Erickson stages of child development Essay

Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is one of the best-known theories of personality in psychology. Erikson believed that personality develops in a series of stages. Erikson’s theory describes the impact of social experience across the whole lifespan. Erikson theory focuses on physical, emotional, and psychological stages of development. According to Erikson personality developed in eight developmental stages throughout life span and the need of each stage must be met or resolved before the move to the next stage. If individual needs are not met in a particular stage, it will affect the individual later in life. Erikson’s stages of development assessment findings of each age group and potential findings a nurse may discover includes: Infancy (birth to 18 months): Trust versus Mistrust. Children begin to learn the ability to trust others based upon the consistency of their caregiver(s). If trust develops successfully, the child gains confidence and security in the world around him and is able to feel secure even when threatened. Unsuccessful completion of this stage can result in an inability to trust, and therefore a sense of fear about the inconsistent world. It may result in anxiety, heightened insecurities, and an over feeling of mistrust in the world around them. Early Childhood (2 to 3 years): Autonomy versus shame and doubt . Children begin to assert their independence, by walking away from their mother, picking which toy to play with, and making choices about what they like to wear, to eat, etc. If children in this stage are encouraged and supported in their increased independence, they become more confident and secure in their own ability to survive in the world. If children are criticized, overly controlled, or not given the opportunity to assert themselves, they begin to feel inadequate in their ability to survive, and may then become overly dependent upon others, lack self-esteem, and feel a sense of shame or doubt in their own abilities. Preschool (3 to 5 years): Initiative versus guilt. Children assert themselves more frequently. They begin to plan activities, make up games, and initiate activities with others. If given this  opportunity, children develop a sense of initiative, and feel secure in their ability to lead others and make decisions. Conversely, if this tendency is squelched, either through criticism or control, children develop a sense of guilt. They may feel like a nuisance to others and will therefore remain followers, lacking in self-initiative. School Age (6 to 11 years): Industry versus inferiority. Children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments. They initiate projects, see them through to completion, and feel good about what they have achieved. During this time, teachers play an increased role in the child’s development. If children are encouraged and reinforced for their initiative, they begin to feel industrious and feel confident in their ability to achieve goals. If this initiative is not encouraged, if it is restricted by parents or teacher, then the child begins to feel inferior, doubting his own abilities and therefore may not reach his potential. Adolescence (12 to 18 years): Identity versus role confusion. During adolescence, the transition from childhood to adulthood is most important. Children are becoming more independent, and begin to look at the future in terms of career, relationships, families, housing, etc. During this period, they explore possibilities and begin to form their own identity based upon the outcome of their explorations. This sense of who they are can be hindered, which results in a sense of confusion (â€Å"I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up†) about themselves and their role in the world. Success in this stage leads to an ability to stay true and being focused while failure leads to role confusion and a weak sense of self or confused. Young Adulthood (19 to 40 years): Intimacy versus isolation. Young adults need to form intimate, loving relationships with other people. We explore relationships leading toward longer term commitments with someone other than a family member. Successful completion can lead to comfortable relationships and a sense of commitment, safety, and care within a relationship. Avoiding intimacy, fearing commitment and relationships can lead to isolation, loneliness, and sometimes depression. Middle Adulthood (40 to 65 years): Generativity versus. Stagnation During middle adulthood, we establish our careers, settle down within a relationship, begin our own families and develop a sense of being a part of the bigger picture. We give back to  society through raising our children, being productive at work, and becoming involved in community activities and organizations. This leads to feelings of usefulness and accomplishment. By failing to achieve these objectives, we become stagnant and feel unproductive. Maturity (65 to death): Ego integrity versus despair. As we grow older and become senior citizens, we tend to slow down our productivity, and explore life as a retired person. It is during this time that we contemplate our accomplishments and are able to develop integrity if we see ourselves as leading a successful life. If we see our lives as unproductive, feel guilt about our pasts, or feel that we did not accomplish our life goals, we become dissatisfied with life and develop despair, often leading to depression and hopelessness. Summary of how nurses would handle physical assessment, examinations, education and communication differently with children versus adults. According to ( Javis 2012), Assessment is the collection of data about the individual health state. Edelman & Mandle ( 2010), defined health assessment as a tool used to detect health problem of an individual through proper physical examination, screening, health history which enable health care provider to have insight of the individual problem. Assessment helps in dictating the actual diagnosis by identifying the signs and symptoms of the disease, knowing the patient cultures and beliefs will also help in developing proper health care plan for effective care delivery and health promotion. According to (Javis 2012), Children are unable to relay information concerning their health problem compared to adults due to their developmental stage. The nurse depends on the parents or care givers to get health information relating to the children. The child observation and the parent interview should be well documented. According to (Javis 2012), performing health assessment to toddlers may not be easy; head to toe assessment in a toddler may not be in sequence. Patience is needed by the nurse in conducting physical assessment in a child. Nurses often gain good rapport with children by giving toys, paper and crayon to them. Nurses learning how to gain consent both in adults and in children will help in proper physical assessment of everyone and these includes: The skin: Assess for Birthmarks, pigmentation or color change, skin disease such as rashes, lesion and acne. Changes in the nail shape and bruises. Head: Assess for  hair texture, alopecia, head injury, dizziness and headache. Eyes: Assess for glasses use, the date of last eye visit to you doctor. Check for redness, drainage, pupil size, pupil reaction, cataract, glaucoma, pain. Ear: Assess for any ear problems such as drainage, myringotomy tubes in ears, cerumen, ringing in the ear. Nose and Sinuses: Assess for frequent cod, nose bleed, nasal stiffness and any allergies. Mouth and Throat: Assess for cleft lip and palate, caries, sores in the mouth, tongue and throat, mouth breathing, difficulty in chewing, swallowing and hoarseness voice. Neck: Assess for swollen glands and limitation of movements. Breast: Assess for any nipple discharge, pain or any breast disease. Preadolescents and adolescents ask questions like when did they noticed breast changes in their body. Respiratory: Assess for wheezing or noisy breathing, shortness of breath, chronic cough, croup or history of asthma. Cardiovascular: Assess the shape of the chest wall; auscultate to dictate normal heart sounds or abnormal heart sound such as murmur. Assess for heart palpitation, dyspnea on exertion, coldness in extremities and normal or abnormal blood pressure. Gastro-intestinal System: Assess for abdominal pain, frequent nausea/ vomiting, frequent bowel movements, the stool constituency diarrhea or constipation, use of laxatives, rectal bleeding and history of pinworms. Urinary System: Assess for history of urinary tract infection, oliguria/ polyuria, urine color. Ask for any planned toilet training for the child, when it started. Is the child bedwetting? Do you know if there is any factor associated with this? Male genital System: Assess the penis for pain. Check for lesions, drainage, swelling, hernia in the scrotum during crying. Preadolescents and adolescents boys assess for puberty changes and any sexual abuse. Female genital System: Assess for genital itching, vaginal discharges, and rashes. Check for sexual abuse. Preadolescents and adolescents ask if their menstruation has started. Sexual Health: Assess for sexually transmitted disease such as gonorrhea/ syphilis, herpes, chlamydia, HIV/ AIDS. Ask if the preadolescents or the adolescent are into a relationship involving sexual intercourse. Did she or he know about sexually transmitted diseases? Assess how a child reacts towards the opposite sex. Musculoskeletal System: Assess for bone and joint pain, swelling, arthritis, stiffness, limited movement, coordination and gait strength. Assess for muscle strength, pain, cramps, weakness, posture, spinal curvature. Neurological System: Assess for numbness and tingling sensation. Cognitive functions, mental retardations and cerebral palsy. Hematologic System: Assess for excessive bruising, swelling of the lymph nodes, exposure to toxic agents and radiations. Endocrine System: Assess the history of thyroid or diabetes disease such as excessive thirst, hunger or urination. Delay in puberty and abnormal hair distributions. Nurse should know the anatomy and physiology associated with body system to be able to differentiate normal findings from abnormal findings. Health assessment is performed according to developmental stages. The parents and care givers should relate important health information of a child to the nurse for effective health care delivery. All information gathered should be properly documented. References Erickson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development. Retrieved from http://allpsych.com/psychology/101/social_development.html. Erickson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development in Infancy and Early Childhood. Retrieved: http://psychology.about.com/od/psychosocial.html. Javis, Carolyn. Physical Examination & health Assessment, (Saunders2012).Sixth edition Carole Edelman, Elizabeth kudzma, Carol Mandle. Health promotion throughout life span, 7th Edition ( 2010).

