Child Abuse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Child Abuse - Essay Example More importantly, the involvement of parents in their children’s healing process and reduction of violent risks are also examined closely. Through qualitative evaluation, outcomes of case study includes realization that both parties, the violated children and abusive parents, need to be critically assessed and, educated and treated, for risks of future physical abused to be eliminated. Moreover, the role of nurses in the whole process of care is vital in bridging gaps between perpetrators and victims of violence. In conclusion, children are not the only groups that need to be subjected to intense nursing assessment and management; the perpetrators (parents) are also included in the overall plan of nursing care in order to improve the rampant status of physical abuse in children. ... Child abuse is a collective term frequently seen in community households. This is generally a form of maltreatment in vulnerable groups, such as young children and elderly individuals. As explained by Giardino and Giardino (2010), specific in most abuse is the â€Å"presence of an injury...(contracted) at the hands of his or her caregiver† (p. 1). In an abusive family, the parents are pointed out as culprits in the scene (Humphreys & Campbell, 2010). Hence, it is safe to say that during child abuse, their supposed protectors are the ones inflicting both physical and physiologic damage. In the advent of clinical and mental interventions, American Psychiatric Society (2004) emphasized that clinical priority in this is mainly centered on the victims. Yet, as this is also a family dispute, the involvement of the perpetrators in the holistic therapy is deemed important in the clinical setting. For this reason, the case presentation will focus on a thorough assessment in identifying the presence of abuse, as well as related nursing interventions targeting resolutions in the conditions surrounding child victims and their perpetrators. Basic Assessment Measures in Physical Abuse Child abuse is a difficult case to prove. The first step towards the process of keeping victims safe is â€Å"detection and identification,† a recognition that such incidents can happen in the community (Videbeck, 2010, p. 187). Hence, nurses involved in direct care of clients need to maintain an open mind and critical attitude in order to aptly identify risk factors increasing the likelihood of children suffering from physical abuse. In the nursing process of uncovering the truth, White (2004) suggests inclusion of both subjective and objective data

Communication and Language Needs Wishes Essay Example for Free

Communication and Language Needs Wishes Essay Show how to find out an individual communication and language needs wishes and preferences Finding out the way an individual prefers to communicate can be done in two ways: direct or indirect. The talk of these individuals is very slow and intentional. They do not like loud, fast, and excessively aggressive talk. In addition, they concentrate more on the facts and figures, rather than just assumptions. If you are in conversation with an indirect communicator, you need to understand that you should have proof for backing up your suggestions, answers, and views. Individuals who are direct talk more clamorously and rapidly than indirect communicators. They take risks easily, are aggressively self-assured, and are related to type A personalities. If you are in conversation with a direct communicator, just ensure that you get to the point straightaway, be confident about what you say, provide solid instances of your achievements, and be alert when you talk. The direct method is by speaking to the services users on face to face or asking questions, observing what they say and how they say The Indirect method: is by reading through the services users record and their care plan or by speaking their relatives and also inquiring from their colleagues. . 2.2 demonstrate communication methods that meet an individual communication need wishes and preferences. Written communications, lip reading and body language method for these individual that cannot hear. And also verbal and non verbal communication to an individual who can hear or see. Verbal and touch for Braille individual who is blind but not deaf. 2.3 Show how and when to seek advice about communication Seek advise by speaking to the line manager or professional bodies like nurse, doctors and colleagues if you do not understand what your service user saying or in looking unwell. If you cannot find or understand the records of your services users already provided to them seek advice from the team manager or colleagues. 3.1idenfiy barriers to affective communication There are reasons that can hinder affective communication. For example Poor health and mental health the main barrier to affective communication is being ill makes it difficult for people to effectively express them and and confidences and self esteem. Background: Clients with chronic and terminal disease frequently do not talk to their physicians about end-of-life care. Interventions to improve this communication have generally been unsuccessful, suggesting that important barriers to this communication must exist Culture and family affects the way people use the method of communication for example eye contact may not be as common in some culture as in others may be interpreted differently. Aggression: being aggressive while communicating makes diffuclt to express your point and to be listened and it applies to both the clients and the carer. Emtonalil diffuclties:when people experience a break up in long term relationship or receive news about death of loved ones they may become confused or uncontrollably upset and this

Study On John Watsons Behaviorist Program

