Health Reforms in the U.S. and UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Health Reforms in the U.S. and UK - Essay Example The countries’ governments have indeed stated that the marginalised group of the society lacks proper healthcare due to the prevailing economic incapacities. Therefore, the governments feel the need to consider all citizens in offering healthcare services despite their societal status, races, demographic variability and economic variations. As a result, implementation of healthcare reforms in these countries has been given first priority (Weisfield, English & Claiborne 2012, p. 54). The aspects established in the reforms include cost reductions, quality enhancement criteria, patient satisfaction, stimulating ideal information technology approaches and improving overall service delivery in the health sector. Access to Health Care Individuals are entitled to efficient and effective healthcare services. In this case, the US advocates access to insurance cover that will cater for health-related issues. According to Tudor, the government ascertains that the reforms will further sec ure and ease the risk of loss for those with health insurance policies. On the contrary, the UK government advocates fair access to health services through the reforms. This emphasises the stringent measures over the health services delivered by private and public proprietors (Great Britain 2012, p. 78). The United Kingdom further advocates that proper health care systems will put patients into consideration, and to that extent, they will have the rights to express the types of services they seek. Most importantly, the UK reforms target to reshape and restructure the health system by approaching all societal groupings equally. In essence, the country understands the importance of all citizens and upholds their health as being significant to economic propulsion. The reforms consider improving the rate at which people gain access to health by allocating funds to the clinical commissioning groups and the founding of Public Health England. The bodies serve in intensifying health provisi on throughout the UK, thus reaching people in all dimensions nationwide. This aspect contrasts with the United States reforms, which imply that individuals ought to access insurance cover to stand viable to health services. On the other hand, the US government depicts that most of its citizens lack prompt access to health services due to high costs as compared to other nations. The reforms shall implement guaranteed access to the best health care among all citizens, thus enhancing social welfare. Through the reforms, the governments will subsidise the cost of insurance, hence making the policy cheaper and accessible by the marginalised group of the society (Truglio-Londrigan & Lewenson 2011, p. 49). An analytical approach portrayed that the US nation spends much on medical care but denies the citizens access because of the cost constraints. Therefore, suppressing the costs will propel health care throughout the nation. On the contrary, the UK government offers free health care throu ghout the nations, but inhibitions prevail over immigrants, and the time factor also matters since health facilities do not offer prompt services (Great Britain 2012, p. 79). Therefore, the UK reforms contrast with those of the US in accessibility to the extent that while one seeks to surpass costs, the other wishes to improve prompt delivery to all citizens despite their region and ethnicity. Health Quality Criteria A survey conducted upon the uninsured and insured patients inclusive of those

The Relationship between Working Parents and the Socialization of Children Essay Example for Free

The Relationship between Working Parents and the Socialization of Children Essay Western countries family life has undergone so many transformations in recent years that the context within which paternal employment is now occurring is different from in the past. Technological developmentsincluding clothes dryers, no-iron fabrics, disposable diapers, home freezers, and processed foods of good qualityhave enormously diminished the amount of work necessary for operating a household; family size is smaller; marital instability has increased the necessity for women to establish occupational competence; economic pressures in general have increased; womens educational levels have risen; the adult roles for which children are being socialized are different; the prevailing social values have changed. Today full-time mothers as well as employed mothers may feel a need to justify their role, and the role of full-time mother is a less satisfying one according to a number of recent studies. The role of the present-day non employed mothers may be as new as the role of the majority of present-day mothers, who are employed. It is even difficult to know which represents more of continuity with the non employed mother of the past. It is possible that the individual child in todays employed-mother household receives as much attention as the individual child in yesterdays non employed-mother householdwork filling in the time previously spent on the extra household responsibilities and the additional children, while todays non employed mother represents the really new pattern. The non employed mother today may represent a more intense parent-child interaction than we have ever had before. There is no data base that would make testing that hypothesis possible, but it is important to keep in mind as employed-mother families are compared with non employed mother families; neither one represents the traditional pattern. Until recently there were very few studies of the effects of paternal employment on the infant and preschool child, largely because the pattern was unusual. But the pattern is no longer unusual. Hochschild (1997) stated that in 1992, over 48% of the mothers of preschoolers, with a husband present in the home, were employed; over 45% of the mothers of children under 3. For mothers with no current husband, a rapidly increasing group, the comparable figures were 60% and 53%. In fact the rate of increase in employment has been greatest for mothers of preschoolers. The current figure of 48.7% employment among married mothers of preschoolers, for example, is more than double the rate in 1985 (Hochschild, 1997). In 1960 less than 20 percent of mothers with preschool children were employed, but by 1972 this had risen to over 45 percent and by 1990 to over 50 percent. In 1960 less than 40 percent of mothers with school-aged children had employment outside of the home. By 1972 this rose to almost 50 percent and by year 2000 to over 60 percent (Kahn, Kamerman, 1987). A long-standing concern exists in our society about possible problems for young children when their mother works outside of the home (McDonald, 2001). In general, available evidence indicates that children from families with two employed parents are as a group similar to those with housewife mothers in terms of emotional, intellectual and physical development (Hochschild, Machung, 1989). Children with two employed parents generally show as much maternal attachment as those whose mothers are full-time housewives. However, maternal employment can, along with other family circumstances, have either positive or negative ramifications for particular children. Tannen (1991) assert many complex factors are involved in determining the impact of maternal employment including the age of the child, type of day-care arrangements and the amount of time the child is actually separated from the parents. The ways that maternal employment may affect the young child can be influenced greatly by the quality of the fathers involvement in parenting. Under some circumstances, maternal employment can have a quite positive influence on both the parents and the child. Maternal employment often defuses an overly intense parent-child relationship, allowing the woman to develop more generalized feelings of competence. On the other hand, if the mothers employment means an already somewhat neglected child receives even less attention, there can be very negative implications for family functioning (Tannen, 1991). The employed mother can provide the father with an opportunity for a closer one-to-one relationship with his child. In many families before the advent of the employed mother, the father was less likely to be with a young child in individualized situations. More than one-third of all child-care arrangements made to aid employed mothers involve