Marriage and European Dowry Custom Essay Example for Free

Marriage and European Dowry Custom Essay Lobolo or Lobola (Mahadi in Sesotho; sometimes translated as bride price) is a traditional Southern African custom whereby the man pays the family of his fiancee for her hand in marriage (Compare with the European dowry custom where the woman brings assets[citation needed]). The custom is aimed at bringing the two families together, fostering mutual respect, and indicating that the man is capable of supporting his wife financially and emotionally. Traditionally the lobola payment was in cattle as cattle were the primary source of wealth in African society. However, most modern urban couples have switched to using cash. The process of lobola negotiations can be long and complex, and involves many members from both the brides and the grooms extended families. Often, to dispel any tensions between the families, a bottle of brandy is placed on the table. This is usually not drunk; it is simply a gesture to welcome the guest family and make everyone feel more relaxed (it is known as mvulamlomo, which is Xhosa for mouth opener). Lobola may have some unintended negative effects. It may have created a financial barrier for some young men looking to take a bride. It is common for a couple that are emotionally ready to commit to each other to stay unmarried if they do not have the financial resources to satisfy the impeding traditional ritual. For those who do have the financial means, the issue can be Lobolas opportunity cost. Young men who are in the wealth-creation stage of life may feel that their future is better secured if they invest their money elsewhere to receive significant financial returns. Lobola is seen by some as an extravagance that has little relevance in a society where young Africans are trying to lift themselves out of inherited poverty. However, the tradition is adhered to as strongly as ever, and in families where tradition and intention override greed, lobola can be a great way of showing commitment between families, not just between the bride and groom. Many traditional marriages utilise a cash-based lobola; this can be then followed by a European-style wedding ceremony, where the lobola funds are used to pay for expenses. In this way, any outlaid costs are returned to the payer in another form, preserving tradition, honour and finances.

International Water Conflict Essay Example for Free

International Water Conflict Essay Water is one of the most precious commodities for human beings. To some, it is the very lifeblood of the world. From time immemorial, the availability of water has determined the rhythms of daily life in many regions. The critical importance of water to the survival of the human race can be seen in the earliest civilizations whose growth and sustenance were closely tied to its water distribution systems. Many authors have located the importance of water in different religious observances. In Hindu and Buddhist traditions, the rivers of the earth, including the Indus, the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, originate from the mythical Mount Meru, the living place for the gods. In the Christian tradition, the waters originate from the Garden of Eden, and that divides the world into greatest streams: the Nile, the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Indus and the Ganges. Islam also gives water its due importance. The holy book Koran describes that every living thing is made from water. As Caponera points out, it seems that in the Koran, the most precious creation after humankind is water. There is a water crisis today. Water is not only a commodity, it is synonymous with life. All life on earth is dependent on water. If water is life, its possession bestows power. Water has crucial economic value, and it is a subsistence resource. Also, water has an emotional and symbolic value for certain countries and communities. The scarcity of water is increasing worldwide and its quality is continuously deteriorating. Water shortages reduce food production, aggrandize poverty, amplify disease and force people to migrate. The scarcity of water also undermines the states capacity to govern. Nearly half of the worlds population lives in international river basins. Sharing of the international rivers can therefore be a serious object of contention between riparian nations. For the last few years, water war has been a topic of widespread debate. However, wars over river water are likely only under a narrow set of circumstances, as there are also more examples of water cooperation than water conflict among countries. Nevertheless, the increasing scarcity of water raises doubt about the sustainability of these cooperative agreements over the international rivers. Water scarcity is particularly severe in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, owing to population growth, urbanization and industrialization. Whether the water crisis intensifies the dispute over the shared waters or whether it can be turned towards sustainable cooperative management of river resources, depends on many interacting processes. In this book (International conflict over water resources), after analyzing the existing sharing mechanisms of the major international river systems in these regions, argues that the real solution lies in a comprehensive approach to river basin management. The scarcity of water is increasing worldwide and the quality of the water is continually deteriorating. The growing global water stress poses a threat to the survival and prosperity of present and future generations. The gap between the needs of the growing population and the diminishing fresh water resources is widening