Study On John Watsons Behaviorist Program John B. Watson set out to change the landscape of psychology and to make it a viable scientific endeavor. The goal of Watson was to change psychologys focus or definition from the study of the consciousness to the study of behavior (Hothersall, 2004). Watson argued that to study the consciousness was like studying a ghost. His point was that its difficult to study something that those who were purporting to be the researchers couldnt even agree on its definition. How can psychology reasonably study something that they cant even definitively define? Therefore, Watson believed that the goal of psychology must be to study something that is definable and observable. Watson thought behaviorisms whose goals were concrete and definable; to observe, predict and control behavior in humans and animals was the appropriate system for such an endeavor (Graighead Nemeroff, 2001). Early Research Watsons began his research career investigating the relationship between the increasing complexities of behavior and development of the nervous system (Hothersall, 2004). He trained rats around a box or run through a labyrinth. He discovered that he could train rats as young as 12 days old to run around a box but when asked to run through a labyrinth the 12 day old rats would simply curl up and go to sleep. The results suggested that there was a definite correlation between age and the ability to do complex tasks. In the second phase of his study Watson physically studied the brains of rats ages one to thirty days. He discovered that at age 24 days the number of medullated fibers in the cortex had significantly increased (Hothersall, 2004). His finding corroborated his initial hypothesis that there was a direct correlation between the development of the nervous system and the ability to perform complex behavior (Hothersall, 2004 McCarty, 2009). His finding and conclusions that he dr ew from this experiment was significant. But, an even more significant outcome was that his research led to the standardization of rats as the organism of choice in psychological research for over fifty years, (McCarty, 2009). The results of this study and the response he received when he published them, emboldened him to consider the possibility of displacing both structuralism and functionalism as the prevailing or guiding voice in psychology (McCarty, 2009). Watsons Behaviorist Manifesto Watsons experiences with rats led to his acceptance of John Lockes belief that the mind enters this world as a blank slate and it is experience that writes its message upon it (LeFrancois, 2000). So certain was Watson of behaviorism that he once boldly proclaimed, Give me a dozen healthy infants well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and Ill guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select-doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors (Watson, 1930, p. 104, as cited in LeFrancois, 2000). Thus, in 1913 Watson published an article in the Psychological Review, that gave a detailed outline of behaviorism. Accordingly, Watson noted that Psychology cannot be the study of the consciousness because it (consciousness) is too nebulas to truly be observed. He noted that if psychology was to be an objective experimental branch of science, it can only do so by focusing on behavior since it is both observable and measurable (LeFrancois, 2000 Hothersall, 2004). Behavior in its measurable sense is the relationship between stimuli and responses. The goal then of behaviorism is to predict and control behavior. Furthermore, with respect to this response to stimuli, Watson saw no difference between man and animal. Watson, unlike most of the leading psychologist before him never tried to wrestle with the What is truth question. Instead he preferred to apply psychology to the problems of adjustment and even social improvements. In fact, Watson never really constructed an integrated theory of psychology and yet he was successful in affecting change in psychology primarily because of the logic and clarity of his arguments. The only significant requirement Watson made regarding research was that it must use objective methods of measurements and that the events themselves must be capable of being publicly observable (Hothersall, 2004). Watson was critical of Jamess definition of emotions (experiences of bodily changes). He believed that conscious experience was not an essential component of emotion, further he believed that you can associate emotions with a neutral stimulus in the same manner that Pavlov had done with his example of classical conditioning Hothersall, 2004). Figure 1 The development and growth of behaviorism is the U.S. (Source Unknown) It is easy to theorize or write about a concept in a paper, the next step is to show that behaviorism was workable without recourse to consciousness and the mind (Hothersall, 2004). Watson began conducting research with children, first at the Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic in Baltimore and then later at John Hopkins University Hospital. It is at John Hopkins, that Watson got the opportunity to study infant reflex and emotional responses. He was able to identify a host of reflexes such as coughing, yawning grasping, etc. In addition he was able to isolate three main classes of emotional responses in infants; fear, rage and love (Hothersall, 2004). He found that each of these classes of emotions had a specific set of stimuli and responses that were reliable and predictable. He was even able to conclude that fear responses to a stimuli beyond those noted earlier were learned. This was based on his observation that infants did not respond in fear to dogs, the dark or even snakes as most of us would or have. He also used his theories in advertisement after a scandal forced him out of psychology. He discovered that consumers behaviors could be predicted and controlled in the same manner as infants and rats. He used demographic surveys of target populations and offered a reward (gift) for a response (complete questionnaire). He was the first to prove that style was more important than substance. This principle alone has been one of the bedrock principles of American advertisement and salesmanship for decades. He tapped into humans propensity to heed the advice of people we admire by eliciting testimonials or endorsements for his products. In a couple of cases he even deliberately sought to manipulate consumers motives and emotions (Johnson and Johnson baby powder campaign stressed purity and cleanliness of product over the dangers of dirt and disease, targeting the gullible first time moms). The bottom line is that his work in the lab, with children and even in advertising demonstrated the efficacy of behaviorist theories. Little Albert and Peter Case Studies Little Albert In an effort to prove that behaviorism could be translated out of the lab, as noted in the previous paragraphs, Watson conducted research on infants at the John Hopkins University Hospital. While conducting research at the hospital, Watson decided to see if fear could be conditioned