Discussing Theodore Roosevelt's views of American Nationalism and Research Paper

Discussing Theodore Roosevelt's views of American Nationalism and Imperialism - Research Paper Example By the nineteenth century, it was almost impossible to interchange the concepts of nationalism and racism. Enlightenment ideals heightened on nationalism and imperialism regardless of the emphasis on the equality and liberty of men as well as the cosmopolitan aspirations. Following the French Revolution, the republican government tries to unify all the French-speaking nations making them a single rule. This led to an aggressive campaign by the military in the Low Nations. Italian liberals on the other hand hoped to have a unified nation that would be under the Italians only and not a jumbled combination of foreign and domestic monarchs. Come the nineteenth century, there was no accord that the different species of mankind shared a common origin and that there worth was not equal. Most nations and leaders believed on the biological superiority of what was referred to as the Caucasian race and this was common with the Germanic peoples who seemed to be justified by the global colonial e mpires rise headed by the European countries. It is in the wake of this situation that this paper looks at the position taken by Theodore Roosevelt on imperialism and nationalism. Theodore Roosevelt’s came to power at a time when most of nations had adopted nationalistic and imperialistic modes as they tried to gain more territories and come up with the best military. This situation strengthened the desire of Theodore Roosevelt to construct the American race so that it becomes one that is full of ambitious, brave and hardworking men. To come up with such a race, Theodore Roosevelt’s remained open to mixing races as he believed that by mixing different races, he will be able to have men who had superior qualities than those men who were pure. Despite this position, Theodore Roosevelt also believed that there were some groups of people who he viewed as better representations of this race. He was in favor of people from the European descent as he excluded the Asians and A frican American considering them as being inferior. Some of his actions and speeches contrasted this position on race. He strongly believed and promised that people from different races were welcome and that they had the same rights as the rest of the American citizens. Early life Experience Theodore Roosevelt came from a tradition that revered the Protestant ethic, the middle class Americans. In his early childhood, he learned the ethic of the Bible and was introduced to social consciousness now that his father happened to be an avid philanthropy practitioner as well as a social worker who believed in putting in action what the Bible preached. His concern with regards to the poor was that the legislative form in pursuing to lessen the distress resulting from a new industrial and urban society. This take is evident in his progressive stance while he was serving as a New York’s Governor as well as the President. This showed that Theodore Roosevelt attitude was reverent and he pursued the highest Christian virtue ideals and opted to implement his own faith in assisting others and helping to come up with a better world. Theodore Roosevelt’s involvement in religion in his early life was that of works. His early Christianity life was behind his means to live a good life and this led to his ruling to emphasize on moral and good life. This remained to be an overriding passion in the faith of Theodore

CHANGE MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

CHANGE MANAGEMENT - Essay Example The necessity for the change management process has been recognised because of the three main issues. One of the prime concerning issues is that the department was not being able to reach around 30% of the population targeted by them. It has also been noted that the department was not being capable to reach the own targets set by themselves with regards to performance, customer service and finance. Thus, the government’s target population was not being able to receive the services that were offered by the department. At last, the local authorities decided that the department should consist of youth who will be responsible for delivering services to all the children within the age group of 0-19 years. The department also has planned to provide support to children at the earliest stage who have been identified with additional needs (Education and Families Department, n.d.). The discussion in the paper will include the major processes that took place in the department’s ch ange management initiative. ... The Implemented Change Process in the Department The existing department comprises The Extended Service Team which was formed to be a part of the Children’s Partnership Service along with the Integrated Services Team and Young People’s Sexual Health Team. The department achieved their objectives by working in collaboration among the teams that were associated with the department. The teams had to provide services spread over 12 establishments which were costing the local authority very significantly. Thus, the future plans within the change process include setting up of 16 establishments which will increase the budget for the local authorities if the same model or management was followed (Education and Families Department, n.d.). However, the economic downturn made the competent authorities to focus on bringing certain changes in the management structure and processes that could lead them to deliver effective services through efficient planning. Children centres being r elatively newer concept, the department decided to establish a forum for governors and local management board members of all children centres. The issues for dissolving the earlier board were blocking the pace for development which made the department to work in partnerships with different boards and government bodies. The Education and Families Department planned to provide excellent services to the families with children under statutory school age. The transformation of the management decided to develop a streamlined governance structure which will be efficient and provide strong support to all the centres across each locality (Education and Families Department, n.d.). The department’s proposed structure included the decision to merge

The influence of parents on their childs choice of career