every day. In the arid and tropical regions, where countries possess a very limited supply of water, it is not difficult to perceive the consequences. Water, a key necessity of life, can also cause friction between communities and countries, particularly in climatic zones where it is hard to come by. The over-exploitation of water resources might result in an acute shortage. From this perspective, it will be impossible for all the social actors to remain comfortable with the present or future prospects of the availability of the resource. These actors will work purposefully and consciously for their own interests. Increasing competition can potentially destroy the existing social arrangements for water distribution in the society. Newly organized actors with conflict behaviors might emerge in the future or the incompatibilities between existing actors might grow in societies with a weak administrative structure and laden with ethnic and social dichotomies. Scarce water resources can potentially trigger conflicts between the state and its internal groups. The development of water resources by the state by building dams, irrigation infrastructures, or industries in a particular region might be perceived by the local population as exploitation for the interest of others. Regional parties may be activated or environmental groups may be formed to challenge the actions of the state. If a particular group is involved in exploiting more than its perceived share of water with the backing of the state, then this inter-group conflict may escalate into conflict between the exploited group and the state itself. As discussed earlier, the construction of large dams for the efficient use of water resources has created tension between the state and a group of its own citizens in the past few years. The growing demand for irrigation and energy activates the state agencies to plan and build mega hydro-projects, which displace large population and inundate vast areas. In many places, the project affected population takes up of the struggle against the state. The list of mega dams that have witnessed this sort of protest is very long. The major ones include: Sanmenxia and Three Gorges in China; Madur Oya and Mahavali Project in Sri Lanka; Mangla, Nanela and Tarbela in Pakistan; Kaptai in Bangladesh; Arun in Nepal; Akasombo in Ghana; Kossou in Ivory Coast; Tana and Athi in Kenya; Itaparica and Tucurui in Brazil; Kainji and Niger Dams in Nigeria; Ataturk and Keban in Turkey; Lam Pao and Nam Pong in Thailand; Kedong Ombo and Batang Ai in Indonesia; Upper Pampanga in Philippines; Manantali in Mali; Savajina in Colombia; Brokopondo in Suriname; Caracol and Netzahualcoyotl in Mexico; and Nam Ngum in Laos. India, currently in the forefront of dam construction, deserves a separate list of its own. The Indian hydro-projects that have recently led to protest movements by the displaced people are: Pong Dam, Subarnarekha Project, Nagarjunsagar Project, Srisailam Project, Lower Manair Dam, Upper Krishna Projects, Tehri Dam, Narmada Projects and Ukai Reservoir Project. Sometimes disagreement over the development and sharing of water resources may begin with competing groups inside a state, but the states perceived favour of a particular group brings the state as a party to the conflict. Similarly, if the water source exploitation is perceived as the states intentional act on a particular region or people, a group identity may form, leading to conflict with the state. The construction of dams for hydropower generations in the northern part of Sweden to provide energy to the industries and factories in the South has become an area of disagreement between the Sami people of the North and the Swedish state. The Samis, who live in the forests in the Arctic Circle, accuse the state of favoring city dwellers at the cost of their livelihood and welfare. Even though this dispute has not transformed into a violent separatist movement, the reactions to similar issues in South Asia have been quite different. Disagreement over the sharing of river water from the Indus river system has been one of the major causes of violent secessionist movement in the Punjab province of India in the 1980s and 1990s. This Sikh-dominated province has been traditionally provided with a water supply from the Beas, Sutlej and Ravi Rivers. The demands of the downstream provinces of Rajasthan and Haryana persuaded the Indian government to construct canals and divert 60 per cent of Punjabs water and energy to those Hindu-majority regions. This became one of the major motivations for the Sikh Party (Akali Dal) to ask for autonomy in the 1970s, which subsequently transformed into an extreme violent secessionist movement in the 1980s and 1990s. On the other side of the border, the dispute over the sharing of the same Indus river system water has also played a critical role in a major separatist movement in Pakistan. The Pakistani part of Punjab, which is economically and politically the most powerful province in the country, takes advantage of its upstream location and consumes most of the waters of the Indus river system through the help of barrages and dams, ignoring the demand of the downstream Sind province. The perceived close tie of the federal government with the Punjab province has escalated this conflict between the Sind province and the Pakistani government. The link between fresh water resources and international conflicts can be investigated at least in two different dimensions. First, in an interstate conflict, the deliberate targeting of water storage facilities may be directly responsible for inducing water scarcity or reducing the water quality of the opponent. Thus, water scarcity becomes part