An Investigation Of How Mood Affects Theory-Of-Mind Use In Pre-School Children The WritePass Journal

An Investigation Of How Mood Affects Theory-Of-Mind Use In Pre-School Children Background An Investigation Of How Mood Affects Theory-Of-Mind Use In Pre-School Children BackgroundProposed ResearchProcedure. Mood Induction. False-Belief Task. PredictionsReferences Related Background â€Å"Theory of mind† (ToM) is the ability to reason other people’s beliefs, intentions and desires (Baron-Cohen et al., 1985). Over the last two decades, there has been considerable developmental research into ToM using the â€Å"false-belief task† (e.g. Baron-Cohen et al., 1985, Wellman et al., 2001). The majority of research has established that ToM is present in young children and develops in a predictable sequence through childhood (Wellman Liu, 2004). For example, by three years of age, children can understand that two individuals can hold different beliefs (Wimmer Perner, 1983) and by age four, can understand that people can have â€Å"false-beliefs† contrary to reality (Wellman Liu, 2004). Recent research has even demonstrated that adults have difficulties with false-belief tasks (Birch Bloom, 2007). However, a recent paper by Converse et al (2008) examined the role of incidental mood on ToM. Grounded in the view that ToM requires effortful and deliberative processing (Kahneman, 2003), researchers found that when distinguishing between one’s own and other’s beliefs, participants were facilitated by sad moods compared to happy moods. This is because happiness is associated with heuristic processing whilst sadness is associated with systematic and deliberative processing (Converse et al., 2008). In their study, adult participants underwent a musical mood induction procedure (MMIP) and were randomly allocated to two conditions (â€Å"happy† and â€Å"sad†). Those in the former condition were asked to listen to a song from a pre-selected list of happy songs whilst participants in the latter condition were required to listen to a sad song. Following the mood induction, participants completed a false-belief task in which they read one of two versions of a sc enario and estimate a character’s behaviour. Whilst the character has the same knowledge in both versions, participants received different information. Researchers then measured low ToM use by observing whether participants had an increased reliance on their own private knowledge. The study is an important contribution to the current body of knowledge on ToM as the findings suggest that a) mood states do have important consequences for mental-state inferences and b) variability in ToM studies may be explained by mood. However, despite these contributions, the study solely focused on a sample of adults and failed to explore how mood affects ToM use in children. This is an important oversight given that the majority of developments in ToM have been based on studies with children, therefore, suggesting significant implications for research if mood is found to significantly impact children’s ToM judgments. Moreover, given children’s increased susceptibility to mood induction (De Haan Gunnar, 2009), mood may have even more potent effects on ToM in children. This current study will therefore examine the role of mood in affecting ToM use in children for the first time. It will attempt to bolster previous findings that mood does influence ToM and clarify the role of mood in influencing deliberative processing in ToM. In so doing, the study will replicate the original procedure, but with modifications to the mood induction and the false-belief task. In fact, a clear strength of this study is that the false-belief task was originally devised to be used with children and not adults (Baron-Cohen et al., 1985), making the task particularly suitable for use with children. In addition, previous research has supported the fact that mood induction procedures can effectively impact children’s positive and negative emotions (Brenner, 2000). Proposed Research There are modifications made to the experimental procedure. As mood induction requires participants to follow explicit instructions, changes to the MMIP will be implemented according to the study’s sample of pre-school children. For example, although researchers (e.g. Dalla Bella et al., 2001) have found that most 5 year olds can distinguish positive and negative valence in music, a MMIP may not be sufficient for invoking moods in children. Children will therefore undergo an additional mood induction. Moreover, in the original study, adult participants completed a pre- and post- induction self-report (Positive-and-Negative Affect Schedule; Watson Clark, 1994) to serve as a manipulation check. However, as a self-report is difficult to implement with young children, an alternative manipulation check is needed. There are also important ethical considerations associated with a MMIP in children. The experimenter will need to ensure that mood induction does not cause long-term effe cts, but is also not too short-lived to observe its effects. Method Participants 100 children aged 4-6 years old will be recruited from local schools through flyers and e-mail bulletins. Procedure. On the day of testing, each child will be guided to an individual room. To provide a replication of the Converse et al (2008) study, a 2 X 2 between-subjects experimental design will include a mood induction and false-belief task. Researchers will randomly allocate children to 2 conditions: â€Å"happy† and â€Å"sad† and undergo the mood induction. Both groups then complete the same false-belief task. The entire procedure takes a total of 40 minutes. Mood Induction. The mood induction scenario for each condition will make amendments to the MMIP in the Converse et al (2008) study. Each child will first be shown a sheet of paper with a series of â€Å"smiley faces† ranging from very sad to very happy, and asked to point to the image that best describes how they feel. This is the baseline affect manipulation check. Children will then be instructed to listen to a song played via speakers. Children in the happy condition will listen to two songs from the original list of songs in the Converse et al (2008) study and children in the sad condition will listen to two sad songs. In both conditions, children will be explicitly told â€Å"Now, I am going to play a   â€Å"happy† / â€Å"sad† song so please listen carefully to the song†. Children will then be presented with a model figure on a sheet of paper and asked to draw a replica of the figure on a plain sheet of A4 paper. In the happy condition, children will be presented with a smiling figure and in the sad condition, children will be asked to copy a sad figure. Following this, children will be presented with the sheet of faces and asked to point to the face which describes how they feel to provide a post-task rating of affect. A second manipulation check will be the size of their drawing as research has suggested that drawing size is associated with a child’s affect. Larger drawings indicative of positive affect and smaller drawings are indicative of negative affect (Forrest Thomas, 1991). False-Belief Task. The false-belief task is the classic â€Å"Sally-Anne task† (Baron-Cohen et al., 1985). Each child is seated at a table with two dolls. The experimenter tells the child that the dolls are named Anne and Sally and checks that the child has understood these names. Each doll is placed in front of a basket and square box. The experimenter then enacts a scene in which a marble is hidden in Sally’s basket to ‘hide’ the marble with Anne looking on. Sally then â€Å"leaves the room† and the marble is then re-hidden in the box. Sally returns and the experimenter prompts the child with three questions: ‘Where will Sally look for her marble?’ (â€Å"belief question†) ‘Where is the marble really?’ (â€Å"reality question†) ‘Where was the marble in the beginning?’ (â€Å"memory question†) Predictions There are a number of predictions for the current study. Firstly, it is expected that the findings of the original study will be replicated in the sample of pre-school children. That is, I expect that after controlling for age effects, children in the sad condition will score higher on the belief, reality and memory questions in the Sally-Anne task. This will be due to a greater deliberative processing associated with a sad mood. These findings will provide support for the idea that ToM requires deliberative processing and such processing is associated with sad moods rather than happy moods. Second, I expect that there will be a number of age differences in performance on the Sally-Anne task. I expect that younger children, due to their increased susceptibility to mood induction, will have a greatly diminished ToM on the Sally-Anne task due to the more pronounced impact of mood on their deliberative processing. However, it must be noted that it is possible that the results of the current study will not replicate the original study. This may be due to a number of factors. Firstly, it is possible that the mood induction procedures are not powerful enough to invoke happy and sad moods for children or they produce effects that are too short term to observe any effects in the false belief task. Second, it may be that the deliberative processing associated with sad moods and the heuristic processing associated with happy moods is not developed sufficiently in pre-school children, and is only salient in adulthood. If this is the case, this provides impetus for future research focused on testing the influence of mood on ToM in older children and adolescents. References Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a ‘‘theory of mind’’? Cognition, 21, 37–46. Birch, S. A. J., Bloom, P. (2007). The curse of knowledge in reasoning about false beliefs. Psychological Science, 18(5), 382–386. Brenner, E. (2000). Mood induction in children: Methodological implications. Review of General Psychology, 4, 264-283. Converse, B. A., Shuhong, L., Boaz, K., Epley, N. (2008). In the Mood To Get Over Yourself: Mood Affects Theory-of-Mind Use. Emotion, 8(5), 725-630. Dalla Bella, S., Peretz, I., Rousseau, L., Gosselin, N. (2001). A developmental study of the affective value of tempo and mode in music. Cognition, 80, B1-B10. de Haan, M., Gunnar, M.R. (2009). Handbook of Developmental Social Neuroscience. The Guilford Press. Forrest, M. Thomas, G.V. (1991). An exploratory study of drawings by bereaved children, British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 30, 373-374. Kahneman, D. (2003). A perspective on judgment and choice: Mapping bounded rationality. American Psychologist, 58, 697–720. Watson, D., Clark, L. A. (1994). The PANAS-X: Manual for the positive and negative affect schedule-Expanded Form. Iowa City: University of Iowa. Wimmer, H.; Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young childrens understanding of deception. Cognition  13(1), 103–128. Wellman, H. M., Cross, D., Watson, J. (2001). Meta-analysis of theory-of-mind development: The truth about false belief. Child Development, 72, 655–684. Wellman, H. M., Liu, D. (2004). Scaling of Theory-Of-Mind Tasks. Child Development, 75(2), 523-541.