The influence of parents on their childs choice of career Prior to the Industrial Revolution, work revolved around the sector of agriculture. Most of the economy, at this point in time was based on the farms owned and operated by the families themselves. Therefore, this required that all of the family, being grandparents, parents, children and nieces, gather together and work in the family farm in order for them to surivive. As Mifsud (2004), stated in her dissertation Parental influence on adolescents in career choice, jobs were a matter of destiny and children entered the same type of occupation as their parents or grandparents. However, all of this changed with the rise of the modernization in Malta, were social and economic changes took place. One major cause that marked these social and economic changes was technology (such as the progression in communication), which accordingly, affected every aspect of daily life: stability of the family, work, marriage, leisure and value of education (Olsen Cooper, 2008). One noticeable influence of these changes was predominantly on work. With this revolution, people, particularly young people, were endowed with the opportunity to choose from a great deal and diverse career occupations that became available outside the family sector. Due to this, unlike traditional societies, work roles became separated from the basis of inheritance or kinship position and thus young people were no longer constrained to work with the family and to follow their parents footsteps (Mifsud, 2004). Eventually, education developed, in such a way as to complement the needs of the modern societies (Cassar, 2004; p. 33). As a result of this, Maltese children today are obliged to attend school between the ages of 5 to 16 years old. Therefore, unlike previous years, todays children are faced with the challenge of competing with other students of the same age in order for them to achieve the best educational qualifications. This will present opportunities for them to choose the best, rewarding and satisfying careers from the wide range available. Apart from educational qualifications there are other social contexts that influence the decisions of adolescents in what career to choose. These are ones personality, socioeconomic status, parents and peers, schools, and gender (Santrock, 2001). Throughout this assignment I will be focusing particularly on the influence of parents on adolescents choice of career. During this period, apart from peers, the parents are the most influential peop le in their lives (Berk, 2007; p.345). Despite the fact that children are not expected to continue on their parents footsteps, the influence of parents has survived (Gravina, 2005). This influence is clearly seen from the very high level of commitment that Maltese parents have with regards to their children (Abela, 2000; p. 97-8). Today parents are being both directly and indirectly influential in what careers their children pursue. This influence begins at an early age, when parents, sometimes indirectly, model a particular behavior and attitudes in relation to their work in front of their children. This influence goes on to the type of schools parents choose for their children, what options their children choose to study at a secondary level, and whether or not their children should continue school. Throughout this assignment I will refer to these factors one by one and establish what kinds of influence the parents have on their children. Parents as role models From an early age, children observe other peoples behavior and in turn try to be like them by imitating them. These people are often referred to as role models. Due to the diverse occupations that exist today, children are confronted with different role models. As Sharf (2002; p.168) argued, Adults are important role models for children in learning about the world of work. Key adult figures that serve the best example to the child in learning about the work life are parents. Children whose parents work, see, hear and observe their parents talk about the jobs they have. Due to this, children acquire knowledge, values, perceptions and aspirations in correlation to their parents jobs. Moreover, Trice and Tillapaughs (1991, cited in Sharf, 2002; p.168) found that childrens aspirations to their parents occupations are influenced by their perception of how satisfied their parents are with their own work. In other words, parents influence what career their childrens choose by the way they talk about work at home, their overall satisfaction and pride in their work, and one must not forget also the position and payment of their work, which in the long run affect the family status. According to Berk (2007; p.455), higher SES (Socio-Economic Status) parents are more likely to give their children important information about the world of work and to have connections with people which can help the young persons obtain a high-status position. Apart from this, highly ed ucated parents will have higher expectations on their childs future careers. This is confirmed by a study carried out by Bezzina (2008) in her dissertation Career Barriers encountered by students in a female secondary school. She found out that those students, whose parents work in sectors that are considered to be of a low status, aspired less professional jobs than those students whose parents work in professional sectors. From my experience I believe that children, whose parents are of a certain level of education and jobs, push their children to achieve more. My father, who is now retired, worked at an important position in the Dockyard whereas my mother was a housewife. Unlike my father, my mother finished school early (at secondary level). Due to this when I was at secondary level myself, I didnt quite find support from my mother, in the sense that when I found homework difficulties I had either to wait for my father to come home from his late shifts (because he worked also pa rt-time at that time) or try and solve it myself, which was quite difficult. Because of this my parents began sending me to private lessons. I also remember that my parents never pushed me to achieve high marks. That I pass from the exams was quite enough for them. I am not saying that they would not have been satisfied if I came first at class or form; however they never really put the pressure on me to achieve the best of the marks. On the other hand, now I am quite aware of what I lost. When I go to my aunts house, I always see her pushing and encouraging her children to do not only their home work but also extra work. My aunt is a Mathematics teacher herself, and since she is deeply acquainted to what is happening in schools and outside the school, she pushes her children a lot, to achieve a lot. Indeed the marks my cousins obtain are quite surprising. The eldest daughter of my aunt is indeed now at University taking up the course of engineering. This experience I have described directs us to the next argument I will make: when adolescents perceive their parents to have high educational expectations, adolescents are likely to have higher aspirations for themselves. These parents are also more likely to offer tangible assistance for instance assistance in school work, and finance which in the long run influence whether the child continue studying for a high status position. When talking about parental influence, one has to keep in mind however that there are parents who do not work, or are not satisfied with their work life. Moreover, some families in Malta live in poverty just because the parents do not earn enough money to support the family. In my first year at university, I did some voluntary work with two children who were at that time staying at the YMCA. The family of these children was living in a state of poverty and both parents were illiterate. Due to this, these children were not given the opportunity, like other children of their age, by their parents to learn at least the alphabet or the clock. They werent even able to communicate with me clearly in Maltese. I used to ask myself what will happen to them once they finish secondary school? What kinds of job will they have later on in their life? This kind of situation reduces