of a military strategy and military behavior. The British Royal Air Force damaged a few German dams in the bombing runs of 1943. Dams and dykes were destroyed during the Korean and Vietnam wars by the US bombing. Iran claimed to have hit a hydroelectric station in Iraq in July 1981, as part of the Iran-Iraq War. Dams, water storage and conveyance systems were targeted by the warring sides during the 1991 Gulf War. Allied forces even had thought of a plan to shut off the flow of water to Iraq by using the Ataturk Dam in Turkey. Armies in Yemen (in the 1994 war) and former Yugoslavia (1991-95) used the water storage facilities as targets to create problems for their adversaries. In January 1993, the Serbian militia seriously damaged the Peruca Dam in Croatia. There are cases where in fact a human population is held hostage to political and military leaders. Manipulation with such basic human supplies in times of war should be an urgent issue for international humanitarian law, and it certainly would be unacceptable under conditions of peace. However, the aim here is to concentrate on a second dimension of the relationship: the likelihood of changes in fresh water resource supply to cause or contribute to the emergence and/or escalation of conflicts among states. As discussed before, there has been a general decline in the quantity and quality of global fresh water resource. This leads us to consider scarcity of resources as a cause of conflict, in conflict theory language: an incompatibility between already existing parties. A common starting point in the analysis of many inter-state conflicts has been sought in the desire of the leaders of states to acquire territory. In the post-Second World War period, it has become unfashionable and immoral to conquer territories of others. Nevertheless this has happened repeatedly, for instance, in the Middle East, in South and Southeast Asia and lately in Europe. Huth characterizes territorial dispute as one of the enduring features of international politics. But, why do states fight for each others territory? As Toset, Gleditsch and Hegre explain, territory can be a symbol of self-determination and national identity, but it can also be a proxy for tangible resources found on the territory. Thus, access to water supply can be a motive of waging war. Under special circumstances it is a possibility that scarcity of fresh water resources may give rise to serious armed conflict. â€Å"Water is not transported across large distances, as is the case with oil or minerals, for instance. In the post-Second World War period, political actions are taking place more in order to satisfy the demands of the majorities of a country. † (Barrett, S. 1994, p. 24) This means that stronger nations might be more in need of natural resources on the territory of other states, to meet the growing needs and desires of the home population. In this way, development might be seen to require the acquisition or exploitation of a larger share of jointly owned fresh water resource. The water on the surface of the earth is naturally organized within river basins. The river basins are the fundamental units of the fresh water world and the central feature of the ecology of the planet. Moreover, the river runoff is the most important source of available fresh water for human consumption. However, the rivers do not follow the political boundaries; nearly 260 rivers flow from one country to another. More than 40 per cent of the worlds population is directly dependent upon the fresh water from these international rivers and about two-thirds of these people live in developing countries. The use or misuse of water in the upstream countries affects its quantity and quality in the downstream countries. Downstream nations can affect the flow of water by building large-scale dams, with effects spilling over the borders. The International Water Management Institute in Colombo projects that in 2025, 3 billion people will be living in countries facing water stress. Water tables are increasingly falling in every continent. Many developing countries already face serious problems in meeting rapidly growing water demands. In order to meet such demands, further pressure is being placed on these blue water resources, this over-exploitation resulting in acute shortages. Faced with such scarcity, water has increasingly become a source of social tension, bringing further competition and creating conflict which, together, have the potential to destroy the existing arrangements for water distribution. Even though such tensions are omnipresent, they tend to be more complex and difficult where international rivers, lakes and aquifers are concerned. The Centre for Natural Resources, Energy and Transport (CNRET), now a defunct UN unit, brought out a Register of International Rivers in 1978. In that it listed 214 internationally shared rivers and lakes: 57 in Africa, 40 in Asia, 48 in Europe, 33 in North America and 36 in South America. The CNRET study has become dated because of significant changes in international geopolitical borders and names of countries and rivers in the last 25 years. The names of some countries and rivers have also changed in this period. The disintegration of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Ethiopia and Czechoslovakia has helped to increase the number of internationally shared rivers and lakes, and also the number of basin countries. For example, the Volga River is now international, and the Aral Sea is shared by at least four independent states. The re-unification of Germany and Yemen has made the Weser basin and the Teban basin national, contributing to a decrease in the number of international fresh water resources.