Essay Sample on Ethan Frome The Analysis of Metaphors and Imagery

Essay Sample on Ethan Frome The Analysis of Metaphors and Imagery There are various instances of imagery in Ethan Frome. Edith Wharton uses metaphors throughout the entire book. I noticed many but two particular ones were most prominent. The symbolism helps develop the characters in the book. It helps pull us into the book making us feel as if we are truly there. The first metaphor that I noticed was how the color red was brought up in the entire book. Edith Wharton used many different shades of red in describing objects in the novel. Each time that red is used it symbolizes something different. The opening red metaphor that was brought up in the book is when Ethan is waiting for Mattie so that they can walk home. I think that by the way he is looking and thinking about her, the red scarf in her hair is representing lust. It may not be deep lust towards her but more of a hopeful desire. The next thing that we see is Mattie blushing. Many times when Ethan and Mattie are together, her face will turn crimson. They both are secretly in love with each other so she feels self-conscious when she is with him. A different time that red is in Ethan Frome is Mattie’s quilt. Ethan is the person who notices the quilt is red. Edith Wharton is yet again symbolizing his love and desire to be with her. Being with Mattie is all that he can fantasize about. Ethan is so in love with her that he notices every little detail about her and her lifestyle. I think that because her quilt is something personal it is symbolizing how Ethan wishes to be in a more personal part of her life. However, he knows that his desires are not possible because of Zeena. Another instance in the book where red appears is when Ethan remembers the summer picnic him and Mattie attended together soon after she arrived at Starkfield. Ethan reminds Mattie that she was wearing a pink hat. Edith Wharton is trying to show because pink is an early shade of red it is symbolizing the early stage of Ethan and Mattie’s love for each other. It was more like a warm friendship that they were beginning to develop. The last metaphor for the color red was the pickle dish. I think that the pickle dish represents Ethan. The pickle dish is one of Zeena’s most important things but she keeps it hidden and unused on a top shelf. She does the same thing with Ethan. It does not even seem like they are married because they hardly communicate and he is just like a possession to her. Then while Zeena is gone, Mattie gets it down from the shelf with out asking. That stands for how Zeena considers Mattie taking Ethan away from her. The pickle dish is broken unintentionally and when Mattie and Ethan try to hide it, Zeena finds out. The metaphor for that is that Mattie and Ethan try to hide their love for each other and Zeena suspects it. The second important use of imagery in Ethan Frome is the pet cat. When Zeena goes to see the doctor and Mattie and Ethan are having their one night alone together the cat always seems to come between them. I see Zeena as the pet cat. She is there to remind them that Ethan is married and it would be wrong for him to do anything with Mattie. â€Å"They drew their seats up to the table, and the cat, unbidden, jumped between them into Zeena’s empty chair.†(Page 83) Then when they are about to have a close moment together holding hands the cat jumps up on to the table and knocks off the forbidden pickle dish. I think that this symbolizes Zeena’s efforts to separate Mattie and Ethan from each other. In addition, when they are sitting by the fire alone together Ethan is feeling hopeful that something will happen but then the cat jumps up into Zeena’s rocking chair. This reminds Ethan of his wife. It is a small thing but it ruins the moment completely. Edith Wharton makes good use of imagery in Ethan Frome. You can see many different things as symbols. I think that each one helps refine and enhance each character to a point where you can really think how they are thinking and more fully understand them personally. I enjoyed this book and all of the author’s metaphors. You can order a custom essay, term paper, research paper, thesis or dissertation on Ethan Frome topics at our professional custom essay writing service which provides students with custom papers written by highly qualified academic writers. High quality and no plagiarism guarantee! Get professional essay writing help at an affordable cost.