in an infant they named Albert (Hothersall, 2004). Albert an eleven month baby was selected because of his temperament and lack of fear for most things. In fact initially the only thing he seemed to have a strong fear response to was having a metal bar struck behind his head. In fact it was this fear that Watson used to condition of fear of white rats in Albert. The principle behind the experiment was simple; Watson would use the principle of association to illicit a fear response. In the case of Albert, Watson would show little Albert a white rat and as soon as he reached out for it, he would strike the metal bar. Thus, he would take a known fear and associate it with another stimulus or object. The resu lts were predictable, after doing this for only seven times, Albert would cry or crawl away from the white rat, with or without the metal bar being struck (Hothersall, 2004). Five days later, it was discovered that the conditioning had been generalized to anything that resembled the white furry rabbit (Hothersall, 2004). Interestingly enough five days after this the strength of the association was weakening, however after a freshening of the reaction the fear had generalized to even more objects (Santa Clause mask, sealskin coat, the dog, the rat and the rabbit ). A couple of conclusions that I drew from the experiment, first to initiate a fear response to the white rat, Watson needed to identify an object or stimulus in which the fear response was already associated with. Secondly, it seems reasonable that had Watson not refreshed it or reinforced it when the conditioning response appeared to be weakening, then it wouldve either gone away in its entirety or been localized to the rat. Thirdly, it appears that the age of the child was a significant factor in its outcome. The Case of Peter Apparently Watson and Jones also wanted to identify a methodology that could be used to help someone overcome fear. The texts suggests that time passage alone proved to be insufficient, describing a case in which one little girl went to months without seeing her feared rabbit and still responded with fear when she finally saw it again. Even the use of social imitation in which a child sees another child handling the object of his fear without negative repercussions did not work. Watson and Mary Cover Jones discovered that direct conditioning which in principle is in many ways the opposite of what Watson had done with little Albert could be used to help overcome fear. The technique they used is commonly referred to as deconditioning or desensitization. Basically, Peter had a phobia of rabbits and would react uncontrollably in their presence. So they (Watson and Jones) paired his phobia with eating food that he liked. In the first step, a caged rabbit was brought into the room and plac ed 12 or so feet away from Peter while he ate. Each day the rabbit was brought closer without disturbing Peter, until finally the rabbit was un-caged and placed on the table where Peter would eat while petting the rabbit. It was discovered that not only had Peter overcome his fear of the rabbit but also of cotton wool, fur coat and feathers. This technique is one of the classical methods for treating phobias today. The Major Tenants of Gestalt Psychology Introduction The word gestalt is a German word that means shape or form. Its founders Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler initial interest was perception, however over time they began to apply the Gestalt principles to learning, problem solving and cognition (Hothersall, 2004). Like so many of our great discoveries, Gestalt psychology was inspired by an observation and its initial focus, as noted earlier was on how we perceive our environment and the stimulus it provides. In this case Max Wertheimer noticed that telephone poles and buildings appeared to be moving when he looked out the window of a moving train. Intrigued, he got off the train at Frankfurt and went to the Psychological Institute at the University of Frankfurt, to discuss the observed phenomenon with Friedrich Schumann, who held a PHD in physics. Unable to explain it, Schumann offered the use of his laboratory and equipment and introduced Wertheimer to Kopfka and Kohler (the triumvirate founders of Gestalt psychology). Based on Schumann report in 1907 that he had observed successively projected white stripes that appeared to move from the vertical to the horizontal at specific time intervals, Wertheimer designed and executed an experiment in which he projected lights successively through two narrow slits in a screen (Hothersall, 2004). He used Kohler, Koffka and Koffkas wife as his subjects. He observed that when the interval between lights was 50 to 60 milliseconds, lights appeared to move from one position to another but at longer intervals the lights appeared as independent, successive light (Hothersall, 2004). He also noticed that at shorter intervals the lights appeared to be on all the time. The Discovery and Subsequent Principles Wertheimer named this observed phenomena the Phi Phenomenon. Accordingly, Wertheimer noted that this phenomenon was not actually occurring in the world (not an actual physical stimulus). It was a mental stimulus or an interpretation of a stimulus that had occurred in his subjects mind. Which logically, leads to a reasonable supposition that if it is possible for a human to interpret the lights in this manner, what else is just interpretation and just how does this interpretation system work? Wertheimer noted that even though this was an apparent psychological experience, the phi phenomenon could not be reduced to its elements. Thus to adequately study this phenomenon and the questions it created he recognized that the phenomenon must be studied as a whole, the old and tried analytical techniques of psychology in which experiences are decomposed into its elements will not work. This and several other experiments that looked at auditory and even tactile interpretations were instrumenta l in the development of some basic perception principles that actually go beyond just visual perception. The underlying principles of Gestalt Psychology is three fold; 1) The brain is a dynamic system in which all active systems or elements within it when engaged interacts. 2) We perceive stimuli as wholes rather than as clusters of features. 