Saturday, August 31, 2019

Definitions of Attitude Essay

An attitude can be defined as a positive or negative evaluation of people, objects, event, activities, ideas, or just about anything in your environment, but there is debate about precise definitions. Eagly and Chaiken, for example, define an attitude â€Å"a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor.†[2] Though it is sometimes common to define an attitude as affect toward an object, affect (i.e., discrete emotions or overall arousal) is generally understood to be distinct from attitude as a measure of favorability.[3] This definition of attitude allows for one’s evaluation of an attitude object to vary from extremely negative to extremely positive, but also admits that people can also be conflicted or ambivalent toward an object meaning that they might at different times express both positive and negative attitude toward the same object. This has led to some discussion of whether individual can hold multiple attitudes toward the same object.[4] Whether attitudes are explicit (i.e., deliberately formed) versus implicit (i.e., subconscious) has been a topic of considerable research. Research on implicit attitudes, which are generally unacknowledged or outside of awareness, uses sophisticated methods involving people’s response times to stimuli to show that implicit attitudes exist (perhaps in tandem with explicit attitudes of the same object). Implicit and explicit attitudes seem to affect people’s behavior, though in different ways. They tend not to be strongly associated with each other, although in some cases they are. The relationship between them is poorly understood. Jung’s definition Attitude is one of Jung’s 57 definitions in Chapter XI of Psychological Types. Jung’s definition of attitude is a â€Å"readiness of the psyche to act or react in a certain way† (Jung, [1921] 1971:par. 687). Attitudes very often come in pairs, one conscious and the other unconscious. Within this broad definition Jung defines several attitudes. The main (but not only) attitude dualities that Jung defines are the following. †¢ Consciousness and the unconscious. The â€Å"presence of two attitudes is extremely frequent, one conscious and the other unconscious. This means that consciousness has a constellation of contents different from that of the unconscious, a duality particularly evident in neurosis† (Jung, [1921] 1971: par. 687). †¢ Extraversion and introversion. This pair is so elementary to Jung’s theory of types that he labeled them the â€Å"attitude-types†. †¢ Rational and irrational attitudes. â€Å"I conceive reason as an attitude† (Jung, [1921] 1971: par. 785). †¢ The rational attitude subdivides into the thinking and feeling psychological functions, each with its attitude. †¢ The irrational attitude subdivides into the sensing and intuition psychological functions, each with its attitude. â€Å"There is thus a typical thinking, feeling, sensation, and intuitive attitude† (Jung, [1921] 1971: par. 691). †¢ Individual and social attitudes. Many of the latter are â€Å"isms†. In addition, Jung discusses the abstract attitude. â€Å"When I take an abstract attitude†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Jung, [1921] 1971: par. 679). Abstraction is contrasted with concretism. â€Å"CONCRETISM. By this I mean a peculiarity of thinking and feeling which is the antithesis of abstraction† (Jung, [1921] 1971: par. 696). For example: â€Å"I hate his attitude for being Sarcastic.† Pasted from The classic, tripartite view offered by William J. McGuire[9] is that an attitude contains cognitive, affective, and behavioral components. Empirical research, however, fails to support clear distinctions between thoughts, emotions, and behavioral intentions associated with a particular attitude.[10] A criticism of the tripartite view of attitudes is that it requires cognitive, affective, and behavioral associations of an attitude to be consistent, but this may be implausible. Thus some views of attitude structure see the cognitive and behavioral components as derivative of affect or affect and behavior as derivative of underlying beliefs.[11] Despite debate about the particular structure of attitudes, there is considerable evidence that attitudes reflect more than evaluations of a particular object that vary from positive to negative. Attitudes also have other characteristics, such as importance, certainty, or accessibility (measures of attitude strength) and associated knowledge.[12] There is also considerable interest in inter-attitudinal structure, which connects different attitudes to one another and to more underlying psychological structures, such as values or ideology.[13] Attitude function Another classic view of attitudes is that attitudes serve particular functions for individuals. That is, researchers have tried to understand why individuals hold particular attitudes or why they hold attitudes in general by considering how attitudes affect the individuals who hold them.[14] Daniel Katz, for example, writes that attitudes can serve â€Å"instrumental, adjustive or utilitarian,† â€Å"ego-defensive,† â€Å"value-expressive,† or â€Å"knowledge† functions.[15] The functional view of attitudes suggests that in order for attitudes to change (e.g., via persuasion), appeals must be made to the function(s) that a particular attitude serves for the individual. As an example, the â€Å"ego-defensive† function might be used to influence the racially prejudicial attitudes of an individual who sees themselves as open-minded and tolerant. By appealing to that individual’s image of themselves as tolerant and open-minded, it may be possible to change their prejudicial attitudes to be more consistent with their self-concept. Similarly, a persuasive message that threatens self-image is much more likely to be rejected.[16] Attitude formation According to Doob (1947), learning can account for most of the attitudes we hold. Theories of classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning and social learning are mainly responsible for formation of attitude. Unlike personality, attitudes are expected to change as a function of experience. Tesser (1993) has argued that hereditary variables may affect attitudes – but believes that they may do so indirectly. For example, consistency theories, which imply that we must be consistent in our beliefs and values. As with any type of heritability, to determine if a particular trait has a basis in our genes, twin studies are used.[17] The most famous example of such a theory is Dissonance-reduction theory, associated with Leon Festinger, which explains that when the components of an attitude (including belief and behavior) are at odds an individual may adjust one to match the other (for example, adjusting a belief to match a behavior).[18] Other theories include balance theory, origincally proposed by Heider (1958), and the self-perception theory, originally proposed by Daryl Bem.[19] Attitude change Main article: Attitude change Attitudes can be changed through persuasion and an important domain of research on attitude change focuses on responses to communication. Experimental research into the factors that can affect the persuasiveness of a message include: 1. Target Characteristics: These are characteristics that refer to the person who receives and processes a message. One such trait is intelligence – it seems that more intelligent people are less easily persuaded by one-sided messages. Another variable that has been studied in this category is self-esteem. Although it is sometimes thought that those higher in self-esteem are less easily persuaded, there is some evidence that the relationship between self-esteem and persuasibility is actually curvilinear, with people of moderate self-esteem being more easily persuaded than both those of high and low self-esteem levels (Rhodes & Woods, 1992). The mind frame and mood of the target also plays a role in this process. 2. Source Characteristics: The major source characteristics are expertise, trustworthiness and interpersonal attraction or attractiveness. The credibility of a perceived message has been found to be a key variable here; if one reads a report about health and believes it came from a professional medical journal, one may be more easily persuaded than if one believes it is from a popular newspaper. Some psychologists have debated whether this is a long-lasting effect and Hovland and Weiss (1951) found the effect of telling people that a message came from a credible source disappeared after several weeks (the so-called â€Å"sleeper effect†). Whether there is a sleeper effect is controversial. Perceived wisdom is that if people are informed of the source of a message before hearing it, there is less likelihood of a sleeper effect than if they are told a message and then told its source. 3. Message Characteristics: The nature of the message plays a role in persuasion. Sometimes presenting both sides of a story is useful to help change attitudes. When people are not motivated to process the message, simply the number of arguments presented in a persuasive message will influence attitude change, such that a greater number of arguments will produce greater attitude change.[20] 4. Cognitive Routes: A message can appeal to an individual’s cognitive evaluation to help change an attitude. In the central route to persuasion the individual is presented with the data and motivated to evaluate the data and arrive at an attitude changing conclusion. In the peripheral route to attitude change, the individual is encouraged to not look at the content but at the source. This is commonly seen in modern advertisements that feature celebrities. In some cases, physician, doctors or experts are used. In other cases film stars are used for their attractiveness. Emotion and attitude change Emotion is a common component in persuasion, social influence, and attitude change. Much of attitude research emphasized the importance of affective or emotion components. Emotion works hand-in-hand with the cognitive process, or the way we think, about an issue or situation. Emotional appeals are commonly found in advertising, health campaigns and political messages. Recent examples include no-smoking health campaigns and political campaign advertising emphasizing the fear of terrorism. Attitudes and attitude objects are functions of cognitive, affective and conative components. Attitudes are part of the brain’s associative networks, the spider-like structures residing in long term memory that consist of affective and cognitive nodes. By activating an affective or emotion node, attitude change may be possible, though affective and cognitive components tend to be intertwined. In primarily affective networks, it is more difficult to produce cognitive counterarguments in the resistance to persuasion and attitude change. Affective forecasting, otherwise known as intuition or the prediction of emotion, also impacts attitude change. Research suggests that predicting emotions is an important component of decision making, in addition to the cognitive processes. How we feel about an outcome may override purely cognitive rationales. In terms of research methodology, the challenge for researchers is measuring emotion and subsequent impacts on attitude. Since we cannot see into the brain, various models and measurement tools have been constructed to obtain emotion and attitude information. Measures may include the use of physiological cues like facial expressions, vocal changes, and other body rate measures. For instance, fear is associated with raised eyebrows, increased heart rate and increase body tension (Dillard, 1994). Other methods include concept or network mapping, and using primes or word cues in the era . Components of emotion appeals Any discrete emotion can be used in a persuasive appeal; this may include jealousy, disgust, indignation, fear, blue, disturbed, haunted,and anger. Fear is one of the most studied emotional appeals in communication and social influence research. Important consequences of fear appeals and other emotion appeals include the possibility of reactance which may lead to either message rejections or source rejection and the absence of attitude change. As the EPPM suggests, there is an optimal emotion level in motivating attitude change. If there is not enough motivation, an attitude will not change; if the emotional appeal is overdone, the motivation can be paralyzed thereby preventing attitude change. Emotions perceived as negative or containing threat are often studied more than perceived positive emotions like humor. Though the inner-workings of humor are not agreed upon, humor appeals may work by creating incongruities in the mind. Recent research has looked at the impact of humor on the processing of political messages. While evidence is inconclusive, there appears to be potential for targeted attitude change is receivers with low political message involvement. Important factors that influence the impact of emotion appeals include self efficacy, attitude accessibility, issue involvement, and message/source features. Self efficacy is a perception of one’s own human agency; in other words, it is the perception of our own ability to deal with a situation. It is an important variable in emotion appeal messages because it dictates a person’s ability to deal with both the emotion and the situation. For example, if a person is not self-efficacious about their ability to impact the global environment, they are not likely to change their attitude or behavior about global warming. Dillard (1994) suggests that message features such as source non-verbal communication, message content, and receiver differences can impact the emotion impact of fear appeals. The characteristics of a message are important because one message can elicit different levels of emotion for different people. Thus, in terms of emotion appeals messages, one size does not fit all. Attitude accessibility refers to the activation of an attitude from memory in other words, how readily available is an attitude about an object, issue, or situation. Issue involvement is the relevance and salience of an issue or situation to an individual. Issue involvement has been correlated with both attitude access and attitude strength. Past studies conclude accessible attitudes are more resistant to change. Attitude-behavior relationship This section requires expansion. (September 2012) The effects of attitudes on behaviors represents a significant research enterprise within psychology. Two theoretical approaches have dominated this research: the theory of reasoned action[21] and, its theoretical descendant, the theory of planned behavior,[22] both of which are associated with Icek Ajzen. Both of these theories describe the link between attitude and behavior as a deliberative process, with an individual