then helps to create a sense of prediction if the architecture is recreated with these elements in mind first (Tschumi, 1977: 214). ... This is placed emotionally and cognitively by an individual and the way in which they feel when surrounded in a specific environment. If one uses the space in a way which is considered as acceptable in society, while triggering beliefs, then it will help with the acceptance of the architecture. For instance, if a space uses greenery, flowers and statues around a building, then it may signify peace and tranquility. This automatically allows the architectural space to become acceptable and to have a positive response from any given culture (Brown, Gifford, 2001: 93). Identifying Pleasure The context which is used in architectural space which is known to create a specific reaction is determined by specific definitions of pleasure. The first of these is with the pleasure of space. When building or landscaping, there is a specific amount of space which can be used in between the main construction. Balancing this automatically creates a specific response, specifically with using the symmet ry in a way which is pleasing to the eye. This is followed by the pleasure of geometry and order. As one categorizes and defines the order of architecture, there is the ability to alter the pleasure of a room because it creates a cognitive and emotional response as a part of the room. The values of this are furthered by creating practical spaces, not only for enjoyment, but also for social acceptance of what a specific space is used for. If one wants acceptance with architecture, then the space has to create a sense of pleasure with these three aspects to build a social and cultural relationship to the building (Tschumi, 1977: 216). The different concepts which relate to architecture

Rogue Waves Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Rogue Waves - Essay Example However, author critiques this factor as "rather unrealistic". Second factor is temporal-spatial focusing which is the result of applying dispersion to a wave group with chirped spatial distribution of frequencies. Author notes that this mechanism can work for the "forced" wavetrains only which can not develop spontaneously. Finally, third factor is nonlinear focusing which produces solitons and so-called breathers as model representations of rogue waves. About real mechanisms of the rogue waves forming in the open ocean, author concludes that 'nobody knows the answer to these questions yet.' My Comments: This paper shows that there are some fields for researches with no direct and clear answers. Real mechanism of the rogue waves forming in the open ocean is yet unknown. Existing mathematical models for explanation of these phenomena are refined but not realistic. Indeed, considered mechanisms for the wave energy focusing are operable only for narrow sets of cases or for unnatural conditions. Details of mathematical notations (especially in Appendix) were not clear for me. Article Summary: This is short but comprehensive introduction to the freak/rogue waves phenomenon. It contains well adjusted set of facts and ideas about rogue waves, namely: informal definition, brief history of observations with examples, discussion about causes of its origin, typical values of the break forces, sea conditions that may create (or accompany) freak waves, etc. There are no formulae at all. This article serves as global pattern for the rogue waves problem whereas numerous articles concentrate upon mathematical details and minor features of this phenomenon. My Comments: As for me, this is one of the best articles about rogue waves. Some facts are just amazing. For example, cases from the article show that freak waves greater than 25 meters in height are real and much more common than expected. Obviously, this phenomenon is far beyond so-called linear model. Than, actual causes and mechanisms of rogue waves are unknown (cf. previous article). Here, unpredictable freak waves are real miracles of the Nature, not mirages. It is important to distinguish freak waves and tsunamis. Then, article contains tremendous facts about the force of a breaking freak wave. It is about 100 MT/m2 for a 12-meter rogue wave which is much more than for wave in linear model. Article reading was easy and fascinating. Article is highly recommended for any scholar at the beginning stage of studying this phenomenon. Source: Proceedings of Rogue Waves 2004 Conference, Brest, France - October 2004. Off the Internet at: http://www.ifremer.fr/web-com/stw2004/rw/fullpapers/haver.pdf Article Name: Freak waves: a suggested definition and possible consequences for marine structures.

Jazz project 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Jazz project 2 - Essay Example Blues songs are not only written about the trials faced during the slave days, these songs are also written about the many trials that blacks have faced over time. After the slaves were freed, the black community had new challenges. While they were excited about being free and in charge of their own lives, there were still a number of obstacles that kept them from being equal to their white counterparts. Because of their inequality, the black community suffered significantly. For instance, the only jobs that were offered to black men were the jobs that their white counterparts were not interested in doing. These jobs usually consisted of back-breaking labor under harsh conditions. Some of the remedial tasks that blacks were forced to perform in order to make a living were working on farms or in the fields or the position of traveling minstrel (University of Scranton). Concerning the conditions under which the blacks were forced to work, one article titled â€Å"Life after the Thirteenth Amendment† states that though blacks were free from slavery; their jobs were similar to what they had to do while they were slaved. Laws were passed to keep blacks in poverty, such as prohibiting them from owning land, imposing stiff fines if they were not working (It was tough to find a suitable job due to severe racial discrimination and lack of work for blacks that did not cause them to take up positions of servitude.), and they could be sold into what was called virtual slavery if they were unable to pay the fines imposed upon them. What’s more, black children could be forced to work as apprentices (Thomas). It would be a very long time before blacks had the true equality that they deserved. Along with the inequality that the black community has suffered, they dealt with a number of other troubles. Blues songs were composed to help them cope with such troubles, as well as being a way to vent out their frustrations. Blues’ songs were sung about the themes that

Demand and Supply & Perfect Competition Assignment

Demand and Supply & Perfect Competition - Assignment Example The food vending business in Amsterdam is on the rise and is an example of a perfect competitive industry. Several food vendors are under the same roof selling a variety of products ranging from Mumbai street food to hot dogs that are sold in pretzel buns. The idea of the owner of the food vending stalls was to involve original ideas of Amsterdam locals without including common franchisers such as KFC and McDonalds in the industry. It is reported that the food vending hall had only been open for two weeks and buyers had been flocking into it without restriction. The food vending industry in Amsterdam is an almost perfect competition industry. In the article, food vending industry is vast and has diverse products that are supplied every morning to be produced under cheap and affordable circumstances. One of the factors that make street food vending industry a perfect competitive market is the ease in entry into the field. As explained by Draper (1996), most street food vending businesses require small scale operations, use of traditional food processing methods and low capital costs to start. Secondly, there are no set restrictions in order to start selling in the market. As explained by the owner of the food mall, the only restrain was set for food chains such as MacDonald’s but local food vendors were accepted. This restriction denotes that the food vending industry in the food hall was not purely a perfect competitive market. Thirdly, products sold by food vendors are standardised and homogeneous. The sandwiches, soups, hams, burgers, vegetables and other street foods that are sold in the food hall are foods that are known and standard. Therefore, the food products sold from the fresh produce received every morning are standardized and this makes the food vending industry in Amsterdam perfect competition market. The price of the goods cannot be changed by the seller but depend on the availability of

Frozen Souls Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Frozen Souls - Essay Example This is not to say that I had no apprehensions about the move, just that any the upside was much greater than the alternative. After all, this was America, an entire nation composed of immigrants that had once made the same journey, both metaphorically and physically. On the flight I remember the airline playing the Arnold Schwarzenegger film True Lies. At the time Schwarzenegger, himself an immigrant, was the governor of California. For a moment I allowed myself to entertain similar notions of grandeur; I too could do great things one day. When I reflect back on my perceptions before arriving in the United States I recognize my idealism. It is not that I am a gullible person; I just bought into the narrative of American, and more specifically Californian, wealth and prosperity. It was this feeling of excitement and expectation that I felt as the plane landed and I looked onto the world that is now my home. The plane landed on a grey and rainy day, but I didn’t notice, instead expecting the country to soon embrace me. For the first time I would not be held back by an inefficient government or a lack of opportunity. After exiting the plane I walked to retrieve my bags. There were many beautiful people and people of varying ethnicities all moving rapidly about. I retrieved my bags and walked towards the LAX gates and waited around for a cab to the apartment complex I had set up. I was so filled with excitement and anxiety that I could not sleep that night and instead contemplated my upcoming weeks, months, years. I spent my first week with such anxiety-filled excitement and wonder that I never gave myself the chance to notice my loneliness. After exploring all day I would come home and pass out reading a book or watching the Los Angeles Lakers. This week, however, soon turned into a month and then two and three. Instead of finding the joy and prosperity I figured awaited me, I found nothing but society’s self-interest. Every day I woke up to a Calif ornia sun that stood in stark juxtaposition to the cold and lonely conditions of my current existence. I attended school during the day and would many times have my afternoons free. Not knowing anyone I would walk on the beach or through Downtown areas, hoping I would meet someone and California would finally make sense and my life would be warm and wonderful. I would walk past the sorts of beautiful people I once watched on television, all of them on their cell phones, with their perfectly coiffured hair and stylish clothing. For a period, I continued to tell myself that I merely needed to penetrate this wall of their existence and they the world would open to me; that while I had immigrated to the country, I had just not entered the true California yet. As a child in my home country I was raised in a conservative Catholic family. Towards the end of my adolescence I came to reject this family as overly constricting and naive about the true world out there. In my solitude and loneli ness for the first time I could appreciate the true love and warmth they supplied. Such instances of love and warmth are rare. I made a few acquaintances during these early days, but no one I would consider a friend. After math class I would visit a coffee shop adjacent to the college and read and watch people. Rarely did I talk to anyone and rarely did anyone talk to me. One day, however, a girl named Vanessa was forced to share my table as the

Moral Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Moral Philosophy - Essay Example Locke shows in Part V of the Second Treatise that in essence, the right to property springs from natural law, and is ordained in so many words by God himself. He begins by saying that all of the earth after all is given to men so that he may find in it his home and his sustenance, and in so far that he enjoys all the fruits of the earth without his interventions he shares all of the earth with his fellow men as common property. Then he goes on to say that be that as it may, the work of the hands of men in his own capacity is and the fruits of his own labors must be his own property. The distinction is that whatever it is that he fashions out of the common lot in nature, removed from that which nature provides in common with all other men, is his. This is the spring of the notion of property as it is envisioned by Locke. It is something inalienable to private persons in their own capacity, as something that is in the natural state of things too. It is the labor that he adds to the wor k that he undertakes on nature and its constituents that creates ownership and the notion of property.... On the other hand, by the same argument, whatever else that exceeds the needs of a particular man by his own labor, exceeding his enjoyment, is beyond his property, and this excess is therefore something that goes back in essence to the common realm, as the property of all. Whatever is in excess that can spoil, is beyond what man can enjoy, and is therefore beyond his own capacity to own. This is also according to Locke part and parcel of what he considers the self-evident bounds of one man's property (Locke). This is not a capitalistic notion, though it lends itself well to capitalistic lines of thinking, because in the main what Locke is saying is that there ought to be a limit to what a man can own beyond his needs, and that the bounds are there to make sure that man does not own anything beyond what he can cultivate presumably with his own labor. This applies too to the idea that there is enough to go around for everyone, if everyone works hard to secure his own needs and enjoyme nt with his own labors rather than the labors of others (Locke). Question 1 Machiavelli in Chapter 8 makes an example of the Sicilian known as Agathocles to say that although the man rose through the military ranks by his own cunning and skill, yet he is not someone who can be considered as possessing virtu. Yes he achieved his success without the help of anybody, and that in itself is admirable, but he did that by cunning and by betraying friends among others. He killed and he deceived, he had no mercy and no religion, and he had no faith. Machiavelli implies that the man of virtu achieves glory too, and Agathocles may have gained the world so to speak, but he falls short of virtu and his victory and success lacks