vocational choices and many adolescents living in poverty do not believe they have much of a choice (Kaplan, 2004; p. 437). Apart from this, there may be some students who are required to start working at an earlier age in order to help in the family finances. Due to the lack of educational qualifications they may have, they end up doing jobs which offer a low salary. Conger and Peterson (1984, cited in Coleman Hendry, 1990), state that it is important to make clear that the influence of parents on career choices will not be determined only by the nature of role model but also by the degree of warmth and affection experienced by adolescences in their relationship with their parents. Parent-child relationship Anne Roe (1957) is a person in the field of Career Development who investigated and gave considerable importance to Parental Influence on the choices of careers. She argued that the parent-child relationships play an important role in occupation selection (Santrock, 2001; p.442). She wanted to show that people in certain occupations have a common background in terms of the way they were raised (Sharf, 2002; p.308). In order to do so, she classified three types of parent-child relationships: Concentration on the child, Avoidance of the child and Acceptance of the child. When the relationship is of concentration on the child, the parents encourage dependence and request perfection. When the parents avoid the child they will be either rejecting or in the worst case neglecting him/her. In the relationship where parents accept the child, parents encourage independenceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ and create a tension-free environment (Sharf, 2002; p.318). This warm supportive parent-adolescent tie, per mit young people to explore ideas and social roles that foster autonomy, predicting high self-reliance, work orientation, academic competence, and favorable self-esteem (Berk, 2007; p.413). This kind of relationship provides also emotional support which is very much needed in times (adolescent times which is stressful) like this. These parental attitudes bring about certain types of personalities in the child (Sharf, 2002; p.319) and promote values, such as independence and freedom, which in the long run help in the choice of career. According to Roe, Individuals who have warm and accepting parents are likely to choose careers that include work with peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ By contrast individuals who have rejecting or neglectful parents are more likely to choose careers that do not require a good personality or strong social skills (Santrock, 2001; p.442). Anne Roes theory has been criticized a lot. Despite this, Sharf, (2002, cited in Gravina, 2005) believes that Roes theory of parent-child relationship provide interesting perspectives of parental influence on the career choice of children. In addition to this, he also states the importance of the child-parent attachment theories when discussing parental influences. Attachment theory According to Berk (2007, p.196) attachment is the strong affectionate tie we have with special people in our lives that leads us to feel pleasure when we interact with them and to be comforted by their nearness in times of stress. Traditionally attachment was the foundation of the infant-mother relationship. However, contemporary theorists like Bluestein (1995) indicated the importance of continuous and secure relationships between parent and child till late adolescence, when career exploration is a major activity (Sharf, 2002; p.325). This is supported by many researches which show the importance of parents to respond sensitively to their children in order to promote higher motivations in schools and better decisions with regards to careers (Berk, 2007). In having a secure attachment with their parents, adolescents identify themselves more with their parents and by doing so they will involve their parents more in decisions and choices. They are also more likely to listen to their pa rents opinions. In other words, in these well-functioning families, teenagers remain attached to parents and seek their advice, but they do so in a context of greater freedom (Berk, 2007; p.414). Choice of childs education It is not only when adolescents are to choose their careers that their parents directly intervene. Parental influence begins from an early age, when parents deicide which schools their children should attend to. In a study conducted by Zammit (1984, cited in Mifsud, 2004) parents were asked what job they would like their son or daughter to take, and most of them stated that they would like their children to do something better then themselves. Unfortunately, sometimes this poses a problem because in doing better than themselves, some parents might mean doing what they aspired and couldnt achieve at their age in time. For instance the mother who did not get into medical school and the father who did not make it as a professional athlete may pressure their youth to achieve a career status beyond the youths talents (Santrock, 2001; p.442). As a result of this, parents, even if they cant afford it, send their child to a private school because they have the mentality that by doing so thei r children would obtain more. Such parents view the private schools as better than others (Cassar, 2004; p. 43). Some people may also opt to send their children to private lessons for extra work. I am not saying that this is completely wrong but as David Elkind (1981, Cited in Santrock, 2001; p.441) argues todays parents are pressuring their adolescents to achieve too much, too soon. The education of the children is becoming more and more dependent upon what parents want their children to achieve rather than on the childrens abilities and efforts (Cassar, 2004; p.42). This influence of parents in their children education might have both advantages and disadvantages. One advantage might be for instance that it pressures children positively. This pressure encourages students to do well and at the end of the day achieve high status occupation. On the other hand, many children view this pressure negatively and instead of succeeding, they fail in achieving high status positions. However, all of this depends also on the kind of relationships parents have with their children. Notwithstanding all these revelations, it cannot be said that all parents in Malta seek to assist in their offsprings future (Cassar, 2004; p,45). Optional subjects The influence of parents on adolescence career choice continues from the choice of school to the choice of subjects that they are expected to choose at the secondary level. Many parents are quite aware that these choices will mostly determine what career their children might pursue in the future. As Sultana (1992) said, once these choices are made, it is impossible to turn back and start again on a different path. At the time when adolescents are to choose their optional subjects, they are at the phase of development. Part of this development involves striving for autonomy- a sense of oneself as a separate, self governing individual. Teenagers strive to rely more on themselves and less on parents for decision making (Berk, 2007; p.413). I remember when I was going to choose the subjects at from two and I wanted to choose Art as one of my options. My parents at first