3) If the first two principles are true then we must think holistically since the whole is greater than the sum of its parts (Gestalt, 2009). There were three important works that outlined the principles rules by which we organize our perceptual world, Koffkas Perception, An introduction to Gestalt Theory, Werthheimers An Inquiry into the Laws of Gestalt Psychology and Kohlers An Aspect of Gestalt Psychology (Hothersall, 2004). However, these principles are mostly descriptive and lack theory or an explanation of why we perceive this way except that our perceptions of our everyday world is organized into coherent wholes. The four basic principles are: figure-ground, closure, similarity and proximity. The principle of figure ground notes that we will separate important aspects of a figure from its background or surroundings. We will use real or imagined lines to separate the figure from its background. In figure 6 most of us will see a dog despite the background noise. Closure notes that we will take an incomplete object and make it whole by mentally filling in the missing contour lines or letters so that it makes sense. Pro ximity or nearness describes our tendency to group elements that are close to each other to form an overall figure or pattern. The last principle is similarity, which identifies our tendency to group together elements of a stimulus or pattern that have similar features (size, shape, colour). The similarity principle takes priority over the proximity principle if the two are together in a stimulus (Gestalt, 2009). Below are visual depiction of the principles described. They are classic depictions and can be found in an array of sources. Figure 2 Law of Closure Ge Figure 3 Law of Proximity Figures 4 and 5 Law of Similarity vase Figure 6 Figure-Ground Gestalt Principles in Life As noted earlier, while the initial focus of Gestalt psychology was sensory perception, especially visual, it does seem to have applicability in other areas of our life. For example, Kurt Lewin and Bluma Vul Zeigarnick discovered that our need to complete a task creates a state of tension that facilitates an ability to recall elements of that task until it is complete (Zeigarnik Effect, 2010). This was called the Zeigarnik effect. It was prompted by Zeigarniks observation that German waitress could remember details of a customers bill for a considerable amount of time until the bill was paid (after that they could not recall the basic information). The applicability of this is seen every day as television shows use this principle to keep their audiences loyal to a show with cliffhangers or advertisers leaving a message incomplete so as to illicit recall of its product by consumers. Gestalt versus Behaviorism Later, Wertheimer and Kohler would suggest that Gestalt could be applied to learning. The insight learning experiments conducted by Kohler found that both animals and humans can learn by sudden comprehension as opposed to gradual understanding or trial and error. Furthermore this insight is not necessarily observable by another person (Hothersall, 2004). In an experiment with apes, Kohler was able to demonstrate this type of learning. Kohler put a stick in cage, the ape played with it for a few minutes but eventually lost interest. Kohler then put a fruit just out of arms reach outside of the apes cage. When he tried to reach the fruit with his arm, he couldnt and got upset. He then simply picked up stick and used it to draw the fruit to the cage. When this was repeated the ape got better at using the stick for a tool. The significance of this experiment is that there was no trial-and-error learning. In another experiment, Kohler tested a dog and a 1 year old child, using what was ca lled a detour experiment. In this experiment the dog food was placed behind a barrier in which the dog needed to go around a barrier to get the food, likewise the one year old had her doll placed behind a barrier. In both cases the subjects simply went around the barrier to get the object of their desire (Hothersall, 2004). These experiments contradicted Thorndikes view of learning that stated that trial and error was the method of learning for animal. Kohler argued that the animals in Thorndikes experiment was also capable of insight learning, however the context of the experiment prohibited it. Kohler experiments had several characteristics that were different from Thorndikes. First, the experiments were done in the animals home or enclosure so as to make it as natural and as comfortable as possible which he believed made them more likely to display intelligent behavior. Secondly, his test was for the most part done in the presence of other animals. Finally, the results were almost always reported descriptively, which he believed ensured that the most valuable aspect of the experiments were not lost (Hothersall, 2004). Further comparisons of Gestalt psychology and Behaviorism shows some similarities and some striking differences. For example both occurred independently of one another in opposition to Wundts focus on sensory elements. However, they ended up opposing each other in many significant ways. Gestalt psychologists accepted the value of consciousness but criticized attempts to reduce it to its elements. Whereas behavioral psychologist ultimately refused to even accept it. Gestalt also criticized behaviorist belief that mental activity could not be studied scientifically (Moskowitz, 2005). Furthermore, Gestalt psychologist argues that behaviorist reduces psychology to nothing more than a collection of animal research. Behaviorist on the other hand noted the inferior quality of Gestalt experimental work (Kohler, for example, didnt use experimental method, he just observed). Behaviorist as one might expect, also argued that Gestalt psychologist research lacked adequate controls and its un-quantified data does not lend itself to statistical analysis (Moskowitz, 2005). I found it interesting that two schools of thought that in many ways actually complemented each other decided to strongly opposed each other. The only significant oppositional characteristics I believed that existed was their respective views on consciousness. Neo-Behaviorist Introduction Neo-behaviorism in many respects represents the second phase of behaviorism. Edward C. Tolman, Clark Hull, Edwin Guthrie and of course B.F. Skinner are the most prominent neo-behaviorist. Like their behavior predecessors, neo-behaviorist believed the keys to developing a scientific psychology was to study learning as observed through behavior and maintaining a focus on rigorously objective