Educational Issue in the U.S. Supreme Court Essay

Educational Issue in the U.S. Supreme Court - Essay Example In the words of the new Chief Justice at the time, John Roberts, "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.† This is a key remark and the key to understanding the view the court has taken of race and education since the landmark ruling of Brown v. Board of Education. What this really means for classroom practice is that we should see students for all that they are, not just the colour of their skin. Many people who wanted to so-called public school choice plans were keen to get more diversity in their school districts. That’s not a bad idea, but as with so many things when you being to legislate something that doesn’t always obvious follow. The government is not the best way to go about such business. Diversity is a lot more than race and using such superficial qualifications to impose diversity would likely not create diversity in the first place. The court ruled that looking on at race in the drive for greater diversity was unconstitutional and effectively a reversal of Brown v. Board of Education. Justice Breyer used a phrase, "Never in the history of the court have so few done so much so quickly." And he was talking about Chief Justice Roberts and Justice [Samuel] Alito making this court a far more conservative institution in just one year. And at that phrase, "And never have so few done so much so quickly," both Justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts looked over at Breyer and went, whoa, thats pretty personal by the standards of the Supreme Court. (Toobin, 2007) It is clear that some parents may still have different views of what diversity means compared to the court and would like impose more racial diversity even if it means limiting students choice. It is important to be mindful of this. What this case also means is that there is a little bit of a rollback of the Nanny State is on that uses excessive state controls, be they regulations or laws, to restrict its

Alcoholic Beverage Essay Example for Free

Alcoholic Beverage Essay An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing chemicals from the alcohol family. Mostly ethyl alcohol (ethanol, EtOH), other alcohols are usually present only in small quantities, notably consumable t-Amyl alcohol (t-Amylol, t-AmOH) which is about 20X more potent than ethanol, and hazardous methanol with much weaker sedative effect than ethanol, thus are not prohibited by law or regulated by taxation in most if not all countries. However, alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes for taxation and regulation of production: beers, wines, and spirits (or distilled beverage). They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption.[2] In particular, such laws specify the minimum age at which a person may legally buy or drink them. This minimum age varies between 16 and 25 years, depending upon the country and the type of drink. Most nations set it at 18 years of age.[2] In the human body, ethanol affects the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors and produces a depressant (neurochemical inhibitory) effect. Ethanol is similar to other sedative-hypnotics such as barbiturates and benzodiazepines both in its effect on the GABAA receptor, although its pharmacological profile is not identical. It has anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, hypnotic, and sedative actions similar to many other sedative-hypnotic drugs. Ethanol is also cross-tolerant with benzodiazepines and barbiturates.[3] In fact, a synthetic alcohol based on benzodiazepines is currently developed by a team at Imperial College London, led by Professor David Nutt (chair of ISCD). The alcohol substitute give the drinker the effects of drunkenness without many of the risks of alcohol;[4] Accordingly to ISCD alcohol was the most harmful of all drugs considered, scoring 72%. Alcohol is the most available and widely abused substance and its chronic consumption causes neurobehavioral disorders.[5] A high-functioning alcoholic (HFA) is a form of alcoholism where the alcoholic is able to maintain their outside life such as jobs, academics, relationships, etc. – all while drinking alcoholically.[6] Under the DSMs new definition of Alcoholism about 37 percent of college students may meet the criteria. Doctors are hoping that this new definition of the term will help catch severe cases of alcoholism early, instead of when the problem is full-blown.[7] Alcoholism is a neurodegenerative disease which may lead to physical dependency that can be fatal in alcohol withdrawal syndrome due to its propensity to induce withdrawal convulsions. The production and consumption of alcohol occurs in most cultures of the world, from hunter-gatherer peoples to nation-states.[8][9] Alcoholic beverages are often an important part of social events in these cultures.