Importance of Political Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Importance of Political Communication - Essay Example The study has indicated that political communication has contributed to institutionalisation of societal democracies. Reviews on political communication tend to drum the same idea. Introduction Politicians use communication as a tool to disseminate information to the society. Political critics believe argued that political communication whether external or internal acts as a nerve of the government. Those sentiments are observable through daily activities of politicians. Communication is the powerful tool that describes the landmark made in the political world. Reformists used political communication to move masses and advance the political ambitions. For instance, civil right movements have been able to woo civilians by creating powerful speeches that move emotions. Political debates usually draw politicians of various factions together. Patterns employed in communication may vary but the political information intends to give a particular influence to the audience (Dahlgren, 2005:16 6). This study investigates influence of political communication by analysing research articles in the same area. The aim of the research is to evaluate theories relating to political communication, their relevance in the political sphere, and the mode of communication dissemination. Theories developed about political communication focuses on mode of information dissemination. Some theorists have sought to explain how politicians settle in certain decisions. The prediction of the analysis suggested that dealing with small group would create a greater political impact as opposed to large groups. Studies in political communication have sought to investigate influence of politics with respect to psychology, speech communication, mass communication, journalism, broadcasting, and political science. The revelation of the study answers the question on how political communication influences the reputation of a country. The study mode reviews the existing literature on the same topic with a view or relating aspect of public relation and political communication. Findings and Results Political communication has changed in response to changes in technology. The reviewed literature on political communication with respect to the changing technology has confirmed the above finding. This finding tends to explain the reason by various technological approaches used by the politician in disseminating their communication. Politician’s concern is to influence a voter or a prospective voter to take side within a given political inclination. Pattern of information processing is the basis of voter decision. Zeter (2008:236) observed that voters decision occur the same way as personal decisions made when choosing a friend. People consider attributes, which would create a friendly relationship between the politician candidate and the community. The process seems to use identification of personal qualities as the most viable way of choosing political candidate. It means that huma n desirable characteristics should characterise the political campaign alongside other issues (Stanyer, 2007:212). Political bangles contain photo portraits, personal achievement among other desirable attributes that would persuade the voter to accept a particular candidate for a political position. Voting system takes similar approaches because the argument tends to look at the long-term benefit that the policy would

PRACTICAL AND WRITTEN ASSESSMENT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

PRACTICAL AND WRITTEN ASSESSMENT - Assignment Example 66). This paper looks at performance management system in the Fasset sector. Performance management process in this organization is a major process in any organization because it assists the management and their staff to sustain the organization when implementing their business strategies (Marr, 2012, p. 79). It is; thus, an essential section of an organization joining the managers and their staff. The system is planned to support communication and criticism between administration and staff. It creates prospects for distinctive work implementation, and work as a basis for compensating top workers. Armstrong and Baron (2003, p. 67) noted that organizations need a controlled technique of interaction between different ranks of the association. Businesses that need and encourage this reaction circle can gather information on performance and develop from the facts obtained. The entire process involves employees and their supervisors, observation procedures and individual testing techniques (Bernthal, Rogers & Smith, 2003, p. 68). It usually involves frequent interactions between the management and workers concerning the organization. These compulsory communications ensure workers have an opportunity to interact and share ideas (Boland and Fowler, 2000, p. 417). Business interior environment comprises of the components within the corporation, including present workers, administration, and particularly business background, which describes staff member’s behaviour (Bernthal et al. 2001, p. 17). Some of these factors affect the organization as a whole while others only affects the managers. Leadership styles used by managers can affect the entire organization. An organizational statement describes what the association represents and reasons why the organization exists (Brigall and Modell, 2000, p. 281). The statement explains the general purpose of the association and comprises of the qualities that

Human abortion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human abortion - Essay Example Recently there has been frequent talk in many states in opposition and in support of the abortion law. Abortion law some say is ethically incorrect as it takes away a life of a fetus which is growing inside a woman's womb in a sort abortion takes away a life while some say that abortion is right as they see the only way for eradicating any signs what a rape victim might hold to. The Roe Vs Wade case of 1973 is not for off from fortifying the fact that abortion is real and deadly issue which engulfs American cause of freedom. Roe v. Wade, (1973), was a landmark US supreme court case establishing that most laws against abortion violates the constitutional right to privacy, overturning all laws outlawing or restricting abortion. It is one of the most controversial decisions in U.S. Supreme Court history. The decision in Roe v. Wade prompted a decades-long national debate over whether terminating pregnancies should be legal (or more precisely, whether a state can deem the act illegal if it chooses to do so); the role of the Supreme Court in constitutional adjudication; and the role of religion in the political sphere. Roe v. Wade became one of the most politically significant Supreme Court decisions in history, reshaping national politics, dividing the nation into supporters and rival camps, and inspiring activism. Opposition to Roe comes prima... quality and personal freedom, and those who believe in the privacy of individual over collective rights, although the opposition to Roe often reference the privacy of the individual when referring to the unborn child. The case originated in Texas in March 1970 at the behest of Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, both young attorneys from central Texas. "Jane Roe and Richard Roe", a standard alias for anonymous plaintiffs, was used to protect Norma McCorvey's identity. After the initial lawsuit was filed, the case was expanded to include several other parties, including: James Hubert Hallford, a licensed physician who had been arrested for violations of the Texas abortion statutes; "John and Mary Doe," aliases for a married couple whose doctor had advised against pregnancy. At the time of the case, McCorvey claimed that she had become pregnant by rape. She has claimed and rescinded her support for the Supreme Court decision. During the case, Weddington kept private the fact that McCorvey had been raped. The law stated that having or trying to perform an abortion is a crime, except by "medical advice for the purpose of saving the life of the mother." The suit claimed that the laws were unconstitutionally vague and omitted the rights guaranteed to pregnant women by the First,Fourth,Fifth,Ninth, Fourteenth Amendments. In Dallas County, Texas the district attorney Henry Wade was the defendant in the case. A three-judge district court ruled for "Jane Roe", but refused to grant against the enforcement of the laws. Both "Jane Roe" and defendant Wade appealed to the Supreme Court and the case was argued there by Weddington and Texas assistant attorney general Jay Floyd on December 13, 1971. Burger proposed that the case be put over for reargument, and the justices, unimpressed