some increased participation by fathers. This can be a great advantage indeed if fathers realize their potential positive influence on children. The child with employed parents may also be able to spend some time, at least occasionally, at each of their workplaces. It can be quite stimulating for even very young children to discover that their mothers and fathers are competent adults outside the home. Unfortunately, most employed mothers in two-parent families still find themselves having much more than their fair share of household and parenting responsibilities (Morris, 1992). Wives often balance employment and parenthood better than their husbands do. Employment does not in itself detract from a womans motherhood. The personal satisfaction derived for the woman who enjoys her career may actually increase her effectiveness as a parent. The fact that the employed mother can be a very competent parent while still spending time away from home should support the contention that more fathers can also combine successful careers with effective child rearing. Among educated middle-class mothers, evidence suggests that many of those who are employed actually spend more quality one-to-one time with their children than do most of those who have no career. Many mothers who are home much of the day feel that simply being there is enough for their children. In contrast, employed mothers may feel that they must positively make up for being away from their children. Fathers, too, can learn a great deal from such mothers (Sassoon, 1987). Working mothers who have highly demanding careers tend to become more focused in their attention to their children when they are at home. Most working mothers realize that their children definitely need a period of close contact with them on a daily basis. They are usually committed to quality after-work time with their children. The child may get even more constructive attention from a working mother than from one who does not have a career. The housewife might not have as much of a need to interact as positively with her child on a one-toone basis. After all, she may feel that she is always at home anyway. When a mother has been the primary parent and then decides to pursue a career, especially before her children reach adolescence, much stress may be put on the marital relationship and the family system. In cases where the mother has assumed traditional responsibilities, the transition of going to work or back to school requires role redefinitions affecting both parents and children. Modification of conceptions of marital and parenting responsibilities is necessary but may be difficult to some extent for all family members. The first year in the familys readjustment to the mothers changing status is crucial. Unfortunately many couples cannot adapt in a successful way, and their marriages may deteriorate, sometimes ending in divorce. However, if they stay together during the difficult transition period, most couples actually seem to develop better relationships than when only the husband was an employed parent (Twigg Atkin, 1994). More than half of the preschool children in the United States spend a considerable part of the work week being cared for by someone other than their parents. Estimates show that even though thirty million children under fourteen years of age have mothers who work, there are only five million places available for them in before and afterschool care centers (Wolcott Glezer, 1995). Few studies have looked at the relationship between child stress and maternal employment. In a study by Tannen (1991), 180 adolescent girls and 92 adolescent boys thirteen to nineteen years of age participated in a study to determine whether their mothers employment status had any consequence on their sense of wellbeing. While no considerable results were found for the boys in the sample, the daughters of women employed full-time outside the home were considerably more likely to feel they could not approach their mothers or peers with personal problems; these girls also reported drastically greater life stress than the daughters of mothers who stayed in the home. The author stated, The sources of stress which female adolescents with working mothers found to be most intense imply that the absence of the mother should leave a substantial void in their lives and It seems that maternal employment can be associated with difficulties in the relationship of the parents and this consecutively created a stressful environment for the adolescents. (Wearing Wearing, 1996) The last two decades has seen a emerging of scholarly interest in work family relationships, but thus far the definition of work and family as a distinctive research domain has proceeded mainly as a search for the fundamental effects of specific working conditions on family life. The emotional edge between parents work experiences and qualities of parent-child relationships has been a mainly intriguing subject, leading some researchers to look at the ways in which a parents work-related stresses (deriving from work overload, for instance, or from lack of job autonomy) spill over into the family domain. Most research has emphasized the negative consequences of job spillover, as evidenced by parents emotional taking out or by their controlling, punitive behavior toward their children (Traustadottir, R. 1991; Wearing, Wearing, 1996). In their efforts to elucidate the causal connections between workplace experiences and family interaction, researchers have leaned to take as self-evident the conceptual distinction between work and family. Yet what describes an activity as work or as family is far from clear-cut. Nearly everyone of us who work outside the home are familiar with the ways in which family responsibilities break in the workplace, for example, in the form of personal phone calls to and from family members throughout working hours or in office conversations with co-workers about family-related subjects (Traustadottir, 1991). The division of labor between men and women stated by economic circumstances, womens adjustment to their economic responsibilities as replicated in their management of their time and delegation of tasks to their children and other family members, and the emergence of social behavior in children as a consequence of different socialization practices. The available evidence supporting the subsistence of an adaptive relationship between the mothers economic responsibilities, child care practices and the childrens behavior includes consequences from the Six Cultures study documenting that women in simple cultures who have considerable economic responsibilities assign more chores to their children and seem to be more despotic in their work assignments than women in complex cultures who have few economic responsibilities (Nolan, Grant, Keady,   1996,   and Moen, Robison, Dempster-McClain, 1995). From a western perspective, assessment of the nature of the relationship between maternal employment and child rearing practices presumes special prominence because of distress over the consequences of womens work outside the home. Speculation as to the impact of maternal employment ranges from commentary on the optimistic aspects of work on womens self esteem to concern over the phenomena of latch key children who come home to an empty house in the afternoon (Twigg Atkin, 1994). To date, the evidence derived from experiential studies of Western families is ambivalent as to the overall positive and negative collision of maternal employment on children (Hochschild, 1997). Working mothers report assignment of more household responsibilities to their children and are stricter disciplinarians than nonworking mothers (Hochschild, 1997, 1989). Survey data on adolescents specify that both sons and daughters are better adjusted while the mothers are employed, although the study was primarily designed to explore the negative consequences of maternal employment on adolescents (Nolan, Grant Keady, 1996). Interviews with working and nonworking mothers of young infants have revealed working mothers to recognize less distress in their infants while separated from them and to be less apprehensive about the capability of other care takers (Morris, J. 1992). It has also been suggested, that some working mothers feel guilty concerning not being instantaneously available to their children and compensate by being generous, overprotective, and lax in discipline (Hoffman, 1974). These conflicting lines of evidence point to the requirement for