actively choosing to engage in an attitude-related behavior. An alternative model, called MODE for â€Å"Motivation and Opportunity as DEterminants† was proposed by Russell H. Fazio, which focuses on motivations and opportunities for deliberative attitude-related behavior to occur. MODE is a Dual process theory that expects deliberative attitude-behavior linkages – like those modeled by the theory of planned behavior – only occur when individuals have motivation to reflect upon their own attitudes. Pasted from Theory of reasoned action From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The theory of reasoned action (TRA), is a model for the prediction of behavioral intention, spanning predictions of attitude and predictions of behavior. The subsequent separation of behavioral intention from behavior allows for explanation of limiting factors on attitudinal influence (Ajzen, 1980). The Theory of Reasoned Action was developed by Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen (1975, 1980), derived from previous research that started out as the theory of attitude, which led to the study of attitude and behavior. The theory was â€Å"born largely out of frustration with traditional attitude–behavior research, much of which found weak correlations between attitude measures and performance of volitional behaviors† (Hale, Householder & Greene, 2003, p. 259). Pasted from Definition and example Derived from the social psychology setting, the theory of reasoned action (TRA) was proposed by Ajzen and Fishbein (1975 & 1980). The components of TRA are three general constructs: behavioral intention (BI), attitude (A), and subjective norm (SN). TRA suggests that a person’s behavioral intention depends on the person’s attitude about the behavior and subjective norms (BI = A + SN). If a person intends to do a behavior then it is likely that the person will do it. Behavioral intention measures a person’s relative strength of intention to perform a behavior. Attitude consists of beliefs about the consequences of performing the behavior multiplied by his or her evaluation of these consequences. (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) Subjective norm is seen as a combination of perceived expectations from relevant individuals or groups along with intentions to comply with these expectations. In other words, â€Å"the person’s perception that most people who are important to him or her think he should or should not perform the behavior in question† (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). To put the definition into simple terms: a person’s volitional (voluntary) behavior is predicted by his/her attitude toward that behavior and how he/she thinks other people would view them if they performed the behavior. A person’s attitude, combined with subjective norms, forms his/her behavioral intention. Fishbein and Ajzen say, though, that attitudes and norms are not weighted equally in predicting behavior. â€Å"Indeed, depending on the individual and the situation, these factors might be very different effects on behavioral intention; thus a weight is associated with each of these factors in the predictive formula of the theory. For example, you might be the kind of person who cares little for what others think. If this is the case, the subjective norms would carry little weight in predicting your behavior† (Miller, 2005, p. 127). Miller (2005) defines each of the three components of the theory as follows and uses the example of embarking on a new exercise program to illustrate the theory: †¢ Attitudes: the sum of beliefs about a particular behavior weighted by evaluations of these beliefs ââ€"‹ You might have the beliefs that exercise is good for your health, that exercise makes you look good, that exercise takes too much time, and that exercise is uncomfortable. Each of these beliefs can be weighted (e.g., health issues might be more important to you than issues of time and comfort). †¢ Subjective norms: looks at the influence of people in one’s social environment on his/her behavioral intentions; the beliefs of people, weighted by the importance one attributes to each of their opinions, will influence one’s behavioral intention ââ€"‹ You might have some friends who are avid exercisers and constantly encourage you to join them. However, your spouse might prefer a more sedentary lifestyle and scoff at those who work out. The beliefs of these people, weighted by the importance you attribute to each of their opinions, will influence your behavioral intention to exercise, which will lead to your behavior to exercise or not exercise. †¢ Behavioral intention: a function of both attitudes toward a behavior and subjective norms toward that behavior, which has been found to predict actual behavior. ââ€"‹ Your attitudes about exercise combined with the subjective norms about exercise, each with their own weight, will lead you to your intention to exercise (or not), which will then lead to your actual behavior. Pasted from In psychology, the theory of planned behavior is a theory about the link between attitudes and behavior. The concept was proposed by Icek Ajzen to improve on the predictive power of the theory of reasoned action by including perceived behavioural control.[1] It is one of the most predictive persuasion theories. It has been applied to studies of the relations among beliefs, attitudes, behavioral intentions and behaviors in various fields such as advertising, public relations, advertising campaigns and healthcare. The theory states that attitude toward behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, together shape an individual’s behavioral intentions and behaviors. Pasted from Extension from the theory of reasoned action The theory of planned behavior was proposed by Icek Ajzen in 1985 through his article â€Å"From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior.† The theory was developed from the theory of reasoned action, which was proposed by Martin Fishbein together with Icek Ajzen in 1975. The theory of reasoned action was in turn grounded in various theories of attitude such as learning theories, expectancy-value theories, consistency theories,[2] and attribution theory.[3] According to the theory of reasoned action, if people evaluate the suggested behavior as positive (attitude), and if they think their significant others want them to perform the behavior (subjective norm), this results in a higher intention (motivation) and they are more likely to do so. A high correlation of attitudes and subjective norms to behavioral intention, and subsequently to behavior, has been confirmed in many studies.[4] A counter-argument against the high relationship between behavioral intention and actual behavior has also been proposed, as the results of some studies show that, because of circumstantial limitations, behavioral intention does not always lead to actual behavior. Namely, since behavioral intention cannot be the exclusive determinant of behavior where an individual’s control over the behavior is incomplete, Ajzen introduced the theory of planned behavior by adding a new component, â€Å"perceived behavioral control.† By this, he extended the theory of reasoned action to cover non-volitional behaviors for predicting behavioral intention and actual behavior. Extension of self-efficacy In addition to attitudes and subjective norms (which make the theory of reasoned action), the theory of planned behavior adds the concept of perceived behavioral control, which originates from self-efficacy theory (SET). Self-efficacy was proposed by Bandura in 1977, which came from social cognitive theory. According to Bandura, expectations such as motivation, performance, and feelings of frustration associated with repeated failures determine effect and behavioral reactions. Bandura (1986)[full citation needed] separated expectations into two distinct types: self-efficacy and outcome expectancy. He defined self-efficacy as the conviction that one can successfully execute the behavior required to produce the outcomes. The outcome expectancy refers to a person’s estimation that a given behavior will lead to certain outcomes. He states that self-efficacy is the most important precondition for behavioral change, since it determines the initiation of coping behavior. Previous investigations have shown that peoples’ behavior is strongly influenced by their confidence in their ability to perform that behavior (Bandura, Adams, Hardy, & Howells, 1980).[full citation needed] As the self-efficacy theory contributes to explaining various relationships between beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behavior, the SET has been widely applied to health-related fields such as physical activity and mental health in preadolescents,[5] and exercise.[6] Concepts of key variables Behavioral beliefs and attitude toward behavior †¢ Behavioral belief: an individual’s belief about consequences of particular behavior. The concept is based on the subjective probability that the behavior will produce a given outcome. †¢ Attitude toward behavior: an individual’s positive or negative evaluation of self-performance of the particular behavior. The concept is the degree to which performance of the behavior is positively or negatively valued. It is determined by the total set of accessible behavioral beliefs linking the behavior to various outcomes and other attributes. Normative beliefs and subjective norms †¢ Normative belief: an individual’s perception about the particular behavior, which is influenced by the judgment of significant others (e.g., parents, spouse, friends, teachers).[7] †¢ Subjective norm: an individual’s perception of social normative pressures, or relevant others’ beliefs that he or she should or should not perform such behavior. Control beliefs and perceived behavioral control †¢ Perceived behavioral control: an individual’s perceived ease or difficulty of performing the particular behavior (Ajzen, 1988).[full citation needed] It is assumed that perceived behavioral control is determined by the total set of accessible control beliefs. †¢ Control beliefs: an individual’s beliefs about the presence of factors that may facilitate or impede performance of the behavior (Ajzen, 2001).[full citation needed] The concept of perceived behavioral control is conceptually related to self-efficacy. Behavioral intention and behavior †¢ Behavioral intention: an indication of an individual’s readiness to perform a given behavior. It is assumed to be an immediate antecedent of behavior (Ajzen, 2002b).[full citation needed] It is based on attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control, with each predictor weighted for its importance in relation to the behavior and population of interest. †¢ Behavior: an individual’s observable response in a given situation with respect to a given target. Ajzen said a behavior is a function of compatible intentions and perceptions of behavioral control in that perceived behavioral control is expected to moderate the effect of intention on behavior, such that a favorable intention produces the behavior only when perceived behavioral control is strong. Pasted from Cognitive dissonance is a term used in modern psychology to describe the feeling of discomfort when simultaneously holding two or more conflicting cognitions: ideas, beliefs, values or emotional reactions. In a state of dissonance, people may sometimes feel â€Å"disequilibrium†: frustration, hunger, dread, guilt, anger, embarrassment, anxiety, etc.[1] The phrase was coined by Leon Festinger in his 1956 book When Prophecy Fails, which chronicled the followers of a UFO cult as reality clashed with their fervent belief in an impending apocalypse.[2][3] Festinger subsequently published a book called â€Å"A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance†, published in 1957, in which he outlines the theory. Cognitive dissonance is one of the most influential and extensively studied theories in social psychology. The theory of cognitive dissonance in social psychology proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance by altering existing cognitions, adding new ones to create a consistent belief system, or alternatively by reducing the importance of any one of the dissonant elements.[1] It is the distressing mental state that people feel when they â€Å"find themselves doing things that don’t fit with what they know, or having opinions that do not fit with other opinions they hold.† [4] A key assumption is that people want their expectations to meet reality, creating a sense of equilibrium. [5] Likewise, another assumption is that a person will avoid situations or information sources that give rise to feelings of uneasiness, or dissonance.[1] Cognitive dissonance theory explains human behavior by positing that people have a bias to seek consonance between their expectations and reality. According to Festinger, people engage in a process he termed â€Å"dissonance reduction†, which can be achieved in one of three ways: lowering the importance of one of the discordant factors, adding consonant elements, or changing one of the dissonant factors.[6] This bias sheds light on otherwise puzzling, irrational, and even destructive behavior. Pasted from The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) of persuasion[1] is a dual process theory of how attitudes are formed and changed that was developed by Richard E. Petty and John Cacioppo in the early 1980s (see also attitude change). The model proposes an â€Å"elaboration continuum,† which determines the extent to which arguments are processed and evaluated (high elaboration) versus peripheral cues such as source expertise or attractiveness (low elaboration) shape persuasion. The model is similar to the Heuristic-systematic model of information processing developed around the same time by Shelly Chaiken. Pasted from Central route Central route processes require the audience to use a great deal more thought, and therefore are likely to predominate under conditions that promote high elaboration. Central route processes involve careful scrutiny of a persuasive communication (e.g., a speech, an advertisement, etc.) to determine the merits of the arguments. Under these conditions, a person’s unique cognitive responses to the message determine the persuasive outcome. If a person evaluates a message centrally as reliable, well-constructed, and convincing, it will often be received as favorable even if it is contrasting to the receiver’s original stance on the message. So, if favorable thoughts are a result of the elaboration process, the message will most likely be accepted (i.e., an attitude congruent with the message’s position will emerge), and if unfavorable thoughts are generated while considering the merits of presented arguments, the message will most likely be rejected.