Amartya Sen The Idea Of Justice Review Philosophy Essay

Amartya Sen The Idea Of Justice Review Philosophy Essay Justice is the quality of being just or fair. Justice can also be looked upon as the judgment involved in the determination of rights and the assignment of rewards and punishments. Justice can also be the concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, fairness, or equity (Princeton Web 2010). Individuals may look at justice many different ways, but what factors play into deciding what truly is justice? Must you look at fairness in order to be just, must you look at rationality, or even equality and liberty? There will always be debates about how to achieve justice. But due to so many factors being involved, we may never understand what justice truly is. I believe that in order for one to be just, or even to make a just decision on a matter that factors such as rationality, fairness, human rights, and the well being of all parties involved must be taken into account. But this is just my opinion many of todays philosophers often argue what it mean s to be just or even to achieve a completely just state in our society, along with the decisions we make on a daily basis. To call attention to a specific philosopher, Amartya Sen undoubtedly makes a solid stance on what justice truly means. The Idea of Justice is Amartya Sens assessment of political philosophy. He explores what justice really means and has come up with alternatives to the existing model. Sens philosophic arguments are shown by an exceptional set of stories drawn from literature, history, and current events occurring in our society today. There are not many main thoughts of the book, but the thoughts presented are revisited throughout each chapter, to help the reader see the bigger picture. You must be able to examine each idea Sen presents in his text, as they all come together, when being able to achieve complete justice. Although justice may never fully be reached entirely in any society, Sen does an amazing job giving examples and putting each of his arguments in basic text, so that it is easy for the reader to understand what he is talking about. The specific philosophic arguments of the book are highly important when it comes to the ideas of justice. The Idea of Justice is divided into four main pa rts. Part one contains several of Sens most important thoughts throughout the book. They include, reason objectivity, institutions persons, voice social choice, impartiality objectivity, and closed open impartiality. In part two, forms of Reasoning, Sen discusses a number of themes including rationality, plurality of impartial reasons, and rationality other people. Part three contains information on the capabilities approach, lives, freedoms capabilities, and equality liberty. The final part of Sens text speaks to public reasoning democracy, including sections on justice the world, human rights global imperatives, the practice of democracy, and democracy as public reason. Throughout each of these main sections Sens argues very strong points, I will try to give you a summary of the main points throughout each chapter of Sens book along with where he stands on certain topics and how I can relate and feel about what he believes. To call your attention to the preface/introduction, Sen specifically states that what he is presenting here, is a theory of justice which aims to clarify how we can proceed to address questions of enhancing justice and removing injustice, rather than to offer resolutions of questions about the nature of perfect justice (Sen IX). The Introduction elaborates on two approaches to justice, which include the comparativist framework the social contract framework. The comparativist framework is presented using the realization comparison approach. The realization approach prioritizes the social understanding of advancing justice and removing injustice in real societies with their existing institutions. The social contract framework is presented using the transcendental institutionalism approach which was led by the works of Thomas Hobbes. The transcendental institutionalism approach concentrates on perfect justice and the institutions that would be recognized in such a perfectly just societ y. There are two distinct problems indentified here which Sen engages. First it concentrates its attention on what it identifies as perfect justice, rather than on relative comparisons of justice injustice (Sen 6). Sen goes on to explain that this approach tries to only identify social characteristics that cannot be transcended in terms of justice, and its focus is thus not on comparing feasible societies, all of which may fall short of the ideals of perfection. Also it is intended to identify the nature of the just, rather than finding an alternative being less unjust than another. The second major issue with this approach is described by Sen Saying that in searching for perfection, transcendental institutionalism concentrates primarily on getting the institutions right, and it is not directly focused on the actual societies that would ultimately emerge. We need to focus on how change within the actual society is going to be completed, not by getting institutions perfect to the point that they are just institutions. This would do nothing for emerging societies we need to look at society as whole in order to achieve perfect justice by not having only perfectly just institutions. People are sti ll going to act how they choose as well as behave how they choose, so we must focus on society as whole. The nature of the society that would result from any given set of institutions must, of course, depend also on non-institutional features, such as actual behaviors of people and their social interactions (Sen 6). I do agree with Sen in this theory of justice, it should first and foremost, serve as a basis for practical reasoning. Chapter one is to defend a notion of objectivity in our average thoughts of justice.   Sen argues for the idea that we should understand reason as the final judge of our ethical beliefs. One must be able to justify and understand his reasoning by critically evaluating reasoning for ethical beliefs. The necessity of relying heavily on reason is important as Sen describes in his work. Sen says, the case for reasoned scrutiny lies not in any sure-fire way of getting things exactly right (no such way may exist), but on being objective as we reasonably can (Sen 40). Sen believes that one must be able to rely on reason in order to fully justify and decide on our ethical beliefs. I must agree with Sen on this point, when he argues that this approach is not going to be one that will allow and individual to get things exactly right, but allow us to be as objective as we possibly can. By scrutinizing your own reasoning, it is highly probable that you will arrive at the best possible ethical decision. We should not get caught up in being overconfident in the decisions of our own reasoning, as this could add flaws to our decisions. The remedy for bad reasoning lies in better reasoning, and it is indeed the job of reasoned scrutiny to move from the former to the latter (Sen 49). This quote explains it all, it is imperative that one must critically scrutinize his/her own reasoning for a decision, and that without this scrutiny theres great chance for bad reasoning. To avoid this, one must critically scrutinize his/her reasoning of choice or decision. Moving to another argument from Sen, I share the following quote. Justice is rooted in fairness and fairness can be broadly be seen as a demand for impartiality (Sen 54). In order for one to be completely just, the decision must be rational and fair, if a decision is not looked upon as being fair for all parties, you arrive at issues of impartiality. Sens gives his example of three children and a flute, all children having a rational reason as to why they deserve the flute. But if there is not a common vested interest on one solid set of principals between all parties, we run into an issue of what the true just decision is. Institutionally, we cannot address