Concepts in Cognitive Psychology

Concepts in Cognitive Psychology Memory, Thinking, Attention, Perception, Language Cognitive psychology is primarily interested in the role of the mind and its conceptual functioning. As by way of communicating information to and from each other and understanding the external world through the process of labelling and categorising certain elements pertaining to that world, the cognitive approach to psychological investigation has been interested in the nature of language from its origins. Such conceptual structures as memory , thinking, attention, perception and language have been put into place informing much research relating to this school of psychology (Sternberg, 2006). The concepts associated with memory, thinking, attention, perception and language are prominent within the school of cognitive psychology are inter related across a multitudes of experiments. Memory can be seen as having a basis in the retrieval, store and recall of information and is commonly divided into the working memory model (or short term memory) and long term memory (or long term store) . Thinking is often associated with the way in which a process of logic is undergone by any subject. Attention is the mental ability to focus and apply thinking and memory, usually characterised in experiments as the. Perception is the way in which the individual may perceive any task and language is the underlying source of communicable information that externalises the subject of any culture. Research into the functioning and processes of semantic memory suggested a key model that was a primary source in the formation of the memory system. This was called the working memory. This model of the working memory, which is a system and procedure whereby information is internalised and subsequently turned into stored long term memory, was believed to be more than just a simple function involving storage and retrieval. At its procedural stage, we can see from the concept of the short term memory model that the process is broken into a schematic procedure in which stimuli, such as words, signs or symbols are encoded and stored within the memory. At this point it is believed to be rehearsed in the mind before being either rejected through forgetting or being accepted into the long term store, probably due to the perception of its significance (Waugh Norman, 1965). Due to its limited capacity, the working memory is believed to incorporate this forgetting procedure due to the effect s of either decay (unrehearsed code) or displacement (rejection due to irrelevance) of the encoded stimuli (Bjork, 1970). However, although many studies have indeed indicated that this model is accurate in terms of the basic procedure of memory, it can not be considered as fully accounting for other important phenomena as the effects of rehearsal are not always found to be defining (Craik Watkins, 1973). For instance, primacy and recency effects that are found in many free recall tests are suggested as being due to the length of rehearsal time spent on the initial words presented to individuals, whilst also finding that fewer words present to displace the more likely the encoding of the latter words presented (Murdoch, 1972). In terms of memory, this research into the phenomenon of primacy and recency effects indicated that slow presentation of words would increase primacy performance, but would have no effect on recency performance (Murdoch, 1972). This indicated that the more tim e permitted to information rehearsal, the stronger the likelihood would be for that information to enter the long term store, whilst contrastingly, the faster that the information was presented to the individual the more likely it was for that individual to forget. What this research suggests is that the working memory model requires an engagement with a target stimuli rather than just mere exposure alone, which suggests a strong relationship with the perception of language and the nature of thought processes (Nickerson Adams, 1979). Further study on the effects of primacy and recency with relation to language indicated that individuals required subjects to identify early and late acquired nouns presented in noise (Young Ellis, 1980). Subsequent findings from these studies indicated that early acquisition of words were recognized more accurately than words acquired at a more recent stage of language acquisition, when the words were matched on frequency, image-ability, concreteness , familiarity and letter length. However, they did not examine the full effect of frequency and the identification of words matched onto age of acquisition or other factors. Subsequently, further research suggested that high frequency words were more intelligible when heard in white noise than words of lower frequency, using lists uncontrolled for age of acquisition (Broadbent, 1971). Essentially, this meant that language and attention were fundamental factors in determining the process of memory. Another important phenomenon regarding the role of language and attention within memory is chunking. This phenomenon indicates the role that thinking plays, in particular the encoding of language meaning. This is the phenomena in which the individual categorises an array of information and configures it as one chunk. For instance, the numbers one, nine, four and five could be stored as one whole chunk as opposed to four individual units when rehearsed under one set of information known as nineteen forty five; a key cultural date. What we can see in this phenomenon is the construct of perception. Essentially, because no significance is placed upon the individual’s prior knowledge or their difference in experience, we can see that the memory model can not account for chunking alone. For example, the chunking of one, nine, four and five would more likely be stored if this chunk correlated with a significant date or number already maintained in the individuals learned experience, such as a soldier who saw the end of the Second World War (Ericsson et al, 1980). Therefore, seeing memory as language alone does not take into account the reality that prior meaning vastly reduces the significance of time taking in memory, as rehearsal is reduced due to recognition of former learned categories in relation to semantic structures held in the mental lexicon. This would suggest that prior learning, familiarity, chunking, categorisation as well as rehearsal can determine the success of word recognition of different lexical