additional information on the consequences of maternal employment on family functioning. Information on changes in childrens behavior instigating from shifts in socialization practices linked with maternal responsibilities assumes increased significance while considered in conjunction with changes in womens employment behavior. As of 1999, 50% of the mothers of school aged children living with their husbands were employed as almost forty percent of mothers of preschool children were employed (Pocock, 2001). It is generally recognized that economic circumstances and the cost of living will encourage, if not force, women to seek paid employment outside the home. The dramatic increase in number of women, mainly mothers of young children, who are joining the work force suggests the requirement for careful examination of the impact of mothers working status on mother-child interactions and ensuing child development. During the last three decades, particular social concern has been directed at the quality of day care provided for children when mothers have employment outside of the home (Pocock, 2001).. A woman who has had a career may be in a state of indecision about continuing to work after she has had a baby. In most families, availability of day care and economic considerations are the major factors impacting on the familys options. If the couple looks strictly at the economic aspects of work, the situation may seem bleak. The potential income the mother earns may get absorbed by the new expenses of child care. But her job may be a significant source of pride as well as money for her. It is to be hoped that her career provides her with personal satisfaction as well as economic benefits (McDonald, 2001). In most cases, the father and mother can take at least some parental leave from their jobs. If they decide that neither of them will take any extended period of time off from working, both should be involved in planning day care for the baby. If some responsible adult cannot be found to care for the child in the home, the mother and father should visit several alternative settings and talk to other parents using such facilities before making a decision. They may find a day-care situation close to where they work so that they can visit their child during the day. Parents should not feel that they have to settle for an institutional day-care center where babies and children may be treated as little more than parts on an assembly line (Hochschild, 1997). They can form a small baby-care cooperative with other parents-fathers as well as mothersso that their child will be cared for with more personalized attention and commitment. As a general rule, it is best for parents to take primary responsibility for the care of their baby. Ideally, parents should not be reticent about presenting their special needs to their employers. They should explain that they may need some time off or will want to work unconventional hours, or even bring the child to work with them occasionally. Many potential arrangements can be made to minimize the need for day care outside of the family. For example, both parents may work thirty-five hours a week, but if one goes to work two hours earlier than the other and comes home two hours sooner, most of the care of the infant can be managed without including other adults. Also, either or both parents may be able to spend part of their lunch hour with the child. A general consequence of the greater involvement of adult females in positions of social and political leadership is a lessening of the emphasis on women just being mothers (Morris, 1992). This is beneficial in relieving some of the enormous pressure on women to define themselves solely in terms of their parenting responsibilities. However, this redefinition of adult femininity can be destructive to the quality of family life if fathers are not involved partners in parenting. The fathers and mothers attitudes toward the womans role outside the family are crucial. If the mother wants to work, to continue her education, or to become more involved in endeavors outside of the home, it is important that the father views it as his responsibility to be positively involved with his children. Greater flexibility for mothers can benefit fathers in many ways. While the mother is gaining an opportunity to broaden her interests outside of the home, the father can have more of a chance for a one-to-one relationship with his child. On a more general level, men must be sensitized to the enormous need for more constructive paternal influence in our society. The danger of the wife subtly resenting the husbands increased involvement with their child is lessened because she is gaining a greater confidence in herself as a well-rounded person. There is a very low probability that a child will be harmed by spending less time with a previously full-time mother, assuming they still share a regular, ongoing relationship. In fact, the child can be greatly stimulated by periods of time getting to know each parent as an individual as well as by opportunities to function more independently of family influence (Twigg, Atkin 1994). The childs social development can be greatly facilitated by a caring, accessible and dependable father who fosters a sense of closeness, sharing and trust. The fathers positive family involvement assumes special significance in fostering social competence because he is apt to be the only salient male adult the child encounters on a day-to-day basis. Both boys and girls need to develop effective modes of social interaction with males as well as females. Children who have the benefit of being exposed to kind, considerate interactions between their parents are likely to have a solid basis for constructive male-female relationships. By conveying positive values about male-female relationships, the nurturing father can have an especially crucial role in supporting his sons and daughters capacity for intimacy. His encouragement of assertiveness, body pride and basic self-esteem increases the likelihood of his child having constructive relationships both inside and outside of the family. Although many interacting biopsychosocial influences are involved, the quality of fathering that individuals receive during childhood tends to be associated with their social competence, sexual adjustment and life satisfaction in adulthood. The earlier father-mother-child relationship is a significant factor in the adults personality functioning and capacity for success in marriage, parenting and work. Exposure to positive paternal and maternal influence during childhood increases the likelihood that females as well as males will be socially and vocationally successful during adulthood, able happily to pursue their personal, family and career interests. Work Cited Hochschild, A. (1997). The Time Bind When Work Becomes Home and Home Becomes Work. New York: Metropolitan Books. Hochschild, A. with Machung, A. (1989). The Second Shift: Working Parents and the Revolution at Home. New York: Avon Books. Kahn, A.J. Kamerman, S.B. (1987). Child Care: facing the hard choice. Dover: Auburn House. McDonald, F. (2001). Work-family policies are the right approach to the prevention of very low fertility. People and Place, 9(3), 17-27. Moen, P., Robison, J. Dempster-McClain, D. (1995). Caregiving and womens well-being: a life course approach. Journal of Health Social Behaviour, 36, pp. 259-273. Morris, J. (1992). `Us and `them? Feminist research, community care and disability. Critical Social Policy, Issue 33 (Winter), pp. 22-39. Nolan, M. Grant, G. Keady, J. (1996) Understanding Family Care. A Multidimensional Model for Caring and Coping. Buckingham: Open University Press. Pocock, B. (2001). Having a Life: Work, Family, fairness and community in 2000. Adelaide, Adelaide University: Centre for Labour Research. Sassoon, A. S. (Ed.) (1987). Women and the State. London: Routledge. Tannen, D. (1991). You Just Dont Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. London: Virago. Traustadottir, R. (1991). Mothers who care. Gender, disability and damily life. Journal of Family Issues. 12 (2), pp. 211-228. Twigg, J. Atkin, K. (1994). Carers Perceived: Policy and Practice in Informal Care. Buckingham: Open University Press. Wearing, B. Wearing, C. (1996). Women Breaking Out: Changing Discourses on Grandmotherhood. journal of Family Studies, 2, 165-177. Wolcott, I. Glezer, H. (1995). Work and Family Life: Achieving Integration. Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family.