observational methods (Hothersall, 2004). The most significant difference between the leaders of neo-behaviorist and their behaviorist counterparts was their deliberate attempts to formalize the laws of behavior. Edward C. Tolman Tolman initially taught at Northwestern (1915 to 1918) but was fired because he was a pacifist. However, at Berkley in California he found the ideal academic environment where he taught for forty years. Tolman studied the behavior of rats in mazes and concluded that there was more to the rats behaviors in the mazes than plodding back and forth by stimuli, rewards and punishment (Hothersall, 2004). In his observations, he noted that the rats appeared to behave with intelligence and purpose. It appeared to Tolman that his rats had learned the general layout of the maze (he termed this a cognitive map). Tolman believed that Watson exclusion of purpose and cognition from psychological study was a grave error, thus he purposefully attempted to develop his form of behaviorism based on objective behavior that considered or analyzed both purpose and cognition (Hothersall, 2004). In a series of papers and his book, Purposive Behavior in Animals and Men, he completely rejected mentalist psychology and embraced behaviorism (Hothersall, 2004). Interestingly, despite the title of his book, its primary focus was on the behavior of rats in mazes. Specifically, he emphasized and elaborated on his ideas and belief that rats not only ran the maze with an expectation of a reward but had an expectation for a specific reward. To prove the point, he developed an ingenious experiment in which rats were placed in a maze without a reward then later given a reward. His goal was of course to ascertain if the presence or lack of reward impacted the rats behavior. In his control group, the rats had food in the goal box on all seven days. Group one, only had food in the goal box on day 7 (the first six days there were no food). The second experimental group did not get food in the goal box in the first two days but from days three to seven they did. He discovered that in such a s cenario the experimental groups did not perform to the level of the control group until the day after the food was introduced to the goal box. His conclusion was that learning had taken place despite the absence of a reward; he called it latent learning because it wasnt activated until the rat was sufficiently rewarded or motivated. In a slight modification of his experiment he changed the reward, so that one group got bread and milk, one group got sunflower seeds and one group got no food at all. The outcome, he believed confirmed purposeful behavior. The rats apparently had placed some level of value against the rewards because the rats receiving bread and milk ran the fastest, followed by the rats receiving sunflower seeds and those receiving no reward running the slowest (Hothersall, 2004). If the rat expected reward was changed, it displayed disappointment as evidenced by the increase in errors and slower pace (Hothersall, 2004). An experiment done later with an ape whose expected reward of a banana was changed to lettuce confirmed that such behavior was present in animals. In the case of the ape, upon discovering that her reward had been changed to lettuce she responded by basically having a temper tantrum. Behaviorist who discounted purpose and cognition found these finding troublesome because it suggests that S->R connections was insufficient in explaining the animals behavior (Neo-Behaviorist PPT. 2007). By the way, we all display latent learning when we display knowledge of the location of a particular store thats along some familiar route upon demand. Needless to say the concept of latent learning generated much discussion and research. In still another set of experiments, Tolman was able to show insight learning. In this experiment Tolman placed rats in an elevated maze with no walls and allowed the rats to explore the maze. The maze itself consisted of three different routes of varying lengths to the goal box. The rats were then allowed to become hungry and placed in the maze. The rats always chose the shortest route. If the shortest route was no longer available then the rat simply took the next shortest route. The results clearly indicate that the rat did in fact develop a cognitive map that included the whole maze. Furthermore, purposeful behavior is demonstrated by the very fact that the rats deliberately chose the route that required the least effort (shortest) (Hothersall, 2004). Based on these types of experiments as well as others not discussed, Tolman developed a basic theoretical model that he described in The Determiners of Behavior at a Choice Point. In it he identified three variables that influences behavior; the independent variable, dependent variable and the intervening variables (Graighead Nemeroff, 2001). The independent variable is what the experimenter is controlling. It is in essence the actual condition of the experiment. The dependent variable is what is actually being measured and the intervening variables are the things that may affect the experiments outcome but is not being controlled such as age, past experience and skill level. Accordingly, Tolman stated that Behavior as measured by the dependent variable is a function of the independent and intervening variables (Graighead Nemeroff, 2001). One of the biggest arguments or criticisms of Tolman is that he never developed a true theory of learning that outlined a clear theoretical posit ion. Others have criticized him because his writings tended to be subjective and mentalistic (Hothersall, 2004). Never the less few can argue with the fact that his research proved Watsons theory of behaviorism lacking because it did not consider the cognitive and motivational aspect of behavior. It (his research) also validated the use of rats as subjects for psychological study. Edwin R. Guthrie Guthrie earned his bachelors degree in mathematics but got his Masters degree and PHD in philosophy. He even taught as a philosophy professor at the University of Washington for a while. But eventually the pull to psychology was too strong and he became a professor in the universitys psychology department. His most significant contribution to the field of psychology was his learning theory, which he presented in several papers and books over a ten year period (1930s to 1940s). His theory of learning simply stated that all learning is based on contiguity