such issues as these. Individuals still have their own morals and values and going to make their own decisions regardless of what is taught. One of the most difficult things is to change an individuals moral values and beliefs, institutionally this cannot be done. Values as these are usually learned at the home-base from parents and guardians and are instilled in us from a very young age. It i s imperative that we do not look at what truly is a just society in order to achieve a just society. As actions such as these will get our society nowhere Sen looks at the social choice theory as an approach to justice as well. Social choice theory is concerned with the relationships between people, their preferences social choice. For example a group of individuals such as a committee making a decision in a voting process, individuals in the group may have different preferences over options that are available to them. This approach deals with the principles of aggregations of preference. Aggregation of social choice may be impossible if the process of choice is to satisfy a set of reasonable conditions. With such reasonable conditions, this could alter the general consensus of a social choice being made by such a committee or group. Even some very mild conditions of reasonable sensitivity of social decision to what the members of society want cannot be simultaneously satisfied by any social choice procedure that can be described as rational and democratic (Sen 93). We can however, become more informally sensitive, if we choose to jus t try and do better rather than to meet the criteria of being fully rational or just. One may use social choice theory as a framework for reasoning, rather than to try and use it completely to achieve justice. Position of observation and knowledge is another important approach Sen discusses in his work. What we observe depends on our position by means of the things that we observe. What individuals decide to believe is based on what we view. How one decides to act relates to his/her beliefs on a particular subject. Observations, beliefs, and actions are vital to understanding and arriving at sensible reasoning. To Sen, Objectivity is a position-dependent phenomenon (Sen 157). This issue [positionality] is quite important for the formulation of a theory of justice and, more specifically, for exploring a theory that gives a special role to public reasoning in the understanding of the demands of justice (Sen 167). It is important here to understand that there is no single way to master a way of making sense of the world or our experience in it. No decision made could ever be rationalized in every single persons mind, something such as this is physically not possible. There are just too many d ifferent people in our society today for that to be able to happen. There will always be a flaw in certain reasoning in some persons view. There is just no way, that every single person in the world would be satisfied with a decision, because we all observe, understand, and put reason into different perspectives. Some placing more weight on rational choice, critical scrutiny, positional objectivity, reasonable behaviors sustainable reason when it comes to making a decision. There are just too many approaches for everyone to be able to agree. So we must take into account all perspectives of others when it comes to justice and just decision making, as Sen states, we must be sensitive to others (206). Respect of others views is exceedingly important here. To move forward, the capabilities approach is also a major theme within the work. The capabilities approach focuses on human lives, and not just on the resources people have, in the form of owning or having use of objects of convenience that a person may possess (Sen 253). The approach emphasizes purposeful capabilities substantive freedoms, such as the ability to engage in economic transactions, or participate in political activities. Poverty is understood as capability deficiency in Sens view. The emphasis is not only on how human beings actually operate but also on their having the capability to do so, which is a practical choice, to operate in important ways if thats what they choose to do. Someone could be stripped of such capabilities in many ways. Ignorance, government oppression, lack of financial resources, and false comprehension, are ways in which one may be stripped of such capabilities. Possession of capabilities strongly implies a responsibility for making use of the m to help others when possible, especially when it comes to the less fortunate. If someone has the power to make a difference that he or she can see will reduce injustice in the world, then there is a strong and reasoned argument for doing just that (Sen 271). If you can see that your capabilities go beyond that of the less fortunate by any means, and that they can be used in any positive manner weather be financial or emotional, I believe that there is no doubt that one should be obligated to reduce injustice in some way shape or form if at all possible. Again this only being an approach, this is not the end all-be all in deciding justice, but undoubtedly can make a difference, and I would have to agree. In basic terms, if you are capable, than you should do something to reduce injustice. I dont feel that you are obligated to do so, but any reduce in injustice, is a step in the right direction. Sen goes on to support the idea that democracy is a universal value, he differentiates between the institutional structure of the contemporary practice of democracy, which is largely the product of European and American experience over the last few centuries (Sen 322-323). In my opinion, one should not assume that because a particular type of institutional structure is up and running, such as elections, voting being counted properly, and etc, that a satisfactory level of democracy has been achieved. Sen believes that having too much institutional focus on democracy has caused particular trouble at the global level. Sen believes that, an uncont rolled media is important to the operation of democratic societies. Sen explains in the text that this contributes to human security by giving a voice to the defenseless and deprived by subjecting the government to criticism from such individuals. I believe this power is key I giving people courage, power, and the ability to express feelings towards actions that are being taken. We sort of put power in the hands of individuals who are not as capable as other, which I do agree with also, because this is a simple way in which we can empower individuals to voice opinions in a manner which may not fall on death ears as usual. We can place emphasis on individuals human rights here, which an important factor concerning human rights is to protect individuals freedoms, thus freedom of speech freedom of press being highly important. Sen says that human rights are moral rights, strong ethical pronouncements as to what should be done (357). According to Sen, reasoning concerning justice should not be restricted to one state or population, but rather be global. If the importance of public reasoning has been one of the major concerns of this book, so has been the need to accept the plurality of reasons that may be sensibly accommodated in an exercise of evaluation (Sen 394). We must look at every possible angle that the book discusses in order to find an answer to the idea of what justice truly is. If you cannot effectively rationalize all aspects of the idea of what justice is, it will be difficult for you to be able to ever understand what justice is. As Sen states the reasons may sometimes compete with each ot her in persuading us in one direction or another in a particular assessment, and when they yield conflicting judgments, there is an important challenge in determining what credible conclusions can be derived, after considering all argument (Sen 394). Which I most certainly agree with, it would in fact be a difficult task to determine a credible solution, but it is imperative that you must consider all of the arguments at hand.