constructs. Subsequently, Baddeley suggested a notion of limitation within the working memory, which indicated that encoding stimuli (or information) and storing memory was a system of varying depths of processing (Baddeley, 1992). Situating all five factors as one inter related mechanism we can see then a notion of a mental lexicon from which all language can be understood, constructed, learned and articulated via communication and understanding (Aitchison, 2003). Subsequent inquiry into such a word store has created an appreciation of certain phenomena relating to how individuals understand and articulate language. This has become a very useful resource for research into anything involving the nature of language within the cognitive realm. One such piece of research was conducted by Collins and Quillian, who constructed a model of semantic memory storage and retrieval that was imperative to language. This was called the hierarchy of semantic memory (Collins Quillian, 1969). We can see from this model how memory and language inter relate. In their model, it was suggested that individuals would store memory in sets and would retrieve knowledge judgements according to the familiarity of a certain concept and it s association to certain definers regarding any particular concept. In further studies, it was established that semantic distance was based upon the strength of the perceived relationship between one concept and its hierarchal group (Rosch, 1973). Essentially, knowledge was seen as being stored in the structure of a mental lexicon and concepts were recognised and categorised due to the specific and relevant qualities and properties that it accorded to in the mental lexical structure (Conrad, 1972). This conceptual notion forms the basis for perception as information is seen as belonging to certain defining features held by the knowledge of the individual. The assumption was that the farther you moved up this hierarchy of conceptual information, the more the defining features would decrease (Loftus, 1973). For instance, a Robin would be more strongly accorded to the hierarchy of birds than a flightless bird, such as a chicken, as the defining variable of flight was recognised (Rips e t al, 1974). It was believed that if something were to disturb this hierarchal structure of word storage, then incorrect recall would become present (Loftus, 1973). Subsequently, this suggests that cognition is governed by perception as well as memory and word meaning. Essentially, the conceptual construction of this mental lexicon gives us good indication as to how words are conceptualised, understood and recognised by the individual. This avenue of research requires the investigation into thinking and learning in relation to perception. The role of perception with relation to thinking formed the interest of the seminal cognitive psychologist Bruner, whose studies investigated the nature of learning. He famously devised a test to measure and explore the nature in which people constructed and comprehended meaning. Bruner’s findings suggested that there was an intelligent procedure in operation during learning that performed by way of a hypothesis testing. This form of logical thinking was indicated as being understood through stages of either acceptance or rejection of similarities and categories based upon an intelligent process of trial testing (Bruner et al, 1956). Bruner gave a sample of individuals various sets of pictures, each portraying a variety of different and similar shapes. The different categories of shapes were considered as the conditions of the experiment. Some of the pictures in the conditions shared the same number of shapes; some of them shared the same colour of shapes while others shared t he same number of borders surrounding the shapes. However, in each condition the shapes were marginally different; none were identical. From the findings of these studies, Bruner was able to discern that there were two forms of learning that could be identified. These were dubbed successive and conservative scanning (Bruner et al, 1956). Successive scanning was deemed the type of learning that used a thinking process that involved trail testing that attempted one hypothesis at a time before either accepting or rejecting similarities. However, conservative scanning was believed to indicate a deeper form thinking that categorised certain classes of type before carrying out the acceptance or rejecting of any hypotheses. It was concluded that the latter thought process was a much faster and more efficient process than the former. What is crucial here is that these thought processes have little to do with language or memorised knowledge. However, not everyone within the field of the cogn itive psychology accepts this notion of thinking. Many researchers and theorists related to the field of thinking and perception have argued that categories are an innate knowledge rather than a learned one and so the use of language and memory are not essential to thinking (Fodor Chomsky, 1980). The main implication in this idea is that empirical category learning may not be done with the rejection of hypothesis but with the rejection of the externally governed conceptualisation of the external world. Studies relating to word recall have highlighted the role of attention in the role of psychological research. In one such piece of research the ability to read words was indicated by letter identification and visual configurations (McClelland Johnson, 1977). Other research has indicated the use of non literal cues in the recognition of word (Marchbanks Levin, 1965). In either case, we can see that an attentional basis for word recognition. More contemporary research into the relationship between word recognition and the effects that peer groups had within the educational learning structure indicated that there was a significance of both memory and the symbolic structure of the mental lexicon within the recognition of words that could be applied to the acquisition of knowledge (Fuchs Fuchs, 2005). It would seem that from the results involving lexical decision tasks that the more a child is familiar with the semantic construct of words the more likely they are in recognising the wor ds without error or side effects. Particular attention has focused upon the possibility that the numerous amounts of previously reported effects of word frequency in attentional tasks might actually result from confounded effects of the age of acquisition as the two variables are