Euphemism in Cross-Cultural Communication

Cross-Cultural Communication Vol. 8, No. 6, 2012, pp. 66-70 DOI:10. 3968/j. ccc. 1923670020120806. 1356 ISSN 1712-8358[Print] ISSN 1923-6700[Online] www. cscanada. net www. cscanada. org Cross-Cultural Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemisms WANG Xiaoling[a]; ZHANG Meng[a],*; DONG Hailin[a] [a] College of Foreign Languages, Hebei United University, West Xinhua Road, Tangshan, China. * Corresponding author.Supported by Study on Application of Cross-Cultural Teaching Concept in New Standard College English Teaching; Key Project of Ministry of Education for the Year 2010, the Eleventh Five-year Plan for Educational Sciences (Grant No. gpa105030). Received 18 August 2012; accepted 7 December 2012 Abstract The use of euphemisms is a common linguistic phenomenon in all languages. By using euphemisms, people can indirectly and politely express their ideas, without making the listeners feel awkward and unpleasant. As a mirror of culture, the generation and development of euphemis ms are closely related to culture.Euphemisms in English and Chinese are also abundant, but they have both differences and similarities in expressions and cultural connotations. The cross-cultural contrastive study of English and Chinese euphemisms can help people correctly understand the deep meaning in English and Chinese languages and overcome the obstacles in crosscultural communications. Key words: Euphemisms; Culture; Cross-culture; Contrastive study WANG Xiaoling, ZHANG Meng, DONG Hailin (2012). CrossCultural Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemisms.CrossCultural Communication, 8 (6), 66-70. Available from: http://www. cscanada. net/index. php/ccc/article/view/j. ccc. 1923670020120806. 1356 DOI: http://dx. doi. org/10. 3968/j. ccc. 1923670020120806. 1356. â€Å"speech†, so the word â€Å"euphemism† literally means â€Å"word of good omen†. Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics (2000) defines â€Å"euphemism† as â€Å"A kind of expressing method which aims at making people feel less embarrassed by using some words with vague and ambiguous meaning instead of those which may make people feel unpleasant and not respected†.The generation of euphemism has its social foundation. While communicating with others, people often face the situation where they can not directly express what they want to say, or sometimes a direct expression will cause the listeners awkward and unpleasant. In these cases, people tend to choose an indirect and roundabout way to express their ideas and thoughts, so as to avoid the embarrassment. With this purpose, euphemisms come into being. Whereas the use of euphemisms is not only a social phenomenon, it is also a cultural one.The generation of euphemism is also closely related to culture. Due to the low social productivity in the early stage of human society, people were lack of scientific and cultural knowledge, thus there existed a superstitious belief that the direct call of t he name of God or a ghost will bring them bad fortune. Then the names of God and ghosts became language taboo and people found substitutes of these names. These substitutes then became euphemisms of that time. With the development of the society, euphemisms in all languages also changed.And this on-going change has always being relying on culture. Different nations possess different natural environment, social patterns, ideological systems, modes of production and values. All these can be reflected in the use of language, including the use of euphemisms. 1. EUPHEMISM AND ITS RELATION WITH CULTURE The word â€Å"euphemism† originated from a Latin word. Its prefix â€Å"eu† means â€Å"good†, and â€Å"phemism† means 2 . C U LT U R A L S I M I L A R I T I E S A N D DIFFERENCES REFLECTED BY ENGLISH AND CHINESE EUPHEMISMS When we compare different cultures, we will find that theCopyright  © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 66 WANG Xiaolin g; ZHANG Meng; DONG Hailin (2012). Cross-Cultural Communication, 8 (6), 66-70 similarities and differences of the developing course of human society are manifested in cultures. Language is not only the mirror of culture, but also a part of culture. So the similarities and differences of cultures are undoubtedly reflected by English and Chinese languages, including euphemisms. 2. 1 Cultural Similarities Reflected by Euphemisms Euphemism as a cultural phenomenon has its specific role to play in culture.Cultural similarities reflected by English and Chinese euphemisms can be concluded by the functions of euphemisms. Basically speaking, the functions of English and Chinese euphemisms are the same, which can be divided as taboo-avoiding function, politeness function, and deception function. These functions show the universal characters of human culture. 2. 1. 1 Taboo-Avoiding Function In English and Chinese, there are some words that cannot be directly said out.For example, during the ti me when Christianity was prevalent in the western countries, the name of God â€Å"Jehovah† became the biggest taboo, so many euphemisms were created to replace the name, such as â€Å"the Almighty†, â€Å"the Supreme Being†, â€Å"Holy one†, â€Å"the Eternal†, â€Å"the Creator†, â€Å"the Maker†, â€Å"the Savior†, â€Å"the light of the world†, â€Å"the Sovereign of the Universe†, â€Å"Our Father†, etc.. In ancient China, the names of emperors are also tabooed. For example, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, changed â€Å" † (the first month of a lunar year) into â€Å" † so as to avoid the pronunciation of the character â€Å"? which is the same as the character â€Å"? † used in his name. Another example is the euphemistic expression of â€Å"death†. People generally believe that the greatest misfortune is nothing than death, so there are taboos and euphemisms ab out death both in English and Chinese. The word â€Å"death† cannot be directly mentioned, and euphemisms about death are various. In English, the word â€Å"die† can be replaced by â€Å"to pass away†, â€Å"to expire†, â€Å"to be no more†, â€Å"to breathe one’s last†, â€Å"to come to an end†, â€Å"to join the majority†, â€Å"to go to one’s rest†, â€Å"to sleep the final sleep†, â€Å"to be gathered to one’s father†, â€Å"return to dust†, â€Å"run one’s race†, â€Å"be no onger with us†, â€Å"to be at peace†, â€Å"to be at rest†, â€Å"to be asleep in the arms of God/ Jesus†, â€Å"pay the debt of nature†, etc.. In Chinese, the word â€Å"? † can be replaced by â€Å" † etc.. 2. 1. 2 Politeness Function It is a normal human psychology for everybody to be respected and keep dignity before the others. So to avoid hurting others’ feelings and pride in a conversation, people often use euphemistic expressions in stead of words that will lead to the unwanted result. For instance, in Chinese, people will call those who are physical handicapped â€Å"? ?† in stead of â€Å" . Similarly, in English, the word â€Å"handicapped† is euphemistically expressed by â€Å"disabled† to show people’s respect. The â€Å"deaf† people are described as â€Å"hard of listening†, and â€Å"blind† people are â€Å"the visually challenged†. At present, euphemisms about body figure are more often used than ever before. As more and mo re people pay attention to their figure, you need to be careful while talking to those who have much weight. The word â€Å"fat† could never be used. But you can use words like â€Å"plump, stout, out-size, over-weight† to describe such person. In Chinese, it is also more polite to use words like â€Å" † etc..The politeness function of euphemisms is well demonstrated by the description of these low or humble occupations. To some extent, the occupations people are engaged in can show their social status, so people in the low hierarchy are usually sensitive towards their jobs. A decent and respectful call of their occupation will show respect for such persons. Therefore, â€Å"sanitation engineer† is created for â€Å"garbage collector†, â€Å"cleaning operative† is created for â€Å"road-sweeper†, â€Å"domestic help† is created for â€Å"maid† and â€Å"security officer† is created for â€Å"janitor†. In modern Chinese, there are also similar euphemisms about occupations.For example, people call â€Å" † in stead of â€Å" †, and â€Å" ?† or â€Å" † in stead of â€Å" †. These euphemisms about occupations not only show the raise of civilization level, but also people’s awaren ess of social equity. 2. 1. 3 Deception Function With the development of the society, the use of euphemisms is not only limited in avoiding taboos and caring for the listeners’ feelings. On many occasions, it is also employed to hide the facts, and to achieve some ulterior goals. Euphemisms of this kind are widely seen in political and economic areas to deceive the public or distort the pacts.For example, words used in war, such as â€Å"invasion† and â€Å"raid† are disguised as â€Å"incursion†, â€Å"involvement† and â€Å"military action†; Failure in a war is disguised as â€Å"break off contact with enemy†; The thousands of homeless people in the war are called â€Å"transfer of population†; â€Å"Attack† is disguised as â€Å"active defense†, etc.. These cosmetic words conceal the nature and cruelty of war, and provide reasonable excuse for waging wars. For politicians, these euphemistic words are good tools to whitewash themselves and protect themselves from being excused or charged. Euphemisms in the economic area are also widely seen.For example, â€Å"economic crisis† is replaced by â€Å"depression† or â€Å"recession†; â€Å"poor nations† is replaced by â€Å"underdeveloped nations†, â€Å"developing nations†, or â€Å"emerging nations†. These words all cover up the reality to some extent, and the real meaning of these words need careful thinking. 2. 2 Cultural Differences Reflected by Euphemisms Due to the culture difference between English and Chinese, a topic often being talked about in one culture 67 Copyright  © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture Cross-Cultural Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemisms ay be tabooed in another culture, and something unacceptable in one culture may be quite normal in another. 2. 2. 1 Different Attitudes Towards â€Å"Old Age† The westerners are afraid of old age. In their opinion, old age indicates decay. So in many western countries, inquiring others’ age is seen to be an offense, because â€Å"age† is a sensitive topic. There are many euphemisms describing old age, such as â€Å"senior citizen, advantage in age, the mature, seasoned man, full of ages, be feeling one’s ages, past one’s prime† etc.. On the contrary, it is a tradition for Chinese people to respect the old.As far as Chinese people are concerned, â€Å"old age† stands for wisdom and experience. In Chinese, people often add the word â€Å"? † after a person’s family name to show his respect, such as â€Å" † and â€Å" †. Besides, the word â€Å"? † can also be added before a person’s family name to show intimacy with this person, such as â€Å" †, â€Å" †. If a person has much experience in an occupation and is respected by others, people will call him or her â€Å" ?† â€Å" † or â€Å" † etc.. Other words indicating old age like â€Å" † all show respect to these old people. 2. 2. Attitudes Towards Privacy The westerners attach much importance to privacy, which includes age, marriage, income, religious belief, political tendency etc. , and they do not want the others to know much about these contents. For example, a western lady will take an immediate aversion if she is asked about her age and marriage state. While in China, you can often hear people around talking about age, marriage and even income. Topics like â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" † are not forbidden either. Inquiring others’ salary or the price of some private belongings is also seen as impolite in the west.If you really want to know the price of an item, you can ask â€Å"It is expensive? † in stead of directly asking â€Å"How much is it? † But in China, you will have no worry to ask the price. Religious belief and political tendency are also private in the west. Questions like â€Å"What party do you vote for? † and â€Å"What’s your religion? † cannot be asked. But in China, these questions are also free to ask. 2. 2. 3 Naming and Appellation Chinese people attach more importance to family than people in the west, and their respect for the elder generation is also shown in naming and appellation.The name of a young should not be the same as his or her elder generation, even the pronunciation should be different. Young people could not directly call the name of the elderly ones; Instead they call them according to the rank in the family such as â€Å" , , , ? ?† etc.. Comparatively, English-speaking people do not have such strong sense of family rank and social stratum. In the western countries, there is no taboo in naming and appellation. People of different rank in the family hierarchy and social status could call each other’s name directly. It is common to hear children call their parents and even grandparents’ names.And it is also very common for a younger person to have a same name with the elder generation. The westerners believe this kind of appellation and naming is a way of showing intimacy and will draw close the relationship between people. To some extent, it reflects the westerners’ pursuit of equality. 2. 2. 4 The Use of Numbers Cultures about numbers exist in both Chinese and English. There are different taboos about number in different cultures. In the western culture, the number 13 is seen as an unlucky number which people tend to avoid in their daily life.For example, it is rare to see 13 people gather around the same table while having dinner or meetings. It is also forbidden to have 13 dishes on the dinner table. House number, storey number and other number marks all avoid using this number. In Chinese, the pronunciation of â€Å"4† is similar to the character â€Å"? † (die) , so people are unwilling to use this number in doorplate, story number, phone number etc.. The pronunciation of number â€Å"3† is similar to the character â€Å"? †, so weddings and birthday parties are not held on this day.Besides, there is a saying in Chinese that good things should be in pairs, so it is also a tradition to hold important things on even number days, so as to wish that good luck could come. 3. EUPHEMISMS AND CROSSCULTURAL COMMUNICATION 3. 1 The Definition of Cross-Cultural Communication Chinese scholar JIA Yuxin and GUAN Shijie defined cross-cultural communication as â€Å"communication between people from different cultural background† (JIA, 1997) and â€Å"communication between people or group from one cultural background and people or group from another cultural background† (GUAN, 1996).Larry offered his definition of â€Å"intercultural communication† as â€Å"Intercultural communication is communication between people whos e cultural perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event† (Larry, 2009). In conclusion, inter-cultural communication, which is a kind of communication behavior, is the communication between people from different cultural background, social psychology, and people speaking different languages. 3. The Influence of Culture Differences on Cross-Cultural Communication While communicating with a person of another language, people always carry out the communication process on the basis of their own language and culture. Obviously culture differences will manifest themselves in the understanding and use of euphemisms throughout cross-cultural Copyright  © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 68 WANG Xiaoling; ZHANG Meng; DONG Hailin (2012). Cross-Cultural Communication, 8 (6), 66-70 communication. Thus cross-cultural understanding barrier or improper use of euphemisms will lead to pragmatic failures. . 2. 1 Pragmatic Failures Cause d by Different Expression Modes English and Chinese euphemisms are typically different in structure and expression mode. Because of these differences, speakers of one language often have difficulty in grasping the information of another language. For example, Chinese speakers will be confused when they hear those English euphemisms consisted by numbers like â€Å"go to the fourth† (go to the toilet) and â€Å"a forty-four† (a prostitute). There are also some euphemisms in the form of abbreviation, like B. O. (body odor), V. D. C. (venereal disease), and T. B. tuberculosis), which will lead to understanding difficulty if the readers are lack of relative background information. Similarly, the profound Chinese culture has given birth to quantities of unique expressions, such as â€Å" †, â€Å" †, â€Å" †, which also make the westerners confused. Besides, the use of twopart allegorical sayings, such as â€Å" — (? )†, â€Å" — à ¢â‚¬ , and â€Å" — (? )† etc. is also a unique feature of Chinese euphemisms. The use of this special structure can help release the mood in an over straightforward Chinese expression, and help readers guess the meaning inside it.But the English readers are not familiar with this kind of Chinese expressions, so they can only sigh towards the contained meaning inside this kind of euphemisms. 3. 2. 2 Pragmatic Failures Caused by Different Value Orientations in Euphemisms The cultural value difference of euphemisms is best illustrated by words in political and social area. Many euphemistic words in political area are used to conceal the real political purpose. For example, in the Vietnam War, the U. S. government called the invasion â€Å"U. S. nvolvement in Vietnam†; The air raid to Libya is called â€Å"surgical strikes†; Civilian casualties in the Iraq War are understated as â€Å"collateral damage†. These euphemisms reflect the subtle attitude of the U. S. government to some extent, and at the same time, they show the handiness and concealment of political words. It is easy to be cheated by these diplomatic words without enough cross-cultural study. For another example, in the western countries, the word â€Å"sexy† is used to describe an attractive and charming person. If a lady is described as â€Å"sexy†, she will take it as praise and will be very happy.But in traditional Chinese culture, the connotation of â€Å"sexy† is somewhat close to â€Å"coquettish†. If a westerner who does not know much about Chinese culture describes a Chinese lady as â€Å"sexy†, she must feel uncomfortable and take it as an insult rather than praise. But with China enhancing its communication with the western countries, more and more Chinese people have accepted the western culture and began to praise others as â€Å"sexy†. 3. 2. 3 Pragmatic Failures Caused by Different Class Concept Many words in our daily life such as â€Å"big and small†, â€Å"high and low†, â€Å"good and bad†, â€Å"rich and poor† all indicates social rank.Compared with Chinese, English euphemisms about social rank are larger in quantity and more alert in usage. For example, in the western countries, people advocate democracy and pursuit gender equality, so they have much difficulty in understanding males in Chinese feudal society calling their wives â€Å" † and â€Å" †. English-speaking people are also alert to the rank below â€Å"the first class†. So in 1989, when West Germany held the 56th World Foundry Congress, the English instruction classified hotels as follows: A) Deluxe B) First Class C) Standard D) Private rooms.This kind of ranking criteria does not define the hotels below the first class into â€Å"the second class† and â€Å"the third class†, thus avoiding people’s psychological gap. At the same time, it upgrades each class invisibly. However this kind of ranking is difficult for Chinese people to understand and use. In cross-cultural communication, in order to avoid these pragmatic failures, language user of both English and Chinese need to sharpen their cross-cultural awareness. It is also necessary to acquire as many as possible euphemistic expressions in another language.The more characteristics we know about the culture and its euphemisms, the less barriers and pragmatic failures we will encounter. Of course, we should also bear in mind the proper situation where a certain euphemism is used; otherwise the overuse of euphemisms will appear to be pretentious and unnatural. CONCLUSION To sum up, euphemism is a common and long-standing linguistic as well as socio-cultural phenomenon in both English speaking countries and China. As a mirror of culture, euphemisms strongly reflected similarities and differences between English and Chinese cultures.These similarities and differences have brought ab out conveniences and difficulties in the process of crosscultural communication. Only when people from different cultures are fully aware of the different cultural background, cultural value orientations and cultural conventions, can they remove pragmatic barriers and carry out smooth and harmonious communication successfully. REFERENCES Bussmann (2000). Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. CAI, Yan (2005). Similarities in Communicative Functions Between English and Chinese Euphemism.Journal of Xihua University, (1). 69 Copyright  © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture Cross-Cultural Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Euphemisms CHEN, Junsen (2000). Foreign Cultures and International Communication. Wuhan: Huazhong University of Science and Technology Press. DENG, Xinghua (1996). Contrastive Study on Chinese and English Taboos and Euphemisms. Journal of Liuzhou Teachers College, (1). DENG, Yanc hang, & LIU, Runqing (2001). Language and Culture. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. GUAN, Shijie (1996). Intercultural Communication. Beijing: Peking University Press.GUO, Hongmei (2005). English and Chinese Euphemisms and the Development of Western and Chinese Cultures. Journal of Taiyuan University, (12), 61-62. HU, Yonghong (2001). On English and Chinese Euphemisms. Journal of Mianyang Teachers College, (8), 53-54. JIA, Yuxin (1997). Intercultural Communication. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. Larry, A. Samovar, Richard, E. Porter, & Edwin, R. McDaniel (2009). Communication Between Cultures. Beijing: Peking University Press. LI, Zhongsheng (1991). Taboos and Customs in Chinese Language. Xi’an: Shanxi People’s Press. PAN, Min (2004).Comparative Analysis of English and Chinese Euphemism. Journal of Huaiyin Institute of Technology, (8), 42-44. XUE, Yan (2001). On English Euphemisms. Journal of Lanzhou Commercial College, (12), 108-111. Copyright  © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 70 Copyright of Cross-Cultural Communication is the property of Canadian Academy of Oriental & Occidental Culture and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

Multiculturalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Multiculturalism - Essay Example The US population includes people of different origins and cultures who follow different religion and traditions. Therefore, evolving a system where various kinds of people live together in harmony becomes essential. The very concept of multiculturalism was brought in by the evolution of such a social system in the USA. A general concept can be framed that the association of many cultural models in civilized communities give birth to a commonly accepted new one in the absence of specific dominance by any of them. In many events, collective immigration to a particular province of the country can also force a situation in which a new culture is forced upon the existing community. The paper named ‘American Identity, Citizenship and Multiculturalism’ which was presented by Diana Owen, the associate professor of political science in Georgetown University in the German-American conference, 2005 mentions a term ‘melting pot’ which was used by the playwright Israel Zangwill to describe the process by which immigrants from different parts of the world came together in the US. This particular term denotes a process through which the distinction of cultures in the country would disappear in the long run by the merging of those distinct cultures into an exorbitant one. We can say that this process has taken place in the US for good though there is a possibility for counter arguments. On the whole, a unique culture has developed in the US subsequent to its long term multiculturalism policies. Modern world’s economic progress is doubtlessly connected to the contributions of multiculturalism in the reconstruction of political structure of many leading nations. The fact that a person of African origin became the president of the USA proves that multiculturalism is effectively working in the nation. It has definitely contributed to the socio-economic uplift and unity and integrity of the states. The 19th century was the period when the rate of immigration to the