biology - how light intensity affects the rate of photosynthesis Essay

Biology Coursework  ¡V Does The Light Intensity Affect the Rate of Photosynthesis The Investigation In this experiment I will investigate the affect in which the light intensity will have on a plants photosynthesis process. This will be done by measuring the bubbles of oxygen and having a bulb for the light intensity variable. Variables The input variable which will be used in this investigation will be the light intensity (this will be a 100Watt bulb being moved closer and further away from the plant). The outcome variable which will change as a result of this experiment will be the amount of oxygen made in the experiment due to the amount of light intensity increases (causing the plant to photosynthesise more). Prediction I predict that as the input variable, the light intensity increases (the light moved towards the plant) the outcome variable, the amount of oxygen, produced from photosynthesis will be larger. Plants can absorb and use light energy because they have a green pigment, chlorophyll, contained in the chloroplasts in some of their cells. Chlorophyll allows the energy in sunlight to drive chemical reactions. Chloroplasts act as a energy transducers, converting light energy into chemical energy. So as the plant has more light the chlorophyll inside the chloroplasts can react faster absorbing in more light for food and energy. The equation for photosynthesis can help to predict the outcome of the investigation. Light Energy Carbon Dioxide + Water --------------„ ³ Glucose + Oxygen Chlorophyll This shows that there could be three variables in this experiment, carbon dioxide, water and light energy. So in our case the variable light energy (light intensity) will be used. The equation also shows that if there is more light energy then more glucose and oxygen will be produced. I also predict that as the light is moved closer to the plant there will be more bubbles (oxygen) produced due to the increase of photosynthesis speed explained above. So in conclusion I predict that the more light intensity there is on the plant the faster the rate of photosynthesis there will be. Fair Testing The fair testing will be carefully checked so the results do not come out to be void. The light intensity will be changed for it is the only variable used in the experiment. Though the temperature, watt of the bulb, amount of water, size of the plant and posit... ... in the chloroplasts in some of their cells. Chlorophyll allows the energy in sunlight to drive chemical reactions. Chloroplasts act as energy transducers, converting light energy into chemical energy. So as the plant has more light the chlorophyll inside the chloroplasts can react faster absorbing in more light for food and energy. ¡Ã‚ ¨ So this shows my prediction was correct for in my experiment and shown in my result table and graph the more light intensity there is on a plant the higher the rate of my photosynthesis will be. My prediction is very close to what I said the results will be so my prediction was correct and has been proven to be correct in my result table, graph and now explained again in my conclusion. In conclusion the experiment was carried out and had great success proving my prediction to be correct and enabling solid and valid results which were able to be put in a graph. I believe my prediction could have been more accurate or more backed up if I had made a quantitative prediction. Though what I believed would happen did happen during the experiment which helped to understand the graph and the results which led me to be able to write a thorough report on them.

Obtaining a Sustainable Society

There is a time where people wonder what the world is going to come to. Is there going to be a time where we run out of resources, or will we run out of room and become over populated? It is natural to wonder these types of questions. So we as humans need to come up with a solution on how we can maintain what we have now before it is gone and we have no future to look forward to. By doing this we can ensure that our children and our children’s children. In order to obtain a population that can be sustained, whether you live in an over populated area or you live in low population where no one wants to have children. There needs to be some kind of order established to control population anywhere. A country such as Italy has low birth rates; in order to bring them back up incentives need to be put in place to insure that people will want to have children. Another country with a problem with low birth rates is Germany. Us as a world need to find some kind of happy medium, where the policies are not to strict for people with lots of children and not as lenient and glorious to those who only have one. There are many ways Italy and Germany can bring up their population, offer more incentives to married couples that want to have more children. You might want to offer cheaper health care. Cheaper or no cost health care would be ideal for just about anyone. It think this could be the best and the worst thing to do. There would have to be strict rules and regulations upon receiving this type of health care. Free or little no cost health care, would need to be monitored for fraud and so some people could not purposely repopulate without concern for over population. Some people may even have children just knowing of all the benefits they will receive. I think that is just wrong. Another way to be able to raise birth rates would be to abolish abortions, nless it was going to be a medically necessary. I know a few people that would use abortion just as birth control and that is wrong. Not only are you killing God’s master piece, but you are disgusting. In my honest opinion, I think that abortion needs to be looked at more carefully in our own country. I think that there should be a medical reason to why someone may or may not need an abortion. There are struggling couples and countries that want to have children, and then you have the people who use it just because they are not ready or may be too young. Another thing to avoid low birth rates in Italy and Germany would be to make sure married couples make time to procreate. I know that sounds vial and a little bit forward but, if couples can’t make time to take care of their personal lives then how can you make a population grow. Sure there is the use of sperm banks and the use of fertility drugs but, nothing compares to good old fashion procreation. Not having time to reproduce can be affected by a decreasing in the economy and in the loss of jobs. I am not sure how the job market is over in Germany or Italy but, here it’s a little on the slow side. In conclusion, there are so many different reasons why a country will have low birth rates. Any one of these reasons can make any city or country crumble. I think that every man and woman should do their part to repopulate. I also think that certain people don’t need to have any more children. Like for instance, a person who has three to four children should not be able to receive assistance for all those children. In a highly populated area, a person should only receive benefits for a certain number of children. For a country with low birth rates, certain incentives should apply to a couple that wants to have more children.

