Regarding the Cosmological Argument - 1564 Words

Regarding the Cosmological Argument The goal of the cosmological argument is to support the claim that God exists as the first cause of the universe. According to Nagel, the argument runs as following: (P1) Every event must have a cause. (P2) If every event must have a cause, event A must have a cause B, which in turn must have a cause C, and so on. (P3) There is no end to this backward progression of causes. (C1) This backward progression of causes will be an infinite series of event. (P4) An infinite series of events is unintelligible and absurd. (P5) The existence of the universe does not result from an unintelligible and absurd process. (P6) The existence of the universe does not result from an infinite series of events. (C2)†¦show more content†¦If God’s existence is not an event, then P1 (â€Å"Every event must have a cause†) does not apply to it and it is not necessary for God’s existence to have a cause, even if it is granted that every event is caused. Thus, Nagel’s argument that God’s existence must have a cause because every event must have a cause is not sound. Although the second part of Nagel’s objection, directed towards the response â€Å"God is self-caused,† is reasonable, it contains a small weakness. If God can be â€Å"self-caused,† and there is no sufficient reason as to why only God can cause itself to exist, then it is logical to think that the universe can also be self-caused. The weakness of this argument is the difference between God and the universe. The universe consists of all events and is inseparable from them. No event in the universe, so far, has been self-caused, thus many components of the universe demands a cause other than themselves. It is difficult to imagine the universe to be self-caused when so many of its components are not. God, on the other hand, is often thought to exist outside of the universe due to its timelessness. Similar to abstract objects such as numbers, God does not have a temporal location and its existence is not associated with any event. To imagine God to be self-caused do es not involve the same kind of difficulty as imagining the universe to be self-caused, since no part of God demands a cause other thanShow MoreRelatedThe Cosmological Argument643 Words   |  3 PagesThe Cosmological Argument An important argument to try and prove the existence of God is the Cosmological Argument brought on by observations of the physical universe, made by Saint Thomas Aquinas, a thirteenth century Christian philosopher. The cosmological argument is a result from the study of the cosmos; Aquinas borrows ideas from Aristotle to make this systematically organized argument. Aquinas’ first point begins with the observation that everything is moving. Aquinas’ says that everythingRead MoreClarke s Cosmological Argument On The Existence Of God1648 Words   |  7 Pages Clarke’s Cosmological argument has been around for multiple centuries—the purpose of this argument being to try to prove the existence of God. Although this argument sounds valid—meaning that â€Å"IF premises 1 and 2 are true, then the conclusion must be true† — while many people have accepted this argument, it has also caused a lot of questioning and skepticism, mainly because of what the Cosmological Argument uses to support its argument—the Principle of Sufficient reason. Before determining whetherRead MoreEssay On Anselm And Aquinas1413 Words   |  6 Pagesphilosophers Anselm and Aquinas both endeavored to convince their peers through philosophical argument that the existence of God was irrefutable. In the process they made claims regarding the nature of God, concerning issues such as His character and being. Despite seeking to discover the same truth about God, Anselm and Aquinas approached the issue at hand in strikingly dissimilar w ays. Anselm’s primary argument for God’s existence is found in his literary work Proslogion which seeks to ontologicallyRead MoreThe Question Of God s Existence1575 Words   |  7 Pageshonest with myself, during many hard times I have questioned Gods existence myself. Arguments that have been used to support the existence of a divine being includes; the cosmological argument and the theological argument. However, there are some who oppose these arguments and philosopher H.J. McCloskey is among this group. In the article â€Å"On Being an Atheist† written by H.J. McCloskey, he argues that both these arguments are false and insufficient as it relates to â€Å"proof† of God’s existence. McCloskeyRead MoreAnalysis Of The Article On Being An Atheist 1558 Words   |  7 Pagesbeen challenged by many philosophers and non-philosophers alike over the years. Arguments that have been used to support the existence of a divine being includes; the cosmologic al argument and the theological argument. However, there are some who oppose these arguments and philosopher H.J. McCloskey is among this group. In the article â€Å"On Being an Atheist† written by H.J. McCloskey, he argues that both these arguments are false and insufficient as it relates to â€Å"proof† of God’s existence. McCloskeyRead MoreAnalysis Of The Article On Being An Atheist 1290 Words   |  6 PagesGod’s existence has been challenged by many philosophers and non-philosophers alike. Arguments that have been used to support the existence of a divine being includes the cosmological argument and the theological argument. However there are some who oppose these arguments and philosopher H.J. McCloskey is among this group. In the article â€Å"On Being an Atheist† written by H.J. McCloskey, he argues that both these arguments are false and insufficient as it relates to â€Å"proof† of God’s existence. McCloskeyRead MoreQuesti ons On An Argument On The Existence Of A Prime Mover, Or Creator ( Or God )1603 Words   |  7 PagesPart 1: Clarifying an Argument State the argument you find in Passage 1 in explicit premise-and-conclusion form. PASSAGE 1: (P1) Every event must have a cause. (P2) An infinite series of events is inconceivable. (P3) There must be a first cause. (C1) The first cause must have at least been the originator of the universe. (C2) The first cause is God. PASSAGE 2: Nagel’s Counterargument (P1) Positing the existence of a first cause does not explain away the infinite regressionRead MoreAnalysis Of The Article On Being An Atheist 1538 Words   |  7 PagesGod’s existence has been challenged by many philosophers and non-philosophers alike. Arguments that have been used to support the existence of a divine being includes the cosmological argument and the theological argument. However there are some who oppose these arguments and philosopher H.J. McCloskey is among this group. In the article â€Å"On Being an Atheist† written by H.J. McCloskey, he argues that both these arguments are false and insufficient as it relates to â€Å"proof† of God’s existence. McCloskeyRead MoreRegarding The Topic Of Theism, One Must Take Into Consideration1357 Words   |  6 PagesRegarding the topic of theism, one must take into consideration several factors when justifying or repudiating its reasonableness-- due to its subjective and therefore controversial na ture, it is quite difficult to say precisely whether theism is justified or otherwise. Personally, I am not convinced of either position yet, and as a recently converted Christian (in other words, I am still relatively new to the ideals surrounding western theology) both arguments seem plausible and require furtherRead MoreAnalysis Of The Article On Being An Atheist1136 Words   |  5 Pages H. J McCloskey in his article, On Being an Atheist, is trying to show the readers are more reasonable and comfortable belief than that of Christianity. In the article he also puts up an argument concerning two theistic point of which is the cosmological and teleological argument. McCloskey also talks about the problems resulting from all the evil in the world. He goes as far to point out this evil in a world the God had made and blames God for it. Due to that fact and other issues, he believes