between stimuli and responses (Hothersall, 2004). For Guthrie behavior was a function of the environment. So, if food is available then an animal will do what it takes to obtain that food. If his action successfully gets him food then he (the animal) will learn that action or response. Guthrie did not dispute Thorndikes belief that reward and punishment affected learning. His dispute was that he did not believe that the reward or puni shment stamped in or out habits. In the case of food, Guthrie saw its role as preventing unlearning. In other words, the rat developed a cognitive map simply by exploring, but the foods presence encourages or motivates the rat to keep the map in his mind or prevents him from unlearning the maze (Neo-Behaviorist PPT, 2007). Punishment works in that it reinforces the opposite behavior. For example, as a child I refused to go near a stove because of the spanking. So I was encouraged to do something else (as opposed to touching the stove) because of the spanking (punishment). The purpose of reinforcement is that it ends the act. Thus, I learn because it was the last successful act. I forget the unsuccessful acts because they a displaced by later successful acts (Hothersall, 2004). The study of movements that make up whole acts according to Guthrie was quite appropriate since they were easy to measure. He also believed that these individual acts are learned in one trial but practice is required in order for these individual movements to create a whole act (Graighead Nemeroff, 2001). Initially his theory was appealing because of its simplicity only to have it later criticized for the same reason. It should also be noted that his theories seemingly were more philosophical than experimentally based, which garnered criticism as well. Clark Hull Hulls goal was to develop universal laws of behavior (Hothersall, 2004). His most enduring contribution was the application of logic to psychological problems. He formed theoretical constructs that consisted of seventeen postulates and corollaries. He then showed that the theorems that grew from these constructs could be predicted and tested. Hulls concept of reinforcement was different from both Watson and Guthrie. Watson saw reinforcement as the thing that kept the animal on task. Guthrie saw reinforcements role as ending the behavior thus making it the last behavior learned (Hothersall, 2004). Hull on the other hand saw reinforcement as strengthening the connection between stimulus and a response. B.F. Skinner Whereas Guthrie and Hull dominated behaviorism in the 1930 and 1940s, B.F skinner assumed that role in the 50s and 60s. His most significant concept is of course operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is different from classical conditioning, in that the role of the animal is different. In classical conditioning the animal responds to the environment thus he learns as a result of that response. But in operant conditioning the animal operates on the environment. The animal performs a behavior that is repeated if rewarded. Thus the response rate is controlled by the animal, not the experimenter (Hothersall, 2004). Skinner study on schedules of reinforcement was accidental in that his studys original focus was on the nature reinforcement. However, he found himself short on pellets (food) so he decided to ration his pellets by reinforcing only an occasional response. In doing so he discovered the intermittent reinforcement maintained the frequency of responding (Hothersall, 2004, p. 519). He developed three different types of schedules; continuous, ratio (fixed and variable) and interval (fixed and variable). He and Ferster described the massive program of research they did on scheduled reinforcement in a work entitled Schedules of Reinforcement. They showed through their research that response rates could be reliably predicted based on the schedule of reinforcement. This work and its findings is now a basic tool in the experimental analysis of behavior (Hothersall, 2004). Skinner also introduced shaping, a behavioral training system that uses successive approximations.

Marcus Garvey Essay -- Garvey biography Biographies bio Essays

Marcus Garvey "We declare to the world that Africa must be free, that the Negro race must be emancipated (p. 137 Altman, Susan. Extraordinary Black Americans.)" are the famous words delivered by Marcus Mosiah Garvey. Born a West Indian, he later became a powerful revolutionary who led the nation into the Civil Rights Movement. Garvey dedicated his life to the "uplifting" of the Negro and to millions of Black people everywhere, he represented dignity and self-respect. Like Malcolm X of a later generation, he believed that Negroes could never achieve equality unless they became independent-founding their own nations and governments, businesses and industrial enterprises, and their own military establishments which are the same institutions by which other peoples of the world have risen to power. Marcus Gravey was the eleventh child of Marcus and Sarah Gravey. He was born in 1887 in St. Ann’s Bay, a rural town on the north coast of Jamaica in the British West Indies. Garvey learnd at a young age about the differences between the races. Being one of the few Blacks on the island, Garvey often played with the children of his white neighbors. The little girl who lived next to the Garvey’s home informed Marcus that she was being sent away to school in Scotland and that she was instructed by her parents "never to write or try to get in touch with me, for I was a ‘nigger.’" Although he was a good student, financial problems forced him to leave school at fourteen and become an apprentice. After helping organize a strike, Gravey was fired from his job. Garvey’s mind was clearly on politics and the need for organization rather than on his vocation. In 1910 Garvey helped to found a political organization named the Nation Club. He created the Watchman, the first of his many newspapers. The failure of both ventures made evident the need for money to fun his political activities and Garvey joined the stream of West Indian workers migrating to Central and South America in search of better opportunities. He worked briefly on a banana plantation in Costa Rica and for a newspaper in Panama and then went to London, England. While there, he worked for an Egyptian scholar, and learned much of the history of Africa, particularly with reference to the exploitation of black peoples by colonial