Why Duke Essay 4 Tips for a Great Essay

Why Duke Essay 4 Tips for a Great Essay SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you hoping to become a Blue Devil? The Why Duke essay is a small but important part of your Duke application. This is the place where you explain exactly why you love Duke so much.However, there are thousands of students who want to attend Duke, and only a small percentage of them get in. What can you do to make sure your Why Duke essay sets you apart and helps you get accepted? Keep reading to learn what the Why Duke essay prompts are, exactly what Duke is looking for when they read them, and what you should write about to and convince Duke you’d be an asset to their school. We also include a Why Duke essay example so you can see what an actual essay response looks like. The Why Duke Essay Prompts The Why Duke essay prompt is one of several essay prompts you’ll need to answer in your Duke application. You can learn more about the other Duke essays in our in-depth guide.There are actually two Why Duke essay prompts, and you’ll answer one of them. The prompt you answer is based on which college you apply to within Duke, either the Trinity College of Arts Sciences or the Pratt School of Engineering. Here’s the Why Duke essay prompt for Arts Science applicants: If you are applying to the Trinity College of Arts Sciences as either a first-year or transfer applicant, please discuss why you consider Duke a good match for you. Is there something particular about Duke that attracts you? (150 words maximum) Here’s the Why Duke essay prompt for Engineering applicants: If you are applying to the Pratt School of Engineering as either a first-year or transfer applicant, please discuss why you want to study engineering and why you would like to study at Duke. (150 words maximum) As you can see, the two prompts are very similar to each other. Both want to know why you want to study at Duke, although the engineering prompt does also explicitly ask you to discuss why you want to study engineering. Both prompts have the same word count limit of 150 words. What Is the Purpose of the Why Duke Essay? Why does Duke require applicants to answer this essay? What are they really looking for in your response to â€Å"why Duke†? Let’s analyze these prompts.No matter which schools you’re applying to, the â€Å"why this school† prompt is probably the most common prompt you’ll on college applications. Why? Because colleges want to see that you really want to attend their school. Students who love the school they attend and feel that it’s a good fit are more likely to accept an offer of admission, be interested in their studies, take advantage of what the school offers, and give back after they graduate. Basically, Duke and other schools which include this prompt are looking for students who will take advantage of all the unique opportunities they offer so they have the biggest impact at the school and when they’re alumni. If you show that you really love Duke and are ready to make the most of your time there, it makes admissions officers feel more confident you’re going to have a significant and positive impact on their school. If you can’t give any compelling reasons for choosing Duke or you don’t seem to have done much research on the school, that makes Duke worry that you don’t really want to attend the school and will only do the bare minimum in college, without having much of an impact during your time at Duke or afterwards.Additionally, Duke asks you to write this essay to make sure you and their school are a good fit for each other. If you use this essay to talk about majors, classes, internships, study abroad options, etc. that Duke doesn’t offer, the admissions team may be hesitant to offer you a place at Duke since it may not be the best place for you to reach your goals. Basically. the purpose of this essay is two part: Duke wants to make sure you know and value what they offer, and they also want to see how you’re going to make use of these opportunities to reach your goals for the future. What Should You Write About in Your Why Duke Essay? Because Duke has so many opportunities to offer students, there are many ways to approach this essay topic. Here's a list of potential ideas: Majors, minors, certificates, and/or classes Duke offers that you’re especially interested in. This also includes Program II, where you can design your own individual degree program. The Focus Program, which lets first-year students take classes on unique topics. Duke professors whose work you admire and with whom you’d like to study or conduct research. Duke’s Service Learning or DukeEngage programs which give students the opportunity to provide services to communities in need. Clubs or sports teams that you’d be interesting in joining. The Duke Startup Challenge which helps students who want to be entrepreneurs. Research opportunities you’d like to have (the more specific you can be, the better). Internship opportunities Duke offers. Duke students or alumni you’ve met who you admire. Financial aid opportunities Duke offers that make it possible for you to attend. In your response, you should choose about one or two reasons why you think Duke is the best school for you. For each reason, you should describe what Duke offers and connect it back to your interest and skills to show how you’re a good match for the school. For example, you could write that you’ve always been interested in global health, and you have an idea for an invention/idea that could improve global health in developing countries. You want to attend Duke to take advantage of the Duke Startup Challenge to get your product out there, then participate in DukeEngage or a similar program Duke offers to try the product out in the field. Or, you may be a mechanical engineering student who wants to work with a specific professor at Pratt and take advantage of the research opportunities Duke offers to study thermal and fluids systems. Remember to be as specific as possible to show Duke that you’ve done your research, and show both what you care about/want to do with the rest of your life and how Duke can help you get there. A note about basketball: Duke’s basketball team has an extremely dedicated fan base, and many students choose to go to Duke at least partly because they love the basketball team. However, we strongly discourage you from using this essay to discuss your love of Duke basketball. There are several reasons for this. First, many, many applicants mention the basketball team as a reason they want to attend Duke, so you won’t make your essay unique or memorable if you give the same reason most other people do. Second, Duke is foremost an academic institution, and it wants students who are dedicated to their studies. Duke classes require a lot of work, and if you give the impression that all you’ll be doing at Duke is waiting hours in line so you can be the first one in Cameron Stadium for each game, they may wonder if you’ll succeed at the school. So write about something other than the basketball team, and then once you get in, feel free to paint yourself blue an d join the other Cameron Crazies. Tips for Writing a Great Why Duke Essay No matter how you decide to answer the â€Å"Why Duke† prompt, here are four tips you should keep in mind to make sure you stand out from the crowd and show Duke that you’re a student they want to have at their school. #1: Do Your Research Before you start writing, you should know a lot about the opportunities Duke offers and why you want to go there. Here are some places to start your research: Duke website Duke majors, minors, and certificates Course catalog The Duke Chronicle (school newspaper) Duke internship opportunities Duke research opportunities Campus visit Meeting with an alum or current student Meeting with a professor #2: Be Specific From your research, you now have multiple reasons as to why Duke is a great school for you. Choose one or two of them to write about in your essay. The more specific you can be when answering the â€Å"Why Duke† prompt, the better. Don’t just say that Duke has great classes, smart professors, and an interesting student body. Most schools have that, and the people reading your essay will wonder if you’re using an identical essay for every school you’re applying to. Instead, try to mention opportunities only Duke can provide, such as specific professors, course names, extracurriculars, or research opportunities.The things you discuss should be things your other top schools don’t offer, things that really make Duke stand out. #3: Show Your Passion Duke students are a passionate bunch, and Duke wants students who care a lot about what their studies and their school. A generic statement like, â€Å"I am impressed by Duke’s strong engineering programs† doesn’t tell the school anything about you or help you stand out from other applicants. Why does the engineering program make you so excited? How do you want to use your engineering skills in the future? Write about those things instead.Showing a passion that’s unique will help differentiate you from other applicants and show Duke that you’ll take your studies seriously. #4: Make Every Word Count The 150 word limit on this essay means that it’s going to be very short, so you want to get the most out of those words. Start with an outline of your main points: why you want to go to Duke and how you’ll make the most of those opportunities at the school and after graduation, then expand from there until you hit 150 words. This isn’t the essay to tell an in-depth story about your childhood or go into flowery descriptions. Instead,make your main points strong and don’t worry about adding too many embellishments to the essay. Why Duke Essay Example Sometimes the best way to understand what a great Duke essay looks like is to look at an example. Below is a Why Duke essay example (for the Trinity school) followed by an explanation of what makes it stand out. I love many things, but learning and sports top the list. The moment I stepped onto Duke’s campus, I leaned over to my mother, gasping, and said, â€Å"Whoa,† even before beginning my tour. I was stunned to immediately see signs of my loves everywhere. My dreams of tenting in K-Ville for the annual Duke-UNC game almost made my mouth water. As for learning, the cross-disciplinary study options that Duke offers ignite my passions. I have always loved business, and as I have aged, I discovered a deep interest in education. At Duke, I saw the opportunity to combine these two interests in many ways. I would love to initiate lunches with Professor Elizabeth Garcia, whose work focuses on educational motivation, and Mark T. Brown, Director of the Management Communications Center. Exploring commonalities in business and educational spheres would be uplifting, and will engage all of my most profound interests. -Calvin Thompson What Makes This Essay Work? This essay is strong in three key ways: Shows Passion:It’s clear that this student loves Duke. From gasping at his first look at campus to his mouth almost watering at the thought of going there, he’s clearly committed to the school. Mentions Specific Details:This is a short essay, but the writer still manages to mention multiple professors, programs, and subjects Duke has that he’s interested in. That shows he did his research and definitely isn’t using the same generic essay for each school he applies to. Shows a Plan for the Future:His plans for the future (education + business) aren’t super specific, but that’s fine since most students start college don’t know exactly what they want to do in the future, and Duke doesn’t expect you to have everything figured out already. However, he has a plan to get started and see where those interests take him, which shows motivation and initiative. Summary: Writing a Great Why Duke Essay The Why Duke essay is a key part of your Duke application since it lets the school know why you want to go to Duke, what you want to get out of your time there, and how Duke will prepare you for the future. For this essay, there are two very similar prompts, and the one you answer is based on whether you’re applying to Trinity or Pratt. In 150 words or less, you need to explain why Duke is the school you want to attend. There are many ways to answer the prompt, but you should always make sure to do your research on the school, use specific examples, show your passion for the school, and make every word count. What's Next? Want to know how to answer the other Duke essay prompts?Check out our guide on the Duke essays for everything you need to know! Is Duke an Ivy League School?Learn more about the Ivy League and whether Duke is part of it by reading our guide to Ivy League schools. Want to stand apart from other Duke applicants?Learnhow to score aperfect 1600 on the SAT, so you can increase your shot at getting into the school of your dreams!