Project Management - Project Breakdown, Risks and Staffing Assignment

Project Management - Project Breakdown, Risks and Staffing - Assignment Example This paper highlights the possible risks in the organization and how they can be analysed and managed. The organization faces a challenge of the inability to influence wider and diverse market margins. The company is striving to widen its customer diversity and population. This is hindered with the various risks the company faces such as stiff competition from similar companies and lack of sufficient stuffing. The company lacks enough employees hence the production of the company is not to its maximum. There is also poor human resource management. The organization finds it difficult and expensive to train the recruited employees. It is hard for the organisation to replace the experienced personnel who leave with new recruits who take time before conforming to the organisation’s operations and strategies. The organisation faces constant shifting of the employees and this gives it a disadvantage compared to the competitors. Another risk that the organization faces is lack of sufficient resources and funds to hire more employees. More employees will enable the organisation to hav e broader market margins as there level of production will be increased. This problems affect all departments of the organisation hence put the whole organization at risk. The organisation has not fully implemented technology in its daily routine and operations. The computer services and the internet facilities are not fully utilized by the employees of the organization. This particularly affects the HR, marketing and finance department. If this problems are not adhered to the company faces a threat of falling out of competition and closing down in the long run. Failing to diversify and widen it market margin gives the competitors an advantage. This also hinders the organisation from attracting more customers hence limiting the amount of profit the company

Faith healing case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Faith healing case - Essay Example He provided the boy’s parents with information regarding the treatment that is available, and then explained to them the procedures that would have to be undertaken. The parents discussed the matter between themselves for two hours, and then told the physician that they had reached the decision to take their son to a faith healing service instead of seeking medical intervention. The physician tried to convince them of the futility of this action but to no avail. The parents left with their son after the physician gave them a return appointment, but they did not honor it. II. Ethical Question to be Answered Were the parents morally justified to deny their son much needed medical treatment in favor of faith healing? III. Proposed Answers to Ethical Question It is not morally permissible for the 10 year old boy’s parents to deny him medical treatment for leukemia, with the sole reason that the treatment will eventually fail to work, and they would have to take their son to a faith healing service after all. As much as medical treatment for the treatment of cancer is not completely effective, it is still the best shot at recovery that a patient could obtain since it has worked in numerous cases. Faith in the ability of God to heal cannot be disputed, but it has failed to provide positive results in many cases. It is morally wrong to deny a minor incapable of making important decisions for himself, necessary treatment that may save his life. Another matter that needs to be considered is the possibility that the boy might have opted for medical treatment if he were of age. Cancer therapy, including that specialized for leukemia, has proved effective in many cases, and there is evidence in terms of scientific studies and physicians’ reports to prove it. On the other hand, the boy’s parents would be at a loss at providing credible evidence to prove that faith healing is effective at curing cancer. IV. Objections to Proposed Answers and Respo nses to the Objections Objection (1): Parents have the authority to opt out of medical treatment for their child who is a minor in favor of other legal options, if the medical treatment has

Recruitment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Recruitment - Assignment Example 38). These stages give recruitment the outlook of the tool that finds the right person for the right job that goes beyond an activity for the human resource team to involve line managers as well. This paper will discuss recruitment in terms of the different ways and methods it is conducted, the wrong and right ways is usually done, and what the individuals conducting it should act. Recruitment methods that are available to organizations can be categorized broadly into two: internal and external recruitment, which can then be broken down into smaller methods (Alrichs 2000, p. 14). Internal recruitment aims at personnel already on the recruiting organization’s payroll and is a significant source of recruitment as it offers opportunities for the utilization and growth of the current human resource. The organization’s management may approach internal recruitment from the aspect of either promotions or transfers. Promotions involve upgrading existing employees by upward shif ts in responsibilities, status, facilities and remuneration (Maloney 2008, p. 114). On the other hand, transfers provide an alternative procedure to promotions, whereby employees are moved from their present work locations to new ones, and not necessarily on upward or downward shifts in their positions. Rather, transfers are simply an interchange of responsibilities, duties, departments or geographical locations. Transfers are the best way to generate qualified personnel from departments that are either over-staffed or redundant. Under the internal recruitment, two methods are available, which are employee referrals and job postings. Employee referrals do not recruit internal employees, but all potential candidates are nominations by current employees, mostly supervisors. The effectiveness of employee referrals is seen in how organizations can capture critically skilled employees known to their general workers. Job postings are open and equal-opportunity invitations to employees in an organization to submit applications for arising vacancies. The announcements are made via lists and bulletins accessible by all employees. Generally, internal recruitment methods are characterized by the advantage of being quicker and cheaper than most external methods. Internal recruitment also targets personnel the management already knows and can quickly evaluate their capabilities from their performances even without looking at their portfolios. Further, such targeted candidates are already familiar with the operations of the organization and are suitable for filling higher vacancies in the organizational hierarchy because they can psychologically motivate former peers to perform better. However, internal recruitment, with the exception of employee referrals, limits the chances of bringing in new talent because of its nature of restricting the number of applicants. This shuts out the introduction of external business ideas and may draw bitterness from candidates dropped by th e selection process (Herman & Joyce 2001, p. 186). Ultimately, internal recruitment will create another vacancy that will need to be filled. Some of the

Consumer Behaviour and Retail Marketing Strategy Essay

Consumer Behaviour and Retail Marketing Strategy - Essay Example Consumer behaviour refers to the overall attitude, preference, intention as well as the decision made by a consumer concerning the purchase of products or services in the market. The study of consumer behaviour aims at establishing the path that consumers follow in arriving at the decision to buy or not to buy a particular product from a range of similar products available in the market (Strack, Werth & Deutsch 2006). This knowledge is very important for any marketer in formulating the marketing strategy of his products and be able to predict what will happen in the future especially in a market environment chareacterised by stiff competition. This research will first demonstrate a clear understanding of consumer buying process and then propose a retail marketing strategy based on the theories of consumer behaviour. There are various factors that influence the decision making process of consumers ranging from internal, external, individual as well as environmental. However, these factors generally fall into three major classes; sociological, behavioural and economic factors (Strack, Werth & Deutsch 2006). It is very vital for any marketer to have a good knowledge of all these determinants to be able to predict the performance of his products in the market before introduction. Therefore, the best marketing strategy will come after a good understanding of the factors that influence consumers to buy, since the marketer will then know whether his products possess the characteristics that will influence consumers to buy his products or not. This refers to the influence of the members of the family, influence from group references and leaders opinions, influence from the social class as well as the culture of the people on the buying behaviour of consumers (Moutinho 1987). It is common knowledge that in every family there is the idea of specialisation and every family

Ethical Decision Making Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ethical Decision Making - Assignment Example e Board of the basis of my decision so that such decision will not be questioned in the implementation that could aggrieved the family of Richard Adessi further. Such decision will be more beneficial for the company in the long run. Such decision will surely be known among employees and will also boost the morale of the employees in the company by witnessing how considerate IBM in taking care of its employees. This will result in higher retention and lower turnover. Employee satisfaction could also rise leading to higher productivity among employees. The difference in cost could easily be defrayed by the advantage and benefits that IBM will reap by having happy and satisfied employees. One does not have to be technical in rules to be ethical but has to consider the whole picture as well as the implication of the decision to come up with an ethical decision which in this case is to be considerate with Richard Agassi who died four months shy of his 30th anniversary with the

Mobile phones Essay Example for Free

Mobile phones Essay Consumers have when choosing between different mobile phone brands. The study was built upon six key attributes (telephone features, connection fee, access cost, mobile-to-mobile phone rates, call rates and free calls) related to mobile phone purchasing respondents had to importance rate. The research showed that consumers with prior experience about a product can predict their choices relatively well, although respondents tended to overestimate the importance of features, call rates and free calls and underestimate the importance of a monthly access fee, mobile-to-mobile phones rates and the connection fee. 1.Demographic factors have an influence on the evaluations of different attributes related to mobile phone choice. Specifically, gender and social class will impact on the evaluations of the attributes as men belonging to higher social class seem to be more technology savvy. 2.Consumers value personal time planning properties in the choice of new mobile phones. Consumers value in smart phones features that enhance their personal time planning (e.g., Jones, 2002). These high-rated features include calendar and e-mail services .However, while synchronization of calendar and e-mail services to PCs has become easy and fast, the importance of time planning in mobile phones becomes more and more important. 3.New technical properties increase consumer willingness to acquire new phone models. Another important aspect that has risen from different studies is that consumers purchase new phones due to the fact that their existing one’s capacity is not appropriate referring to the idea that new technology features such as built-in cameras, better memory, radio, more developed messaging services, and color displays are influencing consumer decisions to acquire new models. Thus it can be expected that new features will influence the intention to acquire new mobile phones. 4.When choosing between different mobile phone models, consumers value larger screen size but the whole phone should be small enough and light to carry in pocket. 5.When choosing between different mobile phone models, consumers value familiar brands. Price of the phone has been identified as a critical factor in the choice of the mobile phone model, especially among younger people. besides new technological advances price is the most influential factor affecting the choice of a new mobile phone model. In addition, it seems that size and brand play to some extent an important role in decision making. Liu (2002) for instance surveyed Asian mobile phone users and found that size of the phone had no impact on mobile phone choice, but this finding might be due to the fact that all competing brands have quite similar sized phones that are small enough. Liu continues that the trend will actually be not towards smaller phones but towards phones with better capability and larger screens. While companies are advertising new models and services that do not yet exist, it according to the paper signals to the market that the company is at the cutting edge of technology and shows what will be available in the very near future. The sales of new phones will then be driven by replacement rather than adoption.