[1] In order for the message to be centrally processed, a person must have the ability and motivation to do so. In order for the receiver to have motivation to centrally process a message it must have relevance to him or her. Peripheral route Peripheral route processes, on the other hand, does not involve elaboration of the message through extensive cognitive processing of the merits of the actual argument presented. These processes often rely on environmental characteristics of the message, like the perceived credibility of the source, quality of the way in which it is presented, the attractiveness of the source, or the catchy slogan that contains the message.[1] It is also frequently used when the argument presented is weak and/or lacking evidence. The peripheral route is a mental shortcut process that accepts or rejects a message based on irrelevant cues as opposed to actively thinking about the issue [2] The peripheral route is a process in which outside influences affect the decision making process. This is also the process used when the audience is unable to process the message. This could be from having a message that is too complex, or an audience that is immature. The most common influences would be factors such as reward. Reward could be objects like food, sex or money. These inducements create a quick change in mind and action. Celebrity status along with likability and expertise are other factors in the peripheral process that have become more popular. Humor within messages is a dominant influence in this process as well. Appearance also has the ability to gain the attention of individuals which can create an interest in the topic, but will not create a strong change in individuals. The goal of the peripheral process is to create change, this change can be weak and even temporary as opposed to the strong and lasting change in the central route. Choice of route The two factors that most influence which route an individual will take in a persuasive situation are motivation (strong desire to process the message; e.g., Petty & Cacioppo, 1979) and ability (actually being capable of critical evaluation; e.g., Petty, Wells, & Brock, 1976). Which route is taken is determined by the extent of elaboration. Both motivational and ability factors determine elaboration. Motivational factors include (among others) the personal relevance of the message topic, accountability, and a person’s â€Å"need for cognition† (their innate desire to enjoy thinking). Ability factors include the availability of cognitive resources (e.g., the presence or absence of time pressures or distractions) or relevant knowledge needed to carefully scrutinize the arguments. The ability to understand the message that is being communicated. Distractions such as noise can affect the ability for one to process a message. An example of noise would be a persuader trying to share his message in a room full of crying babies, this would make it extremely difficult for listeners to concentrate on the message being given. Noise that you can’t physically control would be if a persuaders listeners could concentrate on the message because they had something else on their mind which was more important than the persuaders message like a death in the family, or problems they’re having in their relationship. Another example of this is in children. A child will change their behavior because his or her parent told them to do so rather than taking the information given and processing it. As that child grows up, however, he or she will have a higher cognitive complexity, and therefore be able to process the information of the situation centrally in order to draw a conclusion of their own. (O’Keefe) The subject’s general education level, as well as their education and experience with the topic at hand greatly affect their ability to be persuaded. Under conditions of moderate elaboration, a mixture of central and peripheral route processes will guide information processing. There are benefits and consequences for both processes. An individual who disagrees with the message being presented will likely have a boomerang effect if he or she centrally processes the message and bounce farther away from the speaker’s goal. If that same situation takes place, but the message is peripherally processed, a weak change will not have as large of a negative effect on that individual. (O’Keefe) Type of Elaboration: Objective Versus Biased Thinking Attitude, motivation, and ability strongly increase the likelihood that a message will be ingrained in the minds’ of listeners. Although, as the social judgement theory suggests, they may not process the information in a fair, objective way. Attitudes are general evaluations that people hold that correspond with how they perceive themselves in relation to the world they live in. One way to influence attitude is to give peripheral cues. Peripheral cues can be things that lead to good or punishing or they can invoke provide guiding rules or inferences. These are often effective because they cause the audience to draw the conclusion themselves, therefore, making them believe it is their own idea, so they buy in to it. (Griffin) Many of the evaluations are based on Cognitive intelligence, behavior, and guidance. Given a basic understanding of an individuals attitudes one can interpret which type of elaboration would better suit the situation. There are two types of elaboration a listener can possess: (Biased elaboration, Objective elaboration) Elaboration can lead to both positive and negative results depending on the audience who is receiving the message. Individuals who have a Pre conception of a certain topic are going to be much harder to persuade oppose to an individual who has an open mind about a topic where only the facts hold truth. Biased Elaboration: Top-down thinking in which predetermined conclusions color the supporting data. This is used on people who likely already have their minds made up about a situation before the message is ever conveyed to them (Cacioppo) Ex. Someone who has had a negative personal experience with motorcycles will probably have made up their minds and be biased in the way they process the message.[2] Objective Elaboration: Bottom-up thinking in which facts are scrutinized without bias; seeking truth wherever it might lead. These listeners let the facts speak for themselves and approach the message with an unbias mind. Which leads to a true unbiased result or opinion. (Cacioppo) Ex. A person who is listening to a motorcycle salesman and already has a mindset about them. This person would let the facts influence their attitude.[2] Testing the Elaboration Likelihood Model To design a way to test the Elaboration Likelihood Model, it is crucial to determine whether an argument is universally seen as strong or weak. If an argument is inconsistent in opinions of strength, the results of persuasion will be inconsistent. A strong argument is defined by Petty and Cacioppo as â€Å"one containing arguments such that when subjects are instructed to think about the message, the thoughts they generate are fundamentally favorable† (Griffin). In general, a weak argument that is universally viewed as weak will entice unfavorable results if the subject is instructed to and is in an appropriate environment to consider it logically (or when testing the central route of the Elaboration Likelihood Model). In turn, a strong argument under similar circumstances will return favorable results. The test arguments must also be rated for ease of understanding, complexity, and familiarity. To scientifically study either route of the Elaboration Likelihood Model, the arguments themselves must be designed to have consistent results.[3] Conclusions of the Elaboration Likelihood Model In addition to these factors, the ELM also makes several unique proposals.[1] It is suggested that attitudes formed under high elaboration, the central route, are stronger than those formed under low elaboration. This means that this level of persuasion is stable over time and is less susceptible to decay or any type of counter-persuasion. Attitudes formed under low elaboration, the peripheral route, are more likely to cause a short term attitude change. Variables in ELM routes can serve multiple roles in a persuasive setting depending on other contextual factors (examples below). Under high elaboration, a given variable (e.g., source expertise) can either serve as an argument (â€Å"If Einstein agrees with the theory of relativity, then this is a strong reason for me to as well†) or as a biasing factor (â€Å"if an expert agrees with this position it is probably good, so let me see what else agrees with this conclusion† — at the expense of information that may d isagree with it).[4] Under conditions of low elaboration, a given variable can act as a peripheral cue. This could happen, e.g., through the use of an â€Å"experts are always right† heuristic. Note that, while this is similar to the Einstein example presented above, this is a simple shortcut, which, unlike the Einstein example, does not require careful thought. Under conditions of moderate elaboration, a given variable can serve to direct the extent of information processing: â€Å"If an expert agrees with this position, I should really listen to what (s)he has to say†. Interestingly, when a variable affects elaboration, this can increase or decrease persuasion, depending on the strength of the arguments presented. If the arguments are strong, enhancing elaboration will enhance persuasion. If the arguments are weak, however, more thought will undermine persuasion. More recent adaptations of the ELM (e.g.)[5] have added an additional role that variables can serve. They can affect the extent to which a person has confidence in, and thus trusts, their own thoughts in response to a message (self-validation role). Keeping with our source expertise example, a person may feel that â€Å"if an expert presented this information, it is probably correct, and thus I can trust that my reactions to it are informative with respect to my attitude†. Note that this role, because of its metacognitive nature, only occurs under conditions that promote high elaboration. Pasted from Attitudes Attitudes are evaluations people make about objects, ideas, events, or other people. Attitudes can be positive or negative. Explicit attitudes are conscious beliefs that can guide decisions and behavior. Implicit attitudes are unconscious beliefs that can still influence decisions and behavior. Attitudes can include up to three components: cognitive, emotional, and behavioral. Example: Jane believes that smoking is unhealthy, feels disgusted when people smoke around her, and avoids being in situations where people smoke. Dimensions of Attitudes Researchers study three dimensions of attitude: strength, accessibility, and ambivalence. †¢ Attitude strength: Strong attitudes are those that are firmly held and that highly influence behavior. Attitudes that are important to a person tend to be strong. Attitudes that people have a vested interest in also tend to be strong. Furthermore, people tend to have stronger attitudes about things, events, ideas, or people they have considerable knowledge and information about. †¢ Attitude accessibility: The accessibility of an attitude refers to the ease with which it comes to mind. In general, highly accessible attitudes tend to be stronger. †¢ Attitude ambivalence: Ambivalence of an attitude refers to the ratio of positive and negative evaluations that make up that attitude. The ambivalence of an attitude increases as the positive and negative evaluations get more and more equal. The Influence of Attitudes on Behavior Behavior does not always reflect attitudes. However, attitudes do determine behavior in some situations: †¢ If there are few outside influences, attitude guides behavior. Example: Wyatt has an attitude that eating junk food is unhealthy. When he is at home, he does not eat chips or candy. However, when he is at parties, he indulges in these foods. †¢ Behavior is guided by attitudes specific to that behavior. Example: Megan might have a general attitude of respect toward seniors, but that would not prevent her from being disrespectful to an elderly woman who cuts her off at a stop sign. However, if Megan has an easygoing attitude about being cut off at stop signs, she is not likely to swear at someone who cuts her off. †¢ Behavior is guided by attitudes that come to mind easily. Example: Ron has an attitude of mistrust and annoyance toward telemarketers, so he immediately hangs up the phone whenever he realizes he has been contacted by one. The Influence of Behavior on Attitudes Behavior also affects attitudes. Evidence for this comes from the foot-in-the-door phenomenon and the effect of role playing. The Foot-in-the-Door Phenomenon People tend to be more likely to agree to a difficult request if they have first agreed to an easy one. This is called the foot-in-the-door phenomenon. Example: Jill is more likely to let an acquaintance borrow her laptop for a day if he first persuades her to let him borrow her textbook for a day. Social Norms and Social Roles Social norms are a society’s rules about appropriate behavior. Norms exist for practically every kind of situation. Some norms are explicit and are made into laws, such as the norm While driving, you may not run over a pedestrian. Other norms are implicit and are followed unconsciously, such as You may not wear a bikini to class. Social roles are patterns of behavior that are considered appropriate for a person in a particular context. For example, gender roles tell people how a particular society expects men and women to behave. A person who violates the requirements of a role tends to feel uneasy or to be censured by others. Role requirements can change over time in a society. The Effect of Role Playing and the â€Å"Prison Study† People tend to internalize roles they play, changing their attitudes to fit the roles. In the 1970s, the psychologist Philip Zimbardo conducted a famous study called the prison study, which showed how roles influence people. Zimbardo assigned one group of college student volunteers to play the role of prison guards in a simulated prison environment. He provided these students with uniforms, clubs, and whistles and told them to enforce a set of rules in the prison. He assigned another group of students to play the role of prisoners. Zimbardo found that as time went on, some of the â€Å"guard† students became increasingly harsh and domineering. The â€Å"prisoner† students also internalized their role. Some broke down, while others rebelled or became passively resigned to the situation. The internalization of roles by the two groups of students was so extreme that Zimbardo had to terminate the study after only six days.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Progress Report Essay