couldnt accept the fact that I was going to choose art. Their main concern was that it is difficult to find a job that requires skills in Art. At that time I wasnt kind of looking at the future since I was more interested in what I liked. My mother wanted me to choose computer studies, the reason being that it opens a lot of career paths. One can imagine how much we fought on this. At the end of the day my parents accepted, and I chose art. Nowadays when I look back I wish that I listened to what my parents told me and involved them more in the decision making process, because ultimately I couldnt continue on art. Despite this, Bezzina (2002, cited in Cassar and Cutajar, 2004; p.45) found that students main source of help in subject choice was the parents. I think that at times parents influence is vital and many adolescents today are to some extant seeking their parents more for advice. As already stated, this also depends on what kind of relationship the child has with his/her parents. Further education Parents who influence their children from a young age continue to influence their children later on in life when they finish secondary school and are faced with a major life decision: the choice of a suitable work position. Due to this, adolescents have to choose whether to continue studying or not. Very recently I was talking to my mother and she explained to me that when she was an adolescent, many of her friends were expected by their parents to begin working once they finish secondary school, in order to help with the family finances. Today this situation changed and now parents are giving more value to education (we have to keep in mind however those low SES families). With this competition taking place at schools and with the new careers that are becoming available (such as careers in relation to information technology), many parents expect their children to continue on with their education. Here we see that parents continue to influence their childs decision on career even til l post secondary level. In a research conducted by Bezzina (2001, cited in Cassar and Cutajar, 2004; p.45) parents perceive that their influence is important, and they make it a point to exert their influence in one way or another. In some cases this influence is beneficial to the child, especially if the relationship between the parent and the child is a good one. The parents might provide adequate guidance such as to consider other options for example to attend Junior Lyceum instead of ITS in order to obtain more educational qualifications and have more possible paths to follow. However parents who influence the child in a demanding way will be interfering with the childs decisions. Methodology A particular hypothesis that I established from the literature review and my experience about parental influence is that, parents, today, influence their children in career choice. Since I am a curious person, I wished to determine whether such hypothesis is true in practice and in general. In order to do so, I carried out a study amongst adolescences who are now attending post-secondary school. The method I utilized for this study was quantitative and my main instrument was a close-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire is made up of 14 questions. In the first part of the questionnaire, participants were asked general questions about their age, career choice, and school sector and about private lessons. Following these, the questions become more personal. The students had to: answer questions such as parents school level and current occupation, rate their parents satisfaction with their job and how they perceive themselves to be happy in their career and to rate their relationship with their parents. In the last part of the questionnaire participants were asked to list those persons or factors that influenced them the most in the choice of optional subjects and career. My main intention in doing these questions was to explore whether a co-relation between these factors (such as parents satisfaction with current job and how participants think they are going to feel with their job) exists which determines, in the long run, whether or not parents influence their children in their choi ce of career. I distributed these questionnaires to ten students; by which I could gather a small representative data. The age of the students varied from 16- 17 years of age. A reason why I chose this age group is that by this time, they would have already chosen whether to continue studying or not and thus are more aware of what career they want to pursue. Although I did not take a large sample, the results from these questionnaires helped me a lot. By doing this study, I will now be able to prove whether the arguments, literature and experiences described in the assignment are true. Results and Discussion In this part of the assignment, I am going to examine the sections that I tackled earlier on in the assignment with the results I found from the questionnaires. I will be linking some of these sections together, in order to make sense of the results I obtained. Influence of Parents During this period, apartfrom peers, the parents are the most influential people in their lives (Berk, 2007; p.345). Although in many cases peers are of great influence, what I particularly found from this study is that when it comes to choice of subject and career, adolescents are more influenced by their parents. Following parents, in my results, the school is shown to be the next influential sector of adolescents when making a choice. Both friends and others (a term which I referred to in my questionnaire and which participants identified them as being teachers and siblings), are shown to influence adolescents particularly on equal level. This support an argument I made in the assignment that Despite the fact that children are not expected to continue on their parents footsteps, the influence of parents has survived (Gravina, 2005). Parents as role models No. of Participant Choice of Career Occupation Level of Satisfaction Mother Father Parents 1 Architecture Secretary Architecture 7 2 Engineer Teacher Engineer 7 3 Lawyer Housewife Lawyer 6 4 Manager Housewife Manager 8 5 Accountant Housewife Accountant 7 6 Doctor Nurse Accountant 9 7 Accountant Housewife Accountant 7 8 Psychologist Teacher Psychologist 8 9 Accountant Clerk Accountant 8 10 Teacher Teacher Teacher 9 Results of questions 2, 9, 10, 11 12 This study illustrates first of all the variance of careers between both genders. One noticeable result shown in the above table is that the majority of the mothers occupations revolve around caring profession: housewife, nursing and teaching. Although I didnt make reference of gender in my assignment I believe that this is of great influence on children in their career choice. I believe that those adolescents, particularly females, whose mothers work in professions not considered to be feminine, will serve as a role model for their children in choosing careers which might seems unattainable due to the gender stereotypes. In my assignment I argued that children today are not expected to continue on their parents footsteps. However, from the data that I gathered I observed that every participants choice of career is somehow related to at least one of the parents occupation. Participants number 1, 