Individual Assignment and Chart Essay Example for Free

Individual Assignment and Chart Essay Curriculum history is important to educators just as the general history of a country is important to historians and politicians. Much can be learned from the successes and the failures of the past. Traditional education in Japan follows societal norms in stressing respect for order and for group goals. The schools stress self-evaluation, hard work, and organization. Schools actively teach morals and values in order to develop individuals of character that will function in society as educated and moral. Japanese formal education in began with adherence to Buddhism and Confucianism. Later, studies in sciences were added, and Japan slowly began to adopt more western styles of education. Briefly, the schools were used as military and nationalistic training grounds during WWI and WWII (Hood, 2001). Over the last fifty years, schools in Japan have been evolving further. After WWII, a call to return to leadership and societal welfare in education was initiated. Schools were strictly centered around community goals and common curriculums. In the 1980s, unfortunately, an increase in youth violence began to worry Japanese citizens about their future. Focus turned to the morals based education of centuries before. In the late 1990s, the cold war era was over. The Ministry felt as if they could relax the six day long weeks and long days (Japan, 2006). Part of this change in philosophy could be due to changes in competition for universities. Previously, competition for admission into Japanese universities was cutthroat, but now, with a reduction in the number of children being born, schools are competing for students (Hood, 2001). In a way, this has given students more power to seek the types of education they most need. In addition, Japan is also loosening its governmental hold on curriculum and allowing from more flexibility in curriculum through site-based decision-making (Komatsu, 2002). Schools are now able to select textbooks from a group of sources. Recently, controversy has arisen as to which history textbooks to choose. In 1997, a group was formed to create and market a revision of Japanese history for incorporation into school history textbooks. This group was primarily interested in revising the presentation of Japan’s execution of militaristic procedures. Unfortunately, even with its widespread promotion efforts, the revised textbook failed to gain a foothold in Japanese schools. Only a few private schools in one small area of Tokyo was willing to give the book a chance (Masalksi, 2002). Not all things in Japan’s educational system are open to change. Before, Japanese teachers had very little autonomy in determining what they would teach even though they held positions of high respect in the community. Now, individual schools and teachers will be able to decide on curriculum issues that best meet the needs of their students. â€Å"The general principle of curriculum organisation is changing from the idea of providing a common education for all children to one of providing different education for various children† (Komatsu, 2002, p. 53). The 2002 Rainbow Plan mirrors the change in philosophy towards more democratic ideals. The government is continuing to relinquish more control to the schools’ local administrations (Japan, 2006). In the future, Japanese education will continue to follow Western trends. One such trend will be in technology and information. While Japan is a world leader in electronics technology, its individual and student use of the internet lags behind. This is primarily because 80% of the internet content is in English. As a result, Japanese students need to be learning both spoken and written English and how to use the internet at younger ages (McCarty, 2000). Clearly, Japanese education will begin to include more intensive English and computer technology classes in early education for its students. Another trend in Japanese education must certainly be increased funding for higher education. Even though the number of teenagers in Japan is lower, over 40 % of them do attend universities. However, government funding for universities is low. Dr. Akito Arima, former Minister of Education, notes that while the United States spends about one percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on educational funding, Japan spends less than half of one percent in the same manner. However, Japan is second only to the United States in the number of students who attend college. The funding for private universities is even lower, even though 75% of college students attend private universities. â€Å"In this respect, one should note the contradiction between the high proportion of people who move on to higher education, and the low public expenditure ratio. This demonstrates that university education in Japan is seriously under-funded† (Arima, 2002). If college education remains under-funded, many secondary students may turn away from it, thinking that it has less to offer than before. If birth rates should rise in the future, this burden will become more pronounced. Funding will definitely have to be initiated in order to keep young students setting college educations as their goal. Ironically, the US and Japan seem to be crossing each other in the middle of the curriculum spectrum. While Japan is recognizing the individuality of each student and allowing him to seek his own educational goals with flexible programs of study, the US is getting much more rigid with the enactment of NCLB and strict state testing plans and pacing guides. One might wonder if the US will notice a similar increase in youth discontent as a result.