Feminism In Elizabeth Barrett Browning English Literature Essay

Feminism In Elizabeth Barrett Browning English Literature Essay Through a detailed analysis of the writings of Victorian era female poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, this essay exposes the underlying themes of feminism in the authors works. The essay makes specific reference to two of Barrett Brownings most noteworthy poems, Aurora Leigh, a directly biographical piece, and The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point, not officially an autobiographical piece. The essay reveals the theme of feminism through an examination of key aspects of Barrett Browning, including: the inner conflict resulting from the struggle to choose between female identity and accomplished author, the comparisons made between the oppressive practice of slavery and the poor treatment of Victorian women, and the importance of female autonomy prevalent in the poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. All of these aspects come together together in the essay and Elizabeth Barrett Browning is successfully able to shed light on the oppressive treatment of women living in the Victorian period. Through her writings that often surround cruel female oppression, Victorian era poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning expresses feminist views in her works. Though often done subtly and indirectly, Barrett Browning uses her poems as a medium to express her aversion towards Victorian era female oppression that manifested itself in areas such as societal expectations and lack of independence. Despite the fact that few pieces by Barrett Browning are said to be truly biographical, one could suggest that numerous other poems by Barrett Browning depict her life as a woman living the Victorian period, as well as the lives of women in general living in the Victorian period. Through the analysis of two of Barrett Brownings works in particular, Aurora Leigh and The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point, one can clearly see areas of Barrett Brownings own life being expressed in her writing. Aspects of Elizabeth Barrett Brownings life that are most visibly expressed in her writing include her inner turmoil between wanting to be a poet, and yet also wanting to maintain her femininity. Also visible is her condemning view of slavery, and how she likens the practice of slavery to the then treatment of women. And finally visible is her belief in the importance of women gaining independence from men. Through a detailed analysis of Barrett Brownings work with a particular focus on Aurora Leigh and The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point, one can see how the works reflect Barrett Brownings own lifetime experiences and opinions regarding female rights. The works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning depict her aversion towards the misogynistic Victorian era society. Numerous works by Elizabeth Barrett Browning reflect the inner conflict that existed in her life. This inner turmoil is made very apparent in Aurora Leigh. Barrett Browning often depicts this conflict between wanting to become a poet and yet also wanting to possess femininity through a use of symbolism. As the scholar Dorothy Mermin observes, A woman who tried to be a poet within this structure would seem to be taking the part of a man (Mermin, 715). In saying this, Shires asserts the notion that Barrett Browning, and by transference Aurora, is torn between wanting to be a poet and still wanting to fulfill her role as the archetypical Victorian woman. The conflict between a woman wanting to assert herself in any male-dominated field while still maintaining a feminine identity would have been felt by many Victorian women, not just Elizabeth Barrett Browning as a poet. Barrett Browning uses figurative imagery to help convey this inner turmoil within both Aurora Leigh and also The Runaw ay Slave at Pilgrims Point. In the first book of Aurora Leigh, Barrett Browning writes of being sent to England to live at her aunts house, where she strives to lead the life of a proper lady that her aunt avidly advocates. However, when she describes the lifestyle of her aunt, she describes it as being caged: She had lived a sort of cage-bird life, born in a cage à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ I, alas, a wild bird scarcely fledged, was brought to her cage (p. 13). Cages, used to entrap animals, act as a universal symbol for oppression, entrapment, and control. In this way Barrett Browning suggests that the life that was regarded as being most fit for the Victorian era women was something she viewed as being oppressive and constricting. Furthermore, by using the word cage, Barrett Browning implies that the lives the women led were no better than an animals life. Through creating this image, Barrett Browning is making a statement about her rejection to conform and become, essentially, a domesticate d pet. The narrators rejection of her aunts lifestyle does not necessarily convey Barrett Brownings internal turmoil to the reader, but it does show her strong opinions against the expectations of Victorian women. As Barrett Brownings description of her upbringing with her aunt continues in book two of the poem, her inner conflict is again described through her use of symbolism. As the narrator celebrates her twentieth birthday, she makes the ultimate statement about her conflict between her identity as an artist and her femininity. She claims that she does not feel complete as either an artist or a woman, though the resources for her to achieve either one or the other are available to her. Woman and artist-either incomplete, both credulous of completion. There I held the whole creation in my little cup (p. 38). Clearly, Aurora feels she is incapable of becoming both a writer and a real woman in her Victorian society, and thus she feels she is forced to choose one or the other. By w riting that she held the whole creation in her teacup, a personal item, Barrett Browning implies that the personal decision was, literally, in her own hands. In this way, the teacup itself is symbolic of Auroras, and thus Barrett Brownings, inner conflict and moreover expresses just how ultimately personal the choice between artist and woman is. And as Zonana states, in the poem Aurora undergoes a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦transformation into a poet who reconciles being a woman with being an artist (Zonana, 242). Through these examples, it becomes visible to the reader that the use of figurative imagery in Aurora Leigh plays an important role in depicting the internal struggle within both Aurora Leigh and Elizabeth Barrett Browning with regards to personal identity. The theme of inner conflict is also visible in her poem The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point. Just as in Aurora Leigh, the conflicts present in the text can be related to Elizabeth Barrett Brownings own life and internal struggle. There are many parallels that can be drawn from the runaway slave within the text, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This provides reason to believe that the poem may purposely, yet indirectly, reflect some of the happenings that Barrett Browning experienced as a Victorian woman. This poem tells the story of a black female slave, a dichotomy to the proper white female discussed in Aurora Leigh, however The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point as well depicts Barrett Brownings struggle with her identity as an author and as a woman. In stanza eighteen of The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point, the narrator observes the baby she bore her master. She cannot help but see her master when looking at her infant childs white face in contrast to her own: My own, own child! I co uld not bear to look in his face, it was so white. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ For the child wanted his liberty Ha, ha! He wanted the master-right (18, 1-7). The narrator continues: I saw a look that made me madà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ The masters look, that used to fall on my soul like his lashà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦or worse! And so, to save it from my curse, I twisted it round in my shawl (21, 3-7). In a response to The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point, Tricia Lootens states: Better, she suggests, to be whipped than to have ones soul (implicitly) stripped bare; better to kill ones child than to curse him. Even in violence, soul trumps flesh: classic EBB (Lootens, 497). Stated simply, Lootens asserts that in the work of Barrett Browning, the worth of ones soul is greater than ones flesh. Flesh is valueless without soul. Knowing the value that Barrett Browning places on the human spirit, these lines signify the authors turmoil. The narrator kills her own child children being a flesh embodiment of a womans femin inity to spare the childs spirit. In this way, the action of the runaway slave in Barrett Brownings writing represents the feelings of the author; the spirit, or the artistic desires of her spirit, is worth sacrificing the flesh, or her femininity, for. As the text progresses to stanza twenty-six, where the narrator describes the act of burying her child under nightfall: My little body, kerchiefed fast, I bore it on through the forest on: And when I felt it was tired at last, I scooped a hole beneath the moon. Through the forest-tops the angels far, With a white sharp finger from every star, Did point and mock at what was done. (26, 1-7) This passage exposes much more than just the notion that society will chastise the narrator for killing her own child, hence her burying under the cover of nightfall, but further that even the angels above with their white sharp fingers will blame or point and mock her for her act. Just as the angels in heaven harshly judge the narrator for killing her child, the Victorian society would judge Elizabeth Barrett Browning, or any Victorian woman, who shirked her stereotypical social responsibility as a woman. Another theme used by Elizabeth Barrett Browning to expose the ill treatment of Victorian era women is slavery. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was notoriously opposed to the slavery that existed during the Victorian period, and this is reflected in several of her works. Perhaps one of the factors that inspired this resentment towards the practice of slavery was a sense of understanding from Barrett Browning that developed from her experience with the oppression of Victorian women; the plight of slaves and women would have been felt similarly in the era. This may provide an explanation to Barrett Brownings focus on slavery she was able to sympathize. Within Aurora Leigh there are links made between the practice of slavery and female oppression. Dalley describes Aurora Leigh as being written with the purpose of denying Victorian era gender roles: EBB clearly conceived of Aurora Leigh as a challenge to the conventional tradition[s] governing womens behavior because it openly discusses the plight of women and calls for changes to existing laws governing marriage and property, and attitudes governing womens work for money (Dalley, 526). Within Aurora Leigh, the idea of slavery and its similarity to the oppression of women becomes most evident in book two. As Aurora describes to her cousin Romney why she denies the concept of marriage, the connection between slavery and female oppression becomes lucid: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Am I proved too weak to stand alone, yet strong enough to bear such leaners on my shoulder? Poor to think, yet rich enough to sympathise with thought? Incompetent to sing as blackbirds can? (p. 48). In this passage, Aurora appears to have some of the inferiorities that the oppressed blacks were thought to posses mental inferiority and weakness. By subtly making this correlation, Barrett Browning likens the oppressed woman to an oppressed slave. She suggests that a wife was to a husband as a slave was to a master. Both the woman and the slave required the s upposed superior man to compensate for their inherent shortcomings. This passage is important in that it depicts Barrett Brownings opinions towards slavery while also addressing her opinion of sexism, while effectively correlating the two. Later in the poem, again to Romney, Aurora states: We sew, sew, prick our fingers, dull our sight, Producing what? A pair of slippers, sir, To put on when youre weary-or a stoolTo tumble over and vex you . . curse that stool! Or else at best, a cushion where you lean (p. 206). Auroras statement directly draws a comparison between being a Victorian era woman and being a slave. Through Aurora, Barrett Browning suggests that a man does not desire a wife as an equal companion in life, but rather to act as an aid to him in his life, while the wife gains little from the marriage. This thankless job of assistance is also what was expected of slaves. Both act as a mere tool to facilitate a mans life. In this passage, Aurora recognizes that in her patriarchal society, women were little more than tools to convenience their husband. These words spoken by Elizabeth Barrett Browning show that women were capable of realizing that they were being wronged and taken advantage of, which meant that they were not as mentally incapable as they were portrayed and thought to be. And moreover, they liken the treatment that the Victorian era women faced to the unethical treatment of slaves. Through the fact that The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point centres on a female slave, there are many areas that display Barrett Brownings opinion towards the practice. However, in certain instances, Barrett Browning glorifies the choices made by the narrator which demonstrates her hatred for slavery, and further demonstrates that she desires to escape the slavery of her gender. In the final stanzas of the poem, the narrator describes that the men are hunting her, knowing they will soon capture her, she literally laughs at the thought of her own demise: My face is black, but it glares with a scorn which they dare not meet by day. Ha!-in their stead, their hunter sons! Ha, ha! They are on me-they hunt in a ring! Keep off! I brave you all at once (29-30, 6-3). In these lines, Barrett Browning conveys the absolute fearlessness and strength of the narrator. The tone of the passage, through its liberal use of punctuation and literal use of laughter, becomes excited and maniacal, and in a se nse seems to glorify the narrator and her defiance. Perhaps Barrett Browning created this effect of glorification of the narrator because she, as a woman, would want to see the narrator courageously defy and overcome her oppressors. By laughing in the face of her oppressors hunting her, the narrator can take control of the situation and remove any satisfaction that her killers may get from her death. After having killed her child, and now letting herself die, she will be reunited with her child in a place where racial or gender-based oppression does not exist. This implies the notion that by glorifying the narrator and her final actions in the closing of the poem, Barrett Browning suggests that the narrator, wronged as she may have been by the men, was not only able to overcome, but furthermore triumph over her lifes obstacles. This furthers the idea that Barrett Browning wishes to see the oppressed overcome their oppressors. Again, in the last stanza of the poem, Barrett Browning d epicts the narrator as bravely awaiting her death, I am floated along, as if I should die of libertys exquisite pain. In the name of the white child waiting for me in the death-dark where we may kiss and agree (36, 3-6). In writing these lines in such a way, Barrett Browning creates a seeming sense of duty in the narrator, suggesting that to defend ones position or gender should be honourable. By including the narrators jovial mood towards her demise, Barrett Browning makes the statement that the oppressed woman was able to take actions into her own hands, and by her dissatisfying reaction, rob her oppressors of any satisfaction. In this way, Barrett Browning glorifies the bold action of the narrator so as to glorify the action of opposing her oppressors. Through this poem, Barrett Browning not only demonstrates her opposition to slavery, she also demonstrates its relation to the treatment of women, suggesting that fighting against either is an honourable act. Finally, the theme of womens autonomy is prevalent in Elizabeth Barrett Brownings works. Womens independence is a central theme in Aurora Leigh and in fact, acts as a driving force in not only the actions of Aurora, but in Elizabeth Barrett Brownings own life. The desire for female autonomy is visible in Aurora Leigh when Aurora marks herself as a writer by crowning herself with ivy. As Aurora crowns herself, she discusses the need to prove herself worthy: The worthiest poets have remained uncrowned till death has bleached their foreheads to the bone; and so with me it must be unless I prove unworthy of the grand adversity, and certainly I would not fail so much. (p.38). Although there is not explicit mention of what the grand adversity is, it is very likely the mere fact that Aurora, and of course Barrett Browning herself, were females in a misogynistic period. As previously mentioned, women in the Victorian era would be little more than the chattels of their husbands. For a Victori an woman to become a prominent poet, she would need to break free of the constraints placed on her by a misogynistic society. It is evident that both Aurora and Elizabeth Barrett Browning felt that in order to achieve their desires, they had to overcome the domineering masculine influence in their lives. This theme of female independence is visible in Aurora Leigh as Aurora explains to her cousin, Romney, why she cannot marry him. You misconceive the question like a man, who sees a woman as the complement of his sex merely. You forget too much that every creature, female as the male, stands single in responsible act and thought (p. 51). In writing this passage, Barrett Browning states that women, just as much as men, possess individual thought and actions, despite the opposing opinion of Victorian men such as Romney who believe that women are simply extensions of their husbands. Barrett Browning suggests that if women are not granted even the most basic of liberties from their patriarchal society, then they will never achieve independence unless they boldly act out against their Victorian gender constraints. While the theme of female independence is slightly less conspicuous in The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point, it is nevertheless alluded to in several instances. The mere fact that the poem centres on a female slave who yearns for freedom from her master instils in the piece an intrinsic theme of the need for female sovereignty. In many lines of the poem, the narrator discusses the oppression of the black slaves and especially black, female flaves, and through this description links to the oppression of Victorian period women can be drawn, as both are treated as chattels of their master. Despite the fact that the narrator is talking about black slaves in the following passage, parallels can be drawn to oppressed females: But we who are dark, we are dark! Ah, God, we have no stars! About our souls in care and cark our blackness shuts like prison bars. (6, 1-4). In this excerpt, the narrator explains that due to their blackness, or their skin colour, they are automatically regarded as be ing lesser than their white masters. Of course, not only did the black slaves have no control over their skin colour, but furthermore it is irrelevant to their mental and physical capabilities as a human. Just as the slaves were judged as being inferior because of their race, women were also assumed to be ultimately inferior to men based on their gender, an inherent and irrelevant feature of their identity. The femininity of women was falsely equated to, by men, frivolous unintelligence. Elizabeth Barrett Browning would have been familiar with this entrapment that she wrote about, not only from experiencing life as a Victorian woman, but also due to her chronic illness that often limited her actions. The concept of female independence becomes visible again as the poem nears the end: I am not mad: I am black. I see you staring in my face-I know you, staring, shrinking back, Ye are born of the Washington-race, and this is the free America: (32, 1-5). By mentioning George Washington an d the free America, Barrett Browning draws explicit attention to the point that America is a country founded on freedom, and it becomes emphasized just how horribly the slaves, and in a similar way women, were treated in the gloriously free country, and just how un-free their lives really were. In this passage, Barrett Browning insinuates that no nation can ever be free until all of its people are free. Within The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point, just as the slaves were oppressed by their masters in the free country of America, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was oppressed by her civilized yet patriarchal, Victorian society. Through indepth analysis of key themes in the poetic works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning with a particular focus on the autobiographical Aurora Leig and non-biographical The runaway slave at Pilgrims Point, it becomes lucid that Barrett Browning uses her writing to express her own experiences and opinions towards the unjust Victorian treatment of women. Firstly, these experiences and opinions are displayed through Barrett Brownings use of interal struggle between the identity of poet and woman. Also, she expresses herself through her fierce opposition to slavery visible in both poems. Finally she achieves this purpose through the importance of individual independence that is portrayed in her poems. When all of these elements of Elizabeth Barrett Brownings poetry are examined individually, it is clear that Barrett Browning uses her poetry as a medium to express her experiences and opinions towards the ill treatment of Victorian era women.