Is a Metatheoretical Psychologist a ‘Cowboy Builder’?

Is a Metatheoretical Psychologist a ‘Cowboy Builder’? Abstract Personally, I feel that Metatheoretical psychologist are not a â€Å"cowboy builder†, as I uses the progression of behaviourism as an example and further elaborated how the approach leads to the discoveries and progression of the theories, using explanation of russian physiologist known as Ivan Pavlov, followed by American Psychologist called John B. Watson and Edward Thorndike, and lastly, another fellow American Psychologist, B.F. Skinner. Ivan Pavlov, who started the earliest toward the study of behaviourism, he discovered classical conditioning which demostrated how behaviours can be learned via through classical associations. John B. Watson, who further defined behaviourism through â€Å"little albert† experiment and lastly, B.F. Skinner, who further explains behaviourism using his concept of operant conditioning, illustrating behaviour through punishment and reinforcement. These three examples have rejected the idea that of a ‘cowboy builder’ as these experimentalist using each and individual experiment to reinforce and further build up understanding of behaviourism and its importance and definition. Is a Metatheoretical Psychologist just a ‘Cowboy Builder’? Psychology is not simply definable, and be even characterised easily. Even till today if one were to define or characterised, it will end up render the effort indequately the very next day. Psychology is what the philsopher and the scientists of various persuasion have come out with to try fulfilling the needs towards understanding of humans’ mind and behaviour from the most primitive to complex level (Reber, Allen, Reber, 2009). From a philosophical point of view, The term ‘psychology’ took its to another level of problems concerning the mind, will and knowledge, where it has been defined as the ‘science of mind’ ,’the science of mental life’, these definitions reflected the prejudices of the definer more than the actual nature of field (Reber et al., 2009). Metatheory, in this case defined by Reber et al. (2009), a term which used to cover the theoretical discussions about the construction of scientific theories, hence, the role of a metatheoretical psychologist is to perform metatheoretical research, which includes sorting of theories, analysing of literatures, they played an important role in search of a set of interlocking principles in which are acceptable or not for the theories (Rozeboom, 2005; Wallis, 2010). An experimentalist stated that metatheoretical are like ‘cowboy builders’ where they are able to identify and breakdown mistakes and problems of works done by others, but they are not able to give opinions to help strength that particular approach in psychology. However, I disagree what the experimentalist mentioned, as I believe that metatheoretical psychologist, no doubt , they are the ones who are capable of developing and combining of theories, and looking at aspects of applying and analysing of the theorems to unveil the underlying assumptions about theory and the process of theorizing with reinforcement of empirical evidences (Wallis, 2010). Hence, the aim of this essay is to furthe r elaborate my points of in which that metatheoretical psychologists is not a ‘cowboy builder’, using a psychological approach in which leads to a numbers of theories which is able to support my views towards this statement. To strongly prove my point on metatheoretical psychologists not being a ‘cowboy builders’, I would like to start off with first example right before the birth of behaviourism. It is understandable that in 1913, John B. Watson pioneered new psychology approach known as ‘Behaviourism’ (Watson J. B., 1994). where Behaviourism is defined as a natural science that takes the whole field of human adjustments as its own. It is the business of behavioristics psychology to predict and control human activity.Behavioristics psychology has as its goal to be able, given the stimulus, to predict the response or, seeing the reaction. (Watson Kimble, 1997). However, this discovery and understanding of behaviourism would not have happen without work of an American psychologist, Edward Thorndike. Thorndike shows how behaviours could be modified by its consequences by doing an experimental work on hungry domestic animals, as they were placed individually in the puzzle boxes, a nd if the animal exhibit any escaping behaviours to the door of the puzzle box, it would then be opened allowed the animal to gain freedom. This experiment allow Thorndike to conclude that while the animal exploring the box, the animal exhibited the first instance of an appropriate behaviour unit by chance and that, across trials, escape latencies would decrease systematically as it is able to learned that pressing the latch will allow it to escape. (Gewirtz, 2001). Therefore through this experiment, he looks at the connection of stimulus and response in the experiment, which eventually created a concept of the law of effect, which he explained that greater the satisfaction, the greater the strengthening, and the greater the dissatisfaction, the greater the weakening, of the bond (Gewirtz, 2001).This work of Thorndike allowed a Russian Physiologist, Ivan Pavlov, to continue his work on physiology of digestion (Gewirtz, 2001; Clark, 2004). Pavlov, who have won the Nobel Prize in 1904 , credited Thorndike for being the first researcher to show accurate approach to the immense task of objective research on animal learning (Gewirtz, 2001). He did an experiment in his chamber which the dog is presented with the food, at the same time, saliva is collected through a tube implanted into the salivary gland of the dog, enabling him to study the saliva’s role in digestive process, which his prediction is that the dog salivate when food is placed in the mouth which is a discovery he deemed that its importance in the study of digestion, known as salivary reflex (Windholz, 1997). Overtime, this lead to him realising that the even right before the food comes, the dog will salivate in the presence of the food attendant and the sound of the door (Windholz, 1997). He carried on with the experiment by pairing the bell and the food, and after several tries, he successfully uses the bell alone to create a salivary response from the dog. This discovery can be