Sensation Seeking And N100 Psychology Essay

Sensation Seeking And N100 Psychology Essay This research seeks to examine the relationship between event-related potentials, specifically the N100 component, and the personality construct of sensation seeking. Nine students enrolled in a university level introductory psychology course received credit for participating in this study. With the use of an electroencephalogram, voltage information in the brain was recorded while the participant listened to auditory stimuli including a target, standard, and random tone. After separating participants based on high and low sensation seeking scores and comparing that with an event-related potential developed from the EEG information it was shown that those high in sensation seeking had higher amplitude and a longer latency at N100 than low sensation seekers. This shows that one of the components of sensation seeking, boredom susceptibility, may have had an effect due to the repetitive presentation of stimuli which resulted in lower amplitude at the N100. Sensation seeking and N100 This study seeks to examine the relationship between levels of sensation seeking and event-related potentials (ERP), specifically the N100 component. Using ERPs to compare with personality constructs is effective because the stimulus can be time-locked to the brain activity that is being recorded and analyzed to see how the person is reacting whether on a conscious or unconscious level. Sensation seeking, as described by Marvin Zuckerman (2007), is a trait defined by the seeking of varied, novel, complex, and intense sensations and experiences, and the willingness to take physical, social, legal, and financial risks for the sake of such experience. Sensation seekers are attracted to high risk sports such as sky diving and mountain climbing, they experiment with a variety of drugs, and are sexually promiscuous in that they have a varied range of sexual partners. High sensation seekers will assess situations as low risk vs. low that will see a higher risk; even still highs will anticipate more positive arousal whereas lows anticipate fear and anxiety. Sensation seeking correlates with dominance and adventurousness, but not with neuroticism or anxiety. High sensation seekers tend to be associated with non-conformist groups and are attracted to abstract stimuli. There are four dimensions of sensation seeking that are used in Zuckermans sensation seeking scale that help determine if a person is a high or low sensation seeker. The first component is thrill and adventure seeking (TAS). If someone is high in TAS they will exert a need to be involved in activities that give them unusual sensations and experiences such as moderately risky sports. This is where activities like mountain climbing and sky diving come into play. The second aspect is experience seeking (ES) which describes the attraction to non-conformist groups. A person scoring high in experience seeking will seek out sensations and new experiences through the mind and the senses and through a nonconforming lifestyle. Activities include things like enjoying abstract art and traveling to new and different places. Disinhibition (DIS) reflects the involvement in wild parties, susceptibility to drugs, and promiscuity. Disinhibition alone can be normal, but when paired with aggression it can be a sign of psychopathy. The last subscale is boredom susceptibility (BS) defines the aversion sensation seekers have to monotonous tasks and people they find to be boring. For example, Zuckermans stimulus deprivation task found that high sensations seekers, when in a room for any length of time with no visual or auditory stimuli got restless and bored (Zuckerman, 2007). Zuckermans theory for the biological basis of sensation seeking started with his monoamine oxidase (MAO) theory. He hypothesized that high sensation seekers have low MAO compared with low sensation seekers having high levels of MAO. Monoamine oxidase is a neurotransmitter regulator. MAO regulates the level of monoamines which include norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin. High levels of MAO result in reduced sensitivity to a stimulus and conversely low levels increase sensitivity. This is because if there are high levels of MAO there are lower levels of monoamines and vice versa. In summary, high sensation seekers have low levels of MAO which result in an increase of sensitivity to stimulus. The negative correlation between MAO levels and sensation seeking is also indicative of a relationship between sensation seeking and the levels of catecholamine. High levels of MAO are found in the limbic system. The limbic system is involved in pleasure and sensitivity to reward. Zuckerman wor ked under the assumption that this sensitivity in high sensation seekers produces alertness and interest in novel stimuli associated with strong orienting responses. He then merged his theory of MAO with another theory that connects the limbic system activity with levels of catecholamine and sensation seeking. It explains that dopamine controls the readiness to explore and approach novel stimuli in the environment and norepinephrine regulates the sensitivity to, or expectation of positive reinforcement (i.e.) norepinephrine and dopamine together are two components of the reward system. The nucleus accumbens (NA) is part of the limbic (reward) system and hypothesized to be the major center for sensation seeking. This may be because there are higher levels of dopamine found in the NA. Therefore, this theory relates the attributes of sensations seeking to low levels of MAO, resulting in high levels of catecholamine (dopamine and norepinephrine) in the limbic system (reward center), whi ch ultimately increases readiness to explore and approach novel stimuli in the environment and sensitivity to stimulus and positive reinforcement (Zuckerman, 1983). An event-related potential (ERP) is a wave form developed by averaging epochs from data collected using an electroencephalogram (EEG) that is a time-locked representation of the voltage activity in the brain reacting to the stimulus presented (Rugg Coles, 1995). ERPs allow analysis of stimulus on a neurological level. Like this study, it can be used with personality constructs or psychological disorders to study their effects on the reaction to stimulus in the environment. The amplitude of different components in the waveform are indicative of the strength of the reaction and the latency represents the time it takes for the reaction to occur. The EEG itself is useful, but almost impossible to use its data because its such a general collection of information. ERPs act as a funnel for important information that fine tunes the data collected with the EEG that result in data that can pin point neurological reaction whether conscious or unconscious. This is another reason ERPs are useful , they allow researchers to collect data that the participant may not even be aware of (Rugg Coles, 1995). N100 (N1) is a negative spike at approximately 100 ms after a stimulus has been presented. N1 amplitude seems to be associated with detection of a stimulus. The onset and offset of a stimulus will elicit a N1 where as the repetition of a stimulus will show a reduction in N1 amplitude. N1 does not explain any content information about the stimulus presented, it will only express when a stimulus is in the environment. Within the confines of this study using the oddball paradigm with auditory stimuli, the N1 could have been increased in amplitude by creating a larger time gap between the presentations of stimulus. Since the N1 is elicited at the onset of stimulus, by increasing the time between auditory tones the recognition of a new stimulus is larger. Another way to manipulate the amplitude of the N1 is to repeat the stimulus in random time intervals for silence length (Atienza et al., 2001). N1 amplitude can also be increased by increasing the intensity or frequency of the continuous stimuli (Naatanen, 1990). Sensation seekers have a stronger curiosity or willingness to investigate novel stimuli which means they will have stronger orienting response (OR). Orienting response occurs when presented with a moderately intense or novel stimulus. Although this study is focusing on standard stimuli it can still be considered novel. Novel, in this regard, does not mean the complexity of the stimuli; it means novel to the participants environment. Sensation seeking has been positively correlated with orienting response to a novel stimulus. According to Naatanen (1990), N1 has high amplitude at the onset and offset of stimulus. It seems to represent the participants initial response to the onset of auditory stimulus which can also described as an orienting response. Research conducted by Atienza et al. (2001), found that components of the N1 were involved in the initiation of an orienting response. Operating on the assumption that N1 is indicative of an orienting response and that high sensation see kers have stronger OR it is hypothesized that those high in sensation seeking will have a shorter latency and higher amplitude at N1 than low sensation seekers. Method Participants Nine undergraduate university students were given course credit to be involved in the study. The male and female participants were recruited from introductory psychology courses. They were required to complete five personality questionnaires. The Eysenck personality questionnaire-revised, agency and affiliation questionnaire, BISBAS, ten item personality inventory, and the sensation seeking scale were used to assess the participants personality traits. From the total sensation seeking score participants were split into two categories: scoring high on sensation seeking (4) and low on sensation seeking (5). Materials The sensation seeking scale is based upon the four subscales of the personality construct: thrill and adventure seeking, experience seeking, disinhibition, and boredom susceptibility. The scores for these four subscales are added together to give the total sensation seeking score. An electroencephalogram (EEG) was used to record voltage activity in the brain while presenting the participant with auditory stimuli. It is hooked up to an amplifier that projects a variation in voltage over time. The electrodes were placed according to the 10/20 system. This system describes that electrodes are arranged based on their distance from the two main axis: anterior-posterior and the coronal (Rugg Coles, 1995). The electrodes Fz, Cz, Pz, linked mastoids, Fcz (ground), EOG, and Fp2 were used. The linked mastoids were used for references and the EOG and Fp2 were used together to get a bipolar recording. The auditory tones including: a standard high frequency tone, target low frequency tone, and a random sound were presented using an oddball paradigm. The participant was also equipped with headphones and a remote button. Procedure The participant was required to sit in an isolated room with headphones on and listen to a sequence of auditory tones including target stimuli, standard stimuli, and a rare sound. During the presentation of the auditory stimuli the participant was asked to respond to the target tone by pressing the remote button and to essentially ignore the other sounds. The EEG picks up frequencies that are not considered usable data for this study. With the computer program Neuroscan blinks and muscle reactions were removed from the data collected. The EEG is then separated into segments or epochs to represent each time the auditory tone was presented. The base line is manipulated so all recordings were at approximately 0 amplitude. The last step was to average all of the waveforms to produce a graph representing the event-related potential at each electrode. Results On average, low sensation seekers had higher amplitude at N100 and shorter latency than high sensation seekers. Those scoring high on sensation seeking had a longer latency and lower amplitude than low sensation seekers. Table 1: Average amplitude and latency at each electrode for high and low sensation seekers ERP.png Fig. 1: Event-related potential for high and low sensation seekers in reaction to standard stimuli at the Cz electrode Discussion It was thought that those who score high on sensation seeking would have higher amplitude and a shorter latency at the N100. The results contradicted what was hypothesized in that high sensation seekers actually had lower amplitude and a longer latency at N100. From the results, it is speculated that the repetition of stimuli played on one of the components of sensation seeking: boredom susceptibility. To recap, the N100 is indicative of the onset of stimuli in the environment and has no content information. In the perspective of the N100 component and neglecting the differences in the auditory tones presented, the high sensation seeker was presented with stimuli repetitively for an extended period of time. Zuckerman (2007) stated that people high in sensation seeking dislike monotonous tasks which would explain why they would have lower amplitude at N100 than low sensation seekers. When looking at the N100 alone, Nataanen (1990) explained that with repetition of a stimulus there is a decline in N1 amplitude. The presentation of auditory tones to participants was repetitive and would have resulted in lower N100 amplitude for both high and low sensation seekers. It was also shown, in research conducted by Budd et al.(1998), that stimulus presented too closely together will result in a smaller N1 because there is not enough time for neuronal recovery. There also may be a chance, because of the lack of statistical analysis, that there is actually no significant difference between the amplitude at the N1 for high and low sensation seekers. From the research done by Carol et al. (1982) on the correlation between sensation seeking and drug selection based on the optimal level of arousal theory, it can also be speculated that there would be no significant difference between high and lows at the N100. The optimal level of arousal theory would postulate that high sensation seekers, because their optimal level of arousal is higher than low sensation seekers, would choose stimulants over depressive drugs to heighten their level of arousal. It would also be expected that low sensation seekers would be more attracted to depressants because of its dampening effect on arousal levels. Their results showed that high and low sensation seekers both enjoyed the stimulants more. Looking at these results it may be concluded that it is more realistic that there is no significant difference between high and low sensation seekers at N1 (Carol et al., 1982). The sample size was quite small with a total of 9 participants. With a larger sample the results would be more applicable to the general population. The study used male and female participants, but there was no analysis of whether females or males scored higher on sensation seeking or what that meant in terms of the results. This made it so the results and the scores could not be compared on the basis of gender. The age range of participants was limited to 17-19. Also, all of the participants were from introductory psychology courses from the same university. In future research it would be interesting, using ERP, to compare gender and the scores on the sensation seeking scale and how that would affect the results. From previous research it was thought that levels of testosterone correlated to levels of sensation seeking. That higher testosterone, more prevalently in males, had a positive relationship with high levels of sensation seeking (Zuckerman, 2007). In reference to the results in this study and its possible origin from boredom susceptibility, new research could look at the different components of sensation seeking instead of the total score and how that would affect ERP studies. In the research from Zuckermans publications, it was found that the demographic factors that most affected levels of sensation seeking were gender and age, which supports the idea of future research being done with those two aspects (Zuckerman, 2007).