In this Assignment you will proofread the Progress Report listed below. Next, you will identify the 10 mistakes that are listed in the report. The mistakes could be misspellings, incorrect abbreviations, or misuse of a medical term. Please list them in the chart below under the heading â€Å"Medical Terminology Error.† After you have listed the errors, you will need to identify the correct term or abbreviation. Please list them in the chart below under the heading â€Å"Correct Term.† At the end of the project be sure to list all applicable references and cite them in APA format. Main Street Hospital and Medical Center 6000 North Tree Street – Branch, Pennsylvania 12345 – (555) 123-4567 ————————————————————————————————————————————————– PATIENT NAME: Susan SunshineMEDICAL RECORD:5555555 DATE OF DEATH:04/04/1954DATE OF ADMISSION:07/31/2013 PROGRESS NOTE CHIEF COMPLAINT: Severe lower abdominal pain and the inability to void for the past 12 hours. PRESENT ILLNESS: Sam Samuel is a 75-year-old Asian-American man who came into the emergency department at 3 am stating that he was in great pain and could not urinate. He had not been seen by a physician for several years but claimed to be in good health except for â€Å"a little high blood pressure.† The patient reports urinary frequency, noicturia x2, hesitancy, intermittency, disuria, and diminished force and caliber of the bladder system. In addition, he complained of intermittent pain in the right posterior lumbar area, radiating to the right flank. He also has post-void dribbling and the sensation of not having completely emptied the bladder. Earlier today, he had hematuria at the end of urination and several bouts of N&D. MEDICATION ALLERGIES: None CURRENT MEDICATIONS: Benadryl 25 mg. dailys, at bedtime. PHYSICAL EXAM: Temperature 98.6 ® F. Blood pressure 140/90. Pulse 98. Respirations 24. Palpation of the abdomen shows a suprapubic mass approximately three fingerbreadths below the umbilicus, dull to percussion, and slightly tender. IMPRESSION: Renal Pelvis distention caused by urinary outlet obstruction, probably from benign prostatic hyperplasia. PLAN: Indwelling Foley catheter for relief of urinary obstruction. Imaging to include a CAT scan, kidney ultrasound and IVR. Urinary consult. Labs to include white blood count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, blood urea nitrogen (BUA) and urinalnysis.