explained in whi ch the bell, a neutral stimulus which trigger no natural response in the dog (salivation) is paired with food which is the unconditional response. This pairing causes the response to the unconditioned stimulus (food), the unconditioned response (salivation), to transfer to the neutral stimulus (bell). Hence, in order for response to occur again, only the bell is need, food may no longer have its importance. Pavlov realised that the response is a learned but unnatural, hence it is a conditioned response and neutral stimulus will transformed into conditioned stimulus. The bell tone in Pavlovs experiment is the neutral stimulus which is paired the unconditioned stimulus of food. The unconditioned response of salivation became a conditioned response to the newly conditioned stimulus of the tone (Beecroft, 1966; Windholz, 1997; Bitterman, 2006). This phenomone is known as classical conditioning. As we can see this is one of few classic examples which demolish the experimentalist view on psychologists, this research has just show us not only it is a psychological endeavour but it also influence a lot of students known as the pavlovians-graduate students to continue this study of salivary reflex conditioning. (Windholz, 1997). Ivan Pavlov is able to conduct and build up an experiment, and bringing it up to the next level, not only looking at the digestion process which is a physiological, but at the same time, discovered a psychological aspect which is the salivary reflex and subsequently build up to theory of classical conditioning. The progression of Ivan Pavlov’s experiment was done by an American psychologist known as John B Watson where he further elaborated and adopted Ivan Pavlov’s work and claims that classical conditioning in animals is important as it is able to explain all human aspect of psychology (Watson J. B., 1994; Rilling, 2000). Watson uses the measurement and analytical techniques of Pavlov’s experiment and applied them to the humans in terms of adaptive forms of behaviour, so he and his assistant (Moore, 2011), an experiment known as â€Å"little Albert†, he simply transfer the same concept of Pavlov’s work, while Pavlov conduct his experiment using food and animal, Watson uses a baby known as little albert, and inflict of fear to it in order to demonstrate classical conditioning in humans (Watson Rayner , Conditioned emotional reactions, 1920). Using white rat as Neutral Stimulus, before the start of the experimental trials, the rat is shown to little Alber t, but little Albert does not show concern about the rats. Watson’s aim for this experiment is inflict an anxiety response to little albert using the rat. So the Unconditioned Stimulus in the experiment is the used of an iron bar and a hammer to create a loud noise just behind little Albert, which he find annoyed about (Watson Rayner , Conditioned emotional reactions, 1920). During the experiment, the noise is created as the rat is presented to Albert. After subsequent experiments, without the noise when the rat was presented, Albert would started crying. This produced a conditioned reflex similar to Pavlov’s dog able to associate a neutral stimulus with Unconditioned Stimulus (Rilling, 2000). Further experiments on Albert, has shown that rats are not only the one that give Albert the similar response, it also start to generalised to other while furry objects which look similar to the white rats (Watson Rayner , Conditioned emotional reactions, 1920). This example of the â€Å"little Albert† experiment, shows that how behaviourist like Watson, able to work on and progress through using Pavlov’s physiological theory of salivary reflex and extract the psychological elements, which is the theory of classical conditioning in an animal, and show that even humans can learn through conditioning, and initiated the study of behaviourism (Moore, 2011). Therefore, as what we can see above that Watson improvised Pavlov’s experiment, which he applied to the humans and which he end up discover a higher order of condition, where generalization took place in the little Albert experiment, this second example shows that how the rise of the behaviourism were strengthen by theory like classical conditioning, which build up to another level, where the use of different test subject will lead to a different and new outcome of understand of behaviourism, which I feel that Watson in his experiment has shown us simply that they isn’t a cowboy builder who simply just agreed upon thing without doing their research. However, Rilling (2000) stated that Watson rejected Thorndike’s law of effect in the midst of working on classical conditioning theory, he felt sceptical about Thorndike’s assumption and explanation of the trial and error learning where Thorndike stated that successful act is pleasant and unsuccessful act is unpleasant (Watson ,1914; Rilling, 2000) and so the Thorndike’s experiment inspired Watson, he conducted an empirical test for the study of learning in animal, simply to test Thorndike’s law of effect. The purpose is to prove that if Thorndike is correct about his theory then pleasure from immediate reward would be greater than dissatisfaction from delayed reward. The experiment was conducted with rats and sawdust boxes, and Watson (1916a) compared the learning curves for one group of rats getting the immediate reward and the other with delayed rewards. The result is puzzling as two group of learning curves were nearly similar (Rilling, 2000) which thi s data cause classic behaviourist to be sceptical about Thorndike’s law of effect. The attack on Thorndike by Watson seems to be rhetoric. Never the less, it does not mean that one rejected all have to reject it, as Moore (2011) stated that Watson’s behaviourism proved inadequate and many of the researchers took another approach which analysed by B.F. Skinner (Moore, 2011). Skinner proved his own definition by studying on Thorndike’s law of effect which provided him the basis of operant learning theory (Schwartz Lacey, 1982). He conducted an experiment which resemble Thorndike’s puzzle box and an input of a lever, which he want to find out how the rats learned to press the lever. The difference between the two experiment done, is based on the determiner on frequency of the experiment, which Thorndike is based on the experimenter and Skinner is based on the rats themselves (Iversen, 1992). Each time, the rats press the lever, the food will immediately be released. This resulted in the learning of the rat to press the lever to receive rewards. However, when Skinner replaced the food with shocks, the frequency of the lever being depressed leads to an immediate stop of the action due to punishing consequences (Iversen, 1992). He concluded from the result that the behaviour influenced by the law of effect is known as operant conditioning due to the behavioural change or operated of the organism on the environment. In the experiment, there is no environmental stimuli that create a response from an organism as compared to organism in classical conditioning experiment done by Pavlov. Mischel (1993) stated that skinner also concluded that Operant conditioning consists of two important key components, the operant and the consequence. If the consequence is a positive reinforcement, then the likelihood of another similar response is more as compare to if the consequence is punishment. Similar results were produced by accidental when the pellet dispenser had jammed, it stops the positive reinforcement of food altogether in a process called extinction, this situation was noticed when the r at continue pressing the lever even though no food were received, at the start the behaviour becomes rapid than usual, then slowly the frequency worn off but the operant conditioned response decreased at a much slower rate than when punishment was used (Iversen, 1992). Similarly, operant conditioning like this also appear in child, when either rewarding or punishing with disciplinary actions. This kind of operant conditioning occurs in the rewarding or punishing discipline action taken towards a child (Schwartz Lacey, 1982). As we can see from all of these example above, how behaviourism can lead to two theories of learning, as Watson hypothesized that â€Å"behavioristics psychology has as its goal to be able, given the stimulus, to predict the response or, seeing the reaction take place to state what the stimulus is that has called out the reaction† (Iversen, 1992), However this stimulus–response psychology was soon to be overthrown by Skinners work (Iversen, 1992). Even though he called his lever pressing action as an investigatory reflex and referred it to eliciting stimuli which is measured due to the influences of the work of Pavlov’s and Watson’s (Iversen, 1992). In the later part of his research, Skinner later moved away from the Stimuli and response tradition as he discovered operant conditioning with the aid of Edward Thorndike, and commented that the result that happen immediately after the response is more important than incident happen right before, and the extinction that he accidentally found out indicated that there is no role in eliciting stimuli for that behaviour to happen. Lastly, the final form of the conditioned response is deem as the most important as it did not even exist prior to the conditioning, therefore no elicitation is involved. This successful method of shaping help in generating behaviours that have not been seen previously in range of behaviours in the experimental subject. Which Iversen (1992) sta ted that skinner’s work in the early stage completely contradict Watsons â€Å"no stimulus, no response† rule. So all in all. We can see that the build-up progression of behaviourism and the two learning theories, are not of a style of a cowboy builder. Instead the build ups of the theories, not only involves criticism of theories, to improve another, for example, Watson rejected Thorndike’s law of effect, place more work in Pavlov theory, to improve the theory of classical conditioning through empirical evidence, and also involves influences of theories, just like how skinner inspired by Thorndike’s law of effect, created similar experiment, and initially followed Pavlov and Watson’s work, and realised issues and rejected it to form its own learning theory, operate learning theory. These examples resulted that and prove to these experimentalist that once again, Metatheoretical psychologist are not a â€Å"cowboy builder†. References Bitterman, M. E. (2006). Classical Conditioning Since Pavlov. Review of General Psychology, Issue: Volume 10(4), p 365–376. Clark, R. E. (2004). The classical origins of Pavlovs conditioning. The Official Journal Of The Pavlovian Society, 39(4), 279-294. Gang, J. (2011). Behaviorism and the Beginnings of Close Reading. The Johns Hopkins University Press, ELH 78(1), 1-25. Gewirtz, J. L. (2001). J. B. Watsons Approach to Learning: Why Pavlov? Why Not Thorndike? Behavioral Development Bulletin, Issue: Volume 10(1), p 23–25. Henriques, G. R. (2004). Psychology Defined. JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Vol. 60(12), 1207–1221. Iversen, I. H. (1992). Skinners Early Research: From Reflexology to Operant Conditioning. American Psychologist, Issue: Volume 47(11), p 1318–1328. Moore, J. (2011). BEHAVIORISM. The Psychological Record, 449-463. Reber, A. S., Allen, R., Reber, E. S. (2009). The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology: Fourth Edition. New York: Penguin. Rilling, M. (2000). How the Challenge of Explaining Learning Influenced the Origins and Development of John B. Watsons Behaviorism. The American Journal of Psychology, Vol. 113, No. 2, pp. 275-301. Rozeboom, W. W. (2005). Meehl on metatheory. Journal of Clinical Psychology, Volume 61, Issue 10, pages 1317–1354. Schwartz, B., Lacey, H. (1982). Behaviorism, science, and human nature. New York: Norton. Wallis, S. E. (2010). Toward a Science of Metatheory. INTEGRAL REVIEW, Vol. 6, No. 3. Watson, J. B. (1914). Behavior: An introduction to comparative psychology. New York: Holt. Watson, J. B. (1916a). The place of the conditoned reflex in psychology. Psychological Review, 23, 89-108. Watson, J. B. (1994). Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It. American Psychological Association, Issue: Volume 101(2), p 248–253. Watson, J. B., Kimble, G. A. (1997). John B. Watsons Behaviorism: A Retrospective Review. American Psychological Association, Volume 42(1), p 23–28. Watson, J. B., Rayner , R. (1920). Conditioned emotional reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3, 1–14. Windholz, G. (1997). Ivan P. Pavlov: An Overview of His Life and Psychological Work. American Psychological Association, Issue: Volume 52(9), p 941–946.