Classical Management V Human Relations - 1640 Words

Classical v Human Relations Introduction In this report I will be looking at the pros and cons to a classical style management and the human relations style management. I will then be looking at Ikeas management style and which areas of each management style could be used to improve the performance of the management team and which areas work and should be retained by Ikea. IKEA is a well-known household name. They are an extremely popular business. They sell all kinds of household fittings form; the smallest t-spoon to huge double beds. IKEA first started in the 1940 s in a small farming village in southern Sweden where it was founded by Ingvar Kamprad- when he was 17. IKEA originally sold pens, wallets, picture frames,†¦show more content†¦2. Authority. Managers must be able to give orders. Authority gives them this right. Note that responsibility arises wherever authority is exercised. 3. Discipline. Employees must obey and respect the rules that govern the organisation. Good discipline is the result of effective leadership, a clear understanding between management and workers regarding the organisation s rules, and the judicious use of penalties for infractions of the rules. 4. Unity of command. Every employee should receive orders from only one superior. 5. Unity of direction. Each group of organisational activities that have the same objective should be directed by one manager using one plan. 6. Subordination of individual interests to the general interest. The interests of any one employee or group of employees should not take precedence over the interests of the organisation as a whole. 7. Remuneration. Workers must be paid a fair wage for their services. 8. Centralisation. Centralisation refers to the degree to which subordinates are involved in decision making. Whether decision making is centralised (to management) or decentralised (to subordinates) is a question of proper proportion. The task is to find the optimum degree of centralisation for each situation. 9. Scalar chain. The line of authority from top management to the lowest ranks represents the scalar chain. Communications should follow this chain. However, if following the chain createsShow MoreRelatedEvaluating The Management Thinking, Compare And Contrast Humanistic And Classical Perspectives Of Management Essay1412 Words   |  6 Pages Introduction Management practices and perspectives vary in response to social, political and economic forces in our society. When time passes, managers adopted different management perspectives to help their organisation cope with environment turbulence or changes. The importance for human being to comprehend the importance of management perspectives is to help each organisations achieve their goals by improving workers’ productivity and efficiency as well as keeping the organisationsRead MoreClassical Management Theory And The Classical Theory1503 Words   |  7 PagesThe Classical Management Theory entered the business world in the early nineteenth century, with an emphasis on increasing worker productivity. Developed by Frederick Taylor, the classical theory of management advocated a scientific study of tasks and the workers responsible for them. It was the foundation of many modern management theories and it aimed to improve operations within an organization. The Classical Management Theory was broken into three schools of thinking: Scientific management, whichRead MoreCritically Evaluate the Relevance of the Contingency Approach to Managing on the Managerial Work of the Manager You Interviewed.1639 Words   |  7 Pagescontingency approach to managing on the managerial work of the manager you interviewed. Jane Smith is the Director of Human Resources and Operations of a mid-sized (approx. 700 staff), ASX listed, insurance and wealth management firm – XYZ Wealth (pseudonyms have been used to respect the privacy of both the HRD and the firm involved). XYZ Wealth operates across Australia, with the management team based in Melbourne. Jane directly leads a team of seven HR and communication employees and five operationsRead MoreOrganizational Studies And Management Essay1708 Words   |  7 Pages Assessment No 1 Individual Essay Dispatched by and prepared for: HRM3008 Organisational Change B.A (Hons) Business and Management (Cohort 5) October 2014 Module Submitted By: Kavita Dhawan (UON ID 14439311) INTRODUCTION Management has been proficient a long time period. Organized endeavors focused by people accountable for planning, organizing, leading, and controlling undertakings have occurred for thousands of yearsRead MoreThe Classical Theory Of Management Theory1588 Words   |  7 Pages The Classical Management theory entered the business world in the early nineteenth century, with a goal on increasing worker productivity. Developed by Frederick Taylor, the classical theory of management advocated a scientific study of jobs and the workers in charge for them. It was the foundation of modern management theories and it aimed to improve operations within an organization. (Robbins Cutler, 2014). The Classical Management Theory was broken into three categories: Scientific ManagementRead MoreEssay about Classical vs Human Relations Approaches to Management1813 Words   |  8 PagesMANAGEMENT ESSAY INTRODUCTION This essay compares and contrasts the â€Å"Classical† and â€Å"Human Relations† approaches to management. It focuses on how these approaches are similar and compatible and looks at their differences and incompatibilities. It then explores how systems theory and contingency theory can reconcile the incompatibilities between the approaches. The essay is structured as follows. First, the essay shall explain the nature of the â€Å"Classical† and â€Å"Human Relations† approaches toRead MoreManagement Thoughts and Theories1727 Words   |  7 PagesMANAGEMENT THOUGHTS AND THEORIES The industrial revolution, which began in Europe in mid-1700s, was the starting point for the development of management concepts and theories. PRECLASSICAL CONTRIBUTORS TO MANAGENENT THOUGHT Name Period Contribution Robert Owen 1771- 1858 Proposed legislative reforms to improve working conditions of labor Charles Babbage 1792-1871 Advocated the concept of ‘division of labor; devised a profit-sharing plan which led to the modern-day Scanlon Plan AndrewRead MoreNeoclassical Organizational Theory: An Overview536 Words   |  2 PagesWar II. In a way, it could be viewed as reactionary to the classical organizational theory which developed earlier in the twentieth century as industry exploded. The rise of classical organizational theories had emphasized the organization as the machine and the workers as the gears (Yang, Liu, Wang, 2013). Once employee education improved and productivity developed, then the strict, rigid, and mechanical approach of the classical theories began to create problems (Yang et al., 2013). ThusRead MoreManagement School of Thought1542 Words   |  7 PagesManagement School of Thought:  During the present century, certain schools of management thought have developed. Each school reflects the problems of the period during which they were popular. Herold Koontz was the first who have attempted to classify the various approaches on the management in the schools of management theory. Based on the wr itings of some of the scholars and Koontz, the management thoughts, have been classified in the following schools of management theory. a) Management ProcessRead MoreManagement748 Words   |  3 Pagessucceed in management. In order to succeed in this competitive environment manager must have good people skills. Management Functions Planning / organizing / Leading and controlling Management roles Interpersonal : - Figurehead, leader , liaison Informational : - Monitor , spokesperson , disseminator Decisional : -Entrepreneur , Disturbance handler , recourse allocator Management Skills Technical / conceptual / Human skills Effective vs Successful manager Traditional management / networking

5 Claims Revised and Developed Free Essays

1) When Marji was inventing torture games, she was merely a product of the war environment. Marji lived in an environment surrounded by violence, anger, and most importantly war. She is a young girl and during school she invented a game where the loser would be punished with war punishments. We will write a custom essay sample on 5 Claims Revised and Developed or any similar topic only for you Order Now Some of these punishments included the â€Å"mouth filled with garbage† method or the twisted arm method. While most kids may know the difference in right and wrong, Marji grew up in an area where she had no choice but to be brainwashed by society and the war. She heard about war tactics from her Uncle Anouche, she saw the violence on the streets, and she even saw dead bodies. Most young children only see those things on movies and video games, and even then they can be negatively affected. However, for a child to see these things daily she can only assume it is the norm. Marji was psychologically affected by the war and her environment, which led her to believe the terrible things she saw were normal, and thus it resulted in her being a product of her environment. 2) Marji chases and wants to attack Ramine. Ramine symbolizes the war, and Marji attacking him symbolizes Marji wanting to put an end to war. To Marji, Ramine symbolized the war, the evil, and all the conflicts in her country. Marji discovered that Ramine’s father killed people, which lead Marji into a rage. Marji chased after Ramine with nails between her fingers wanting to hurt him for what his father had done. She had no reason to be mad at Ramine because he had not killed anyone. However, she began to realize that the war was constantly showing up in her life and affecting her life. She was filled with anger, and she longed for the war and violence to be over. When she was trying to put an end to Ramine, symbolically she was trying to put an end to the war. 3) The torture game Marji invents shows her strong desire for power. In a country where no one has any power, Marji longs to have power. She devises a game at school where the loser gets punished with torture methods like the â€Å"mouth filled with garbage† method and the twisted arm method. She comes up with this idea because she sees the people in the war who have power use violence to gain that power. Although it is wrong to gain power that way, Marji has such a strong desire for power that she doesn’t care what she has to do to earn it. Marji ends up feeling so powerful that after school she stares at herself in the mirror and her reflection shows herself with devil horns. This demonstrates that not only does Marji want power, but she doesn’t care if the power comes with being evil. 4) By attempting to attack Ramine with nails, Marji believes violence is the way to obtain justice for what Ramine’s father did. When Marji found out that Ramine’s father killed people, she immediately wanted to obtain justice. She wanted the evil people to face the consequences and be punished. She rallied up her friends and they all put nails between their fingers and chased after Ramine. Marji could have gained justice a different way. She could have talked to Ramine’s father, but instead she chose violence. Marji chose this method because throughout the war they try to gain justice through violence. She heard of war tactics like the twisted arm method, and she knew those methods caused pain. She knew those tactics caused so much pain that they eventually caused regret in a person whose done wrong. Since Marji believed Ramine and his family had done wrong, she believed to gain justice she needed violence to do so. 5) Marji chasing after Ramine is simply a way for Marji to distract herself from her self-conflicting battles. Marji chases after Ramine with nails between her fingers. Although she claims she does it because Ramine’s father was evil, the true reason she did it is because she needed a distraction from her own conflicting battles. Marji struggles daily with who she is, how she identifies herself, and where she wants to be in life. Ramine, although young and highly affected by his father’s opinions, he knows who he wants to be, and he defends his father even though Marji and her friends are threatening him. Marji, on the other hand, doesn’t know where she wants to be, and she doesn’t know where she belongs. She fights battles with herself and that causes a lot of built up anger and frustration. Marji’s only solution was to take out her frustration on someone who she unknowingly is jealous of, which happened to be Ramine because he knows exactly what he believes in. How to cite 5 Claims Revised and Developed, Papers