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Postmodern and Hyper Reality

Modern Culture and Hybridization PAPER #1 3/18/2013 HUM310-09 Daniel Echeverria The world has drastically changed since the beginning of online dating and other social network sites. With the growing number of people getting connected in the network, the way older generations used to communicate with each other is slowly diminishing. Today’s social networking sites have altered the way we communicate with each other, changed the ways that we evaluate one another, and the way we express ourselves.Due to the vast amount of information that can be found on the internet, a person can know about another’s past, current social circle, and interests in a matter of minutes. This has completely changed the way our generation was taught to interact with each other. For so many people now-a-days it has also become part of their social identity. Characteristics and pictures may be exaggerated slightly or completely fabricated, with the intention of enhancing one’s identity f or outside observers.As more innovations in the cyber social network are developed, today’s post-modern culture society is heading toward an hyper reality. According to â€Å"Statistic Brain† a US statistics website, there are currently 50 million people single in the United States. 40 Million People have tried online dating.? The way we meet and interact with one another isn’t the same as was 30 years ago. Our generation was taught different on the subject of dating and â€Å"Getting to know† someone. What used to be the only way of building a relationship or dating is now changed with the amount of information that is on the internet.We have seen that in films, a man meets a woman, they have face-to-face interactions, they talk about themselves and who they are and what they want to become. 1. Statistic Brain â€Å"Online Dating Statistics†, online http://www. statisticbrain. com/online-dating-statistics (6/20/2012) Relationships started with get ting to know someone unknown, communicating with that someone, and building a relationship out of the experiences with them. Due to the growth of online dating and other network sites, a person can be reviewed before they can present themselves.Websites like Facebook & MySpace give the user a profile where they can give a description of who they are without directly telling anyone. Someone with a user profile in these websites can be looked up in within seconds just by typing in the other person’s name in a regular web search engine. The excitement of exploring the person’s personality quickly vanishes with a stroke of a button. What was once local pub, or local cafe, or night club as the only ideal destination for social networking has now become online dating websites and online social networks.Society has begun to adapt these dating methods by using the tools and information in the internet to evaluate one another prior to the actual dating. The traditional dating e xperience of discovery, surprise, and experience is slowly fading away. In Glenn Ward’s Teach Yourself series, Glenn talks about postmodernism and the changes we need to adapt to, â€Å"†¦ society, culture and lifestyle are today significantly different from what they were 100, 50 or even 30 years ago †¦. Old styles of analysis are no longer useful, and that new approaches and new vocabularies need to be created in order to understand the present. ? Due to the rapidly increasing information technology, and social network users, the 2. Ward, Glenn â€Å"Teach Yourself† (Teach Yourself, 1998) modern way to share and research anyone’s personal information is through the web. It can be can be used in many different ways, negative and positive. Law enforcement has used these social websites to investigate suspects and quickly have a better idea of who the person is. A users profile can quickly give brief information on where the user lives, interests, and social group.But it can also be used to leak viral information in seconds. A recent example was of a LAPD manhunt in February 2013. In early February 2013, a suspected criminal Christopher Dorner posted a manifesto exposing the violence of the LAPD in his Facebook profile. This information was instantly available to everyone to read and share before there was any attempt to destroy the manifesto. ? Another group that has adopted the social network sites as tools for evaluating individuals is employers. Now-a-days an employer can view an applicant’s profile to screen the individual.Or an employee can be affected by what he/she decides to put on their profile page. According to Oregonbuisness. com, a survey was conducted in Chicago in 2009, â€Å"Forty-five percent of employers reported in a recent CareerBuilder survey that they use social networking sites to research job candidates, a big jump from 22 percent last year. Another 11 percent plan to start using social networking sites for screening. More than 2,600 hiring managers participated in the survey, which was completed in June 2009. †? 3. Wikipedia, â€Å"Christopher Dorner† online http://en. wikipedia. rg/wiki/Christopher_Dorner (2/13/2013) 4. Oregon Business Report, â€Å"45% Employers use Facebook-Twitter to screen job candidates† online http://oregonbusinessreport. com/2009/08/45-employers-use-facebook-twitter-to-screen-job-candidates (8/24/2009) In other cases employees are fired for pictures they have posted and blogs they have written on their user profiles while on their personal time. It can be amazing how society has embraced and trusted information technology now when merely a few decades ago the public was nervous of having the same technology invade their privacy.Kimberly N Rosenfeld mentions this in her article Terminator to Avatar: A Postmodern Shift, â€Å"Cinematic representations of a society in shambles brought about by humankind’s losing control to i ts machines were popular with audiences in a period when the sociopolitical context fostered anxiety and technological mistrust. †? Although social networks provide the tools to the users so that they can express themselves, a user could use the profile to portray themselves as someone they are not.Not too long ago, punk rockers in the UK showed the world their rebellion through appearance and politically themed lyrics. During the 1980’s Iranian War, it was obligatory for young women to wear a veil at school. In Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel â€Å"Persepolis† a young Iranian school girl identifies herself as a rebel by the way she dresses and the way she communicates her views. She dresses in public with a denim jacket, with Michael Jackson Pins and Nike shoes.Her image is that of a modern punk which was not tolerated from women at the time.? As mentioned earlier in this essay, a user’s personality can be now easily identified by viewing the userà ¢â‚¬â„¢s profile. Pictures, blogs, personal statements, comments on others pages, can easily describe 5. Rosenfeld N, Kimberly (Terminator to Avatar: A Post Modern Shift, 2010) 6. Satrapi, Marjane â€Å"Persopolis† (Random House Inc, 1969) who the user is. Society has adopted this form of self-expression and has become comfortable on showing their identity this way.The user has become so addicted to the world of online social networking that physical communication and real social networking is almost not preferred. Almost similar to a gamer feeling confident playing an online sport better than the actual sport itself. Rosenfeld also describes this while comparing the movie â€Å"Avatar† to modern hyper reality. â€Å"While inhabiting the body of their avatar, human drivers are able to manipulate the world around them, free from the constraints of their earthly life. Pandora is a place where interspecies communication and relationships are possible.It is also a place w here a paraplegic war torn veteran can experience once again the sensations of his limbs and the joy of living. †? In the â€Å"Pandora† of social networks, a person who has a nervous personality can feel fully comfortable communicating to another person without actually being in front of them. Again Rosenfield quotes director of â€Å"Avatar† James Cameron on his experience of a submarine expedition to the Titanic, â€Å"â€Å"I'm operating it, but my mind is in the vehicle. I felt like I was physically present inside the shipwreck of Titanic. So, it was this absolutely remarkable experience. †? As technology advances, we can expect to see more of these virtual realities develop. It’s inevitable that we will be communicating with one another more and more through online networks than by person anymore. The line between reality and hyper reality will become 7. Rosenfeld N, Kimberly (Terminator to Avatar: A Post Modern Shift, 2010) 8. Rosenfeld N, K imberly (Terminator to Avatar: A Post Modern Shift, 2010) blurred for post-modern society as more people use online identities to interact.The way we used to express ourselves, from the way that we dress or the way that we talk, will be another fad lost in history. Technology will use a search engine to influence our decision on which person we want meet and communicate with. Profiles and â€Å"Avatars† will replace human personalities and online worlds will become to feel much easier to live in. Rosenfeld talks about how the movie Avatar is a prediction on how society is slowly changing their views and attitudes toward the â€Å"real life†. â€Å"We find in Pandora simulacra of a post humanist future.The utopian quality of this film’s magical world has even resulted in an uncommon public reaction, post viewing depression, as several news sources have reported. Maybe the public is especially sensitive to the contrast between the film’s hyper reality and the current reality of our depressed economy. When these viewers walk out of the theater, they are let down at returning to live in the actual world they must inhabit†. ? 9. Rosenfeld N, Kimberly (Terminator to Avatar: A Post Modern Shift, 2010) Works Cited 1. Statistic Brain â€Å"Online Dating Statistics†, online http://www. tatisticbrain. com/online-dating-statistics (6/20/2012) 2. Ward, Glenn â€Å"Teach Yourself† (Teach Yourself, 1998) Wikipedia, â€Å"Christopher Dorner† online http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Christopher_Dorner (2/13/2013) 3. Oregon Business Report, â€Å"45% Employers use Facebook-Twitter to screen job candidates† online http://oregonbusinessreport. com/2009/08/45-employers-use-facebook-twitter-to-screen-job-candidates (8/24/2009) 4. Rosenfeld N, Kimberly (Terminator to Avatar: A Post Modern Shift, 2010) 5. Satrapi, Marjane â€Å"Persopolis† (Random House Inc, 1969)

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Database Management System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Database Management System - Essay Example ata type is used in many cases which is advantageous in terms of memory management and also to make changes in the size of a field in future as required. create table Customer(Customer_no number(12) constraint CONST_PK_CUST primary key not null, Customer_town varchar2(30) not null, Customer_name varchar2(45) not null, Customer_address varchar2(80) not null ); create table Flight(Flight_code varchar2(6) constraint CONST_PK_FLIGHT primary key, Departure_day_time date not null, Departure_airport varchar2(30) not null, Arrival_time date not null, Arrival_airport varchar2(30) not null); create table Booking(Booking_ref_no number(10) constraint CONST_PK_BOOKING primary key, Booking_date date, Customer_no number(10) constraint CONST_FK_BOOKING references Customer(Customer_no), Deposit_paid varchar2(1) not null constraint CHECK_YN check(Deposit_paid in(Y,N)), Sales_rep_id number(1) constraint CONST_FK2_BOOKING references Sales_rep(Sales_rep_id) ); create table FLIGHT_SEAT(Flight_code varchar2(6) constraint CONST_FK1_FLIHTSEAT references Flight(Flight_code), Seat_no number(4) constraint CONST_FK1_FLIGHTSEAT references Seat(Seat_no), price number(5) not null,constraint CONST_PK1_FLIGHTSEAT primary key(Flight_code,Seat_no)); create table Booking_line(Booking_ref_no number(10) constraints CONST_FK1_BOOKINGLINE references Booking_line(Booking_ref_no), Flight_code varchar2(6), Flight_date date,Passenger_surname varhcar2(20), constraints CONST_PK_BOOKINGLINE primary key (Flight_code, Seat_no, Flight_date),constraints CONST_FK2_BOOKINGLINE foreign key The entity SEAT seems to be a over head in data entry and also it has some effect in database operation. The SEATNO and CLASS_CODE field in the SEAT entity can be moved into the FLIGHT_SEAT entity. In the FLIGHTSEAT entity we can have the CLASS_CODE which will solve the above issues. When the entity FLIGHT_SEAT is inserted a new row or updated any existing row the CLASS field should be first class if the seat no is less than

Shipping Law case abt DEVIATION AND LIBERTY CLAUSES Essay

Shipping Law case abt DEVIATION AND LIBERTY CLAUSES - Essay Example Instantly Mr. Francis (owner of the ship) received a message to consign 10 containers of engineering equipments to Southampton, before reaching New York. The ship docked in New York on 7th November 2008. When the ship was being anchored, it happened to hit against a dock wall, due to apparent negligence of the ship’s master. Consequently 40 crates of medical equipments, valued at around  £40,000 were totally ruined. The subsequent inquiries revealed that navigating officer and master of the vessel, who were mainly responsible for the safety of ship and cargo, were in an inebriated state during the time of occurrence of accident. The shipping law is a combination of customs, precedents, legislations, and ratio decedent. The subject matter of the same is ownership and operation of ships travelling through the high seas which confers rights and imposes duties on the respective parties. The transportation of goods along the high seas is primarily based on contracts or agreements between the ship owner on the one hand, and the party consigning goods, on the other. Anyway, these agreements are grounded on archaic customs and antiquated precedents prevailing in the industry. As already mentioned the transportation of goods through high seas is mainly based on contracts or agreements between the ship owner and the consigner. These types of contracts are otherwise termed as â€Å"Charter Parties†. The term Charter Party is derived from the Latin word â€Å"Carta Partitta† which means â€Å"divided charter†. As per the classification the charter party is divided into three types which are â€Å"Demise charter†, secondly, â€Å"Time charter† and finally â€Å"Voyage charter.† 1 It is the charterer who appoints the master and the crew of the ship. The charterer himself affects the repairs etc. In summary the charterer acts as if he is the owner of the vessel during the period of the contract. In time charter the

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Business Law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business Law - Assignment Example This expansion is part of its major plan to extend its portfolio and business context around the world, especially in the countries that it has not established its premises. The company’s main expansion idea is the establishment of hotels in the potential areas of business. It will set up Residence Inns in the projected areas. For instance, in the early 2012, the company is expected to launch such a hotel in Bahrain. Saudi Arabia is also set to have the company set up its premises by June 2010. In the year 2014, Marriott International projects to open a residence Inn hotel in Algiers (Derdak, 2007). Other regions identified in the major expansion initiative are Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Ed Fuller quotes, â€Å"We will probably open 20-30 Residence Inn hotels in the Mena region within the next 10 years† (Derdak, 2007). The President and the Managing Director of the company admits that the strongholds of the company lies in USA and Canada, but the major expansion plans over th e next several years will allow the company to diversify its portfolio. The company is interested in making its brand name recognized globally and not only in USA and Canada. Administrative Laws Relevant to Marriott’s Expansion Initiatives Marriott is a USA abased company. ... The expansion that the company seeks to make over the next few years is influenced by administrative laws observed in the individual countries that it seeks to establish its premises (Korper, 2001). The company will not be the first to enter into the markets in which it seeks to start its operations in. Marriott will therefore be expected to observe fair competition laws in the context of every market it penetrates. Price level issues may also characterize the operations of the company in foreign markets. When it starts its operations in foreign countries, it will be expected to act fairly to the existing domestic and foreign firms. Its pricing will not be expected to make the already established firms worse off. Operational and competition laws are the major administrative laws that the company will have to deal with. The company will also be expected to follow the required protocol in setting up its operations in the new regions that it targets. This means that the company will hav e to assess individual regional laws in the context of its interests in those regions. If these laws will be found to be favorable to the operations of the company, then the company can go ahead and establish its premises. If not, then the company management will be forced to evaluate the way forward. The most important thing to consider in this case is the negotiating and contract actualization procedures. The company must ensure that negotiations are effectively carried out prior to the establishment of the new premises. The required contracts will have to be effectuated before the company begins operations in the new regions. Such contracts will be required to meet