Idea of selective attention

Idea of selective attention INTRODUCTION: This paper hopes to cover what is selective attention, the types of selective attention and the issues that can be derived from such behavior. Some of the issues will be mentioned and some will be discussed in-depth. The paper will also cover models that will help you, the reader, to understand the negativity that can be derived from this type of behavior, as well as ways that companies can prevent this behavior and the ways that it can lead to demotivation. The paper will also analyze, and discuss the best methods by which this behavior can be combated from a business perspective. WHAT IS SELECTIVE ATTENTION? For you, the reader, to understand what selective attention is, we must first discuss selective perception. Role theory is important for us to be able to under how we perceive others. E.M. Foster once wrote that there are two types of characters and that we must be able to differentiate between them. E.M. Foster said that the test of a round character is whether it is capable of surprising in a convincing way. If it never surprises then it is a flat character. If it does not convincing then it is a flat character pretending to be a round one. It has the incalculability of life in it. The idea of selective perception is based on the idea where one can selectively interpret what one sees and hears based on the persons interest, attitude, culture and background. Given that information, one can safely define selective attention as the ability of one (exercised unconsciously) to be able to chose from different streams of data, for the person to be concentrate on elements that they believe to be valuable and to ignore the others that they believe to be unimportant. It should also be mentioned that selective perception leads to selective attention. We hypothesize that older adults who anxiously expect, readily perceive, and intensely react to social rejection because of their old age (i.e., have high age-based rejection sensitivity) are vulnerable to depression and poor social functioning. This is based from the Journal of Research in Personality, Volume 43, Issue 3, June 2009, Pages 392-398. The basic idea, here, is that selective attention is a process in which an individual can filter one message from a mixture of messages that occur simultaneously. This level of attention also refers to the individuals capacity to maintain a cognitive or behavioural set in the blatant face of distracting or contrasting stimulis. Bearing this in mind, we can then understand how this idea or theory can incorporate the notion of freedom from distractibility. TYPES OF SELECTIVE ATTENTION: Behavior that is goal oriented requires focused attention on goal relevant stimulis. The load theory of attention suggests two mechanisms of selective attention. The first is: Perceptual Selection Mechanism Active mechanism of Attention control PERCEPTUAL SELECTION MECHANISM: This is a passive mechanism, which allows for the exclusion of irrelevant distractor stimuli. This idea is based on the perception of situations from a high perceptual load. This is where irrelevant distractor interference is prevented because the distractors are not to be perceived where there is insufficient capacity to be processed. ACTIVE MECHANISM OF ATTENTION CONTROL: This is more of an active genre, whereby the attentional control is needed for the rejection of irrelevant distractors even if they are perceived (some situations may allow for a low perceptual load). This form of controls relies on higher cognitive functions, e.g. working memory; this is required for the active maintenance of current processing priorities so that we can be sure that low-priority stimulis do not have a control of human behavior. SELECTIVE ATTENTION AND THE ISSUES IN THE WORKPLACE: Selective attention has the unconscious ability to affect ones work environment whether one is aware of it or not. Issues such as: Expectation The self fulfilling prophecy Favoritism Stereotyping Demotivation of staff These can affect both the mangers and staff, be it at the boardroom level or the ground floor of any business. THE MENTAL MODEL: Kenneth Craik suggested in 1943 that the mind constructs small scale model that it then uses to predict events and the circumstances that the person is in. The mind constructs these mental models based on perception, imagination, or through the comprehension of discourse. They can underline visual images, but they also have the ability to be abstract, so they can represent events that cannot be visualized. They are akin to the picture theory of language described in 1922 by Ludwig Wittgenstein. Bearing this in mind, one can now understand how expectations can be affected by selective attention. There is an advert on the radio right now about back injuries. It is about people who move heavy loads for a living and they are pressured by their bosses to be quick (external forces). The employee focuses on the job at hand, forgetting about personal safety. This is because the employee has a mental model or he lets the expectations of his boss get to him, hence preventing him from seeing the competitive threats that can be detrimental to him. SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY This is based on the idea that if a person thinks that you are clever or stupid or whatever, people will treat us they way that we feel and act. But the theory also believes that if we are treated in a certain way that we would become or act a certain way. So if one is treated like he/she is clever, they will feel clever and therefore act clever. This is known as the PYGMALION EFFECT. FAVORITISM: Favoritism in the workplace is one of the most Demotivation things a person can experience. In the workplace favoritism refers to someone who appears to be treated better than others and not by any means this is related to their work related performance. Favoritism in the workplace can lead to one person being promoted faster than other persons (unfairly), or being paid more than the other to do the same job, or they have longer breaks or come to work late or leave work early on a regular basis. The end result is the same; they appear to be treated better than you for no valid reason. No matter the reason, the favoritism that ones colleagues are given seems to you correlates more with the fact of who they know and less to do with their ability for the job. STEREOTYPING: Stereotyping is developed under certain conditions. It is based on preconceived ideas forced unto us by culture, other people experiences as well as our own. This can be due to poor communication, lack of understanding, and misunderstanding of someone elses culture. There are different types of stereotyping such as Age Race Religion Gender Political beliefs Ethnicity AGE DISCRIMINATION: Age discrimination or ageism is discrimination against a person or a group because of their age. The term was created by gerontologist Robert N. Butler to describe discrimination against seniors. It should be mentioned that ageism does not affect only the elder members of society but it also affects the younger members of society as well. In the United Kingdom ageism is frequently unnoticed but if a young person is discriminated against he or she may make a claim that the said he or she has been discriminated against. He or she may file this claim under the Employment and Equality Act (Age) Regulations (2006). This act protects persons over aged 50 and over from discrimination in area of employment and education. Regulations such as these discusses age equality in regard to the hiring of new staff, how workers are treated in the work place as well as age equality in relation to the firing and redundancies and retirement as well as the educational equivalents, e.g. NVQS.. RACISM: This is based on the fact that a person can be discriminated against because of their color, nationality or ethnic or national origins. THREE TYPES OF RACIAL CISCRIMINATION: Direct Discrimination- this is deliberate discrimination for example where a specific job is available to people of a specific racial group Indirect Discrimination -working practices, provisions or criteria created on the basis that it is disadvantageous to members of particular work groups. E.g. introducing a dress code without good reason that will discriminate against some ethnic groups. Muslims are a good example of this. Harassment the participation in or the allowing or encouraging behavior that is offensive to people e.g. making racist jokes The Race Relation act (1976) makes it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against anyone on the basis of racial grounds. Employees are protected from racial discrimination at all stages of employment. GENDER: Gender discrimination or sexism has many legal consequences. Basically sexual discrimination can be loosely defined as an adverse action against another human being. This also considered being a type of prejudiced. The United Nations says that women often experience something called the glass ceiling and that there are no societies where women are treated as equals to men. Glass ceiling is based on the idea that there are perceived barriers to the advancement in employment which is based on discriminations. The Sexual Discrimination Act (1975) says that it is unlawful for any employer to discriminate against anyone based on: Gender If you are married If you have had, intend to have or are having gender reassignment (this refers to someone who supervised by an doctor, who changes the persons their gender) Sexual discrimination laws cover almost all employees and all types of organizations in the U.K. the law cover: Recruitment Employment terms and conditions Pays and benefits Status Training Promotion and transfer opportunities Redundancy It also be mentioned that the Equal pay act also makes it unlawful for the employers to discriminate between men and women in terms of pay and conditions where they doing: The same or similar job Work that is rated as equivalent to a job evaluation study by the employer Or work of equal value In an ideal society we would like to believe that this happen but that is not necessarily true. According to Catherine Rampell of The New York Times, In most jobs, the gap between mens and womens earnings narrows greatly when you adjust for factors like career path and experience. But at the top of the income scale jobs paying more than $100,000 the salary gap between equally qualified men and women is still vast. The article also suggests that sexism can still exist even though laws are put into place to avoid such circumstances. PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE: Four in-depth views were given that are believed to plague an organization due to selective attention. Knowing these issues one can discuss the precautionary methods which can be used as a solution to these problems. SPALTTER VISION: Selective attention can be prevented if we are to use this method. This where the whole view is taken into consideration based on specific elements form a perceptual field. Using splatter vision can help with decision making and would help with the avoidance of issues such as threats and opportunities. If this is done, with an open minded approach they will be able to maintain a peripheral vision. BALANCED SCORECARDS: The balanced scorecard retains traditional financial measures. But financial measures tell the story of past events, an adequate story for industrial age companies for which investments in long-term capabilities and customer relationships were not critical for success. These financial measures are inadequate, however, for guiding and evaluating the journey that information age companies must make to create future value through investment in customers, suppliers, employees, processes, technology, and innovation. The scorecard has evolved from its early uses as a simple measurement framework to a full blown part of strategic planning and management system. The balance scorecard has the ability to transform an organizations strategic planning. The scorecard helps with performance measurement whereby, employees are recognized and promoted based on performance of the past. This process, as the one before, helps overcome the barriers of favoritism and stereotyping. WORKSHOPS: Through workshops companies and managers, will be able to bridge the communication gap that humans have. If we are unaware that we are doing this then we are can hardly be held responsible for natural human behavior. Through workshops we are able to interact with colleagues in a structured environment. We will also be able to create awareness of issues that affect our daily lives. Through the workshop we will be able to help with issues such as: Diversity awareness Comparison compare Create Empathy Help with impression formation Workshops are able to help with camaraderie, bring forth issues as well as to how to deal with them. ANALYSIS: It is natural for humans to gravitate to other humans with characteristics similar or closest to theirs. As much as one would like to think that he/she is above it all, we cannot get away from the fact that we are humans with human faults. The Wiggins 2-dimensional model is defined by eight scale scores of the Interpersonal Adjective Scales-Revised (IAS-R). This study hypothesis that there are 4 biporal factors which can account for the correlations among the 64 adjectives of the IAS-R. On the basis of the Cattell screen test, 5 principal components were extracted from the inter-correlations. Following a direct oblimin rotation, the rotated factors were interpreted as Agreeable-Cold-hearted, Extraverted-Introverted, Calculating-Ingenuous. Dominant-Submissive, and Shy. Thus, 4 of the hypothesized factors were confirmed. The findings suggest that a dimensional conception and the interpersonal circumplex are complementary approaches to understanding the interpersonal behavior domain thi s is according to a study that conducted and published in the Personality and Individual Differences Volume 11, Issue 4, 1990, pages 423-425. Every day we size up people, be it people who we meet for a brief moment or people we know our entire lives. One can tell their mood and through perception be aware of how they are feeling and how they will react in a certain environment. Of the three issues that have been discussed I believe that stereotyping is the worst. This is because of the perception that is brought to the table without the investigatory work being done. Assumption such as: African Americans are lazy Muslims are terrorist Jews are wealthy or artistic Latinos are criminals and poor These are assumption created by stereotyping but if we were to look closely we can see how wrong they are. For example: African Americans are lazy, this a generalized statement but what is the proof to back up such a statement. Jesse Jackson, Barrack Obama, Martin Luther King are African American who have worked hard to change the lives of Americans for betterment. Muslims are terrorist, based on the fact that the members of Al Queida belong to that faith. King Abdullah of Jordon is Muslim so does that make him a terrorist? During World War 2 Hitler believed that the Jews owned all the banks and where into theatre and the arts but Anne Franks Father owned a small fruit preservative factory. The point that I am trying to make is that people are people. They have their own personality. They have feelings. We live in the real world and we cannot label people into boxes and categories that we feel that they belong to. True story, I am from the Caribbean, but when people see me or even have to guess what part of the world I am from they would choose places like India or Pakistan. They stereotype me based on the color of my skin rather than by getting to know me or ask questions. Perception is only quarter of the game the other three quarters comes from asking questions and getting to know the people that you work with. CONCLUSION: Internal and external factors influence selective attention. We can agree that selective attention can be done consciously or unconsciously. But I think that it is done more unconsciously based on the fact that if we are not aware that we are actually performing it. Through awareness, we can combat the issues that have been raised in this paper. Through formal systems such as the scorecard one can find a way to manage the problems that are faced but if one are not aware of the problems then how can one face them. Seminars and workshops are the best way for both manages and staff to be aware of the problems that are caused from unconscious behavior. Companies can also implement through their HR department, strategies from the early stages that will make their entire staff aware of the situations that can be created by this sort of behavior. It is the companies responsibility to inform their staff of the laws that are there to protect people as well to make them aware of their rights as individuals as well. We know that through the self-fulfilling prophecy people can believe what they believe people believe of them. Bearing that in mind we can understand how we can change peoples perception of other people if they would only be given the correct information. Only through trial and error can one correct the issues that are part of our work environment. According to Maslows hierarchy of needs people need to have that feeling of acceptance as time passes by. Acceptance helps with the motivation of staff and the role that it relates to is the companies production. The goal of all companies is for them to produce effectively and efficiently. Motivation of staff plays a big in this facing the issues at hand through the methods that I have mentioned will enable make their employees aware, informed, create prevention but also it will create respect. Respect of the people who they work with and who they work. The people you work with are like your second family (if you are to think of the amount of time that you spend with them). Do we not respect our families, understand and empathize with their need and there problems. We do not stereotype our families because we know them. If we are to put this basic rule into place know people before you judge them. There is a saying never judge a book by its cover, keep that in mind the next time you meet someone new! BIBLOGRAPHY: Interference and Facilitation Effects during Selective Attention: An H215O PET Study of Stroop Task Performance Load Theory of Selective Attention and Cognitive Control, Nilli Lavie and Aleksandra Hirst, University College LondonJan W. de Fockert, University of London Essi Viding,Kings College London http://www.tcd.ie/Psychology/other/Ruth_Byrne/mental_models/(accessed on the 01/02/10) http://www.aboutequalopportunities.co.uk/ageism.html(accessed on the 01/02/10) The New York Times, November 16, 2009, 5:25 pm November 16, 2009, 5:25 pm http://www.balancedscorecard.org/bscresources/aboutthebalancedscorecard/tabd/55/default.aspx (accessed on the 01/02/10) Jon Driver (2001) A selective review of selective attention research from the past century British journal of Psychology, vol. 92, pp.53-78 Mckenna Eugene (2000), Business Psychology and Organisational Behaviour- A students Handbook, 3rd Ed. By psychology Press lt