Economics of Innovation Identities Shape

Question: Discuss about the Economics of Innovation for Identities Shape. Answer: Introduction Food and beverage manufacturing industry in Australia is the largest contributor to the countries` GDP. The industry constitutes about a third of all the countrys entire manufacturing sector. Products and resources in this industry are some of the products whose demand and supply keeps changing regularly. The changes in demand and supply of products in this sector have a very big impact of the stability of the economy in general (Arnold, 2010) In economics, demand is defined as the amount of goods or services that a given person is willing and capable of purchasing at the prevailing price and at that particular time (Bannered and Duflo,2011).This means that for demand to occur, the person must be both willing and capable of buying no that particular good or service. The increase in exports in the food and beverage industry in the country is an indication of increase in demand of the products in other countries. Supply is defined as the amount of goods or services that a producer of a certain good or service are willing and able to deliver to the market at the prevailing prices at that particular time. Willing to sell without the capability cannot qualify as demand and vice versa. The above statistics make prove that the industry is depended upon by very many people in the country. For this reason, it is important to explore the factors that drive demand and supply of goods in this industry. The essay discusses the factors that influence how much producers are willing and capable of delivering to the market as well as the amount buyers are willing and capable of purchasing at a given market price. An example of a resource that is used in the production of foods is the wheat and barley. According to the Australia Food and Grain report, the demand for wheat in Australia in the year 2016 was about 28 million metric tonnes.The supply for wheat in Australia was about 24 million metric tons. This means that there was a shortage in the country since the demand of the product exceeded the supply. Another resource that is commonly used in food manufacturing is barley. The production of wheat for the year 2016 in Australia was 8.5 million MT. There was a very slight change from the previous year when production was at 8.45 million MT. The yield per hectare was estimated to be around 2.0 MT. The demand for barley in Australia is less than the supply. This explains why the country exported 6 million metric tons of barley in the year 2016. The major factor affecting the demand of a resource or a particular good or service is the price (Russel, 2014). This is the basic determinant of demand and supply of any resource. This is what brought about the law of demand and supply. The price elasticity of any resource will determine the extent to which a unit change in price will affect the demand of the product. The following are the factors apart from price that might have caused the changes in demand of the above products; Consumers taste and preferences is also an important factor that determines the level of demand of a particular good. When consumers tastes and preferences match with what supply in the market, the demand for product will increase. If the tastes of the consumer do not match what the producers offer, the demand for the product will be low. Changes in tastes and preferences of a consumer change with time depending on factors such as fashion and the effects of advertisement. Tastes and preferences on goods such as wheat may result from health and nutritional concerns of the consumer. Another important factor affecting demand is the level of incomes of consumers. Rise in consumer incomes increases demand for products while a reduction in consumer incomes lowers their demand for products. This law however applies to normal goods only. Increase in income will increase the demand for a product by increasing the amount of disposable income. This will in turn improve the purchasing power of a consumer meaning that he/she will tend to consume more of the product. For example the increase of incomes for will increase their purchasing power which means they consume more beer. Increase in demand for beer will in turn cause the demand for barley to increase (Akerlof and Kranton, 2010). Changes in prices of related goods will also affect the demand for products that are consumed together. These products are referred to as complementary goods. Increase in price of one product will reduce its demand and therefore the demand of the other product will also increase. The number of consumers of a product in a particular market will affect the demand of that product. When the numbers of the people who consume a product increase, the demand of the product will also rise. The decrease in the number of people consuming a particular product will result to a decline in demand (Swann, 2009). The supply of any product is determined by the many different factors such as Seasonality in production. This mostly applies to goods which are seasonal in nature such that when its the pick season, the supply will be high and when it is off season, supply will reduce. Another factor that determines supply is the expected rise or fall of prices of a product in future. When suppliers expect the price to rise, they will hold their goods waiting for prices to increase hence increases in supply. Expected fall in prices will increase the supply in the short run. The cost of production is another very important determinant of supply. When per unit costs of production are high, producers will produce less hence the supply will decline. Low costs of production will mean higher profits margins for producers hence leading to a rise in demand (Eisenstein, 2011). Other factors that determine the supply of a product are technology, government policy and price of related goods. Conclusion The supply and demand of a particular product varies from time to time and from place to place depending on different factors. The factors that affect the level of demand and supply of a product ranging from price will determine whether there is surplus, shortage or equilibrium state. Factors affecting demand and supply in one industry may not affect the same in another. An example is that weather affects the production of agricultural product but does not affect the supply of cement in the market. Changes in consumer tastes and preferences have also had tremendous impact on level of demand and supply of a given product. This calls for producers to stay in touch with the changing trends in order to maintain high demand for their products. References: Eisenstein, Charles. Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, Society in the Age of Transition. Berkeley, Calif: Evolver Editions, 2011. Internet resource. Arnold, Roger A. Economics. Australia: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Banerjee, Abhijit V, and Esther Duflo. Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. New York: PublicAffairs, 2011. Print. Russel, . The Economics of the Roman Stone Trade. Corby: Oxford University Press, 2014. Print. Akerlof, George A, and Rachel E. Kranton. Identity Economics: How Our Identities Shape Our Work, Wages, and Well-Being. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010. Internet resource. Samuelson, Paul A, and William D. Nordhaus. Economics. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill, 2010. Print. Swann, G M. P. The Economics of Innovation: An Introduction. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2009. Internet resource.