powers. After reading "Up From Slavery," ... ...her leader had before him. From a more historically viewpoint, Marcus Garvey must be regarded as an incredible visionary. Marcus Garvey was a man who undertook enormous and grandiose ideas and goals to empower and rise Black people all over the world. A man literally driven by the notion that the Negro's sole means for achieving a unique culture in the 20th century was through the foundation of a unified, separatist empire in Africa. Although his ideas, in their ultimate form, may have been rejected by some of the people of his day, it is clear that, since then, these very same ideas in a different perspective have had a favorable influence on the policies of many Negro leaders throughout history. BIBLIOGRAPHY Altman, Susan. Extraordinary Black Americans. ©1989. Childrens Press: Chicago. pp. 137-138 Cronon, David E. Great Lives Observed (Marcus Garvey). ©1973, Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs. Franklin, John H. Black Leaders of the Twentieth Century ©1982, University of Illinois Press: Chicago. pp. 105-138 Ploski, Harry A. The Negro Almanac. ©1971, Bellwether Publishing Company: New York. pp. 135-138 & 232

Evolving Through Ignorance Essay

Socrates Cafe, a book written by Christopher Phillips that unfolds his story on facilitating lots of free discussion forum in a lot of different places. But what is Socrates Cafe itself? It is a place; a place for people who wonder, a place for people with different backgrounds to immerse their own self into questions and ideas and dogmas through Socratic Method. Phillips made an effort to revive the condition of what Socrates more than two millennia ago did in Athens. He went through a lot of hard time in order to establish this and to start this out of nothing, which includes abandoning his occupation as a journalist. In this essay I would like to peel in a deep more into one section of the book in which Philips cited Richard Tarnas belief. According to Richard Tarnas, Socrates believed that â€Å"the discovery of ignorance was just the beginning of the philosophical task†, not the end (201) [1]. People believe that being ignorant is a bad thing, as a human being we have to be conscious of everything we do and take responsibilities of our actions. How can we know that we are being ignorant? To discover about our own ignorance to certain things is a stepping-stone for us to improve ourselves, that’s what Socrates believed and I do agree with him. After we are conscious about our own ignorance, we can start to inquire our own self and dig deeper to overcome our assumption about what it takes to be a human being – that’s what philosophical task is about for me. Over the last 10 decades, the Earth average surface temperature has rose by 0. 8  ± 0. 2 ? C, especially over the last 5 decades, the rise had been significant [2]. This kind of improvement tends to create serious problem, globally, not only in particular place. What caused this global warming to happen? The answer is the inhabitants itself, humans had been more and more ignorant about what crisis they face, we know about the fact of this but we choose to ignore it. We don’t accept the fact that we are being ignorant and we believe that we are not. The dominant mechanism of this issue is anthropogenic and mostly the result of human activities. Human increases the atmospheric concentrations of human gases through their industrial wastes. More than hat, we made a global change to the land surface such as deforestation, in order to make more fields for construction. We are being ignorant about what’s happening and continue to fulfill our needs, we are being greedy. So, what can we do in order to overcome this problem? The answer is to discover what we are being ignorant at, just as what Socrates believe as the start of philosophical t ask. By accepting the fact that we are so ignorant about our current condition we can start to make a move to overcome this condition that potentially will be the root of serious problem and make our way towards a better future. For me, the biggest obstacle for this is to overcome our tendency to pursue our goal without thinking about the risks, we tend to think laconically, not being able to imagine about the cause of our action and the impact to our surroundings. We were blinded by the prospect of our goals and its profit and when the problem rises we hide our hands, it’s an ill wind for me to see such an occasion. We ensconce under our own thought that we are doing the right thing whereas in fact we aren’t. In one way, we tried to establish something that contributes to the society but we are also down falling it. It will be better if we can do something while we are not damaging our environment before it’s too late. There’s no time like the present. I think it’s even worse when people aren’t ignorant of certain things and yet still act with ignorance,† John finally offers, â€Å"For instance, when a racist continues to be a racist, yet is aware of the reasons why he’s a racist – perhaps he’s even aware that his racism is illogical because he knows damn well that all of us are 99. 9 percent genetically identical – then that’s even more scary than when people are racist out of sheer ignorance. (204) [3] I have a many more examples about the impact of feigning ignorance and how scary it is. In my home country, there are still a lot of people living in urban slums. The government notices about this but they are not taking any action, because they think they wouldn’t be able to fix this because it’s too severe and widely spread. In my city, over one-fourth of the total citizen live in slums [4] and that’s not a number we can ignore. We really can’t ignore this kind of thing and the government really needs to take actions, instead of being ignorant. Through philosophical inquiry they can get the answers to this problem, and that’s why they need to discover and admit their ignorance before they can start the long journey to fix this. One of the biggest factor and something that has never been able to be resolved from time to time is the corruption in Indonesia. The percentage of corruption in the government reach a peak number of 91% [5] and that’s way too high compared to another countries. I can’t believe that we are still holding on with the 10% leftover from what’s not corrupted to manage the country. Just imagine if the government can eradicate the corruption culture, we would have 10 times of what we have