related. Subsequently, high frequency words tend to be learned earlier in life than low frequency words, so that sets of words selected as being of high or low frequency of occurrence tend also to be sets of words which are acquired early on or more recently. There has been evidence put forward suggesting that the age at which a word is acquired during a child’s development affects performance throughout life. Essentially, the earlier that the process of word acquisition is incorporated the more successful it will be in producing meaning. It would seem that the later the words are acquired, even when attentional factors such as frequency of usage and word image-ability are controlled, the poorer the memory and articulation will be (Brown and Watson, 1987). The effects of frequency can be understood in the interaction activation model of McClelland and Rumelhart (1981). This suggested that there is a node for each familiar word in this connectionist stimulation of word recognition. Each node was believed to have an activation level which varied from cycle to cycle and a resting level which is determined by the node’s level of activation over a long period of time. The node for a high frequency word was believed to be constantly activated. This was effective by having a higher resting level than the node for a low frequency word, which rarely received this activation. Studies have revealed that the age of acquisition is known to affect object naming speed, yet not the speed with which pictures of objects can be classified into semantic categories in the mental lexicon (Morrison Ellis, 1992). The naming of words was then followed by a delayed cue which has also been established as being unaffected by the age of acquisition (Morris on Ellis, 1995). This strongly indicates that the effect of language does not accord to the process of articulation, but to a process of deductive reasoning. However, research by Brown and Watson (1987) has suggested that the phonological output representations of early acquired words are more complete than those for later acquired words and can be accessed more easily. We can see from our analysis of the five key components regarding cognitive psychology and the way in which they inter-relate with one another philosophically and practically that they apply to the psychology of everyday life. Whether it is the perception of birds, the recognition of a word or concept, the thought process that delivers a solution to a problem or simply the recall of a particular number, such as a bank sort code or telephone number, the roles of memory, thinking, attention, perception and language are fundamental components in the psychological study of cognition. It is difficult to conceive of a world without these five components working together. Without perception we would not be able to conceive of a world or understand the processes in which we experience the external environment and inform our knowledge of it. Without language we would not be able to categorise the various constructs that we encounter in the world, exchange our experiences of them or recognise the amount of information that we do. Without memory we would not be able to retain any information or experience that we had gathered about the world or be able to determine what in our immediate experience was relevant and considered vastly significant from what was not. Without attention we would not be able to discern between the varying contexts in which we experience language and information about the environment or acquire specific knowledge and without thinking and understanding thought processes we would not be able to solve problems, reason, make decisions, extract symbolic meaning or even conceive of mental imagery or spatial awareness. These factors are then, vastly significant in the understanding of both cognitive psychology and ourselves and although distinctions between these five components is necessary for both academic knowledge and practical application, they are best seen as factors that inter-relate and are prevalent to studies and practices of cognitive psycho logy. Bibliography Atchison, J., (2003) Words in the Mind: An Introduction to the Mental Lexicon Sydney: Blackwell Publishing. Baddeley, A.D. (1992) Is Working Memory Working? The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 44A, 1-31 Broadbent, D, E., (1971) Decision and stress. London: Academic Press. Brown, G. D. A., Watson, F. L. (1987). First in, first out: Word learning age and spoken word frequency as predictors of word familiarity and word naming latency. Memory Cognition, 15, 208-216. Bruner, J, S., Goodnow, J, J., and Austin, G, A., (1956) A Study of Thinking New York: John Wiley and Sons. Bjork, R, A., (1970) Positive Forgetting: The Non-Interference of Items Intentionally Forgotten. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 9, 255-68. Chomsky, N., and Fodor, J, A., (1980) Statement of the Paradox, in Piatelli Palmarini, M. (ed.). Collins, A, M., Quillian, M, R., (1969) Retrieval Time from Semantic Memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 8, 240-47. Craik, F, I, M., Watkins, M, J., (1973) The Role of Rehearsal in Short Term Memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 12, 599-607. Ericsson, K, A., Chase, W, G., Faloon, S., (1980) Acquisition of a Memory Skill. Science, 208, 1181-1182. Marchbanks, G., Levin, H., (1965) Cues by which children recognize words. Journal of Educational Psychology, 56 (2), 57-61. McClelland Johnson (1977) The role of familiar units in perception of words and nonwords. Perception and Psychophysics, 22, 249-261. McClelland Rumelhart (1981) An interactive activation model of context effects in letter perception: Part 1. An account of basic findings. Psychological Review, 88, 375–407. Morrison, C, A., Ellis, A, W., (2000) Real age of acquisition effects in word naming and lexical decision. British Journal of Psychology, 91, 167-180. Murdoch, B., (1962) The Serial Position Effect of Free Recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 64, 482-488. Nickerson, R, A., Adams, M, J., (1979) Long-Term Memory for a Common Object. Cognitive Psychology, 11, 287-307. Rosch, E, H., (1973) On the Internal Structure of Perceptual and Semantic Categories. In Moore, T, E., (Ed.) Cognitive Development and the Acquisition of Language. New York: Academic Press. Sternberg, R, J., (2006) Cognitive Psychology (4th ed) Belmont: Thomson Waugh, N, C., Norman, D, A., (1965) Primary Memory. Psychological Review, 72, 89-104.