Stage in the Lifespan an Example by

Stage in the Lifespan by Expert Lilliana | 23 Dec 2016 Young adulthood has become an increasingly difficult time in the lives of humans that find themselves too old to be considered children and too young to be taken seriously as adults. Tweens, teens, and college age people are no longer completely dismissed by culture, as the purchasing power of children ages nine to fourteen has increased to become a force to be reckoned with and society sometimes seems to cater to their sensibilities. With so much information continuously coming at them through the internet, the television, magazines and movies, young adults often have trouble finding the path for which they are best suited, and many find themselves victimized by sexually transmitted diseases and crime. Because it is such a confusing time in the life of humans, young adults simply try to learn about adulthood while enjoying the last carefree days of youth. Need essay sample on "Stage in the Lifespan" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed The first thing that must be addressed when discussing young adults is their burgeoning sexuality. Biologically, young adults are either reaching or already in their sexual maturity, when hormones are raging often beyond their control. The question of teenage sexual activity is one that may be misleading, due in large part to the evolution of society and its more relaxed attitude toward sex. Less than a century ago, it was routine for teenagers to get married and begin families fresh out of high school. However, now that education is considered something that requires many years if a person expects to succeed in society, the cycle of marriage, sex, and starting families has also been postponed until much later in life. So, when teens reach biological maturity and begin to feel sexual urges, they experiment and often subject themselves to terrible consequences such as unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. The overwhelming and often tragic figures that explore teenage sexuality are hard to ignore. Compared to older adults, adolescents between the ages of ten and nineteen are at higher risk for acquiring STDs for a number of reasons, including limited access to preventive and regular health care and physiologically increased susceptibility to infection (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005). And among these young sexually active teens, minorities and teenage girls have been particularly hard hit by HIV/AIDS. Young African Americans represented 65% of AIDS cases reported among 13-19 year olds in 2002, suggesting that they are less likely to practice safe sex than white teenagers. Latino teens represented 20% of new AIDS cases, and in 2002, girls represented 51% of HIV cases reported among 13-19 year olds, compared to 30% of cases reported among people over age 25 that same year (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005). These figures suggest a problem that is difficult to curb. Current sexual education is not nearly adequate enough to deal with the trends. Most teenagers are skeptical by nature, as well as inpidualistic when it comes to being told what to do, and the standard line of abstaining is not practical and does not work. Abstinence vows may work for some teens, but are largely nothing more than lip service. Teens have simply become more adept at avoiding pregnancy and retaining their abstinence, including abandoning the practice of vaginal sex and opting for oral or anal sex. Many teenage girls feel that unless the sex they have is vaginal, they are still technically virgins. This goes to show that the moral and religious leaders that push for sexual education are merely confusing the issue rather than illuminating it. While some teens are at higher risk for sexual activity, including those that have been abused or use drugs and alcohol, all teens experience raging hormones and sexual impulses. It is a mistake to expect a denial of their human impulses, so an intelligent compromise must be reached regarding teenage sex. Whether this involves more sexual education from a young age that is informative rather than dogmatic, or changing society to allow teens to pursue valuable relationships instead of merely focusing on school and future careers, teenage sexuality must be addressed and dealt with in an honest and effective way. In addition to sex, teens also experience many difficulties with alcohol. Debate continues in the medical community as to whether alcoholism is a physical or psychological disease, but the connection between alcohol and mental health is undeniable. Because of the cavalier attitude the United States takes towards alcohol consumption, the stresses that come with everyday life in the fast-paced modern world that encourage chemical solutions, and the overwhelming statistical evidence suggesting that alcoholism is a national epidemic, alcohol abuse resembles a mass mental health problem that can only be curbed through therapy and education. And, this problem is intensified when it concerns teenagers. While alcohol consumption is illegal for teenagers, that fact does little to curb teenage drinking. Teens drink whether authorities and parents like it or not, and the problem leads to many problems beyond just breaking the law, and can significantly impact their education and their future. As a highly powerful drug, alcohol may not receive the professional medical endorsement as some pharmaceuticals, nor contain the powerful anesthetizing characteristics of many illegal narcotics, but its cost and ease of availability makes it a popular drug for millions of American teens. According to a survey released by the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, it was found that by the time the states teenagers reach their senior year in high school, more than 80% of them admit to having some experience with alcohol (Westbrook, 2007). The same study also found that most of the students consider it easy to get alcohol. The fact that Texas is a zero tolerance state for underage drinking exemplifies the futility of current methods of trying to keep teenagers away from alcohol, which usually include nothing more than a repetitive mandate telling them not to drink. It would seem that the only remedy to alcohol abuse in society is through better education and programs designed to counter the overwhelmingly supportive stance taken on alcohol by current social organizations. In addition to providing such information, prevention programs should teach inpiduals about the role that alcohol expectancies play in regard to heavy and abusive drinking, and help restructure expectancies among abusive or potentially abusive drinkers (Frone, et al., 1993, p. 556). By convincing more people that alcohol cannot truly eradicate or alleviate their problems, and in fact make their problems worse, mental health professionals stand a better chance of discouraging inpiduals from participating in future alcohol abuse. However, unlike many health issues, professionals must compete with an industry that spends billions of dollars a year to attract consumers. Alcohol abuse has been and continues to be a mental health epidemic in the United States, encouraged by a society largely accepting of alcohol use and the many stresses of school and home life that drive people to seek alcoholic therapy. Alcoholism can even impact the aspirations of a young adult, like John. Even though John was a freshman, he was a starter on the varsity volleyball and basketball teams. He was offended when he failed to make the varsity football team, but while he thought he should have made the varsity team as a freshman, the coach explained how all freshmen had to play on the freshman team. John proved the coach wrong by midseason and was starting as a running back on varsity by the fifth game. John was one of the few freshmen in the state to make all-conference in three sports, and he even began to attract the attention of multiple colleges. Johns popularity in school grew with every athletic victory, and girls did not escape his attention. Soon, John was engaging in promiscuous sex and partying with the upperclassmen. While this did not seem to affect his performance on the playing field, as John had an equally impressive sophomore year, and continued to enjoy his success socially and athletically. However, when John was drinking with friends one weekend, he broke h is ankle in a drunk-driving accident. He had to drop out of football entirely his junior year because he could barely walk, let alone play. He had a huge cast on my ankle and had to walk with crutches for months. When volleyball and basketball began, he was still rehabbing my ankle and working with physical therapists to try to strengthen it enough to endure the stresses of continuous jumping. This made him miss considerable time, and his sophomore season was nothing like he had imagined the year before, and the scouts stopping showing up and calling. He continued to drink and party, though was also severely depressed. However, he continued conditioning, doing physical therapy, and he planned on making his senior year the one that would finally allow him to shine athletically and hopefully attract enough attention from colleges to get scholarships. However, John once again injured himself while drinking, this time breaking his wrist while on a dare. This in effect not only ended Johns athletic aspirations for his senior year, but also prevented him from getting into any college on a scholarship. Because John spent so much time playing sports and partying, Johns academics were anything but stellar, and college was difficult for him to get into. The last report on John was that he was living in the same town with his parents and had no job or aspirations, but still partied all the time with his friends. If it were not for alcohol early in Johns young adulthood, there is no telling how far he might have gotten, if only to get the chance to go to college and truly begin his education. The trials and tribulations of young adulthood are enough to deal with without being inundated by confusing messages that are constantly bombarding young adults. Sexual experimentation, youth drinking, and lost dreams of irresponsible teens are only the most extreme examples of young adult behavior. What cannot be discounted are the millions of young adults that are responsible and become upstanding and contributing members of society. The only difference between the young adults that do well in adulthood to those that do not is the quality of the education they receive. And, the education that young adults receive is the responsibility not only of themselves, but also the adults from which they learn. REFERENCES Frone, M. R., Russell, M., and Cooper, M. L. (1993, November). Relationship of Work-Family Conflict, Gender, and Alcohol Expectancies to Alcohol Use/Abuse. Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 14, No. 6; pp. 545-558. Kaiser Family Foundation. (January 2005). U.S. Teen Sexual Activity. Retrieved July 14, 2008 Westbrook, S. (2007, June 6). Alcohol, Kid can be Shattering Mix. Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Retrieved July 14, 2008

Rupert Brooke Wilfred Owen War poetry Comparison Essays

Rupert Brooke Wilfred Owen War poetry Comparison Essays Rupert Brooke Wilfred Owen War poetry Comparison Paper Rupert Brooke Wilfred Owen War poetry Comparison Paper Essay Topic: Poetry Rupert Brookes The Soldier was written with the purpose of convincing young men to join the army or Fall In He shows the glorious side of war and how it is honourable. Wilfred Owens Dulce et Decorum Est was written with the purpose of showing a realistic view of war and how many young men suffered and died over a petty misunderstanding over two powerful nations. The reasons behind the publishing of these poems were because Brooke possessed an idealistic view of war and believed it was a duty for all young men to Fall in and become a soldier. Whereas Owen possessed a realistic view of war and believed it was horrific that men were dying for such futile reasons. Wilfred Owens anti-war protest Dulce est Decorum est was written whilst Owen was receiving shell shock treatment in Craiglockhart. It is an offensive response to Owens initial experience of war and an attack on propagandists who have disoriented young men to Fall In. The poem could be broken down into three parts: a description of solders withdrawing from the frontline, a mustard gas attack, and a confrontation of those who share an idealistic view of war and glorify it. The first stanza is composed of a series of descriptions of soldiers that have been tormented mentally and physically. Owen puts the impression that they have aged and have been reduced to beggars. Bent double, like old beggars under sacks coughing like hags. He describes the terrible conditions and the failure to deliver supplies to troops. Consequently men had lost their boots limped on, blood shod This was a major blunder that nearly cost Britain the war. The overall image of this scene is one of defeat and disappointment. The reader is then jolted into a sense of urgency and cautiousness. The immediacy of the gas attack is represented through repeated shouted exclamations. Gas! Gas! Quick boys! An ecstasy of fumbling Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time He also describes how powerless he is and how he witnesses a soldiers death and is helpless. But someone still was yelling out and stumbling before my helpless sight. The soldier goes through horrific stages that leads to his death. He uses a metaphor of the sea and drowning to recreate how gruesome it was. as under a green sea He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. Behind the wagon we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, his hanging face, like a devils sick of sin. The alliteration in And watch the white eyes writhing in his face recreates the hideous distortion on that mans face. This powerful imagery allows people to discover the horrific truth of modern warfare. The final section of the poem directly addresses the reader My friend for full effect of the poems last words. The rough translation of Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori is It is glorious and honourable to die for ones country He highlights this as an old Lie. Rupert Brookes The soldier is way too patriotic to be taken seriously in the modern day. It is pure propaganda persuading young innocent men to kill themselves for the sake of Britain. Rupert Brooke has a secret arrogance in his portrayal of Englishmen. He connotes they are some sort of superior race of men. in this rich earth a richer dust concealed Moreover he uses the phrase foreign field. This to me seems bizarre as he is away from his homeland so is he not the foreigner. This implies Britain has some kind of ownership over other nations. He believes when he dies he is winning land for England. That theres some corner of a foreign field. That is forever England. Let us not neglect the truth about this war; it was simply for land, greed, dominance and money. It seemed Rupert Brooke thought this was a noble cause to die for. He also implies God will forgive them for murder, he believes England will not be held accountable for their death count. Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home And think, this heart, all evil shed away The last words suggest England is heaven or even England owns heaven. I believe Dulce et decorum est was more effective as it spoke the truth and gave a realistic view of war which is what people need to make their own decision and not an influenced one.