Monday, August 26, 2019

You As a Technology Leader Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

You As a Technology Leader - Article Example Thus, the application of technology in shaping and influencing teaching and learning outcome explores the opportunities and strengths that advocate for accountability and improved performance. Similarly, technology as a learning and teaching tool promote data-driven models, capacity building, and corporate social responsibility in education and school programs. The articles apply similar patterns subjectively in addressing technology themes, as well as the issues raised. For example, there are converging ideas and thoughts in nurturing and solving teaching and learning problems. According to Lindahl and Folkesson (2012) ICT’s ideas, integration of computers in preschool setting is used as ICT norm and a component of technology in creating a successful, competent and independent learning. Similarly, Ayres and Sansosti (2013) mobile technology ideas are applied in teaching and learning of exceptional students. Lindahl base his findings and conclusion in supporting mobile technology and integration of computers in schools to increase students learning outcomes. In this regard, technology application in schools in learning and teaching programs gains greater outstanding support in which a valid and reliable generalization can be obtained. The shared ideas and borrowing of concepts and theories from various sources to support the propose d arguments demonstrates an excellent coverage of research that illustrates accurate results. For example, when moderate/severe intellectual disability (MSID) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are managed by technological strategies, the students affected students becomes competent and independent. Thus, sharing of ideas and concepts of technology by different authors foster the quality and quantity of student’s learning that engage technology to a meaningful and independent learning outcome (Mutisya & Rotich, 2015). Although uniformity of writing patterns and thoughts is used throughout the articles, slight

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Data Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Data Analysis - Research Paper Example Central tendency of the number of new cases every year is measured using the mean value. The mean of new cases among all 19 age groups are 6288 new case per year. The range of new cases is 19,477 with minimum number of case equal to 60 and maximum value equal to 19,537 for the ages between 70 and 74. Dispersion is measured by value of standard deviation of the data. Standard deviation is 6621 new case per year. Skewness measures the degree and direction of asymmetry of the data. The value of skewness is .628 indicating the data is positively skewed. The following histogram shows the number of new cases for male and females for the different age groups. It is evident from the graph that 18 age groups for male or female has less than 2500 new cases of cancer every year. The mean and standard deviation are considered the best measure of central tendency and dispersion of the data. Most of the data is included in the range around the mean by the value of the standard deviation.

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Mexico4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Mexico4 - Assignment Example The target groups of rape cases are mainly young women and girls who form the economic underclass of society and work in factories that pay low wages. Sexual murders and unexplained disappearance of women and young girls rank highest in Mexico vis a vis other North American countries according to Statistics by Human Rights Organizations and lobby groups. Chihuahua, Chiapas and San Salvador are places most affected by these cases. Efforts to salvage the rights of women in Mexico have had a plunge occasioned by repugnant tendencies of authorities and employers who actively and openly discriminate against women. They have adversely been mistreated as menial job workers at the Maquiladora Industrial plants; where jobs are terminated in case of pregnancy. Mexicans are considered to be reasonably religious, a situation that has contributed to several States pronouncing abortion as illegal (Wickam-Crowly & Eckstein, 2003). To this end, the jury is still out on whether this enacted law is a violation of the rights of women. Public outcries and sustained protests by Women rights activists led the Government to create the National Commission for Equality between Men and Women, CNDH, to look into social, legal and economic issues that were unfair to women. It also has programs that seek to empower women through teaching them their legal rights and training on ways to achieve sustainable livelihoods. Reproductive healthcare remains an issue of debate as most anti-abortionists see it as the platform used to legalize abortion (Wickam-Crowly & Eckstein,

Friday, August 23, 2019

The senior management of your organization is of the opinion that Essay

The senior management of your organization is of the opinion that there should be social responsibility of managers. What do you understand by this, and how sho - Essay Example These actions threatened the firm, the employees, the community, and global financial concerns. With the proliferation of technology and hypercompetition, the drive to enhance the bottom line has often found firms in legal trouble or in a public relations nightmare. What part does the manager play in social responsibility? It’s managements role to set policies and guidelines for implementing a socially responsible agenda. Directors and managers need to maintain an awareness that the decisions they make affect the community, their health and safety, and the quality of life for people in a wide area. The welfare of the wider community has to be considered in any decision making process. Success is not measured by the immediate profit gained by the shareholders. When we define socially responsible policy, it is a concern for the well being of all the stakeholders and not just the owners. The social responsibilities of the directors and managers are the firms responsibilities towards society as implemented by management. Some of the most direct beneficiaries of a socially responsible policy are the employees of the firm. They are provided with a safe place to work whilst the firms responsible behaviour increases the level of job security. By creating a positive climate to work in, the firm is able to attract better and more dedicated employees. In this scenario, an investment in employee well being is returned through a better workforce. Almost all socially responsible policies and management decisions have a positive return. However, the firm often views these activities as expenses and will not, or can not, calculate their true cost or value. Policies need to be put in place to protect the health and safety of the customers and consumers. Managers that fail to act responsibly must be held accountable for their decisions. According to Davidmann (2002), "Those who wish to maximise profits regardless of

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Factors responsible for Industrial-Economic Revolution in America Essay Example for Free

Factors responsible for Industrial-Economic Revolution in America Essay The last decades of the nineteenth century saw tremendous development ion the industrial and economic sectors. The boundless economic expansion was triggered and augmented by the entrepreneurs like Carnegie, Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan etc. the innovations of the Thomas Edison. This scientific and technological adventures coupled with entrepreneurial risks and innovations introduced by great businessmen pushed America toward a new industrial era and helped it develop as an industrial-economic power. The history fabricated by many historians illustrates that late 19th century of American history is marked with the economic exploitations of robber barons† that deprived American citizens of the potential benefits of industrialization and collected huge profits for themselves. But some of the great industrialist and businessmen of the 19th century America like Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and Rockefeller helped America to establish itself on sound economic footings and constructed huge infrastructures of banks, railroads, steel mills and cities etc. Although these entrepreneurs were market oriented businessmen but whatever their ambitions and objectives were, they contributed in the industrial and business sector. Andrew Carnegie remained the greatest industrialist in American history. His entrepreneurial competencies and his business acumen were the foremost qualities that capacitated him to grasp every opportunity to build a well-advanced business empire. Livesays (1975) manifests that his ability â€Å"to recognize the potential of a new service or product and to seize upon an auspicious moment to associate himself with it. Time and again he manifested this acumen, shifting his talents from factory to telegraph, from telegraph to railroad, from railroad to iron and then steel, meanwhile investing his money in express companies, oil fields, sleeping cars, and telegraphs before he finally fused his energies and capital in Carnegie Steel† (19). Rockefeller and Morgan were the other businessmen who set an impetus for heavy industry; mass production and merger of small industries. They further capitalized on the new ideas, activities of scientist and technologists like Edison whose experimentation revolutionized the industrial world. Mergers and acquisitions were an important phenomenon that capacitated the American industry to grow by leaps and bounds. Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thompson-Houston Electric Company in 1892 and hence the great industrial conglomerate i. e. General Electric came into being. Morgan further established Federal Steel Company and later on merged it with Carnegie Steel Company. In 1901, he further assimilated many small steel and iron mills to establish the United States Steel Corporation. In this perspective, life of the laborers in this industrial domain was subject to long working hours and dangerous working settings. Several of the policies of the industries had only obligations for the workers but there rights were never recognized and granted. This resulted in the low production output as workers were not satisfied. This background led many labourers to try to institute the rights of the workers in the form of labor unions regardless of well-organized resistance from entrepreneurs and the courts. After the recognition of these labor unions, collective bargaining resulted in much improved wages and working conditions for the laborers as well the productivity. So the industrial development further progressed. So it is quite clear from the above-mentioned facts and supported arguments that American industrial and economic development in the last decades of the 19th century was primarily due to the endeavours of the great entrepreneurs, scientific and technological innovations and the emergence of labor unions.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Smart Guys In the Room Complete Essay Example for Free