3, 5, and 7 chose a career exactly like the father. However, only one of the participants, participant number 10 chose a career like the mother. The other participants 2, 4, 6, 8 and 9 chose a career that has, at least to some extent, some characteristics found in their parents occupation. For instance participant number 8 opted to become a psychologist. Her parents are both teachers. Both professions are considered to be caring professions. From the ratings of parents satisfactions and the participants perceived level of satisfaction of their future job, I observed that those participants that rated their parents satisfaction lower than how they perceive their satisfaction to be with their future career, have mothers who are unemployed and work as housewives. Despite this, all participants expect for participant number 4, rate their level of satisfaction as equal as or better than those of their parents. In my opinion this strengthen the findings made by Trice and Tillapaughs (1991, cited in Sharf, 2002; p.168) that childrens aspirations to their parents occupations are influenced by their perception of how satisfied their parents are with their own work. Parent-child relationship No. of Participant Choice of Career Close with Parents 1 Architecture 7 2 Engineer 8 3 Lawyer 7 4 Manager 9 5 Accountant 7 6 Doctor 9 7 Accountant 10 8 Psychologist 8 9 Accountant 8 10 Teacher 8 Results of question 13 In this study, I tried to determine whether parent-child relationship affects what the adolescents opt for a career. Anne Roe, as stated earlier wanted to show that people in certain occupations have a common background in terms of the way they were raised (Sharf, 2002; p.308). She focused on Concentration on the child, Avoidance of the child and Acceptance of the child. In order to identify whether such parental behavior towards the child affects what the child chose as career, would have been difficult, because it is not ethically right to go on about and ask strangers what type of relationship they have with their parents. As an alternative to this I asked the participants to rate how close they feel with their parents. The result show that all of the participants feel somehow close to their parents. Since the study is on a small scale, I will take one particular occupation that is somehow common in the study: Accountant. What I found from the results is that participants who chos e Accounts as a career, rate their relationship with their parents differently. In addition to this, when one study in depth such an approach, one have to take into consideration also the child-parent attachment. Parents level of education I wanted to study this issue particularly because I believe from my experience that children, whose parents are of a certain level of education and jobs, push their children to achieve more. No. of Participant Choice of Career Level of Education Mother 1 Architecture Secondary 2 Engineer Tertiary 3 Lawyer Post-secondary 4 Manager Post-secondary 5 Accountant Secondary 6 Doctor Tertiary 7 Accountant Post-secondary 8 Psychologist Tertiary 9 Accountant Post-secondary 10 Teacher Post-secondary What I found interesting in this study is that actually, some fathers and mothers have similar education level. It is very difficult to determine a conclusion of whether parents level of education influence career choice or not, since the research is based on a small scale number. However, what I could identify is that none of the participants parents have low educational level such as primary level, thus I think that by and large all of the participants were encouraged to continue studying and pursue a professional career. Conclusion It seems from the small scale study I carried out, the theories I described and the arguments I raised throughout this assignment, that parents are still influential. Many students seek help from their parents when they are to choose something important as this of career. Unfortunately, sometimes not all parents are knowledgeable enough to give their children the best information they need with regards to the choice of career. Due to this I believe that students must seek either a guidance teacher or a counselor. They must seek for this guidance from the very beginning, when they are to choose their optional subjects. Still, I believe that the majority of the students do not seek for this help. Some students might be shy to go to a guidance teacher or counselor; some students might be discouraged by parents to do so and other view the time with these people such as guidance teacher and counselor as a loss of time. Due to this, students must be aware of the importance of the assistanc e these people may give them. An effective way in helping them become aware of this is throughout the PSD lesson by the PSD teacher. Appendix

Symbiosis between George and Lennie in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men :: Steinbeck Of Mice and Men Essays

A coon dog and a tick, an oak tree with moss on the north side, a termite and its internal bacteria, and a shark with tiny fish that eat the extra meat chunks in between the teeth all have one thing in common: symbiosis. Defined as the interdependence of organisms, symbiosis is the basis of the relationship between George and Lennie in â€Å"Of Mice and Men† by John Steinbeck. One type of symbiosis helps both parties while another type involves one organism being hurt by the exchange. The dog is hurt by the tick while the termites and the bacteria benefit from each other’s presence. These types of symbiosis can occur in humans and are evident in â€Å"Of Mice and Men.† Both types of symbiosis exist between George and Lennie in the novel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The physical symbiosis of George and Lennie is beneficial to Lennie but detrimental to George. Although George used to hurt Lennie, Lennie now needs George to bail him out of trouble. Lennie also profits because he needs a person to tell him what to do. â€Å"He can’t think of nothing to do himself, but he sure can take orders† (39). Lennie is â€Å"a hell of a good worker†(22) and able to â€Å"put up a four-hundred pound bale† (22) but is likely to get himself in trouble without George’s protective influence. George likes Lennie but would be better off without him because â€Å"you (Lennie) can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get† (11).   Lennie hinders George while George helps Lennie.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The emotional symbiosis between George and Lennie helps each man. Lennie’s attachment to George is most strongly visible when Crooks suggests George is not coming back. Lennie is almost moved to hysterics and his fear does not quickly abate. George prefers to feign dislike for Lennie to Lennie’s face: â€Å"I could get along so easy and so nice if I didn’t have you on my tail† (7). When pressed, George reveals his true feelings for Lennie. â€Å"I want you to stay with me Lennie† (13).   They stay together because â€Å"It’s a lot easier to go around with a guy you know† (35). Both men need and value their strong emotional relationship.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   George and Lennie need each other to achieve their dream of their own farm with rabbits to tend. Lennie could not take care of his rabbits or even survive without George.