Ghost Story of a Hell House :: Ghost Stories Urban Legends

Ghost Story of a Hell House The legend that I collected is a popular local myth about an old building and its resident out in the woods near the story's location. The person who told this story to me is my roommate; he is a white, middle-class, twenty-year-old who is studying government and psychology. I collected the story from him in our apartment one Tuesday night, sitting on our couch amidst a group of friends while listening to some loud music. The teller’s performance of the story is important to note. Due to the loud music and distracting atmosphere, the story was not told very smoothly. The teller made a lot of pauses and had to repeat himself several times. Furthermore, the teller did not know any solid facts, such as specific dates. Everything that he mentioned in terms of time were clearly estimates, as indicated by his facial expressions and verbal pauses. The teller prefaced the story by trying to get me to recognize the location of the Hell House. We had gone hiking around the state park where near the house, and he explained its location by saying â€Å"you know that hill and those woods near the train tracks at the bottom of the mountain†¦Well, Hell House is over near there. I’m sure you’ve seen it dude.† I admitted that I knew where it was so that he would go on with the story, even though I was certain I hadn’t seen any creepy looking houses when I was over in that area. He continued the story by explaining that the place was originally â€Å"Mount Saint Mary’s† college in Old Catonsville, Maryland during the 1800s. He then said â€Å"oh right, it was actually a women’s school.† He paused here for a minute and then carried on to tell me that most of it burned down in the 1930s and a whole lot of people died. After a moment he said â€Å"actually it may have been the 10s or the 20s, I’m not so sure.† The only thing that remained after this fire was an old burnt up house that the groundskeeper lived in and continues to live in. The teller then said that the groundskeeper was â€Å"seriously old and weird† and that he is not sure whether he is alive or dead, but he made sure to emphasize that â€Å"if he is still alive he is probably real [expletive deleted by author] old.

Comparing John Cheever’s The Swimmer and The Five-Forty-Eight Essay

Comparing John Cheever’s The Swimmer and The Five-Forty-Eight Two stories by John Cheever, The Swimmer and The Five-Forty-Eight (5-48), will be explored in terms of how the characters, genre and point of view in these stories give rise to classic fiction. The Swimmer is of a suburban man, Neddy Merrill, who decides to return home from work by swimming eight miles through all of his neighbors' pools along the way. At each pool he encounters a former mistress, distant and unfriendly neighbours and other symbols of a bitter, frustrated life. To Neddy, this is his epic day's journey. However, when he arrives home, his family has left him. The swimmer has made it home; but too much has changed. While 5-48 is about the protagonist, Blake, having an affair with the emotionally weak Dent. The story begins with Blake firing Dent and she in turn stalks him to the 5-48 with a gun. She gains her revenge by making him kneel before her. Blake’s humiliation is complete when she forces him to rub his face in the dirt. 5-48 is developed as a typical story with the two principal characters, Blake and Dent, very well developed. There is constant tension from the point where Blake (depicted as egotistical, insensitive and in control) leaves the office to the train 5-48, all the while being pursued by Dent (the victim, who is emotionally weak, manipulated and cheated). Its chronological form simplifies the story and makes it a fast paced and delightful read. In addition, there is realism injected by actual places like the 5-48 train and Shady Hill, tired and cold relationships, betrayal, revenge and affairs that are so commonplace in society. Swimmer seems to be a painful reflection of his own life that was blighted by serious al... ...s request for a drink or the idea of entertaining him or give him money. In retrospect after analyzing Cheever’s The Swimmer and The Five-Forty-Eight, I think that isolation stands out as the underlying theme for both stories although they are markedly different in plot and genre. Also these stories seem to be a poignant reminder of Cheever’s personal life and to an extent a chapter of life in that period, although poverty, discrimination and adultery are still present today and affect both you and me. Works Cited Cheever, John. â€Å"The Five-Forty-Eight.† The Stories of John Cheever. New York: Knopf, 1978. ---------------. "The Swimmer." The Stories of John Cheever. New York: Knopf, 1978. Works Consulted Slabey, Robert M. "John Cheever: The Swimming' of America." Critical Essays on John Cheever. Ed. Robert G. Coolins. Boston: Hall, 1982. 180-90.

Teaching Philosophy :: Education Teaching Teachers Essays

Teaching Philosophy Throughout life I think everyone has a certain calling. God creates special gifts in people to be used to help others. Some people know right away what their calling is. I am sorry to say that it has taken me a few more years to figure out my love for teaching. I was a dance instructor for over fourteen years. During that time I attended College of West Virginia earning an Associates Degree in Business Administration. What was I going to do with that? I really did not like business, but my thinking was it would help in running my own dance studio one day. My real love was the involvement, interaction, and teaching of all my dancers. It was so rewarding to see the children learn the different movements I was teaching that day. The scaffolding method used in constructivism is very similar to how I taught dancing. Each week we would review the dance steps from previous weeks and then add on new dance steps. The children were learning dances that I had choreographed. Being a happy wife and a proud mother of a beautiful boy, I wanted to contribute more to the family financially. Although teaching dance is what I loved, it was not a job that paid well. How could I still do what I love, teaching, and bring in a little more money? That is when my husband encouraged me to go back to Concord College and get my Bachelor of Science Degree in Teaching Physical Education and Health Education. Physical Education and Health Education are two fields I feel very passionate about. Always being active throughout my life, I did not realize how sedentary and unfit our nation is. West Virginia ranks one of the highest states in the nation when it comes to being unfit and obese. I think education could place a more positive influence on this growing epidemic. The purpose of education is to help students gain knowledge to be used in their career, social, and personal lives. Education is important in teaching students the past and helping them make knowledgeable decisions for the future. As a teacher, I hope to be able to touch student’s lives in a way that when it comes to making a choice, they think of what I have taught them, and make a positive decision.