The Disappearing Democracy of the United States Essay -- America Polit

The Disappearing Democracy of the United States For Americans, the word â€Å"democracy† itself is strong enough to conjure up notions of a nation unhindered by an oppressive government where citizens are able to engage in the freedom of speech, press, and religious choice and practice. So powerful are American pro-Democratic sentiments that it is a common thought that any other country that does not prescribe to a liberal democracy is somehow inferior. Yet as time marches on, the feelings of superiority by American citizens become more and more unfounded. For, right before our eyes, the very notion of democracy, that Americans become braggarts about, is disappearing. While the U.S. government boasts of the freedoms it affords its citizens, it corrupts such an image through repeated non-democratic actions. While citizens cherish the affordances of a liberal democracy, many do not make the effort to support such a system; taking it for granted that no matter what, a democracy is a self perpetuating entity. In thi s paper I will argue that the liberal democracy that supposedly defines American government is a declining entity due to overt acts against the principles of democracy by the United States government and also due to the decline of civic engagement by United States citizens. The fact is, no system of government can be perpetuated if the government and its citizens do not work to keep their ideals alive and in practice. Since the inception of a democratic government in the United States’ early history, many have held that a liberal democracy should be the standard to which all other governments should attempt to emulate (CNN.com, 1). As the world’s leading super power, the United States sets an exampl... ...shi. (2002). The Acts of the Democracies. Retrieved March 2, 2003 from http://www.krysstal.com/democracy.html National Organization for Women. (2003). The Truth about George W. Bush -Domestic Policy. Retrieved March 9, 2003 from http://www.thetruthaboutgeorge.com/domestic/ News from Reality. (2001). Raping The Mountainside: Filling the Yucca Mountains with Nuclear Waste. Retrieved March 11, 2003 from http://www.hereinreality.com/yucca.html Revolutionary Worker. (2001). The Bush Plan for Vieques: Bomb Now Pull Out Later. Revolutionary Worker Online. Retrieved March 10, 2003 from http://rwor.org/a/v23/1100-99/1109/vieques.htm Schemo, Diana Jean. (2003). The Presidents Budget Proposal: Education. New York Times Online. Retrieved March 10, 2003 from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60E17F6355C0C768CDDAB08 94DB404482

Essay on the Character of Caleb Trask in John Steinbecks East of Eden :: East Eden Essays

The Character of Caleb Trask in East of Eden Cal Trask is one of the most complex characters in John Steinbeck's East of Eden. Through Cal's childhood experiences, his personal motives, and his internal conflict, Steinbeck shows the development of Cal's character. First of all, the most important childhood experience which affects Cal's life is Adam's 12 year abandonment of his sons. Since Cathy ran away, the twins have no mother figure to give them tenderness as they grow up. This absence of open affection leaves Cal unable to express his needs for love and attention. Only Lee, the Chinese servant, is there to guide Cal and Aron. Since Cal is the more dominant of the two brothers, he learns to manipulate Aron and others around him. He takes this role because, while "no one liked Cal very much... Aron drew love from every side"(Steinbeck 551). Lee observes that "he's [Cal] fighting for his life and his brother doesn't have to fight [for his father's love and affection]"(386). Cal's well-intentioned motives are mostly aimed at winning his father's love. He sacrifices his pride and asks Will Hamilton to help him raise money to replace the money Adam lost in the lettuce adventure. When Adam rejects the money, he in effect rejects Cal, which is "brutal, and unfeeling, and this after he had begun a cordial relationship with his son"(Fontenrose 375). Cal is so distraught that he lashes out at Aron, his father's favorite son, by telling him the truth about their mother. This act is a contrast to a similar crossroad earlier in the novel when Cal doesn't tell Aron the truth about his mother because "he didn't think Aron could handle it at all" (586). Cal also withholds the information in an effort to be "good," and because Cal knows that the revelation of his knowledge of this secret would bring pain to Adam, the man he loves the most. Finally, Cal is faced with his internal struggle of good versus evil. This struggle is partly caused by his traumatic child experiences. He struggles with the question of whether his evil actions are the result of his own evilness or his mother's wickedness. He tries to combat this wickedness that he sees within himself by trying to acquire affection, especially his father's, through good deeds and being more pleasant towards other. However, he strikes out at others whenever he feels rejected by Adam, and he fights the urge to strike out at Aron, who Cal believes is Adam's favorite son, by using his most devastating weapon---the truth about their mother.

African-American Studies Essay

The aspect of African-American Studies is key to the lives of African-Americans and those involved with the welfare of the race. African-American Studies is the systematic and critical study of the multidimensional aspects of Black thought and practice in their current and historical unfolding (Karenga, 21). African-American Studies exposes students to the experiences of African-American people and others of African descent. It allows the promotion and sharing of the African-American culture. However, the concept of African-American Studies, like many other studies that focus on a specific group, gender, and/or creed, poses problems. Therefore, African-American Studies must overcome the obstacles in order to improve the state of being for African-Americans. According to the book, Introduction to Black Studies, by Maulana Karenga, various core principles make of the basis of African-American Studies. Some of the core principles consist of 1)history, 2)religion, 3)sociology, 4)politics, and 5)economics. The core principles serve as the thematic â€Å"glue† which holds the core subjects together. The principles assist with the expression of the African-American Studies discipline (Karenga, 27). The core principle of history is primary factor of African-American Studies. History is the struggle and record of humans in the process of humanizing the world i. e. shaping it in their own image and interests (Karenga, 70). By studying history in African-American Studies, history is allowed to be reconstructed. Reconstruction is vital, for over time, African-American history has been misleading. Similarly, the reconstruction of African-American history demands intervention not only in the academic process to redefines and reestablishes the truth of Black History, but also intervention in the social process to reshape reality in African-American images and interests and thus, self-consciously make history (Karenga, 69). African American History or Black American History, a history of African-American people in the United States from their arrival in the Americas in the Fifteenth Century until the present day. In 1996, 33. 9 million Americans, about one out of every eight people in the United States, were African-American. Although African-American from the West Indies and other areas have migrated to the United States in the Twentieth Century, most African- Americans were born in the United States, and this has been true since the early Nineteenth Century. Until the mid-20th century, the African-American population was concentrated in the Southern states. Even today, nearly half of all African-Americans live in the South. African-Americans also make up a significant part of the population in most urban areas in the eastern United States and in some mid-western and western cities as well . Africans and their descendants have been a part of the story of the Americas at least since the late 1400s. As scouts, interpreters, navigators, and military men, African-Americans were among those who first encountered Native Americans. Beginning in the colonial period, African-Americans provided most of the labor on which European settlement, development, and wealth depended, especially after European wars and diseases decimated Native Americans (http://encarta. msn. com). Thus, history plays a role in the way African-Americans have shaped the world over time. The core concept of African-American religion has always played a vital roles in the African-American life since its beginnings in Africa. Religion is defined as thought, belief, and practice concerned with the transcendent and the ultimate questions of life (Karenga, 211). The vast majority of African Americans practice some form of Protestantism. Protestantism’s relatively loose hierarchical structure, particularly in the Baptist and Methodist denominations, has allowed African Americans to create and maintain separate churches. Separate churches enabled blacks to take up positions of leadership denied to them in mainstream America. In addition to their religious role, African American churches traditionally provide political leadership and serve social welfare functions. The African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first nationwide black church in the United States, was founded by Protestant minister Richard Allen in Philadelphia in 1816. The largest African American religious denomination is the National Baptist Convention, U. S. A. , founded in 1895. A significant number of African Americans are Black Muslims. The most prominent Black Muslim group is the Nation of Islam, a religious organization founded by W. D. Fard and Elijiah Poole in 1935. Poole, who changed his name to Elijiah Muhammad, soon emerged as the leader of the Nation of Islam. Elijiah Muhammad established temples in Detroit, Chicago, and other northern cities. Today, Louis Farrakhan leads the Nation of Islam. A small number of African American Muslims worship independently of the Nation of Islam, as part of the mainstream Islamic tradition (http://encarta. msn. com). Presented with the fact that African-American religion is predominately Judeo-Christian, the tendency is to view it as â€Å"white religion in black face†. However, the rooting of the two religions varies due to the historical and social experiences (Karenga, 212). African-American over time has somewhat declined in its power. The church was once the sole basis of the community, especially to those in need. Today, this is speculated to be the link in the decline in the bonding of the African-American community. The core principle of African-American sociology integrates the various aspects and social reality from an African-American perspective. African-American sociology is defined as the critical study of the structure and functioning of the African-American community as a whole, as well as the various units and processes which compose and define it, and its relations with people and the forces external to it (Karenga, 269). African-American sociology involves the study of family, groups, institutions, views and values, relations of race, class and gender and related subjects. The African-American community, like other communities, is defined by the sharing of common space. Parts of its common space, however, are bounded areas of living, such as ghettos, which not only close African-Americans in the community, but simultaneously shuts them out from the access and opportunities available in the larger, predominately Caucasian society (Karenga, 302). The concept of isolation creates areas of poverty. Socially, isolation in ghettos prevents the cycle of diversity society, allowing prevailing stereotypes to surface. The immense concentration of African-Americans is a reason for disadvantages, such as joblessness, poverty, etc. Statistics suggest that the employment rate issue is an essential on among African-American women. The average rate of unemployment among African-American women in the 1980’s was 16% and was higher for African-American men (Giddings, 350). Thus, the concept of diversity prevents African-Americans from thriving socially. The core concept of African-American politics can be defined as the art and process of gaining,maintaining and using power (Karenga, 311). The institution of politics has played a role in the African-American community since the 15th amendment was passed, allowing African-American men the right to vote (Constitution). In order to obtain political power, however, there are eight bases: 1) key positions in government 2) voting strength 3) community control 4) economic capacity 5) community organization 6) possession of critical knowledge 7) coalition and alliance and 8) coercive capacity. In order to attain these, African-Americans must unite, for unity strengthens weak groups (African-Americans) and increases the power of others (Caucasians) (Karenga, 363). Over time, African-Americans have made substantial strides in politics. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who ran for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, brought exceptional support and force to African-American politics. In 1989, Virginia became the first state in U. S. history to elect an African- American governor, Douglas Wilder. In 1992, Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois became the first African-American woman elected to the U. S. Senate. Today, Moseley-Braun is a candidate for the Presidency of the United States (Franklin, 612). There were 8,936 African-American office holders in the United States in 2000, showing a net increase of 7,467 since 1970. In 2001, there were 484 mayors and 38 members of Congress. The Congressional Black Caucus serves as a political alliance in Congress for issues relating to African- Americans. The appointment of African-Americans to high federal offices? including Colin Powell (chairman of the U.S. Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1989-1993; Secretary of State, 2001-present), Ron Brown (Secretary of Commerce, 1993-1996), and Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas? also demonstrates the increasing power of African-Americans in the political arena (http://encarta. msn. com). Despite the advances of African-Americans in the political scene, the rate of voting has immensely declined compared to 40 years ago. According to statistics, less than 20% of African-Americans between the ages of 18 and 24, the most vital voting age group, voted in the last 40 years (http://www. rockthevote.org ). African-American voting’s disappointing decline over time has become a setback in regards to power, for politics control most of the issues that concern society, such as healthcare, housing, and employment: issues that the African-American community are in need of improving. The core concept of economics is defined as the study and process of producing, distributing (or exchanging) and consuming goods and services. Economically, African-Americans have benefited from the advances made during the Civil Rights era. The racial disparity in poverty rates has narrowed to some extent. The African-American middle class has grown substantially. In 2000, 47% of African-Americans owned their homes. However, African-Americans are still underrepresented in government and employment. In 1999, median income of African American household was $27,910 compared to $44,366 of non-Hispanic Caucasians. Approximately one-fourth of the African-American population lives in poverty, a rate three times that of Caucasians. In 2000, 19. 1 % of the African-American population lived below poverty level as compared to 6. 9% of Caucasians population. The unemployment gap between African-Americans and Caucasians has grown. In 2000, the unemployment rate among African-Americans was almost twice the rate for Caucasians. The income gap between African-American and Caucasian families also continue to widen. Employed African-Americans earn only 77% of the wages of Caucasians in comparable jobs, down from 82% in 1975. In 2000, only 16. 6% of African-Americans 25 years and older earned bachelor’s or higher degrees in contrast to 28. 1% of Caucasians. Although rates of births to unwed mothers among both African-Americans and Caucasians have risen since the 1950’s, the rate of such births among African-Americans is three times the rate of Caucasians (DeBose, 1). Thus, the state of African-American economics have flourished over time, yet remains in a state of improvement. Whether one talks about poverty, incomes, jobs, etc. , all imply and necessitate the concern with economics in the African-American community (Karenga, 355). Conclucively, the possibility of problems arising towards the discipline of African-American Studies are rooted in the birth of the discipline itself (Karenga, 476). The mission of the discipline, problematic administrators, and campus opposition are examples of obstacles that often attempt to prevent the missions of African-American Studies. However, African-American Studies has continued to defend its stance over time. Thus, as long as there is an African-American culture, the quest for knowledge in the African-American studies field will remain. Works Cited DeBose,Brian. â€Å"Reclaiming the Mission†. Nov. 2002 . Franklin, John Hope. From Slavery to Freedom. Nashville, TN: McGraw-Hill, 2000. Giddings, Paula. When and Where I Enter . New York:Perrenial, 1984. Karenga, Malauna. Introduction to Black Studies. Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press ? Third Edition, 2002. http://encarta. msn. com http://www. rockthevote. com.