Mythology: Important Part Of History :: essays research papers

Mythology: Important Part of History Bullfinch once said "Mythology is the handmaid of literature...". That means that mythology is necessarily subservient or subordinate to literature. I personally think that is not true. Let me introduce myself. My name is Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and sexual desire. Mythology is important and interesting . In fact, I think I may be the most interesting of all the gods. Well, at least the most beautiful. In this auto biographical paper I will reveal to you who I am, how I relate to mythology, and a famous story about myself. Let me start with my birth. Many think I was born out of murder. They say that when Cronos butchered his father he flung the dismembered body into the sea, where it floated spouting blood and foam. From the foam rose me, a tall beautiful maiden with long blond hair the color of daffodils. Other legends say that I am the daughter of Cronos and Rheia or Jupiter and Dionne. I am married to Hephaestus, god of fire and metal work. Shortly after birth my poor husband was cast out of Olympus because of his deformities. My son is the famous arrow shooting Cupid. We are almost always together and Cupid is always shooting darts of desire in to the bosoms of Gods and men. I hate to admit it but in a way I am responsible for the Trojan War. One day Discord threw an apple on to Olympus to be given to the most beautiful goddess. Hera, Athene, and I all tried to claim the title. Each of us tried to persaude the judge, Paris, in our favor. Hera told him he would be a powerful ruler, Athene promised him that he would receive great military fame, and I guaranteed him Helen of Troy's hand in marriage. He then declared me the fairest of all, and abducted Helen of Troy thus beginning the Trojan War. I have also inspired many paintings, sculptures, and poetry. The most famous painting featuring me is the Birth of Venus. It is a very famous painting from the Renaissance. As you can see I am one of the most important goddess and have influenced mythology immensely. I relate to mythology by being the goddess of love and beauty. My Roman name is Venus. My work is my pleasure, my profession, and my hobby. I think about nothing but love and nobody expects any more from me. My job is to make other gods and goddess fall in love with each other. I am ashamed to say that I

The Depression :: essays research papers

The Great Depression began in October 1929, when the stock market in the United States dropped rapidly. Thousands of investors lost large sums of money and many were wiped out, lost everything. The crash led us into the Great Depression. This period was the longest and worst period of high unemployment and low business activity, people went along with only the bear necessities, and the families that where hit the hardest where the middle class families.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  People stopped buying gods during the depression, because they had no money. The decline in sales of goods caused many factories to close causing unemployment, and worsening the depression, because industries must sell in order to continue. Unemployment was higher than ever many white men where working black men jobs for black men wages. Many men would leave there families and go look for jobs after they had found jobs the would send money back to their families, but some of the men would leave and never be heard from again. Wages where also dropping, companies could not pay as high as wages as they did in the 1920’s because they where not selling good like they where in the 1920’s.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For the average American living in the city, The Great Depression was a time to cut back on luxuries, and find ways to cut cost on even the most basic items. Appliances, jewelry, and furniture were some of the first items that Americans stopped buying. During The Great Depression, people had to find ways to save money on even the bare necessities. One example of this was the widespread use of vacant lots to grow food. Americans now had to live in the manner of their ancestors, making their own clothing, growing their own food, and again depending on their family.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The great depression hit middle class families the hardest. It did effect the poor but there where already accustom to not having things and there was not much of an effect on the rich, although there where a some rich families that lost everything in the stock market. The middle class families where already in debt dew to new installment plans.

A Deconstructionist Critique of Chopin’s The Awakening Essay -- Chopin

A Deconstructionist Critique of Chopin’s The Awakening The multiplicity of meanings and (re)interpretations informing critical studies of The Awakening reveal a novel ripe for deconstructionist critique. Just as Chopin evokes an image of the sea as symbolic of Edna’s shifting consciousness (â€Å"never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude,†138), likewise the deconstructionist reading of a text emphasizes fluidity over structure: â€Å"A text consists of words inscribed in and inextricable from the myriad discourses that inform it; from the point of view of deconstruction, the boundaries between any given text and that larger text we call language are always shifting,† (297). From this perspective, the reader/critic opens the doors of interpretation instead of narrowing their focus to any singular, exclusionary reading, and exposes the deconstruction at work within the text itself. Whether defined as feminist martyr, metaphorical lesbian, the triumphant image of social transcendence or a broken bird â€Å"beating the air above . . . circlin...