Smart Guys In the Room Complete Essay The documentary film, the Smartest Guys In the Room was written and produced by Alex Gibney, who is also the writer and producer of Eugene Jareckis â€Å"The Trials of Henry Kissinger†. This documentary is mainly and exanimation of the way a corporate giant rose and fell due to financial and accounting malpractices by the executives of the company, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. This film documentary is based on a book written by the Fortune Magazine reporters namely Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind. It starts in the scene whereby Enron executive Cliff Baxter is re-enacted after which the films takes the viewer through a flashback whereby the chairman of Enron, Mr. Kenneth Lay is described as a person from a humble background with his father being a preacher hence the reference of him, as a son of a preacher. The film also depicts the life of Mr. Kenneth and how he managed to rise up in his career in the corporate world, the development of various business strategies which he applied in the natural gas business and also the kind of relationship which he had with the family of the then president Bush. From the film, one is able to observe that the financial and the accounting malpractices started long time as early as the year 1987. During this period, various outrageous and risky practices and profit skimming were encouraged by Lay of two traders involved in oil trading in Enron’s office at Valhalla. This was due to the reason these traders used to bring a lot of money to the company through the oil trade with the company. The arrival of the CEO Jeff Skilling brought extensive and aggressive form of accounting philosophy which became part of the practices of the company. From this documentary, The Smartest Guys In the Room, it can also be observed that the company went to great lengths through various malpractices so that it could appear to profitable yet it was not. The true financial situation and position of the company was worse although the investors were made to believe that the company was performing well. The executives applied crude ways of ensuring that they win at any costs. The executives of the company bare portray as ones who are more concerned with creating an image for the company and do not care whether the practices which they apply are acceptable and beneficial to the shareholders and even other stakeholders such as the employees of the company. The executives employed illegal ways of doing business which included offering huge contracts for their financial analysts so that they could not portray the true picture of the firm. Furthermore, the executives as observed in the documentary decided that the company could loan money to itself hence hiding the huge debts of the company, giving the wrong impression to investors and other stakeholders of the company. It is also observed that the company made use of the deregulation of the state of California to control and manipulate the market for electricity therefore affecting the supply of electricity. The use of characters such as Mr. Kenneth who was known as a son of a preacher brings contradiction to the film, since a preacher’s son is never expected to involve in wrong practices but that is not the case. This shows the viewer that the face value of something may never always be the exact value of that particular item hence there is need for extensive and further investi8gation. In the film, the executives are also shown as greedy since they manage to keep for themselves riches at the expenses of everyone else who were involved with the company. The employees lost their jobs as a result of the actions and the malpractices of the executives in addition to the investors who lost their money in the company. The general depiction of the film is about capitalism which is demonstrated through the actions of the executives of Enron. The film, Smart Guys in the Room is a demonstration that financial and accounting practices should be regulated and closely mo0nitored to avoid adverse effects on the economy. Giving a free hand to a company and allowing a lot of freedom for the executives of a company may lead to practices which cause the failure and even death of a company. Capitalism has had great negative impacts on the economy of the United States since the companies were allowed to run as they please and not stringent measures and financial reporting and regulations were put in place. The documentary, Smart Guys in The Room, clearly brings out the importance of the various accounting and financial reporting standards which have been set for companies to follow. The executives of any given company must be held accountable for their actions and must always know that their priority goal is to provide true financial position of the company they manage. It is the duty of the investors also to take control and monitor the practices within the companies they invest in to avoid issues such as that if Enron. References Enron-The Smart Guys In the Room, (2005), viewed from www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxzLX_C9Z74 on 28th June 2014. Source document

Bacillary And Post Parturient Hemoglobinuria Biology Essay

Bacillary And Post Parturient Hemoglobinuria Biology Essay Post parturient hemoglobinuria is a sporadic disease of multiparous, high producing dairy cows and buffaloes characterized by red blood cells breakdown in the muscles, hemoglobinuria and anemia. The prevalence of the disease in the overall cattle population is very little with a case fatality rate ranging from 10 to 50% (1).Parturient hemoglobinuria was formerly known as milk fever complex, post- parturient hemoglobinuria, puerperal hemoglobinuria and nutritional hemoglobinuria, etc. History Parturient hemoglobinuria was first reported in 1939 in buffaloes in the Indian sub-continent in the Lyallpur district, now Faisalabad (Aslam and Haq, 1967). The first known reference of its occurrence and possible cause in Pakistan was by Hussain (1955). Subsequent reviews on the issue recommended that phosphorus insufficiency may be a possible reason of the disease (Pirzada et al., 1989; Pirzada and Ali, 1990). However, so far its true etiology remains doubtful. Etiology Consequent papers concluded that PPH is neither infectious nor contagious derived from negative serological and bacteriological verification for pathogenic bacteria and failure to identify erythrocyte parasites (1,6,7,8,9,10).Different causes, e.g. protein and mineral insufficiency, Saponin from cruciferous plants, competition for mineral assimilation and, hypophosphataemia because of phosphorus insufficiency. Pirzada et al. (1989) and Cheema et al. (1980) reported that no contributory pathogen could be secluded from the affected animals. Copper insufficiency has been recommended as a possible cause of PPH by personnel in New Zealand. animals from dairy farms with a high occurrence of PPH had low levels of copper in serum and liver (12). A disease in Ontario named as red water was linked with several predisposing factors which included: a) fresh parturition, b) intense milk production, c) dietetic phosphorus insufficiency and d) eating of turnips, rape, kale, green alfalfa and sugar beet pulp (13,14,15). In addition, many cows were hypophosphataemia (1, 16, and 17). Susceptible animals A first round report recommended that parturient hemoglobinuria frequently affected high producing buffalo cows in the area of the Punjab province of Pakistan wherever there is a insufficiency of minerals, chiefly in the districts of Faisalabad, Jhelum, Attock and Rawalpindi. At these points soil tended to be deprived in minerals and buffaloes were affected more than cattle (Husain, 1955). The incidence of this syndrome in bulls, cows prior to parturation, heifers under two years old, or beef cows is remarkable but has been reported (23,22). A disease with many similarities has been described in sheep (13), Egyptian and Indian buffaloes (24,16) and a goat (17). Clinical signs Clinical signs of syndrome can bee seen 20+,-10 days, before or after parturition at what time affected Animals pass red to coffee colored urine and rectal temperature ranges from 38.38C to 39.48C, (Pirzada et al., 1989). On the other hand, with the advancement of disease, rectal temperature declines. Additional clinical signs are jaundice, anemia, recumbency, in appetence, labored breathing, and constipation (Razz et al., 1988). Cheema et al. (1980) reported that there was a considerable increase in the rectal temperature of affected animals. The disease affects buffaloes more than cattle (Pirzada et al., 1989) which is a judgment in close agreement with that of Raz et al. (1988). Pirzada et al. (1989) additional observed that phosphorus administration yielded effective outcome suggestive of hypophosphataemia as a causal issue and that, in the affected areas from August to January, animals in advanced stages of pregnancy should be supplemented with dicalcium phosphate or bone meal w hich should contain 13% and 17% phosphorus correspondingly (Amir and Kripsch- eer, 1989). This agreed with the findings of Akram et al. (1990) and Raz et al. (1988). Earlier, Sadiq et al. (1965) found that even though cases of parturient hemoglobinuria occurred all the way through the year, the occurrence increased in winter. On the other hand, Cheema et al. (1980) reported that frequently stall-fed animals were affected, and that most cases were occurring in July and September. The acute disease (three to five days) can come to an end in death or be followed by extended convalescence (two to eight weeks). Gangrene and sloughing of the extremities are reported sequelae. Recovered animals get back their former body condition and milk production gradually. Diagnosis It can On the basis of clinical signs and history Urinalysis can be helpful in the diagnosis of this syndrome. Microscopic inspection of the urine sediment is imperative to distinguish hematuria from hemoglobinuria. Treatment The recommended treatment for Post parturient hemoglobinuria in North America includes: 1) intravenous infusion of sodium acid phosphate (60 g in 300 mL of water), 2) 100 g of bone meal administered as a drench two times a day, 3) transfusion of fresh blood as needed and 4) intravenous fluids to sustain hydration (1,29,30). Improvement of any phosphorus insufficiency or disproportion in the ration together with removal of incriminated feeds might prevent further cases. Because of incompatible results with phosphate therapy and the copper-deficient status of affected cows, personnel in New Zealand recommend parenteral copper (120 mg available copper per cow) as the favored treatment (31). A study on treatment trials of hemoglobinuria in buffalo cows and cattle indicated that subsequent treatment with sodium acid phosphate (20% sol) administered concurrently by i.v., s.c. and oral routes, approximately 100% of affected animals recovered in 1-3 days (Shah et al., 1988). Blood transfusion also shows a good result in this regard (Rauf, 1989; Raz et al., 1991). A blood coagulant Botrophase prepared from the venom of the snake Bothrops jararaca, seems to have anti fibrinolytic action and was productively used to treat buffaloes facing parturient hemoglobinuria (Goel et al., 1988). Parenteral copper (120 mg available copper per cow) as the favored treatment (31). Treatment with toldimfos sodium and tea leaves and sodium acid phosphate Result of this treatment was based on the recovery of urine discoloration; the efficacy of toldimfos sodium was 85% followed by tea leaves 56%, and sodium acid phosphate 18%. (Zameer et.al 2010). Fallowing treatment with tae leaves and toldimofos sodium urine was clear next day, and with treatment with sodium acid phosphate urine was clear on third dy. (Zameer et.al 2010) Prevention Parenteral administration of copper has been effectual in dairy herds with previous histories of PPH (36,37). For prevention of the disease, supplementation with dicalcium phosphate has been suggested (Pirzada et al., 1989; Pirzada and Ali, 1990). The occurrence of PPH was considerably lower (5.18% versus 25.51%; P

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Margaret Thatcher :: essays research papers