Video Games in Education Essay -- Gaming Video Games Essays Papers

Video Games in Education Since the Early 70’s video games have been giving a bad name. Parents state that video games rot the minds of children and are influencing them do be violent. These accusations are far from the truth. In my research I found that there are many positive effects of gaming. Some of these effects are increased skills, creativity, general knowledge, and also help those in need. Parents can also take proper precautions and look into a game before buying it to see if it meets the criteria discussed in this paper. Video games challenge the player and expand his ability to react fast with very little lag time. With years of practice the player becomes quicker and more accurate with the movements. Thus hand and eye coordination is better, the player sees something on the screen and has to physically react to it. Not only is hand and eye coordination improved but so is manual dexterity (Taking Children Seriously). For example Madden 2004 is a football game, which requires fast reactions. If the player does not have the quick reaction skills develop then the other team will most likely sack him. The player needs to realize he has a limited time to throw the ball and most get the pass off quickly, he needs to scan the field, look for a possible escape route, and watch for the defense closing in. Another type of game, which improves hand and eye coordination, is shooting games. Although these games, such as Time Crisis 2, are being criticized for its violent content, these games force the pl ayer to quickly scan the screen for criminals to shoot before they are shot. The police force uses similar methods to train their officers to raise reaction speed when they are out on the streets. Related to h... ...the ideas that are taught in schools. Games also need to intermix instruction with demonstration. This is a big difference from the basic way of learning in school, which is memorize and regurgitate. Demonstrating shows the student what it looks like and they retain the content longer. Video games have been an influence part of our society since the early 70’s. The bad named that they are given is false, the only reason they have this bad name is because kids like games, so anything that is fun is bad for you. If a child loved playing chess he or she would be rewarded but it to is a game. Video games can help the learning process and should be incorporated in to the school system. If a child loved playing chess he or she would be rewarded but it to is a game. Video games can help the learning process and should be incorporated in to the school system.

An Infectious Cure Essay

Part 1 Questions 1. The Europeans poured have poured something into the water which sterilized the water and killed the toxins that become disruptive in the digestive system when they are consumed. They Europeans may have poured what are called oral rehydration salts into the well, which quickly works are combatting the cholera, and will prevent further outbreaks from occurring. 2. Ethical issues that are raised by pouring the treatment into the wells without the consent of others is that people should be entitled to choose whether or not they want to chance their lives by consuming a mystery cure. The villagers have no idea what is being poured into the wells, which further down the line could cause different health issues, and in turn people won’t know where to begin to find a cure if they are unsure of what caused it. Bottom line, it takes away the person’s right to choose whether or not they want to accept the â€Å"cure†. For instance flu vaccines are readily available, but people still choose not to receive one out of fear that it will enhance the likelihood of having the flu that season. The only factor that makes it more ethical is the fact that it worked and nobody else became sick, but that should make people more skeptical knowing that their drinking water is 100 percent accessible and easy to tamper with. 3. The Europeans were not justified in imposing their cure on the villagers. Yes the â€Å"cure† may have worked in Europe, but since it had only happened one time, they may not know if their â€Å"cure† was really what helped in their situation. It could have been something completely different that went unaccounted for. They definitely could have taken other steps beforehand that would have made it more acceptable, such as: informing the people of what they were doing and asking for permission. The elder had every right to drain the well out of fear that the Europeans could have been tampering with it and making the situation worse. 4. It is not appropriate to force a cure on a population. It takes away peoples’ choice. As long as people are educated about the situation and their options, they should be able to choose. Like with the Fluoride situation, the water in the area is not their only source of drinking water, families could very easily buy bottled water in order to  prevent ingesting what they fear to be tampered with water. 5. It is clear that whatever the Europeans poured into the well did help the villagers. Since they isolated the drinking water to only one well, and people stayed away from the dyed water it helped to prove their validity much more, since the people did in fact get better after a few days and no new cases had occurred. The results were not scientifically reliable since there is still an amount of doubt since there was only one other trial. I would say the results are more indicative than anything since there was really nothing formal about the process. Part 2 Questions 1. I would say the villagers would needs to drink from the water repeatedly in order to speed up the production of the bacteriophages killing the harmful bacteria. The basis of my answer is that if a villager already displayed the symptoms of cholera and only drank the water once that it would be ineffective. The symptoms of cholera include vomiting and diarrhea which means the newly ingested water with the cure would quickly be expelled from the body. 2. People could see improvement as quickly as a day. They may not be back to 100 percent, but the symptoms will slowly start to go away. It all depends on how many phages are consumed and their rate of production. Very quickly they can multiply. I would expect the effectiveness to increase over time in an individual and then by the time they are better, the bacteriophages will have no more cholera bacteria to feed off of and then the phages will slowly die off because they rely solely on bacteria in order to survive. 3. Yes the process of viral and bacterial co-evolution will continue indefinitely because both will continue to grow, modify, and adapt to changes that the other has made. 4. No the villagers should not be concerned that this virus will cause damage to their intestines because that is solely what cholera targets, and the purpose of the phages are to combat the cholera bacteria, which would in turn help their intestines. 5. The release of a toxin from the cholera bacteria is what causes people to experience the dreadful symptoms. A negative health concern of killing the cholera at a quick rate is that since the phages will prevent symptoms from increasingly becoming worse, the â€Å"dead† cholera in the intestine may sit  there for a longer amount of time instead of running straight through the person which may do more damage to the intestine. 6. Humans should not be concerned about the bacteriophages infecting other cells because each bacteriophage is particular to a certain bacteria. If the bacterial cell exhibits traits that are desirable to the certain bacteriophage, then the phage will chose to bind and infect it, otherwise people have nothing to worry about. 7. If the bacteria became lysogenic, people would see improvements much faster, because more phages are being produced to combat the cholera bacteria. 8. Eventually the bacteriophages will die in the intestine since there will be no more bacteria to combat and live off of. 9. A risk to phage therapy is that the virus and bacteria both evolve over time. Using this method more frequently may cause the virus’s to evolve more quickly. If that is to happen there will be new problems to solve. 10. The next bacterium that is infected will actually produce more cholera and make the symptoms occur even more quickly. The affected human will become even sicker and could possibly die. 11. Given this information I would still try the phage therapy. The symptoms would be awful, and I would be willing to try anything for a chance for the symptoms to get better. I would say this is a safe and effective form of treatment under monitoring. Part 3 Questions 1. The phage treatment had much quicker and effective results than the antibiotics. 2. Factors of the human body that could alter the effectiveness of the phage treatment would be temperature, acidity, and the strength of the immune system. These factors could have different effects on the phages. The results would be different for each person, since the internal environment is different from person to person given the situation. 3. Advantages to antibiotics are that they still work, just not at the fastest rate. You know exactly what is being put into your body and how it is supposed to work. 4. Advantages to phages is that they work at a faster rate than antibiotics, they invade the cell and get right to work whereas the bacteria often has time to adapt and keep reproducing with an antibiotic. Part 4 Questions 1. Advantages to phage treatment: able to reach parts of the body quicker than antibiotics, the rate at which it kills the bacteria is much faster, phage treatment is very individualized which is better for people. Disadvantages to phage treatment: takes longer to create, which may not be quick enough to combat certain diseases, more expensive, requires more testing. Advantages to antibiotics: they are more universal, can be created quicker, cheaper for the consumer, still effective (just not to the same extent as phage treatment) Disadvantages to antibiotics: they take longer to become effective, cannot access all areas of the body like phages can. 2. Yes there are some diseases that lend themselves more to phage therapy such as salmonella and other types of food poisoning that target specific areas of the body. And yes there are some infections that lend themselves more to antibiotic therapy like a simple cold, or an ear infection. Antibiotics are more than capable of handling something simple like that. It is when infections become more serious and detrimental to a persons’ health that other methods of treatment should be discovered. 3. Yes I think restrictions on phage therapy should be loosened. It may cost more, but there are people willing to pay the price for more effective treatments. As long as the phage therapy is being used for the greater good, then I say why not take advantage of it.