Entrepreneurship Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 3

Entrepreneurship - Assignment Example Individual or group communication among the customers increases sharing of experiences and further requirements. Personal communication networks of ‘The Gathering Goddess’ are mainly the medium or channels that the management uses to interact with the customers. In the current study, critical evaluation of personal communication network (PCN) is made on the basis of small vintage apparel boutique based in London (Thegatheringgoddess.com, 2015). ‘The Gathering Goddess’ is developing new online stores to reach to more customers in the global market. Therefore, the organization must modify the personal networking policies as per the new platforms. ‘The Gathering Goddess’ is a small vintage apparel boutique based in the London area. The organization is producing female products for the Europe and USA clients. Initially, they started with sole physical store in the North Kensington area of London during the year 2002 (Thegatheringgoddess.com, 2015). The organization is facing huge challenge both nationally and internationally. ‘The Gathering Goddess’ is increasing their online presence for meeting challenges from competitors and increase market share and profitability. New partnership developed with the E-commerce firms like Fab.com and eBay helped the firms to meet global customers. Therefore, ‘The Gathering Goddess’ is modifying their Personal Communication Networks (Thegatheringgoddess.com, 2015). Initially, ‘The Gathering Goddess’ was using the personal communication networks to make direct influence on the customers. The firm was able to share information of the products and the services they were offering to the clients. They were using different types of communication channels and tools for communicating with the customers or other organizational stakeholders. Since 2002, the firm has used the several techniques to maintain communication networks among the customers (Thegatheringgoddess.com, 2015). The

Windshield survey Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Windshield survey - Coursework Example Median real estate property taxes paid for housing units with mortgages in 2008 in Plano was $4,402 and median real estate property taxes paid for housing units with no mortgage in 2008 in Plano was $3,685.The houses seems in good conditions and well maintained by the occupants. At the time the racial composition of the city was that78.26%were White, 5.02%were Black, 0.36% were Native American, 10.18%were Asian, 0.04% werePacific Islander, while 3.86% were fromother races, and 2.28% were from two or more races.HispanicorLatinopopulation was 10.07%. However, census statistics from 2006 showed a remarkable change in the composition of races in Plano, with rises in the numbers of black people (6.1%), Asians (14.7%), and Hispanics (14.4%) residing in the area and a fall in the percentage of white people (75.6%). According to estimates there were 80,875 families. Out of those, 42.0% had had children below the age of 18.Married coupleswere estimated at 64.3% while 7.5% had a female householder without a husband. Almost 25.1% households were non-families. Roughly 20.2% of all families were individuals, and 2.9% had somebody who was 65 years of age or above and living alone. While the average household size was estimated at 2.73, the average family size was estimated at 3.18 (http://www.homefacts.com ). According to data 28.7% of Plano's population is below the age of 18 while 7.0% is 18 to 24. ... Roughly 20.2% of all families were individuals, and 2.9% had somebody who was 65 years of age or above and living alone. While the average household size was estimated at 2.73, the average family size was estimated at 3.18 (http://www.homefacts.com ). According to data 28.7% of Plano's population is below the age of 18 while 7.0% is 18 to 24. The same statistics show that 36.5% is 25 to 44, 22.9% is 45 to 64, and 4.9% who 65 years of age or are above. Median age is estimated at 34 years. For every 100 women, there are 99.3 men. For every 100 women aged 18 and above, there are 97.2 men. 2007 estimates show the median income of a family in this city to be $84,492, while the median income for a family is estimated at $101,616. Homogeneous 2 Plano has produced such popular people like Lance Armstrong, who was seven-timeTour de Francewinner, Greg Buis, who participated in the first seasonreality TVshow, John Benjamin Hickey who was an actor and Keech Rainwater who was a drummer for thecountry musicgroupLone Star. Healthy lifestyle behaviors 4 Plano is well known for its health-consciousness. Unlike many other wealthy cities, Plano has been known for preferences among its rich people for healthy food. Physical exercise and frequent visits to the family doctor are well known. Jogging in parks and along boulevards in mornings and evenings especially by rich Whites is a marked behavioral tendency here. Risk behavior 4 Plano as any other affluent neighborhood has been witnessing a rapid rise in its level of risk behavioral factors such as drugs, alcohol abuse and crime. Data through 2001 -2008 shows the forcible rape incidents had a considerable increase from 23-50 over the years. Robberies both armed and unarmed have been between 113-150, each

Organizing at Dell Computers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Organizing at Dell Computers - Essay Example In 2005, Dell Company was valued at over $ 100 billion, which was double the market value of HP and Apple (Edwards, 2009). Today, its market worth is less than 1/3 of the proportion that market rivals control with an estimated value of $ 30 billion. Dell has struggled to find its place back as a centre of technology. Michael Dell, the founder and owner of the company has undertaken radical measures to change its now sinking company. By identifying the challenges that led to the failures and counteracting them with positive reinforcements, Dell can transform his company back to its former glory. The company has faced stiff competition in the recent past. Their market presence has reduced drastically over the years since modern technology products engineered by their competitors have overtaken most of their merchandise. As such, it needs to improve by increasing their market presence within the global setting. This means adapting to new manufacturing processes that are client specific and addressing growth at the management level (Burrows, 2005). The company also experiences challenges pertaining to the slow purchase of its key products such as the personal computers in an already saturated market. A majority of the Personal Computers (PCs) in the United States are replaced by technological upgrade and development of new items. The company should focus on strengthening relationships with suppliers and product customization (Ricadela, 2009). Another challenge is strengthening the declining customer service. Indeed, Dell prides itself in superior customer service but it should strengthen and maintain their customer service and relation (Ricadela, 2009). The company should consider forming mergers with other strong companies. This will increase their capital base as well as expand their products variety. Merger of companies will offer a mutual benefit to both companies as