Psychological Aspects of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism Essay

Though the most of the teachings followed by the different sects of Buddhism vary and conflict with each other, the general core values set by Buddha are still followed by all Buddhists. In regard to this we examine two Buddhism sects namely Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism. Whilst Theravada is psychologically oriented, Mahayana is idealistically oriented. The two sects have varying perceptions of the reality and the world besides the concept of being. There are many inherent differences between the two sects of Buddhism though the two seem to broadly agree on the original teachings of Buddha. Firstly, Theravada Buddhism denies the existence of any true being behind any given phenomenon and consequently avoids making metaphysical statements unlike Mahayana which teaches an Eternal Absolute included in many names. In this sense, Mahayana holds that all beings in all forms are identical with the absolute in their cores. Moreover, Mahayana sees Gautama as seeing through the projection of the absolute though it holds or possess a mortal frame of illusion which is frail. On the other hand, Theravada consider Gautama as a natural teacher or a superman at most. In the teachings of Theravada, liberation can only be achieved through an individual’s effort as opposed to the teaching of Mahayana which holds that liberation can be achieved through the help of outside assistance and deliverance through the power of others (Paul, 1999, 45). Moreover, Theravada Buddhism teaches it followers to set their ultimate goal to be the achievement of nirvana as opposed to the case of Mahayana which its ultimate goal is defined in following the ways of bodhisattva in leading all other human beings especially the sentient beings to liberation. In addition, Theravada Buddhism sees Hinayana as the final exit from the world while the same to Mahayana Buddhism is considered as achieving consciousness of an individual absolute nature and gaining mental aloofness state from all suffering. As seen in the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, it attitudes are organized in such a way that an individual or a follower should endeavor to help the world and unselfish to it. On the contrary, Theravada attitudes are such that it followers should always endeavor to defeat the world through analysis strategies employed on its elements and through using knowledge and experience of an individual conduct. Mahayana Buddhism sometimes referred to as Northern Buddhism or the great wheel (vehicle) is mostly found in china, Vietnam, Japan, Korea and Nepal. It is usually followed by monks and lay. In essence, the Monks follow the rules set by Vinayas and which constitutes the prescriptions for monastic life in the Tipitaka also known to be Theravada sacred canon. However, they do this via the interpretation of Mahayana. In addition, the Monks also take vows to strive attain bodhisattva, with those who pursue esoteric practices of Tantric Buddhism taking Tantric initiations and vows (Michael, 2003, 56). In essence, Mahayana Buddhism is founded on speculations of metaphysical nature in respect to the nature of reality or what can be termed as enlightenment in addition to the core values set by Buddha. The general idea of Mahayana Buddhism is that when one achieves enlightenment, such a person returns to the world as a Bodhisattva to join other human beings. In this context, this branch of Buddhism emphasizes that the duty of a Buddhist who has achieved enlightenment is compassionately work in an effort to help end the sufferings of other Buddhists. In addition, Mahayana Buddhism holds the argument that through enlightenment, all creatures which can be considered as sentiment will finally achieve Buddhahood (Christopher, 1999, 23). Mahayana Buddhism is commonly divided into philosophical schools which are known to be influential not only to the Mahayana Buddhism but also to the Shankara and Advaita Vedanta as well. In this regard, the dialectic school also known as Madhyamika constitute one of the two schools of Mahayana. In essence, this school emphasizes negation of every possible phenomenological reality through logical reducto-ad-absurdum means in an effort to achieve Shunyata which can be seen as ineffable absolute or void and which is considered as the only reality. The concept of Shunyata was introduced in an effort to refute the delusions caused by separate enduring egos. Moreover, the concept was adopted to emphasize the ways in which everything in the universe is connected to each other. The second school is a consciousness doctrine also known as Vijnanavada. This school uses mediation process in an effort to prove that consciousness constitutes the ultimate reality. Unlike the other school, Vijnanavada has a number of occult and metaphysical conceptions including an emanationist which psychologically oriented but similar to Samkhya which is on the contrary cosmologically oriented. Mahayana Buddhism is centered on the noble Bodhisattva ideal which guides the enlightened Buddhists while dealing with the sentimental beings. In definition, a bodhisattva can be seen as a being who is in constant search of means of achieving or attaining Buddhahood in order to benefit sentiment beings. The conception of bodhisattva was developed from the idea of a Buddhist who differs with the ultimate goal of extinction also referred to as nirvana so that such a person can often make his or her way back to the world of suffering and help end the suffering of sentient beings (Michael, 2003, 59). In essence, the idea of bodhisattva is considered as demonstrating selfishness in the doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism largely because a bodhisattva having not reached nirvana, postpone enlightenment so as to help the sentient beings. On the other hand, Theravada Buddhism is seen as the oldest surviving school of Buddhist school and began first in India. It is also known as Hinayana and is relatively close to original Buddhism and conservative as compared to Mahayana Buddhism. Different from the teachings offered by Mahayana, Theravada emphasizes on the concept of Vibhajjavada or Pali which is literally used to mean the teaching of Analysis. According to this teaching, insight comes from the experience of the aspirant coupled by reasoning instead of by blind faith and critical investigation. Despite this teaching, the scriptures adopted by Theravada Buddhism emphasizes on the need to heed to the advice of the elders or the wise. In essence, heeding to the advice given by the elders and evaluation of one’s experience are considered to be the two vital tests on which the judgment of practices adopted by any given follower should be based. In Theravada Buddhism, the cause of human suffering and existence is identified as tanha or a craving which constitutes all the defilements inclusive of sensual desires, anger, ill will, jealousy, fear, hatred among others. In this context, the level of defilement can be coarse, subtle or medium. In essence, the phenomenon of defilement in Theravada Buddhism is seen as arising temporary, taking hold for a short time and then vanishing all together. In this respect, the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism believes that defilements are harmful not only to the person who commits them but also to others and that they are the force behind all the inhumanities committed by any given human being. Moreover, the followers of Theravada