Problem Set 1

Problem Set 1 Ben Polak, Econ 159a/MGT522a. Four Questions due September 19, 2007. 1. Strictly and Weakly Dominated Strategies? What is the de nition of a strictly dominated strategy? What is the de nition of a weakly dominated strategy? Give an example of a two-player game matrix where one player has three strategies, one of which is strictly dominated; and the other player has three strategies, one of which is weakly (but not strictly) dominated. Indicate the dominated strategies. 2. Iterative Deletion of (weakly) Dominated two-player game 2 l c T 1; 1 0; 1 1 M 1; 0 2; 2 D 1; 3 3; 1 Strategies Consider the following r 3; 1 1; 3 2; 2 a) Are there any strictly dominated strategies? Are there any weakly dominated strategies? If so, explain what dominates what and how. (b) After deleting any strictly or weakly dominated strategies, are there any strictly or weakly dominated strategies in the `reduced' game? If so, explain what dominates what and how. What is left? (c) Go back to your a rgument for deleting in the rst `round' and recall what dominated what and how. Compare this with what was deleted in the `second' round. Comment on how this might make you a bit cautious when iteratively deleting weakly dominated strategies? . Hotelling's Location Game. Recall the voting game we discussed in class. There are two candidates, each of whom chooses a position from the set Si := f1; 2; : : : ; 10g. The voters are equally distributed across these ten positions. Voters vote for the candidate whose position is closest to theirs. If the two candidates are equidistant from a given position, the voters at that position split their votes equally. The aim of the candidates is to maximize their percentage of the total vote. Thus, for example, u1 (8; 8) = 50 and u1 (7; 8) = 70. Hint: in answering this question, you do not need to write out the full payo matrices! ] (a) In class, we showed that strategy 2 strictly dominates strategy 1. In fact, other strategies strictly dominate s trategy 1. Find all the strategies that strictly dominate strategy 1. Explain your answer. [Hint: try some guesses and see if they work. ] (b) Suppose now that there are three candidates. Thus, for example, u1 (8; 8; 8) = _ _ 33:3 and u1 (7; 9; 9) = 73:3. Is strategy 1 dominated, strictly or weakly, by strategy 2. How about by strategy 3? Explain. Suppose we delete strategies 1 and 10.That is, we rule out the possibility of any candidate choosing either 1 or 10, although there are still voters at those positions. Is strategy 2 dominated, strictly or weakly, by any other (pure) strategy si in the reduced game? Explain. 4. Strength can be weakness†. A three-person committee has to choose a winner for a national art prize. After some debate, there are three candidates still under consideration: a woman who draws antelope in urban settings, a man who makes rectangular lead boxes, and a woman who sculpts charcoal. Lets call these candidates a, b and c; and call the committee member s 1,2 and 3.The preferences of the committee members are as follows: member 1 prefers a to b and b to c; member 2 prefers c to a and a to b; and member 3 prefers b to c and c to a. The rules of the competition say that, if they disagree, they should vote (secret ballot, one member one vote) and that, if and only if the vote is tied, the winner will be the candidate for whom member 1 voted. Thus, it might seem that member 1 has an advantage. (a) Consider this voting game. Each voter has three strategies: a, b, or c. For each voter, which strategies are weakly or strictly dominated? Hints. Be especially careful in the case of voter 1. To answer this question, you do not need to know the exact payo s: any payo s will do provided that they are consistent with the preference orders given above. To answer this question, you do not have to write out matrices]. (b) Now consider the reduced game in which all weakly and strictly dominated strategies have been removed. For each voter, which st rategies are now weakly or strictly dominated? What is the predicted outcome of the vote? Compare this outcome to voter 1's preferences and comment. 2 Problem Set 1 Problem Set 1 Ben Polak, Econ 159a/MGT522a. Four Questions due September 19, 2007. 1. Strictly and Weakly Dominated Strategies? What is the de nition of a strictly dominated strategy? What is the de nition of a weakly dominated strategy? Give an example of a two-player game matrix where one player has three strategies, one of which is strictly dominated; and the other player has three strategies, one of which is weakly (but not strictly) dominated. Indicate the dominated strategies. 2. Iterative Deletion of (weakly) Dominated two-player game 2 l c T 1; 1 0; 1 1 M 1; 0 2; 2 D 1; 3 3; 1 Strategies Consider the following r 3; 1 1; 3 2; 2 a) Are there any strictly dominated strategies? Are there any weakly dominated strategies? If so, explain what dominates what and how. (b) After deleting any strictly or weakly dominated strategies, are there any strictly or weakly dominated strategies in the `reduced' game? If so, explain what dominates what and how. What is left? (c) Go back to your a rgument for deleting in the rst `round' and recall what dominated what and how. Compare this with what was deleted in the `second' round. Comment on how this might make you a bit cautious when iteratively deleting weakly dominated strategies? . Hotelling's Location Game. Recall the voting game we discussed in class. There are two candidates, each of whom chooses a position from the set Si := f1; 2; : : : ; 10g. The voters are equally distributed across these ten positions. Voters vote for the candidate whose position is closest to theirs. If the two candidates are equidistant from a given position, the voters at that position split their votes equally. The aim of the candidates is to maximize their percentage of the total vote. Thus, for example, u1 (8; 8) = 50 and u1 (7; 8) = 70. Hint: in answering this question, you do not need to write out the full payo matrices! ] (a) In class, we showed that strategy 2 strictly dominates strategy 1. In fact, other strategies strictly dominate s trategy 1. Find all the strategies that strictly dominate strategy 1. Explain your answer. [Hint: try some guesses and see if they work. ] (b) Suppose now that there are three candidates. Thus, for example, u1 (8; 8; 8) = _ _ 33:3 and u1 (7; 9; 9) = 73:3. Is strategy 1 dominated, strictly or weakly, by strategy 2. How about by strategy 3? Explain. Suppose we delete strategies 1 and 10.That is, we rule out the possibility of any candidate choosing either 1 or 10, although there are still voters at those positions. Is strategy 2 dominated, strictly or weakly, by any other (pure) strategy si in the reduced game? Explain. 4. Strength can be weakness†. A three-person committee has to choose a winner for a national art prize. After some debate, there are three candidates still under consideration: a woman who draws antelope in urban settings, a man who makes rectangular lead boxes, and a woman who sculpts charcoal. Lets call these candidates a, b and c; and call the committee member s 1,2 and 3.The preferences of the committee members are as follows: member 1 prefers a to b and b to c; member 2 prefers c to a and a to b; and member 3 prefers b to c and c to a. The rules of the competition say that, if they disagree, they should vote (secret ballot, one member one vote) and that, if and only if the vote is tied, the winner will be the candidate for whom member 1 voted. Thus, it might seem that member 1 has an advantage. (a) Consider this voting game. Each voter has three strategies: a, b, or c. For each voter, which strategies are weakly or strictly dominated? Hints. Be especially careful in the case of voter 1. To answer this question, you do not need to know the exact payo s: any payo s will do provided that they are consistent with the preference orders given above. To answer this question, you do not have to write out matrices]. (b) Now consider the reduced game in which all weakly and strictly dominated strategies have been removed. For each voter, which st rategies are now weakly or strictly dominated? What is the predicted outcome of the vote? Compare this outcome to voter 1's preferences and comment. 2

Moving to a New House

Annonymous Professor Licata Enc 1101 W, 17 21 Oct. 2011 We Need More Room To hear the news of my mother’s new pregnancy was quite an excitement, yet I knew I would have to discuss with my mother why I believed it would be of essence to move to a much bigger house, this would mean that the new triplets would have a room of their own, and my brother Alex and I could have one as well. I informed my mother of the three important differences between our real house and our dream home would be the size, amenities, and location are more important factors with a larger family. One important difference between our real home and our dream home would be size. Our current home is only 1,007 square feet. This is not going to be sufficient space for our increasing family. Like two lions fighting over whom will eat the buffalo, we would be fighting over living space, specially with eight people living in an overcrowded house that has only two bedrooms and one bathroom. If we moved to a house that was 6,589 square feet, 6 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms, we would be more contented with all the additional space. No more fussing about who gets to use the bathroom next. Like animals, humans are also very territorial, and the less space we have to live in, the more hostile our environment becomes. A more important difference between our real house and our dream house would be amenities. Seeing as to how we are a family that loves to watch movies and have family time after dinner, having a Sony WEGA 32 inch television is not cutting it for us. There are times when the quality of the TV is so terrible, that we cannot even recognize the different colors being displayed on the screen. â€Å"Tell me it wouldn’t be better if we had our own Yalos Diamond LCD TV in our new home! † I said to her. Everyone could sit around the TV and enjoy more flicks, with an HD quality. â€Å"Also, you wouldn’t have to worry about me and Alex ever fighting about who gets to use the Nintendo 64 Next during our family time. † In our dream house we would have our own gaming room filled with a WII, Xbox 360, and Play Stations. Although, amenities are important, they are not the most important difference as to why we should move to a bigger house. The most important difference between our current home and our dream home would have to be location. â€Å"But what does Location have to do with anything that matters? † asked my mom as she sat on the small rocking chair outside our front door. â€Å"It makes a big difference mom! † I exclaimed to her. We live in a neighborhood called Oakridge in Orlando, Florida. This is an exceptionally dangerous area to be at late at night, and to make matters worse, a reporter from the News 13 said and I quote â€Å"This is a neighborhood where the criminal and robbery rate are occurring more often. † We live in the poor regions of Oakridge where we are most vulnerable to all these approaching dangers. â€Å"Do you really want to bring three baby infants into this environment? † However, if we were to move to Windermere, we would still be able to live in Orlando, Florida and in a more family oriented, safe environment. Mom, they are a gated community, no more distressing about break-ins or somebody robbing us. Everyone would be safe and secure at all times. Our family can finally be at ease mom. † To conclude all, the three differences between our real house and dream house are very important because of the new triplets. It would be in our best interest to move to our dream house. We would all live more comfortably in a larger size home , have extra fun during our family time thanks to the additional amenities, and our family will be much safer in the new location we move to.