now for our country formation and it would be amazing because we can solve a lot of problems from that. It’s a bigger ignorance if we close our eyes to this. And yes, the government had already established a corruption eradication commission, but they aren’t fruitful and the problem is still there. I think there’s corruption in the commission itself because they are not doing their job well and that makes it a corruption inside a corruption eradication commission, that’s way too ridiculous for me and it’s so hard to accept it. We’ll need a leader that can lead the country to the right path in his honesty and his desire to remove corruption in our country, the one that can reveal how chronic the level of ignorance in the government is. In fact, before I even have a chance to respond, a woman whose booming voice belies her diminutive stature, says â€Å"I don’t think we have a right to be ignorant. I think we have a responsibility to constantly educate ourselves, to make ourselves less ignorant. (201) [6] Quoting it from Socrates Cafe, I wouldn’t agree with her statement about we are not having the right to be ignorant since we actually do. As a human, we have freedom to do whatever we want to do – it’s our own life. What matters is the consequences of our actions, if you choose not to constantly educate yourselves and responsibly develop your talents then you have to shoulder the risks by yourself. You will be getting more and more outdated and you won’t be able to compete with those people who responsibly develop their talents. Socrates was fully aware of his own self – there’s one of his paradox that strikes me, â€Å"I only know that I know nothing†. He never claimed that he’s wise, he knew that there will always be spaces to improve as long as you breathe. Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance†, according to Will Durant Quoted from his Book: The Great Gadfly†, Time magazine, 8 October 1965 (review of The Age of Voltaire by Will and Ariel Durant). There’s no end to our education, we will progressively and continually discover new things over time if we are doing it in a right way. Through ignorance we evolve – we thrive and mature through ignorance. The more we realize that we are lacking in lots of aspects, the more we will be able to see the potential in us. Look. And think. Then look some more. And think some more. Don’t ever stop looking, or thinking† (206) [7]. We have to see the world in many perspectives, and be conceptual – there’s no way that we can learn about something in one go. Doing so will mislead us to misconception and prevent us to think creatively, our creativity will be restricted by our own belief – instead, we have to dive deep into it and broaden our knowledge about it by doing some research so that we can analyze and understand more complicated and abstract ideas. That is one of the reason on why we have to be conscious about our own ignorance and start our own Socratic Inquiry, to be a better person – and to get a better understanding about what it takes to be an entity that will never stop to learn and to grow exponentially. Discover your own ignorance and make it a foundation on building your blocks of life – always think about what changes can you bring to your own life and what do you have to do in order to achieve that – then start your progress enthusiastically so that when death draws near you will know that you are living your life to the fullest and have no regret.

Learn the Italian Calendar Months

Learn the Italian Calendar Months You want to tell your language partner when you’re going to Italy for a vacation, and that’s when you realize you’re not sure how to say you’re arriving in May and leaving in July. What were the vocabulary words for those months again? In case you need a quick review or are learning these months for the first time, here is a list of the months to help you use them in daily conversation along with example sentences and cocktail party facts. I Mesi - The Months January - gennaioFebruary - febbraioMarch - marzoApril - aprileMay - maggioJune - giugnoJuly - luglioAugust - agostoSeptember - settembreOctober - ottobreNovember - novembreDecember - dicembre Cocktail party fact: Notice that the first letter of the month isn’t capitalized in Italian. In case you were wondering, the days of the week  and the seasons aren’t capitalized either. Some Examples Vado in Italia a maggio per tre mesi. - I’m going to Italy in May for three months.Parto per l’Italia a luglio. - I’m leaving for Italy in July.L’anno scorso sono stato in Italia da settembre a dicembre. - Last year I was in Italy from September to December.Il mio migliore amico abita in Italia sei mesi all’anno da gennaio a giugno. - My best friend lives in Italy for six months of the year from January to June.Il mio compleanno à ¨ il diciotto di aprile, quindi il mio segno zodiacale à ¨ l’ariete. - My birthday is April 18, so my zodiac sign is Aries.La festa sar a marzo. - The party will be in March.Vorrei andare in Danimarca a settembre, ma devo frequentare le lezioni. - I would like to go to Denmark in September, but I have to go to my classes.Ogni febbraio c’à ¨ una celebrazione dell’amore si chiama Il Giorno di San Valentino. - Each February there is a celebration of love called Valentine’s Day.Siamo ad ottobre! - We’re in October!/It’s October! Which Prepositions to UseWith Months Typically when you talk about an activity happening in a certain month, you use the preposition â€Å"a† before it to mean the English definition of â€Å"in†. In the examples above, you may have also seen the use of â€Å"da†, which mirrors the English definition of â€Å"from† when separating a distance of months. Finally, you also saw â€Å"di† precede a month, and that was used to indicate possession since it was a birthday. Why Was September the 7th Month Instead of the 9th Month? During the Roman empire, September was considered the 7th month, October the 8th, November the 9th, and so on. Why is that? According to the University of Chicago, after around 753 BCE, the Roman calendar began in March instead of January and only consisted of ten months instead of twelve. This structure was created by King Romulus and was based on a combination of the lunar cycles and the agricultural seasons. However, structuring the calendar in this way wasn’t as effective because the lunar cycles didn’t match up with the earth’s rotation around the sun and therefore didn’t accurately pair with the seasons.