Buddhism holds the believe that defilements constitutes habits which are born out of ignorance afflicting the minds of the unenlightened human beings. Being under the influence of defilements, human beings are believed to cling to them by ignoring the established truth. On the other hand, these defilements are considered to be nothing but taints afflicting the mind of human beings consequently creating stress and suffering. Furthermore, the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism believes that the unenlightened human beings tends to cling to their bodies with the assumption that it is their self while on the contrary it present itself as an impermanent phenomenon which is formed on air, fire, water and earth. In this context, it is believed that the body will decompose and disperse after death. Moreover, it is believed that the mental defilements’ continuous and frequent manipulation and instigation of human mind prevents it from seeing the true nature of reality. These defilements according to Theravada Buddhism are further strengthened by unskillful behavior and that if a human being follow a noble eightfold path, he or she can weaken or overcome these defilements. The doctrine of Theravada Buddhism believe that those who are unenlightened experience the world through imperfect six senses inclusive of the ears, the eyes, nose, tongue, mind and tactile sense. They then goes on to use the mind which is by then clouded by much defilement in forming their interpretations, perceptions of reality and conclusions. In essence, the conclusion reached is based on the perceptions of these individuals in regard to the reality. On the other hand, the five physical senses are inactive to unenlightened person and consequently, the defilements are further strengthened unlike in the case of an enlightened person where the senses are wholly active thus suppressing any defilement. In order for any human being to overcome the stress and suffering caused by these defilements one must strive to overcome the defilements first. The defilements in this context are believed to be initially restrained through mindfulness in regard to preventing them from taking over the bodily and mind action. To uproot them therefore, one need to undertake internal investigation and to analyze and at the same time understand the experience and the true nature of such defilements through the use of jhana. The process of uprooting the defilements need to be performed on each kind of defilement if optimal results are to be achieved. Consequently, the mediator will realize four noble truths as believed by the Theravada doctrine which will help him in achieving enlightenment and overcome the defilements completely (Prebish, 1994, 67). In essence, the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism consider enlightenment and Nibbana as their ultimate goals. In this sense, Nibbana is thought of as the perfect bliss through which a person is freed from the cycle of birth, illness, aging and death. The doctrine believe that each and every person should be held personally responsible for their own liberation and self-awakening. In this context, every individual is the one responsible for the consequences of his or her actions as well as those specific actions. As such, by simply believing and striving to learn the truth as provided for by the original Buddhism, an individual cannot fully be awakened but rather he or she must strive to know and conceptualize such reality through direct experience. In this regard, the individual has to follow the teachings of Buddha in respect to the noble eightfold path in an effort to individually discover the truth. According to the doctrine of Theravada, gods, Buddhas, or even deities are not capable of offering awakening to any human being and as such are incapable of lifting from freeing them from the samsara cycle of birth, ageing and death. According to the beliefs held by followers of Theravada Buddhism, Buddhas are only teachers while the gods and deities are subject to anger and other forms of defilements (Robinson, 2005, 46). Theologically, Theravada Buddhism is founded on the four noble truths which are also referred to as the four sublime truths. In essence this can be disseminated as defining the problem, the cause of the problem, the solution to such a problem and the methods and ways that must be followed to attain that solution. Firstly, Theravada Doctrine takes suffering or Dukkha as one of the four noble truths. In this regard, we can have inherent suffering which includes all forms of suffering undergone by an individual as a result of worldly things . On the other extreme, we can have suffering that results from change and finally suffering that is caused by one’s failure of recognizing that he or she is an aggregate definite with an identity that is unsusceptible to change. Secondly, we have the cause of the suffering referred to as Dukkha Samudaya and which can be defined as a craving that leads an individual to worldly bondage and attachment thus causing suffering for such an individual. In this regard, Kama Tanha is the act of craving for any given pleasurable object as a result of the body senses. On the other hand, Bhava Tanha is when an individual crave to be attached to a particular ongoing process such as the longing for existence. Still, Vibhava Tanha is when an individual crave to be detached from any given ongoing process such as the longing for self annihilation. The third truth called Dukkha Nirodha can be seen as a cessation for suffering. According to this truth, it is impossible for one to adjust the entire world in order to fit in his or her taste in an effort to free from suffering. On the other hand, one must adjust his or her mind through detachment process so that any occurring change will have no effect on the peace of mind of such an individual. In other words, the elimination of the craving or the cause will help in eliminating the result. The final truth is a pathway to freedom from suffering and is known as Dukkha Nirodha Gamini Patipata. It is commonly known as the noble eightfold pathway towards Nibbana or freedom. It constitutes the right intention, speech, actions livelihood among other right things that an individual needs to do to free from suffering. According to the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism, all conditioned phenomena including physical qualities, knowledge, theories adopted and the physical characteristics are subject to change with time. This is referred to as Anicca which can also be taken to mean impermanence. Moreover, the teachings of Theravada holds that suffering or Dukkha is caused by craving in the sense that whatever is craved for is subjected to change, transition and perishing. In this regard, the impermanence of the craving object causes sorrow and disappointment in the long run. Since individuals are the one involved in labeling the objects to be liked and those to be disliked on one hand and the comforts and discomforts in the world on the other hand, they are the ones who create suffering in the first place. In this context, if an individual succeeds in overcoming the tendency to label thing in the world, he or she will be free from suffering (Prebish, 1994, 68). Still, Theravada Buddhism uses the concept of anatta in referring to the lack of unchanging and fixed identity. In this regard no specific phenomenon constitutes any individuals’ essential and permanent self. In essence, any human being is composed of five aggregate elements. First, there is the