Conformity and Obedience

Conformity and Obedience. In order to answer the question it is first necessary to define conformity and obedience. According to Woods, (2001 p. 107): ‘ We often adjust our actions or opinions so that they fit in well with those of other people. This is known as social conformity †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ ’ And Gross, (2001 pg. 392) stated that: Obedience is affected by direction (from somebody in higher authority). This essay will explore circumstances in which we are likely to conform; or obey others. This will be done by drawing on research carried out by Milgram, Asch, Crutchfield and Zimbardo.There are many ways in which we conform; some are useful others are not. For example, if we did not conform and adhere to the Highway Code there would be absolute chaos on our roads and lives would be at risk. At the other end of the scale we have the horrific example of ‘blind’ obedience in relation to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany in the 1930’s – 40’s. In this situation Hitler’s soldiers obeyed and carried out their orders without question because their orders came from a legitimate authority. (Mcilveen & Gross, 1999, pp. 79-80).In 1963 Stanley Milgram carried out a psychological experiment to try to discover why so many people co-operated and committed such atrocities in the concentration camps. This experiment involved groups of two people one – a confederate – played the part of a student trying to remember different words. The other person who was the subject played the role of a teacher and gave him the test. The teacher was told to ‘shock’ the ‘student’ every time he missed a word. Milgram thought that most people wouldn’t shock another human being and especially not all the way up to deadly levels of electricity.However, I transpired that 63% were obedient to their instructor (since he was the one in a position of power) and went all the way up to 450v which was lethal ( Hayes, 2000 pp. 50-51). Experiments carried out by Solomon Asch (1995) showed how easy it is to make people conform. In one of his experiments Asch used groups of 6-8 people who were told they were participating in a study on visual perception. He presented these subjects with 2 cards. On one card was a single ‘standard’ line; on the other were 3 ‘comparison’ lines. Participants were asked to judge which of the comparison lines were equal in length to the ‘standard’ line.Each of Asch’s groups only contained one real subject – the rest were confederates. Asch instructed each of the confederates to give the same wrong answer. There was a 75% conformity rate of the participants, meaning that they gave the same answer as the confederates, showing that people do not want to ‘appear different’ (Gross, 2001 pg. 382). However, researchers discovered that if the participants were alloed to give their answers away from the grou p, then conformity decreased. If people were allowed to give their answers in private, then it is found that they will be less likely to be swayed by other people’s opinions.Again, in experiments, researchers like Asch (1955) have discovered that if the task is ambiguous or the problem made harder, then conformity levels are likely to increase. Under conditions where the problem is less obvious, then people are likely to go with the majority of the group (Gross, 2001 pg. 383). An experiment carried out by Crutchfield (1954) found that pressure to conform can also occur without face to face communication. In this particular study each participant was placed in a separate booth facing a screen which displayed questions and what they believed were answers of the other participants.The questions were simple and the answers obvious. In around half the cases the answers were incorrect. Each participant was led to believe they were the last to answer having seen the other answers. C rutchfield in fact placed the answers there. This experiment suggests that in certain situations people will conform to avoid being the ‘odd one out’ and labelled as a social outcast. In addition, the fear of rejection by peers helps to assure that conformity is guaranteed. Crutchfields’ experiment found that 37% of the participants conformed all the time which shows that conformity can occur even without face to face contact.Both these experiments show that people will go with a group norm and conform to other people who they might not even know (Mcilveen & Gross, 1999 pg. 73). Clearly, there are several reasons why we conform i. e. we don’t want to be seen as troublesome or a nuisance – the psychological term being ‘compliance’. Perhaps we simply wish to be accepted into a group ‘normative influence’ (Gross 2001 p. 386). We may also feel that we are amongst people who are more knowledgeable than us and that we have no rig ht to argue, which is termed ‘information social influence’ (Mcilveen & Gross, 1999 pg. 4). It could be argued that conformity studies are often designed to illustrate the dangers of conformity, and the following study could be seen as an example of this. ‘The Stanford Prison Experiment’ was carried out in 1973 by Zimbardo. It involved taking at random 24 men who responded to a newspaper advertisement asking for volunteers to take part in a psychological study on prison life. A mock prison was created and the volunteers were given ‘roles’ of either guards or prisoners.This experiment found that the guards conformed to the roles expected of them in that they took charge of the prisoners and treated them cruelly and the prisoners conformed to their roles in that they allowed this to happen and did not say that they wanted to stop the experiment. Some even asked for parole instead of requesting that the experiment be terminated. The level of confo rmity in this study was exceptionally high to the extent that the ‘prisoners’ became very distressed and the experiment had to be aborted on day 6 – it was planned to last 2 weeks (Class notes, March 2005).Research also shows that levels of conformity are likely to increase if the status of the people in the rest of the group is high. Low status people are likely to conform more to high status people, especially if those people are in some form of authority (Mcilveen & Gross, 1999 pg. 77). Without doubt all societies require a certain level of conformity in order to function as a society. If social norms are not adhered there would be confusion and disorder. However, what research has shown is that anyone is capable of conforming/obeying under the right circumstances or situations.It is also evident that the circumstances in which we conform or obey can be seen as positive or negative and although it is not always the case, it is usually a positive social influen ce. In the UK today we live in a society which places great value on the individual: ‘†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. there is a great emphasis on individual responsibility to contribute to society. ’ (Alcock et al, 1999 pg. 41) we are expected to contribute, conform and obey. Following like sheep may be regarded s weak, however, the fact remains that many of us conform i. e. religion, fashion, politics.In addition to these factors it is important to mention that non-conformity also has its place in society because if there were total conformity there would be no change, no improvement, or new ideas. For many, life may well be a struggle – battling with the desire to be an ‘individual’ and also having to ‘conform’ to how society expects them to be, think and do. It could be argued that conformity and obedience are necessary elements of society as conformity and obedience helps create a stable society. From an early age we have been instructed to obey a nd conform as we grow up we continue to be exposed to these pressures i. . our parents demand obedience, friends require us to be ‘part of the crowd,’ teachers demand homework, our religion tells us what to believe and the government expects us to obey the law and pay our taxes. Culturally too we are expected to conform i. e. arranged marriages, customs, traditions and dress. In conclusion, with regard to the experiments that have been discussed in this essay it is important to remember that they are just that – experiments, and it is difficult to know for certain what would actually happen in the ‘real world. References. WOODS, B. Basics in Psychology. 2nd edn. London. Hodder & Stoughton Educational. GROSS, R. 2001. PSYCHOLOGY. The science of the mind & behaviour. 4th edn. London. Hodder & Stoughton Educational. MCILVEEN, R & GROSS, R. 1999. Social Psychology. 2nd edn. London. Hodder & Stoughton Educational. HAYES, N. 1994. Principles of Social Psychology. East Sussex. Psychology Press Ltd. ALCOCK, P. , ERKSINE, A. , MAY, M. 1998. The Students Companion to Social Policy. Oxford. Blackwell Publishers Ltd. Conformity and Obedience Conformity and Obedience Assignment In this assignment I intend to evaluate Stanley Milgrams studies of obedience and in particular the ethical issues broken. I hope to determine whether the knowledge gained justifies his experiments. After the destruction and atrocities committed in World War II many historians argued that there must be some sort of character defect that made the German people more obedient. Mailgram’s study was an attempt to test ‘the Germans are different’ hypothesis. The hypothesis states that Germans are more likely a person or people in authority regardless of what the act is. Social psychology handbook pg. 8) Milgram conducted an experiment into the nature of obedience in 1963 at the prestigious Yale University. The aim of the experiment was to investigate the level of obedience participant would go to in giving electric shocks to another person when ordered to by an authority figure. (Social psychology handbook pg. 8) Milgram issued an adv ertisement in a local paper requesting people aged 20-50 from all walks of life, excluding students to take part in an experiment at Yale University. The experiment would last an hour and the pay was four dollars fifty.The participants were told they were getting paid for coming to the laboratory regardless of the results of the experiment. (Gross, 2010, pg. 416) 40 male participants were selected; they arrived at Yale university psychology department and were greeted by a young man dressed in a lab coat. He introduced himself as Jack Williams, the experimenter. He was to appear stern and emotionless throughout the experiment. There was also another participant introduced as a likeable and mild-mannered man named Mr Wallace, he was a confederate and everything from here on has been pre-planned except the results of course. Gross, 2010, pg. 416) The participant were given a short introduction and told the aim of the experiment was to assess the effects of punishment on learning. The participant was then asked to pick a piece of paper out a hat to determine who would be playing the role of the teacher, and who was to play the learner. This was rigged in order for the experiment to work; Mr Wallace was always the learner and the participant the teacher. Next they were all led into an adjoining room and the learner (Mr Wallace) was strapped in full view of the participant into the electric chair and electrodes were attracted to his arms and legs.The teacher (the participant) was told that the electrodes were attracted to the shock generator next room. The generator was a convincing fake created by Milgram. The participant and the experimenter went into the next room where the generator was. The teacher gave a 45 volt shock to convince them that it was real. The volt was battery power and not attached to the mains. The generator switches were labelled with voltage levels and verbal descriptions from: 15-60 slight shock up in intervals of 15 volts to 435-450 XXX. Gr oss, 2010, pg. 416) The learner was asked to memorise a series of paired words. The teacher was to then test the learner by giving him one the words in a pair along with four different words. The learner then had to answer which of the four words had originally been paired with the first one. The learners answer was indicated by one of the four switches which lit up one of four lights on the generator machine. If the learner gave the correct answer, then they moved onto the next question.If the answer was wrong the teacher had to tell the learner the correct answer, and then say that they were going to give them a shock which went up higher 15 volts each time an incorrect answer was given. . (Gross, 2010, pg. 216). In the first experiment known as the ‘remote-victim condition’ the leaner was to give vocal response until 300 volts was used, then the learner was scripted to start pounding on the wall and after 315 volts were administrated to stop. In the second experiment the responses were voice recorded ‘voice feedback’ and the teacher was to believe these were the reactions of the learner from being shocked.For example at 75 volts he made a grunt, at 150 he cried out and refused to be part of experiment asking to be set loose, at 315 he screamed out in pain and finally after 330 volts no sound could be heard. The teacher was instructed that if an answer was not given then it was to be treated as an incorrect answer and a shock was still to be given. If the teacher was to turn to the experimenter for guidance on whether to carry on giving shocks or indicate that they didn’t want to go on the experimenter would reply with a series of ‘prods’.The ‘prods’ were responses such as ‘please continue’ ‘the experiment requires that you continue’ or ‘It’s absolutely essential that you continue’. These ‘prods’ were to be repeated in a sequence for example if ‘prod 1’ was unsuccessful then only could ‘prod 2’ be used if the learner disobeyed after the fourth ‘prod’ the experiment was to end. There was also a special prod used in case the participant was concerned on the physical state of the learner, which was ‘although the shocks may be painful, there is no permanent tissue damage, so please go on. ((Social psychology handbook pg. 11/12). After experiment the participants were introduced to the victim again to prove that he was unharmed. They were debriefed using open ended questions and psychometric measures were used to make sure the participants left the experiment unharmed. Milgram found the results quite shocking and unpredictable. In the first ‘remote victim’ experiment all participants went up to at least 300 volts when the learner pounded on the wall, 65 per cent went all the way to 450 volts.In the second ‘voice feedback’ condition 62. 