MARGARET THATCHER Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister of Great Britian. Margaret changed many policies and she also defended strongly other government policies. An example of this was when Margaret Thatcher was Secretary of state for education and science. The government had to cut school funding by $300 million. She didn’t want to cut anything that had to do with the students missing out of education. It was her duty to provide the best education for them. The solution she had come up with would be one of the most unpopular moves in her career-up to and including her as Prime Minster (Hole 35). The decision she had made was to eliminate free milk from the lower grades. Free milk had already been eliminated from the older students of a previous labor government cut. She said â€Å" I took the view that most parents are able to pay for milk for their children, and that the job of the government was to provide such things in education which they couldn’t pay for, like new primary schools.† â€Å"Mrs. Thatcher, milk snatcher,† was screamed at her (Hole 36). When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister the first thing she wanted to do was limit union power. She felt that union power applied to nationalized industrial monopolies resulted in poor service at exorbitant cost to the taxpayers. She pointed to inefficient work practices, overemployment and restrictive employment conditions such as the all union â€Å"closed shop†. These rules were dictated by union contracts and served to tie the hands of managers and the government alike. Mrs. Thatcher’s greatest grievance concerned the powers union leaders had over strikes ( Moskin 100). Margaret’s first targets were the closed shop, picketing practices, and the use of secondary strikes. During her first term in office, new legislation strengthened the power of individual union members against their leadership and provided for penalties imposed on unions that called illegal strikes. A law was enacted to compel unions to make strike decisions by secret ballot. The unions were getting very angry ( Moskin 100). The National Union of Mine Workers (NUM) had a strike thinking it would defeat the Tory government and Margaret Thatcher. The NUM wanted to promote more socialism in Britian with more nationalization of industry and more control of industry by labor. Because Mrs. Thatcher’s policies were exactly the opposite, his efforts were directed at toppling her Conservation administration.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Hemp Legalization Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Drug Essays

Hemp Legalization THE PURPOSE OF THIS REPORT The purpose of this report is to show the need to reform the present marijuana/hemp law in the United States in order to make hemp available for industrial purposes. The first thing that I will do is define marijuana and hemp in order to avoid confusion. An explanation of how the present marijuana/hemp law originated will be given after that. Then I will define and describe the present law concerning marijuana and hemp. I will then define the specific aspect of the marijuana/hemp law that I feel needs to be changed. Some industrial and environmental needs will then be listed. I will then demonstrate how the industrial and environmental needs of the United States can be fulfilled. THE DEFINITIONS OF MARIJUANA AND HEMP There is a large amount of confusion about the distinction between marijuana and hemp. Hemp is an actual plant that was originally located in Asia. It can be used for many purposes. The hemp plant is most commonly used for extraction of the drug marijuana. Marijuana is a drug obtained from the flowering tops, stems, and leaves of the hemp plant. It is a drug with hallucinogenic properties that people smoke in order to get high (www.encyclopedia.com). HOW THE PRESENT MARIJUANA LAW ORIGINATED The technical name of the present law outlawing marijuana is the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. It originated in a very corrupt manner. Before the drug of marijuana was common, the hemp plant was used for industrial purposes on a small scale. The production of products with hemp was still a new process, and the process didn?t get a chance to fully develop before the hemp plant became illegal. The drug of marijuana first earned its reputation as an intoxicant in the... ...es, or they should start over and write a new law. The changes should be made because of the things that I discussed in this report: the law was passed under corrupt circumstances, the product of hemp is not being used for industrial purposes, and hemp is a very environment friendly product. Works Cited Gochmanosky, Nicole. "Hemp/Marijuana Legalization-Its Time Has Come." 27 Oct 1999. 2 pp. Available www: http://www.sandi.net Scotty J. "Legalize." 29 Nov 1999. 1 pp. Available www: http://www.legalize.com "Marijuana Tax Act of 1937." 27 Oct 1999. 1 pp. Available www: http://www.altereduniv.com "Marijuana." 27 Nov 1999. 1 pp. Available www: http://www.encyclopedia.com "Reefer Madness." 27 Oct 1999. 1 pp. Available www: http://www.dvddiscounts.com "Still Crazy After All These Years." 27 Oct 1999. 4 pp. Available www: http://www.norml.org

Sunday, August 18, 2019

The Big Day :: Personal Narrative Writing

The Big Day â€Å"Heekin quit fucking staring at the clouds you might be playing this weekend,† screamed Coach Bernardi. All week I waited, sweating every night just wondering if Saturday would be the day I would start my first college football game. Every night I thought what I would do if I was to start, was I ready for this? I would be a little chihuahua amongst a pack of wolves on the field. But all week I had trained to the point that all the sweat in my shirt could have been rung out to make a full cup of water. My Saturday morning started just as every other football players did 10:00a.m wake up, then a short walk over to the dome for walkthroughs. Then to The Place for my usual breakfast the hungry man special: three eggs, two pieces of bacon, two patties of sausage, a portion of hash browns that was the size of my hand stretched out, and my choice of three pancakes or French toast. After that huge meal I couldn’t resist just going back to the dorms and finding a great resting place in my bed. For some reason every person in the damn dorms insisted in walking into my room and waking me up so I was not the most cheerful person when the alarm clock went off three hours later. â€Å"Trevor get you ass out of bed your late for team meal, said Bobby. No I can’t be I set my alarm for 2p.m. Yea but you have hit the snooze button five times so that means its about 2:20 right now and meal started five minutes ago.† That was a great way to get this all started walking late into team meal I could just imagine what the coaches were going to say to me when I got there. As I walk in to the dining hall I find Coach Bernardi sitting in a chair. â€Å"Damn Heekin where the hell have you been I thought you were going to be a no show! Were you afraid that you might have to play today?

Saturday, August 17, 2019

How to Overcome a Challenging Obstacle

How to Overcome a Challenging Obstacle in Your Everyday Living. Amethyst K. Oliver Baker College of Clinton Township Composition I Andrea Nienstedt How to Overcome a Challenging Obstacle in Your Everyday Living. Overcoming a struggle is normal for everyone. People should not be ashamed of what they are not good at; we have to look at the fact that each individual is not going to become good at anything so easily like we want it to be. It is always good for a person that wants to really learn something they believe they will be become stronger at.It takes take time and patience. I personally believe for the individuals that are the ones that can’t accept the fact when someone makes a mistake they are not understandable. Dealing with difficult people is very common in life, sometimes we have to figure out and understand the ones who tries to criticize others-what makes them behave the way they do. I think being assertive is always the right thing to do. I’m going to discu ss what Sedaris’s obstacles in this essay were and also discuss more about my few obstacles that was related to Sedaris, personally.Reading what David Sedaris was going through in the essay he wrote, called â€Å"Me Talk Pretty One Day,† the one thing I can relate to that is that I know how it definitely feels to think that you are so alone in a new environment redundant. Personally, I went to two different high schools and I was afraid of meeting new people at first; I was never used to switching schools. I had always stayed at the same school, but I had realized in the near future I would had to face up my fears and socialize with different individuals, different ethnicities.At my last high school, I felt so alone. Everyone at the school had their own â€Å"cliques;† I was always to myself, from the time I started there until the time I was finished. I would try to socialize with some of the people, but I would have this thought that they probably werenâ€℠¢t going to like me. Honestly, there were some people that I kind of wanted to hang around with but they were too stuck-up. I told myself I would never try to please other people if they don’t want to become my â€Å"friend. † Sedaris went to a school in France just to learn and experience a new language: French.When he arrived, he was sadly stuck with a teacher who was abusive and said nasty things to him and other individuals. All of the things that she was saying were frustrating him; he tried to not let her vicious words get to him. He thought he was all alone, in this crazy teacher’s world, when one day he came in to see everyone huddled together talking a language to each other. In addition to that, close to the end of the essay he was finally able about to speak their language just because of the contention that happened in the classroom between his teacher and one of his classmates.I’ve learned from the Golden Rule: â€Å"Treat others the way you want to be treated, respect is earned not given. † Basically what this verse in my own personal experience that I’ve dealt with in my life as I am going to explain about is if there was something that I did not know how to do but another individual doesn’t respect nor understand you are learning something for the first time and they judge you so bad just because my learning skills were different than theirs, they don’t understand the true meaning of fairness.The importance of everyone is not always going to be talented at every single thing, which that does not make them a bad person. Whenever I start learning something that is new to me I always ask someone to help me get through it most will always give back and help me with what they need to do, and majority may not. For the people that would criticize I will not be able to succeed and make it out here in this life. I’ve learned that sometimes it can be hard not letting things get into you, but in order to become stronger you have to believe in yourself and think about the outcomes into figuring out, â€Å"What If? Most importantly, collaboration is very important. The more you and that individual collaborate the better you will be as far as reaching for success. Generally speaking, learning a whole new different language is not easy; there are so many concepts to learning a new language for many individuals to understand. Although, learning how to speak a foreign language that interests you is extremely important. You do not have to pay money or travel just to learn a foreign language, where if you go to school and they have a teacher who teaches one of the many foreign languages for free.When practicing on becoming better at learning a foreign language, there are different aspects into learning a whole new language, which includes with the grammar and pronunciation (the two important ones in composition. ) The pronunciation can become the bigger problem; it can be so ha rd to pronounce something that is new to you. â€Å"You exhaust with your foolishness and reward my efforts with nothing but pain; do you understand me (Sedaris, 2000)? † What Sedaris meant by that is he was tired of what this rude teacher had said to him, it was time for him defend what was right and let it continue. I know the thing that you speak exact now. Talk me more, you, plus, please, plus (Sedaris, 2000). † Two of the quotes in Sedaris’s essay, he meant was that he finally understood the language from after all the chaos and commotion that was going in the classroom and he told that teacher if she has something to say to him say it again. He wasn’t afraid to speak what was on his mind. Those were the two major quotes in Sedaris essay that really moved me and it made me realized with he was emotionally suffering with his deceiving teacher.He was proving his fact toward the teacher and he wasn’t going have her believe that he couldn’t speak out his â€Å"true feelings. † In this essay I’ve read, I believed that Sedaris is a hard worker that is trying his best to accomplish what he was trying to do. I believe that this teacher wanted everyone to get better at the language she was teaching but in my opinion she has to understand that everyone’s person learning skills are way different than others.Similarly, Sedaris and I had one issue in common and that was feeling like you are all alone in this world but really it does feel that way whenever you are at a new environment. Differences are not good or bad, but it is good to accept the fact that people do things differently is the first step to understanding what how they learn differently and with whom they truly are. Be willing to try new things and avoid criticizing others and not let him or her underestimate your abilities. Reference: Sedaris, D (2000) Me Talk Pretty One Day. Me Talk Pretty One Day (pp. 166-173) New York: Little, Brown.