Motivations Behind Imperialism essays

Motivations Behind Imperialism essays The motivations behind imperialism imposed by the growing superpowers include strategic and cultural imperialism, nationalism, economic considerations, and the idea of survival of the fittest. Strategic imperialism is the concern of a nation for the control of key waterways, ports, and military outposts. In other words, this means anything that may benefit a nation during times of war or strife. Cultural imperialism combines both religion and race. Some Westerners felt that it was the responsibility of the white race to rule over others. Religious reasons are another motivation. Christian missionaries wanted to spread Christianity out to Asia and Africa, as they had done earlier in Latin America. Nationalism is a citizens love of his country and the willingness to sacrifice for it. This creates the urge to compete with other nations to become the most powerful. Economic considerations also come into play. A growing country may find the need for new markets, cheap labor, industrial raw materials, agricultural products, and places for investment in areas around the world. Finally, survival of the fittest, in the respect of imperialism, is the ideology that the stronger and superior cultures will control or even eliminate the weaker, inferior cultures. Great Britain was motivated primarily by strategic, economic, and cultural purposes. First of all, they were contained on a small island with a growing population, but limited resources. With the growing need of these resources, the British sought to expand outwards, moving out to Africa (particularly Egypt and South Africa) and Asia (India). They used these areas primarily for textile manufacturing. Cheap labor cultivated and harvested cotton, which in turn was transported back to England, where it was then processed into cloth. Strategically, the British sought these and other territories in order to compete with their enemies. This expansion made it s...

DC-Batman CASE STUDY Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

DC-Batman - Case Study Example All products under this conglomerate bear this brand. To some DC may be referred to as the home of the â€Å"superstars† as coined in the 1974 logo or of heroes. Among its most featured productions’ are superman and batman. For the purpose of this assessment, we will focus on batman in the comic, movie and animation platforms. These three platforms provide the chronology in the making of the batman character ever since its inception in 1939 by its developer Bob Kane with the help of his writer Finger among others. The success of the batman franchise is unprecedented with it appearing in many platforms i.e. comics, television series, movies, books, animated series among others. Batman revolves around a caped vigilante who fights crime and evil in his city. The comic, the movie and the animation all follow this storyline and strong links can be found to relate the three platforms. Criticism about the divergence of the numerous platforms in the depiction of the batman character is common. The result of the cross media presentation on acceptance and relationship of fans is a matter of interest. The relation of current productions to the o riginal 1939 comics is of interest. Batman is a fictional story created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. The mystery man, based on Da Vinci’s ornithopter was a mortal vigilante in contrast to the superhuman superman (Chris and Scott 2009, 9). With the success of the superman comic, Kane in 1939 conjured a hero to rival superman. Initially, Kane wrote humour stories for Iger Publication Concern and Eisner. There after he joined National Comics. The concept of a heroic figure clad in sinister costume that ironically resembled that of a villain was drawn from McCullys â€Å"Zorro† and Walter Gibsons â€Å"The shadow." Kane cites the mask of Zorro as an inspiration to formulating Batman. Other films mentioned as progenitors of the batman franchise are, the 1930 film â€Å"Bat whispers† from which the idea of the bat motif was adopted and

Human Resource Development Practices Research Paper

Human Resource Development Practices - Research Paper Example In order to prepare the organization for any changes that may emerge with the evolution of the external and internal environment of the business, the human resource team of PAC Resources has already introduced new strategies with respect to staffing, safety, and security of the employees, compensation and benefits and training and development practices. It can be identified from the overall analysis of the situation of PAC Resources that the company is moving in the right direction with respect to the human resource development practices. The SWOT analysis indicates that the company has several strengths which it can use to tap into the opportunities and overcome the threats in the external business environment. The company has launched several effective human resources development initiatives like training and development programs, knowledge management plans, safety and security management of the employees and new staffing strategies. PAC Resources has also embarked on a number of useful initiatives to strengthen the employee relations and build up an overall supportive organizational environment and culture that would foster the growth of the individual employees as well as the company as a whole. Â   Â