Course Management Systems †Moodle Essay

Moodle is an open-source course management system designed to host online courses and facilitate academic interaction between students and their instructors. The program was created by Martin Dougiamas, who formerly worked with WebCT. Because of this the program features many similarities to WebCT, but is more flexible overall due to its open-source nature. Moodle can be accessed via more than eighteen-thousand registered websites and is used by approximately eight million students worldwide. The program supports sixty-one languages as of November 2006 and is constantly expanding. Students simply download the program, register a username and connect using an enrollment key code provided by their professor. The site can host single teacher classes, or link various classes within an academic institution. Moodle also offers the option of designing complete lessons online, which can consist of class material as well as optional end-of-chapter review questions. Instructors have a variety of options for posting assignments on Moodle, and can set their own preferences on how student submitted files can be accepted for grading. Teachers have the option to allow students to upload files, including text documents of various formats as well as images. After grading the instructor has the option to post grades directly, as well as leaving comments regarding their response to the assignment. They can also format assignments for direct editing online, allowing students to type their response directly into the program and submit it for grading. Instructors can also use Moodle as an online grade book for assignments complete in class (offline), so that students can have easy access to their grades. Quizzes can be constructed and assigned to students in Moodle as well, with several format options available. Teachers can design tests consisting of various question formats, including multiple choice, true-or-false and short answer questions. They also have the option of giving students multiple attempts to complete the quiz, and can set other variables such as time limits (quiz is timed and may only be completed within the allotted time limit), or password protection to limit access. Students have a variety of options for interacting with fellow classmates as well as the instructors via chat, forums and surveys. They can also access course-relevant resources via glossaries (which can be student or teacher-defined) and a fully-interactive Wiki (user-defined encyclopedia).

Civil Unions and Same-Sex Marriages Essay

Questions about morality, family relationships, freedom of expression, and sexuality are at stake in the gay marriage debate. The main argument of the issue of same sex marriage is how much we should allow the government to control in issues like marriage in our private lives. â€Å"At Issue: Gay Marriage†, which is a book written by Debra Miller in 2012, includes a broad spectrum of views on the subject. One of the biggest issues in the gay marriage debate is the meaning of the separation of church and state in the United States. Some organizations and churches argue that state support of same-sex marriage is a breach of their religious freedoms which are protected by the US Constitution and if they are forced by laws enacted to include same sex marriages that they are being forced to accept acts that are against their religious beliefs. In a statement made concerning same sex marriage; some religious organizations and churches claimed that homosexual acts go against their religious beliefs and the natural moral law and that they should not be forced to perform marriages that go against their beliefs. Religious organizations say that to legalize homosexual marriage is religious persecution in their eyes. People that approve of gay marriage make the point that marriage is a legal right and a religious right as well because church and the state are separate. Activists argue that homosexual couples have a right to a marriage the same as heterosexual couples do. Another point that is called on is that people do not have to marry in a church but can do so in a court house as well and that no church or religious organization is bound to marry any couple. They are basically saying that churches are not forced to do anything against their belief system. One side will argue against federal laws that encompass and over rule state laws. Others will argue that each state should be able to make and enforce laws that concern each state as they see fit within their state governmental departments, like those concerning marriage laws. President Bush believed and stated that â€Å"the voice of the people is being compromised by the actions of a few judges in isolated cases†, (President George Bush, 2003). Former President Bush believes that laws like these could threaten every state in the union because of the â€Å"full faith and credit† clause in Article IV of the Constitution, (The United States Constitution, Article III, Section 2, 2013), which requires all states to honor the laws of every other state. President Bush said in an interview that the full faith and credit clause would require all states same-sex marriages performed anywhere in America. Bush, 2003) Civil Unions include heterosexual and same sex unions according to The Department of Internal Affairs, (The Department of Internal Affairs, 2004). Civil Unions differ from marriage because they are entered into by two people who chose to live together as man and wife and present themselves to the public and in private this way without an official marriage or marriage license. They consider themselves married but the government, whether state, local, or federal do not. At one time heterosexual civil unions were accepted and now are no longer recognized in most states. What this means is that people with a marriage license issued by the state are guaranteed certain rights, responsibilities, and privileges that people in civil unions are not given. These rights extend to the work place where insurance is guaranteed to a spouse of heterosexuals that are married but not to civil unions between same or opposite sex couples working in the same place. If same sex marriage and civil unions are both accepted and laws are enacted to approve of them then I believe this opens the doors to many other types of behaviors in the future that will do more harm than good to our society. These behaviors would include the right of an older person to marry a child for instance or to marry an animal or inanimate object even. We must ask ourselves one question and that is where we are willing to draw the line in our inclusions and amendments to the laws that were written to protect us in the beginning. The more we accept the more we are willing to accept as a society.

Impact of 4ps Towards Consumer Behavior on Mobile Phones

With the passage of time, advents in technology have given new meanings to almost everything around us. Hence, there’s no permanent in this world except change. This tidal wave of change has surely affect or altered technologies especially in individuals’ modes of communication. These new advances have led to addition of many things which was called as a â€Å"revolution†. But what really concerns this study is actually the communicative revolution, wherein back to past times, where in people only used letters as their mode of communications to their love one which’s away from them. As technologies continue to evolve there came landlines. And now just a blink of an eye, information can now be transmitted through electronic signals and controlled waves present in the air around them. A mobile phone is an electronic device which is used in two way communication. To make use of a mobile phone, connection to a cellular network is required which is an interconnection of base stations through which signals are transmitted, hence the mobile uses those signals to forge and maintain connection. Mobile phones are not used for calls only, especially modern mobile phones. They offer a wide variety of communicative services such as: text messaging, sending and receiving emails, access to internet, interactive games, connectivity through Bluetooth and/or USB, and many more. Hence, the focus of this study is to discuss how 4p’s elements affect towards consumer behaviour on mobile phones among the college students of The Fisher Valley College in Taguig City. This study is aiming of providing students of insights into the factors that influence the student’s behaviour when it comes to choosing and buying mobile phones, particularly for The Fisher Valley College Students. In addition to the mentioned studies in this report, the researchers will also find information’s regarding how to conduct a qualitative and quantitative market research study. The report’s main focus will be on the student’s influences on mobile phones because it is these factors that aid the students in making a rational choice when given several alternatives to choose from. In this case factors influencing students’ behaviour in choosing a mobile phone from the different brands will be considered.