Epi Study Guide – Leon Gordis

Reverse Time Order- outcome actually come before the exposure (opposite of hypothesis); the outcome Is really the exposure and the exposure Is really the outcome d. Chance- to occur accidentally, without design, a coincidence e. Bias- systematic error in design, conduct, or analysis of a study that results in a mistaken estimate 3. 4 enduring epidemiological understandings patterns to their occurrence. These patterns can be identified through surveillance of populations. Examining these patterns of health and disease can help us formulate a hypothesis bout their possible causes. B.A hypothesis can be tested by comparing the frequency of disease in selected groups of people with and without the exposure to determine if the exposure and the disease are associated. When the exposure is hypothesized to have a beneficial effect, studies can be designed in which a group of people is intentionally exposed to the hypothesized cause and compared to a group that is not exposed. When an exposur e is hypothesized to have detrimental effect, it is unethical to intentionally expose a group of people. In these circumstances, studies can be designed that observe groups of free living people with and without the exposure. . One possible explanation for finding an association is that the exposure causes the outcome. Because studies are complicated by factors not controlled by the observer, other explanations also must be considered, including chance, bias, confounding and reverse time order. D. Judgment about whether an exposure causes a disease is developed by examining a body of epidemiological evidence as well as evidence from other scientific disciplines 8 cause-effect criteria questions 1 . What is the strength of association between the risk factor and the disease? 2. Can a biological gradient be demonstrated? 3. Is the finding consistent?Has it been replicated by others in other places? 4. Have studies established that the risk factor precedes the disease? 5. Is the risk f actor associated with on disease of many different diseases? 6. Is the new finding coherent with earlier knowledge about the risk factor and the disease? 7. Are the implications of the observed findings biologically sensible? Been produced by controlled administration of the risk factor? 4. Active surveillance a. s when the researcher is actively to collect data for the study 5. Age-adjusted rates a. Eliminate the effects of differences in the age distributions of populations 6. Association a. Towards the null = towards no association 7. Bias a. Systematic error in design, conduct, or analysis of a study that results in a mistaken estimate of an exposure's effect on the risk of disease 8. Biological gradient/ dose-response relationship 9. Biological sense – Are the implications of the observed findings biologically sensible? If it doesn't make biological sense today, doesn't mean it can't in future 10. Landing- a. Blind the participants, blind people administering exposures, and even blind assessors evaluating if they do or do not have outcome I.Other measures, such as mean differences, are used if the data are continuous 39. Measures of statistical stability – P values and confidence intervals are the two main ways to asses the role of chance in epidemiological research. The null P value and 95% confidence interval are most commonly used. 40. Misclassification a. Indifferently misclassification – likelihood that misclassification is equal (if there is an association, you are less likely to find it) b. Differential misclassification – alters measure of affect 42. National Children's Health Study a.The National Children's Health Study will examine the effects of the environment, as broadly defined to include factors such as air, water, diet, sound, family dynamics, community and cultural influences, and genetics on the growth, development, and health of children across the United States, following them from before birth until age 21 years b. Cohort study 43. Natural Experiments -natural occurring circumstances in which groups of Pl within a population have been exposed to different levels of the hypothesized exposure. 44. Necessary and sufficient a. Al people with the ADZ are exposed 45. Not necessary and sufficient a. Those who have the ADZ may or may not be exposed 46. Necessary and not sufficient a. Elf you have the ADZ you have the exposure; you can have the exposure but the exposure may not be enough for you to get the ADZ 47. Not necessary and not sufficient a. Do not need to have exposure to have outcome, outcome does not mean you have b. XSL could be a cause of ADZ 48. Numerator a. A count 49. Nun Study- a. Retrospective cohort study, 1,000 nuns participated in the study. 3 of the nuns rote an autobiography at 22 linguistic in relation to Alchemies. 50. Observational Studies a. An epidemiological study of a natural experiment in which the investigator is not involved other than to count 51 . Odds ratio a. Ratio of the probability of the occurrence of an event to that of it's nonoccurrence b. OR= (A/C) / (BID) Students who did not do their homework had an odds of having a cell phone 9 times that of students who did their homework. 52. Outcome – ADZ, caused by exposure 53. P value 54. Passive surveillance is when the researcher relies on the available data for the study