Theoretical Perspectives Within Psychology

Theoretical Perspectives Within Psychology Showing a greater understanding for the different theoretical perspectives within psychology, brings the psychologist or scientist closer in understanding the complexity of human nature and the variety of personalities within society. This paper will focus on 6 of the perspectives [see appendix 1 for a list of theoretical perspectives]. The different theoretical perspectives of psychology have come to exist through the works of different schools of thoughts, who have worked on assessing behavioural patterns as well as human nature. Each of these areas have focused on the byzantine human mind in a number of different ways, through the process of employing a range of methods to analyse the brain and human mind. This has revealed remarkable details of the different human personalities. One of the important theoretical perspectives is known as the cognitive approach/Learning. This field has been influenced by John Watson and his Baby Al experiment, Skinners rat experiments (operant conditioning) and Albert Banduras social cognitive theory and experiments. Because the cognitive approach is scientific, psychologists within this field typically use laboratory experiments under strictly controlled conditions, to study behavior, which critics argue lack ecological validity. Behaviourists have criticised the cognitive approac h, because they believe individuals are born a blank slate, and not with cognitive functions like perception and memory. Finally, it does not always place importance on the physical and environmental factors when determining behaviour, like biological psychology and behaviourism do. In the 1960s Albert Bandura discovered that learning is sometimes possible without reinforcement, if the learner observes the behaviour of others and imitate it. Psychodynamics, proposed by Sigmund Freud, came to exist to describe the processes of the mind as flows of psychological energy within a complex brain. Freuds theories were clinically derived, as they were based on what his patients told him during therapy. This area studies the interrelationship between personality and the mind, by focusing on the conscious and the unconscious entities of the human mind. Based on Freuds beliefs, ego lies at the core of all psychological processes, where human behaviour displays the emotional processes active within a individuals mind. Freuds psychoanalysis was the original psychodynamic theory, but overall the psychodynamic approach includes all theories that were based on his ideas, established by Adler (1927), Erikson (1950) and Jung (1964) (Simply Psychology (2007) [online]). Within medical praxiss, psychodynamic therapies rely upon a theory of inner conflict within an individual, wherein repressed behaviours and emotions come to the surface in t he patients consciousness. The psychodynamic therapist would usually be using this approach to treat the patient for depression or anxiety related disorders. The greatest criticism of this approach is that it is unscientific in its analysis of human behaviour, as the theories are subjective; one cannot scientifically test the unconscious mind. Also, when reading about his research it becomes clear, that his case studies focused, in detail, on individuals who were often middle aged women from Vienna. Thus, the psychodynamic perspective becomes unfalsifiable because the theories cannot be empirically investigated. Biological psychology can be defined as followed: [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] the study of behavior and experience in terms of genetics, evolution, and physiology, especially the physiology of the nervous system. (Helium (2009) [online]) Thus, one can state that the biological perspective uses biology as an approach to understand animal and human behavior. It is important to realise, in order to understand how psychology and biology can coexist, that animals and humans have the ability to evolve as a result of their environment in order to secure their survival. Thus, they can change to better adapt their new surroundings, which is an important factor. This area is relevant to the study of psychology in the following way. The comparative method, looks upon comparing and studying different species, which in the end can give us knowledge in understanding human behaviour. Physiology focuses on the nervous system, comprising brain and spinal cord, and the endocrine system, comprising a number of ductless glands that secrete hormones into the bloodstream influence mental processes and behaviour in humans and animals. Many biological scientists today believe that these structures are actually the source of conscious awareness and that they do not just shape consciousness (William James [n.k.] [online]). One of the fundamental biological processes, which have important implications for psychology is genetic transmission/inheritance, ie. the nature-nurture problem relies heavily upon what geneticists have revealed that can be given from parents to offspring, and how genetic factors can intermingle with environmental factors. Each of the ab ove mentioned aspects, the comparative, the physiological and the genetic can all contribute to explaining human behaviour. Through research on the nervous system, scientists have been able to analyse brain functioning under a range of conditions, while also being able to map its relationship to human psychology. Hence, behaviour is regarded as a result of biological and biochemical processes. It is evident that this perspective has expanded significantly in recent years as the technology used to study the nervous system and brain has gradually become more advanced. MRI and PET scans are daily used to look at the effects of drugs, diseases and brain damage, and study its effect on cognitive functioning and general behaviour. Criticisms of this theory are, amongst others, that it often uses a reductionist approach because it specifically focuses on neurological processes. Also, it does not take other possible explanations of behaviour into account like cognitive processes or the impact of the surrounding environment. The biological approach supports a number of theories that originally establish and create d the physiological/biological perspective. Dualism, first used by Descartes, argues that the mind and body are separate entities, but that they interact via the pineal gland in the brain, however today most psychologists ignore this assumption. Materialism believes that the body and mind are the same and further argues that all behaviour is based on physiology, because the mind appears to exist in the brain, thus all feelings, behaviours and thoughts ultimately have a biological and physical cause. Also, they believe that behaviour has a genetic basis, because genes have evolved over millions of years to adapt behaviour to the environment. Heredity, focuses on the biological transmission of personal characteristics from one generation of individuals to the next. Natural selection is: [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] a process resulting in the survival of those individuals from a population of animals or plants that are best adapted to the prevailing environmental conditions. The survivors tend to produce more offspring then those less well adapted, so that the characteristics of the population change over time, thus accounting for the process of evolution. (World English Dictionary (2009) [online] As an admirer of Charles Darwins theory of evolution, Dr. Louis Leakey believed studying chimpanzees might bring great insight into our own evolutionary past, and helped fund Jane Goodalls field research with Gombe chimpanzees in 1957. Here she discovered, as expected, that chimpanzees exemplify behaviors similar to that of human cultures around the world. Adult behavior is reflected in the infants; not transmitted genetically but culturally, as variations occur from one group of chimpanzees to another, like scientists assume also occurred with our distant human ancestors. (Leakey Foundation (2012) [online]). Chimpanzees in certain parts of West Africa crack open nuts with a piece of wood. Others use a stone, or place the nuts on a wood or stone anvil first. Chimps in other areas dont use any such tools, although theres no lack of wood, stones, or the same kinds of nuts. On the west side of the Sassandra River in the Ivory Coast, nut-cracking is popular. No chimpanzees do it on the east side of the river, although the two groups are closely related genetically. Researchers use such criteria to rule out the possibility that nut-cracking behavior is inheritable. (The Harvard University Gazette (1999) [online]) When looking upon a biological model, one may find The Medical of Abnormality model, which has been of great importance to the psychiatric profession the past one hundred years. This model operates from the belief that mental illnesses resemble physical illnesses, thus they can equally be diagnosed and treated: Just as physical illnesses are caused by disease producing germs, genetic factors, biochemical imbalances or changes to the nervous system, it is assumed that this is also true of mental illnesses. (AS Psychology (2007) [online]) A patient with symptoms of depression could be diagnosed with an imbalance of brain chemicals. Because this is viewed as a physical illness, cures could be medication to re-establish the balance of chemicals or in severe cases Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT) (AS Psychology (2007). A problem with this perception of mental illnesses is that physical illnesses can rely on objective symptoms such as broken bones and blood pressure, whereas mental illnesses produce subjective symptoms, such as hearing voices and depression I am of the belief that if the patients symptoms cannot be measured, the treatment given to the patient can only be based on a judgement of experience by the doctor, hence its general effect is questionable, as most individuals react differently to given situations, and may portray symptoms of one mental illness, but suffer from a yet unknown mental illness. Physiologies influence on behavior Scientists have discovered that there are specific areas in the brain that operate particular behaviors and abilities; i.e. the cerebrum, frontal lobe is concerned with behaviour. Hypothalamus is in charge of sexual maturation, moods and motivation and finally hormonal body processes control the pituitary gland. Thus: Physical damage to the brain (biological) can result in mental disorders (psychological). Psychological factors can be mental disorders, predispositions (which are largely biological), sense of well-being, motivation, perception, cognition, etc. (Yahoo Answers (2009) [online]) One of the major discussions within psychology is the nature-nurture debate, which is concerned with the extent to which particular aspects of behavior are a product of either inherited (genetic/nature) or acquired (learned/nurture) characteristics (Simply Psychology (2007) [online]). (Simply Psychology (2007) [online]) As seen above, some schools of thought believe that behavior can be changed/influenced through physiological influences, where as others believe that everyone is simply born with specific behavioral traits. In studies including rats, the role of the hippocampus in learning and memory has been studied. This can be achieved through surgical removal of the hippocampus from a rats brain followed by an assessment of memory tasks by that same rat. The Maguire study (2000) used MRI technology to scan living brains, and thereby investigate the relationship between the hippocampus and memory. This MRI technique enabled the researchers to gain lots of quantitative and objective data and they discovered that the hippocampus plays an especially important role in processing and remembering spatial and contextual information short-term, which does affects behavior to some extent, when certain things can/cannot be processed or remembered. Additionally, as our knowledge within genetics expands, new discoveries are made. The Human Genome Project for example has focused on tracing types of behavior to particular strands of DNA located on specific chromosomes, but studies within this field have also started with animal experiments, who have set the path for humans: [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] the genetic mechanisms of many species (nematode worms, fruit flies, fish or mice) work in precisely the same manner as in humans, and in the mouse there are counterparts for most human genes. (Nuffieldbioethics [n.k.] [online]) Some scientists argue that much of the research in this area is very beneficial, as it can be used to diagnose and develop treatments and therapies for illnesses or problems. The main applications of the physiological approach in modern days, have been the development of anti-depressant drugs, where changing a chemical in the brain causes changes in complex emotions, however known side effects of the drugs are still an issue (Holah [n.k.] [online]). However, treatments excluding drugs and merely focusing on the psychological aspects within depressions also exist. Some of the main treatments include: Mindfulness Therapy; a form of self-awareness training taken from Buddhist mindfulness meditation, focusing on mood regulation and preventing relapses and accepting things for what they are. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT); people learn to logically look upon their negative thoughts about the world and themselves, and how these negative thoughts affect their mood. CBT perceive negative thoughts as a habit that can be changed. Interpersonal Therapy (IPT); this area aims to change an individuals interpersonal behaviour by enabeling amendments to existing interpersonal situations and roles. Psychotherapies; extended treatment where a bond between a therapist and patient is created, alongside and appreciation and focus on the past and present, is believed to resolve the patients depression. Councelling; here the patient is being helped with problems arising in the family or at work. If the incident is very resent, crisis counseling is sometimes used. Nerrative Therapy; this area helps patients focus on their strengths in past situations and build on their resilience rather than the nagatives. The patient describes his problems as stories, and is helped to discover how these may restrict the patient in overcoming his difficulties in life. (Google Docs [n.k.] [online]) Underpinning concepts within the evolutionary psychology approach The evolutionary perspective focuses on the connection between psychology and evolution, stating that the sole purpose of mental processes is to help survival and enable evolution (Buzzle (2011) [online]). This approach is strongly allied to the biological approach, as they both value the importance of biological factors. One cannot mention the word evolutionary without mentioning Charles Darwin. Although his initial aim was to comprehend the diversity of species in the world, he gradually came to realise that his theory went beyond basic biology, and he eventually set out to establish the evolutionary elements to modern human behaviour. Darwins aim was to uncover the function and structure of the mind, however the basic concept behind the theory of evolution was that all species originate from simple life forms, and these first developed more than three billion years ago, roughly 1.5 billion years after the Earth was created. The theory is based on five key observations and conclusions, which have been drawn from them: 1) Species have great fertility. They make more offspring than can grow to adulthood. 2) Populations remain roughly the same size, with modest fluctuations. 3) Food resources are limited, but are relatively constant most of the time. 4) In sexually reproducing species, generally no two individuals are identical. Variation is rampant. 