5 per cent went to the lethal 450 volts. He also found even though the participants hesitated and objected they still continued with the experiment. Although many were observed to tremble, stutter, dig their nails into their palms and even laugh, one participant had a seizure. (Gross, 2010, pg. 416/417). Milgram evaluated his own experiment and devised nine factors that could explain the reason why such high levels of conformity were visible. To test the factors he devised further versions of his experiment.I believe that this strengthens the experiment the amount of control that Milgram was able to give and the different variations helped to strengthen Milgrams conclusion as to why we obey people in authority. (Gross, 2010, pg. 417). A weakness of the experiment is the sample used is not representable to the rest of the American population and can’t be generalised. Only males who read the advert and were prepared to take part in a laboratory experiment were used Milgrams have been accused of d eliberately using an ethnocentric sample. Class notes) I also believe that the experiment was not ecologically valid as laboratory is not considered a normal situation and this could contributed to the experiment having demand characteristics as the participant might have thought that they were in an controlled safe environment and were also encouraged to do so by the experimenter. Another big weakness of the experiment and one that Milgram has been heavily criticised on is ethics. Ethical guidelines are necessary to clarify the conditions under which psychological research is acceptable. British psychological society) (Ethics PowerPoint Moodle). Baumrind (1964) argued that Milgram’s participants had been abused, their feelings not taken into consideration, and not enough was done to protect them from emotional and psychological stress. (Gross, 210, pg. 779) Part of the reason ethical guidelines were brought into force was because of Milgram’s experiment. In my opinion certain ethical guideless were broken, such as no deception should be used, and participants should be informed of all aspects of the experiment unless there is no alternative.Milgram clearly didn’t tell the participant that the learner was an actor and the ‘shock generator’ a fake. I’m sure that this breaks another ethic which is protection, meaning that the participants must not suffer any physical of psychological damage. I believe the participants did receive some emotional stress from the experiment to begin with. It’s argued that Milgram did not take suitable measures to ensure this didn’t happen, but Milgram argues that didn’t predict his results and they were unexpected.That could be believable that Milgram believed the participants would not need protection, but after seeing the distress caused in his first experiment why continue repeating it 17 more times? The participant’s right to withdraw was also breached. All pa rticipants must be informed of their right to withdraw without losing any payment and the results from these must be removed from the records. This wasn’t made clear and the ‘prods’ used strongly suggest to the participant that withdrawal isn’t possible.There is also another important issue broken; consent was not given as the participants were not fully informed of what was happening in the experiment. However milgram argues that the participants were shown that Mr Wallace was unharmed after experiment and a debriefing was issued. A year after the experiment an independent psychologist interviewed the participants used, and found that no evidence of any lasting psychological damage was apparent. He also argues that the experimenter didn’t make the participant shock anyone, they choose to do it themselves milgram wanted everyone to have free will. Social psychology handbook pg. 14/15) To answer the question is Milgrams experiment justified the answe r I believe is yes. Although certain ethical issues are apparent such a situation was unavoidable, and as Milgram says â€Å"the central moral justification for allowing my experiment is that it was judged acceptable by those who took part in it† (â€Å"The Individual in a Social World†, Milgram 1977) Its seems that it was necessary to brake certain rules in order for the experiment to be completed and more real to life.If Milgram’s participants were to be fully informed his results would not be real to life and his experiment a failure. I believe the experiment was very powerful and although unethical the results were important in the study of obedience. Bibliography Ethical Guidelines and Social Research, PowerPoint Presentation on Moodle available @ https://moodle. lincolncollege. ac. uk/AAE/course/view. php? id=361 Gross, R. (2010) Psychology: The science of mind and behaviour, sixth edition, London, Hodder Education. Social Psychology Unit Handbook handed o ut September 2011 by Lynn Train-Brown. Conformity and Obedience Conformity and Obedience. In order to answer the question it is first necessary to define conformity and obedience. According to Woods, (2001 p. 107): ‘ We often adjust our actions or opinions so that they fit in well with those of other people. This is known as social conformity †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ ’ And Gross, (2001 pg. 392) stated that: Obedience is affected by direction (from somebody in higher authority). This essay will explore circumstances in which we are likely to conform; or obey others. This will be done by drawing on research carried out by Milgram, Asch, Crutchfield and Zimbardo.There are many ways in which we conform; some are useful others are not. For example, if we did not conform and adhere to the Highway Code there would be absolute chaos on our roads and lives would be at risk. At the other end of the scale we have the horrific example of ‘blind’ obedience in relation to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany in the 1930’s – 40’s. In this situation Hitler’s soldiers obeyed and carried out their orders without question because their orders came from a legitimate authority. (Mcilveen & Gross, 1999, pp. 79-80).In 1963 Stanley Milgram carried out a psychological experiment to try to discover why so many people co-operated and committed such atrocities in the concentration camps. This experiment involved groups of two people one – a confederate – played the part of a student trying to remember different words. The other person who was the subject played the role of a teacher and gave him the test. The teacher was told to ‘shock’ the ‘student’ every time he missed a word. Milgram thought that most people wouldn’t shock another human being and especially not all the way up to deadly levels of electricity.However, I transpired that 63% were obedient to their instructor (since he was the one in a position of power) and went all the way up to 450v which was lethal ( Hayes, 2000 pp. 50-51). Experiments carried out by Solomon Asch (1995) showed how easy it is to make people conform. In one of his experiments Asch used groups of 6-8 people who were told they were participating in a study on visual perception. He presented these subjects with 2 cards. On one card was a single ‘standard’ line; on the other were 3 ‘comparison’ lines. Participants were asked to judge which of the comparison lines were equal in length to the ‘standard’ line.Each of Asch’s groups only contained one real subject – the rest were confederates. Asch instructed each of the confederates to give the same wrong answer. There was a 75% conformity rate of the participants, meaning that they gave the same answer as the confederates, showing that people do not want to ‘appear different’ (Gross, 2001 pg. 382). However, researchers discovered that if the participants were alloed to give their answers away from the grou p, then conformity decreased. If people were allowed to give their answers in private, then it is found that they will be less likely to be swayed by other people’s opinions.Again, in experiments, researchers like Asch (1955) have discovered that if the task is ambiguous or the problem made harder, then conformity levels are likely to increase. Under conditions where the problem is less obvious, then people are likely to go with the majority of the group (Gross, 2001 pg. 383). An experiment carried out by Crutchfield (1954) found that pressure to conform can also occur without face to face communication. In this particular study each participant was placed in a separate booth facing a screen which displayed questions and what they believed were answers of the other participants.The questions were simple and the answers obvious. In around half the cases the answers were incorrect. Each participant was led to believe they were the last to answer having seen the other answers. C rutchfield in fact placed the answers there. This experiment suggests that in certain situations people will conform to avoid being the ‘odd one out’ and labelled as a social outcast. In addition, the fear of rejection by peers helps to assure that conformity is guaranteed. Crutchfields’ experiment found that 37% of the participants conformed all the time which shows that conformity can occur even without face to face contact.Both these experiments show that people will go with a group norm and conform to other people who they might not even know (Mcilveen & Gross, 1999 pg. 73). Clearly, there are several reasons why we conform i. e. we don’t want to be seen as troublesome or a nuisance – the psychological term being ‘compliance’. Perhaps we simply wish to be accepted into a group ‘normative influence’ (Gross 2001 p. 386). We may also feel that we are amongst people who are more knowledgeable than us and that we have no rig ht to argue, which is termed ‘information social influence’ (Mcilveen & Gross, 1999 pg. 4). It could be argued that conformity studies are often designed to illustrate the dangers of conformity, and the following study could be seen as an example of this. ‘The Stanford Prison Experiment’ was carried out in 1973 by Zimbardo. It involved taking at random 24 men who responded to a newspaper advertisement asking for volunteers to take part in a psychological study on prison life. A mock prison was created and the volunteers were given ‘roles’ of either guards or prisoners.This experiment found that the guards conformed to the roles expected of them in that they took charge of the prisoners and treated them cruelly and the prisoners conformed to their roles in that they allowed this to happen and did not say that they wanted to stop the experiment. Some even asked for parole instead of requesting that the experiment be terminated. The level of confo rmity in this study was exceptionally high to the extent that the ‘prisoners’ became very distressed and the experiment had to be aborted on day 6 – it was planned to last 2 weeks (Class notes, March 2005).Research also shows that levels of conformity are likely to increase if the status of the people in the rest of the group is high. Low status people are likely to conform more to high status people, especially if those people are in some form of authority (Mcilveen & Gross, 1999 pg. 77). Without doubt all societies require a certain level of conformity in order to function as a society. If social norms are not adhered there would be confusion and disorder. However, what research has shown is that anyone is capable of conforming/obeying under the right circumstances or situations.It is also evident that the circumstances in which we conform or obey can be seen as positive or negative and although it is not always the case, it is usually a positive social influen ce. In the UK today we live in a society which places great value on the individual: ‘†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. there is a great emphasis on individual responsibility to contribute to society. ’ (Alcock et al, 1999 pg. 41) we are expected to contribute, conform and obey. Following like sheep may be regarded s weak, however, the fact remains that many of us conform i. e. religion, fashion, politics.In addition to these factors it is important to mention that non-conformity also has its place in society because if there were total conformity there would be no change, no improvement, or new ideas. For many, life may well be a struggle – battling with the desire to be an ‘individual’ and also having to ‘conform’ to how society expects them to be, think and do. It could be argued that conformity and obedience are necessary elements of society as conformity and obedience helps create a stable society. From an early age we have been instructed to obey a nd conform as we grow up we continue to be exposed to these pressures i. . our parents demand obedience, friends require us to be ‘part of the crowd,’ teachers demand homework, our religion tells us what to believe and the government expects us to obey the law and pay our taxes. Culturally too we are expected to conform i. e. arranged marriages, customs, traditions and dress. In conclusion, with regard to the experiments that have been discussed in this essay it is important to remember that they are just that – experiments, and it is difficult to know for certain what would actually happen in the ‘real world. References. WOODS, B. Basics in Psychology. 2nd edn. London. Hodder & Stoughton Educational. GROSS, R. 2001. PSYCHOLOGY. The science of the mind & behaviour. 4th edn. London. Hodder & Stoughton Educational. MCILVEEN, R & GROSS, R. 1999. Social Psychology. 2nd edn. London. Hodder & Stoughton Educational. HAYES, N. 1994. Principles of Social Psychology. East Sussex. Psychology Press Ltd. ALCOCK, P. , ERKSINE, A. , MAY, M. 1998. The Students Companion to Social Policy. Oxford. Blackwell Publishers Ltd.