rupa which includes the feelings and other forms of sensations also known as vedana, sanna which includes all the perceptions held by an individual, sankhara which is the mental formations arising from the perceptions and vinnana or the consciousness. All of this cannot be identified as ones’ self but rather together forms the core of an individual. The realization of anatta, dukkha and anica enables one to achieve freedom and to reach nibbana, a state in which one is complete and ultimately free. In regard to meditation, Theravada Buddhism sees it as a way of positively reinforcing the mind of the individual in question. In this respect, mediation is categorized into two. Samatha which in literal terms mean making something skillful includes the acts of achieving visualizing or tranquilizing reality through meditation. Vipassana can be defined as insight or abstract understanding through meditation. In essence, samatha helps one to skillfully concentrate the mind while vipassana helps in seeing through the veil of ignorance (Paul, 1999, 47). In conclusion, while it is easy to disseminate the psychological orientation and aspects of Theravada Buddhism, it is hard to identify the psychological perspectives of Mahayana Buddhism. This is because as stated earlier Mahayana is idealism as opposed to Theravada Buddhism which is psychologically oriented. The teachings of Mahayana Buddhism are those of metaphysically assisting other human beings to achieve enlightenment though the one helping need not have fully achieved it himself. In other words, it teaches it followers to be unselfish to the others and to the world as a whole. It teaches its followers to strive to attain enlightenment and to help others who have not attained it do so. On the other hand, Theravada teaches its followers to strive to overcome the world through individual efforts other than relying on external assistance. In essence, Theravada Buddhism encourages its followers to find effective means of overcoming their defilements and thus to free themselves from sufferings. It holds that the suffering undergone by any individual starts with that individual himself and thus he or she is the only one who can liberate himself from such suffering. Work Cited: Christopher Brown. Can Buddhism Save? Finding Resonance in Incommensurability. Cross Currents, Vol. 49, Summer 1999, pp. 23 Michael Pye. Skilful Means: A Concept in Mahayana Buddhism. London, Routledge Publishers, 2003, pp. 56, 59 Paul Groner. A History of Indian Buddhism: From Sakyamuni to Early Mahayana. China, University of Hawaii Press, 1999, pp. 45, 47 Prebish Charles. Buddhism: A Modern Perspective. United States, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994, pp. 67, 78 Robinson R. Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 2005, pp. 46.

Future Research into Auditory Spatial Attention Essay

An interesting observation made in this research was that there was an overall faster response time rates when an informative cue was presented spatially. Several cues were used in the experiment, both uninformative and informative, both pure sound and speech. The cues were given in conjunction with spatial and non-spatial orientations. But given the various cues, it was found that the response rates were faster as compared to the rates recoded by Spence and Driver (1994). The scope of the current research was not intended to explore this possibility; hence no statistical analysis was able to be performed on the data obtained. But further investigation of the said effect should be considered. Generally each experiment was analyzed individually with not all subjects completing the three experiments relating to this observed effect (experiments 3, 4 & 5). Furthermore, the subjects that had completed these three experiments did so in the same order, therefore opening up the possibility that the faster response times observed in experiment 5 may be due to practice effects. Despite these concerns, further investigation into the possible existence of this effect could be vital in a practical sense with relation to the design of auditory attention grabbing stimuli. The use of auditory stimuli as attention grabbing devices for use in reducing operator response times to critical stimuli can be designed in such a way that the combination of both auditory and visual information can be helpful in reducing operator workload. A number of studies have demonstrated that the addition of auditory information to an already attentionally overloaded visual workspace does not add to the overall workload. Recently Duncan, Martens & Ward (1997) found evidence of restricted attentional capacity within but not between sensory modalities. They presented streams of visual and/or auditory inputs, containing occasional targets to be identified and recalled. For two visual or two auditory streams they found that the identification of one target produce a sustained reduction in the ability to identify a second target. In contrast, when the streams were from both modalities, there was no such reduction in the identification of the second target. The results suggest a modality-specific restriction to concurrent attention and awareness. Flanagan, McAnally, Martin, Meehan & Oldfield (1998) found that with the use of spatially informative auditory information, visual search times were reduced. They used a spatial localisation task in which the search for a visual target was aided by either a visual arrow or an auditory cue. They found that both the visual and auditory cues aided in significantly reducing the search time when compared to an unaided search. With evidence suggesting that attentional capacity is modality-specific (Duncan, Martens & Ward, 1997) and that auditory cues can help with a visual spatial localisation task (Flanagan, McAnally, Martin, Meehan & Oldfield, 1998), the nature of the links between auditory and visual streams in spatial attention is of great importance. Moreover, a study by Spence and Driver (1996, 1997) had a subject stare at a fixed point at the center of a screen where lights were placed on the four corners of the screen. At the back of each light was a speaker, the task of the subject was to discriminate whether light or sound came from the upper and lower corners of the screen. They found that when a non-predictive visual cue was presented on one side an auditory target on the same location was processed faster and more accurately. In summary, our results indicate support for the claims of Spence and Driver and at the same time established the usefulness of using virtual 3-dimensional sound to measure auditory attention. Spatial advantage was found for non-informative cued areas in experiment 1 and 2 but for the shortest SOA of 200ms only which was also found by Spence and Driver in their experiments. Furthermore, spatial advantage was also found for informative cued areas for experiment 3, 4 and 5 wherein significant response time advantage was found in all SOA conditions (200ms, 500ms & 1100ms) for experiment 3 and 5 while the results obtained for experiment 4 found a significant response time advantage for valid cues only at the middle SOA condition (500ms). In experiment 3 response time advantage was found at all SOA levels for valid cues, while in experiment four wherein spatial informative cues were removed, response tine advantage for valid cues were only for the middle SOA conditions (500ms) and the introduction of spatially informative speech cues in experiment 5 found higher response time for all valid cues for all SOA levels.