5) Much of this variation is heritable. (Space Motion (2010) [online]) From reading these observations, one can argue that within environments, individiduals would have to struggle to survive, and not all their young will survive, thus those with the best genes and traits, are more likely to survive so their genes can be passed on to their young, and these can be carried on and combined with other strong traits from other individuals when reproducing. This is also known under the term natural selection, which will be looked at further on in the paper. The moderations to Darwins evolutionary theory came after his passing, thus sociobiology came to be out of the work of evolutionary biologists in the 1960s. Edward O. Wilson (1975) attempted to explain all animal and human social behaviour in terms of evolution and a range of other biological principles. This area concentrated on the evolutionary origins of behaviour, and often implied rigid genetic control. He applied the principles of sociobiology and evolution to comprehend and explain the behavior of social insects and other animals, including humans, and this established sociobiology as a new scientific field. Wilson believed that free will is an illusion, and that behaviour is a combined product of past experiences, heredity and environmental stimuli. Ever since, many principles have been applied to study topics addressed by the social sciences, including psychology. Evolutionary psychologists have criticised sociobiologists for ignoring the crucial part the mind plays in estab lishing the bond between behaviour and genes. Thus, evolutionary Psychology is a side product of sociobiology, however it is also known under the names neo or modern Darwinism. Evolutionary psychology is a method to the psychological sciences, where results and principles arise from cognitive sciences, neuroscience, evolutionary biology and anthropology and these areas are integrated with basic psychology to gain knowledge of human nature. Rose (2000) explains: The declared aim of evolutionary psychology is to provide explanations for the patterns of human activity and the forms of organisation of human society which take into account the fact that humans are animals, and like all other currently living organisms, are the present-day products of some four billion years of evolution [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] (Gross, R. (2009) P.31) The purpose of evolutionary psychology is to bring the functional way of thinking about biological mechanisms (immune system) into the subject of psychology, and to approach psychological mechanisms likewise. It is closely related to biology (sociobiology), however key differences between the two are still evident, one of them being the importance of the mismatch theory, supported by the evolutionary approach. This mismatch occurs, when organisms are suited to an ancestral environment, and are brought into a new and changed environment. For instance, more people are annually killed by guns than snakes, however majority of people have learned to fear snakes, more than lizards for instance. One reason could be that snakes were a risk to our human ancestors who lived in a Pleistocene environment, where guns did not exist. Thus, a mismatch is created between our modern environment and our learned- fear reaction from our ancestors. Also, biological principles rely heavily on the present a nd what can be studied today, whereas evolutionary approach compares the past with the present, hoping to uncover unknown information. Some concepts within evolutionary psychology come from general evolutionary theory, also known as evolutionary biology. For instance, what evolutionary biologists have discovered on mating and sexual behaviour, have been discovered through a range of observations and experiments on, for instance, the consequences of altering the parental investments in offspring and seeing what effect this will have on the offspring later on in life. Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, argued that the human brain functions like a computer, hence mental processes act as computational operations, thus a visual image of a spider will lead to a reaction; possibly a reaction of fear of, perhaps, dangerous insects. Therefore evolutionary psychologists argue that human beings and some animals are biologically prepared to acquire certain kinds of fear at different times of their life span. Some scientists argue that our fear reaction to certain animals, can be remains of ancient primate ancestors, who evolved a fe ar response to dangerous animals, and this mechanism has been passed on to the modern human being. Additionally, we may be subject to the same reactions to snakes, as in an experiment where Rhesus monkeys who were raised within a laboratory showed no fear of snakes, however this changed immediately after they experienced a wild Rhesus reaction when exposed to a snake (Google Docs (1998). This was also experienced in the little Albert experiment in 1920 by John B. Watson, where 9 month old Albert was exposed to certain stimuli such as a rat, a monkey, a rabbit, burning newspapers and finally masks, while observing his reactions to these stimuli. To begin with he showed no signs of fear, however after Watson began to hit a piece of metal every time the boy was shown one of the animals, he came to associate the animals with the sounds, which made him cry with fear. However, one can argue that this computerised theory can be highly difficult to test, because we cannot conclusively know how our ancestors reacted mentally, and therefore we cannot know to what extent we have differed in brain capability in comparison to our ancestors or similarities in fear reactions; we can only assume what their mental states and reactions were like. The law that an organism can learn to associate any stimulus to any response with equal ease thrived, was supported by Pavlovs hound experiment. However this law was disproved in the 1950-60s by John Garcia and his rat experiments, where they were exposed to X-ray radiation that made then ill, and because of this they stopped drinking their sweetened water. This occurred although they did not feel the extent of the X-ray sickness until later, although Pavlov had stated that the reward/punishment should be given straight after the occurrence, for the animal to learn. Additionally, experiments that have been carried out on birds, to discover if they could separate what is good for them and what will make them sick, have illustrated that, because birds are highly visual like us humans and associate visual cues with sickness, they can learn to avoid geen food pellets (which make them sick), and eat only yellow pellets which are okay. If they were presented with pellets half-coloured geen and half-coloured yellow, the birds would peck at the pellets until they split into halfs and only eat the yellow part. Thus, the experiment proved that birds are biologically cued to associate a visual cue with sickness (Google Docs (1998). Natural Selection, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and Animal Therapy Darwins theory of natural selecetion originates from a belief that conception does not always have birth as an outcome, and only a number of those who survive will reach an age where they themselves can reproduce. An examples can be alligators, where I know from work, that from the age of 12 when a wild female will reach maturity, she will lay approximately 40 eggs a year, however out of all the eggs she will lay in a lifetime, it is estimated that only three of her young will reach maturity and get to reproduce. An assumption within Darwins theory is that the young who get to reproduce, will also be those with the best traits and be better adapted to the existing environment and pass on these traits; thus each generation will be better adapted to the given environmental changes. An astonishing examples of adaption can be seen in H. B. D. Kettlewells observations of peppered moths in the 19th Century. Because of the industrial activity and burning of coal in England around this perio d, tree trunks turned from light to soothed dark colours and the peppered moth could not hide as easily. In 1848, reports of a new form of the peppered moth (Dark-coloured peppered moth) were made, which was darker and could easily hide on the darkened tree trunks. However in recent years, the burning of cleaner fuels have once again changed the environment, and the peppered moth has returned in great numbers and some biologists now believe that the dark-coloured peppered moth will be extinct in England in a few decades (Miller Levine (1999) [online]) Natural selection also focuses on a primal instinct, where we not only physically but also mentally are challenged, where only the strongest individuals will survive. I believe that in our modern day and age, we challenge this natural process by allowing the weak to live and pass on their genes, creating a more vulnerable species, both physically and mentally. Thus, we continue to develop medicines, surgeries and therapies to counteract these issue, and try to get a greater understanding of how they came to be. Through the help of medicine and psychological therapies, one can interfere with mental states, where a therapist can help modify a patients way of though, to go against his/her primal destructive instincts. Cognitive Therapy focuses on the assumption, that mentally and the way we think about things, can be the cause of mental health problems as phobias, which can have physical symptoms as well (nausea, stomach aches, hyperventilation etc.). Within this form of therapy the patient is made aware of what thoughts are destructive, worsening their condition, and they get a greater understanding of how their thought processes work. When these aims have been accomplished, the patient can work on changing the way he/she thinks and work on avoiding destructive thoughts. Within this field, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is found, containing traits of both Behavioural Therapy and Cognitive Therapy, thus CBT helps the patient change how they think (cognitive) and how they react to those thoughts (behavioural), and this form of therapy is thought to be one of the most beneficial treatments for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (NHS (2010), however Dr. Oliver James has strongly cr iticised CBT and has quoted Professor Drew Westons findings in 2004, that: [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] two years after treatment, two-thirds of those who had CBT have relapsed or sought further help. (Psychminded (2009) [online]) Furthermore, James argues that cognitive analytic therapy and the Hoffman Process are far better alternatives than CBT, when attempting to solve problems relating to depression and anxiety, as these focus on the patients childhood and the origin of the depression/anxiety, where CBT focuses more on the here-and-now aspects of the disorders. For centuries people have been aware of the unconditional bonds that can be created between humans and animals, and pets have been used in medical settings for more than 150 years, however evidence of the physical, emotional and mental benefits have not been scientifically proven until recent years. This area is now known under the term Animal Therapy, and is to some extent an integration of animal behaviour and cognitive therapy. The animals, such as dogs, elephants, dolphins etc., help to heal humans, young and old, physically, emotionally and mentally. It has been proven through experiments and observations, that: Having an animal around reduces stress, creates a relationship, helps people feel loved and needed, provides a listening ear without judgment and it can improve social skills and boost the confidence of an individual. (World Wide Health (2006) [online]) Recently, studies at the Research Center for Human/Animal Interaction have discovered that interacting with animals can increase peoples level of the hormone oxytocin, which help us feel happy. Also, this hormone does not only benefit us mentally but also physically, as it is part of the process when the body grows new cells. Animal Therapy can also be applied to only the animal, where animals presenting abnormal behaviour, can be helped by talks with the owners, psychological/physical training and zone therapy. Abnormal and uncontrollable behaviour of pets is also a rising problem in Denmark, where it is estimated that majority of danish pet owners have encountered problems with their pets behaviour. In a study carried out in 2000-2001, a range of pet owners were asked if they had encountered behavioural problems with their dogs, and 28% answered yes, where 17% stated that they had previously encountered problems. Furthermore, vetenarian Jà ¸rgen Mikkelsen estimates that each year 1 / 4 of all the dogs being euthanized in Denmark (roughly 200 danish clinics), were because of behavioural problems, and 2 / 5 of the dogs never reached the age of 3. Therefore a rough estimate concludes that 10-15.000 dogs are euthanized every year in Denmark because of behavioural problems (Dansk Veterinà ¦rtidsskrift (2006) [online]). However, animal therapy is gaining more and more ground in Denmark, and more clinics are opened within the country, proving that people are seeking this form of treatment more than before, and the awareness of the animals needs are more widely accepted, encouraging a closer animal-human bond. The relationship between scientific research and psychology as a discipline Eventually psychology was accepted as a science, although its subject matter was restricted. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, attention was placed upon mental processes and the mind. Behaviourists focused on observing phenomenon, where psychologists concentrated on studying the mental processes used to retrieve, store and acquire knowledge. Although mental processes cannot be observed as such, evidence can be gained by using a number of tests concerned with memory, perception and problem solving. Here cognitive psychology becomes of great importance, as it studies mental processes such as intelligence, memory, perception and thought. Because psychology operates with what cannot always be seen, at least in the past before we invented ways of discovering brain activities and their reactions to the surroundings we can see (MRI scans). Part of this has helped psychology become a scientific field, because it can be observed, measured and compared. Without this bond, psychology would never have been accepted as a science, and areas which are being researched today (for instance physiologies influence on behaviour), would never have existed or been made possible, and would have limited the ongoing knowledge that we posses within this area today. Also, medicine and biology have benefitted from the merger, as mental illnesses have been identified through psychological practices and treatments have been found. Many mental illnesses are approached with medicine as well as therapy, illustrating this merger in reality. Traditional and historical theories within psychology have all undergone changes throughout history, when knowledge has been gained in common ground areas, or new psychologists have decided to approach the matter from different angles. Darwins theory of evolution was challenged by believers, who approached evolutionary psychology from different views, which, as mentioned previously has resulted in sociobiology, physiological psychology and biology psychology, amongst others. I believe that therapies as mentioned above, can be perceived as a result of Darwin, Tinbergen, Lorenz Karl von Frisch, Wilson and Trivers, amongst others, theories which have influenced and challenged each other, and resulted in treatments and knowledge which benefits this branch of modern psychology, as illustrated in the number of therapies offered to patients today. Specialisms where integration is evident Specialisms where integration is evident in practice is for instance evolutionary psychology, which is a combination of evolutionary as well as cogn

Environmental Air Pollution :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My views of the environment are rooted in my belief in creation. I do not believe that life on earth began spontaneously, nor do I believe that the earth is so delicately balanced. I don’t believe that the earth and its ecosystem are fragile. Many radical environmentalists do, they believe man can come along, all by themselves and change everything for worse. After hundreds of millions of years, they believe that we are the last two generations of human existence. And they think we can destroy the earth all by ourselves?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I simply cannot believe this view of man and his works. I refuse to believe that people, which is also a result of Creation, can destroy the best creation in the universe. Although some arrogant radical scientists believe that they are capable of unlocking every door of the universe and above all else, capable of understanding it, it is a fact that there are some things in this world that man just can’t understand, and cannot understand, and we must accept these things in faith.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This one small planet has the conditions that are necessary for life and is perfectly placed in our solar system. If we were placed a little further from the sun, we would be a really big ice cube. If we were a little closer, we would be roasting in one big oven. And the placement of the Earth is not by chance, it was placed here for a reason.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We humans had nothing to do with earth’s creation, nor did we have anything to do with it’s placement or it’s functioning. We are only a part of it. We are as much part of it as the Spotted Owl, which is a bird. But environmentalists picture humans as a natural enemy of nature. According to them, we are capable of destroying earth merely by being ourselves. I also don’t understand how these â€Å"scientists† of whom which say we are powerful enough to destroy earth, can also say we are no better than a frog. Unfortunately for them, this is what they believe.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  They seem to think that all life forms on the planet, other than humans, peacefully exist together. They think that humans destroy. Most animals and insects depend on each other for food and do not peacefully co-exist.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  We could not destroy the earth even if we wanted to. The earth is over 4 billion years old.