Free Essays on Aggresive Driving

WHY AGGRESSIVE DRIVING SHOULD BE AVOIDED Purpose: To persuade people that aggressive driving should be avoided. INTRODUCTION I. Speeding, tailgating, giving the finger and outright violence. Each day Americans grow more and more likely to take out their personal frustrations on other drivers. It is called aggressive driving and it is on the incline. II. Driving is a curious combination of public and private acts. A car isolates a driver from the world even as it carries him through it. The sensation of personal power is intoxicating. Aggressive driving includes such things as illegal or improper lanes changes or turns, failing to stop of yield the right of way, excessive speeds, and an assortment of gestures, looks, and verbally abusive language. III. Everyday we have to deal with these people on our roads. We run a great risk just driving around the corner to go to the store or a quiet trip to church. According to U.S. News and World Report, the U.S. Departments of Transportation estimates that two-thirds of fatalities are at least partially caused by aggressive driving. Fortunately, there is something we can do to help reduce the problem. BODY Preview: To overcome aggressive driving we must first understand it. I would like to share with you the problem, the dangers, and the solutions for this growing trend. I. The number one cause of aggressive driving behaviors is the discourteous or inattentive driver. A. The number one cause is probably the â€Å"left-lane hog†, according to a story in the Amarillo Daily News. 1. Other discourteous driving behaviors include failure to signal before a lane change, changing lanes too closely to the other drivers, and tailgating. B. It is these seemingly unaware drivers that infuriate the aggressive driver and trigger the Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde transformation. 1. Reducing enforcement, highway traffic, congestion or personal issues also play a large role in the disposition o... Free Essays on Aggresive Driving Free Essays on Aggresive Driving Persuasive Speech: Aggressive Driving Specific Purpose: To persuade the audience that aggressive driving should be avoided. Introduction I.Attention Getter: Speeding, tailgating, giving the finger and outright violence. Each day Americans grow more and more likely to take out their personal frustrations on other drivers. It is called aggressive driving and it is on the incline. II. Definition: Driving is a curious combination of public and private acts. A car isolates a driver from the world even as it carries him through it. The sensation of personal power is intoxicating. Aggressive driving includes such things as illegal or improper lane changes or turns, failing to stop or yield right of way, excessive speeds, and an assortment of gestures, looks and verbally abusive language. III. Connection: Everday we have to deal with these people on our roads. We run a great risk just driving around the corner to go to the store or a quiet trip to church. According to U.S. News and World Report, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that two-thirds of fatalities are at least partially caused by aggressive driving. Fortunately, there is something we can do about it. Body Preview: To overcome aggressive driving we must first understand it. I would like to share with you the problem, the dangers and the solutions for this growing trend. I. The Problem: The major cause of aggressive driving is the discourteous or inattentive driver. A. The number one cause is probably the â€Å"left-lane hog†, according to a story in the Amarillo Daily News. 1. Other discourteous driving behaviors include failure to signal before a lane change, changing lanes too closely to other drivers and tailgating. B. It is these seemingly unaware drivers that infuriate the aggressive driver and trigger the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde transformation. 1. Reduced enforcement, highway traffic, congestion or personal issues al... Free Essays on Aggresive Driving WHY AGGRESSIVE DRIVING SHOULD BE AVOIDED Purpose: To persuade people that aggressive driving should be avoided. INTRODUCTION I. Speeding, tailgating, giving the finger and outright violence. Each day Americans grow more and more likely to take out their personal frustrations on other drivers. It is called aggressive driving and it is on the incline. II. Driving is a curious combination of public and private acts. A car isolates a driver from the world even as it carries him through it. The sensation of personal power is intoxicating. Aggressive driving includes such things as illegal or improper lanes changes or turns, failing to stop of yield the right of way, excessive speeds, and an assortment of gestures, looks, and verbally abusive language. III. Everyday we have to deal with these people on our roads. We run a great risk just driving around the corner to go to the store or a quiet trip to church. According to U.S. News and World Report, the U.S. Departments of Transportation estimates that two-thirds of fatalities are at least partially caused by aggressive driving. Fortunately, there is something we can do to help reduce the problem. BODY Preview: To overcome aggressive driving we must first understand it. I would like to share with you the problem, the dangers, and the solutions for this growing trend. I. The number one cause of aggressive driving behaviors is the discourteous or inattentive driver. A. The number one cause is probably the â€Å"left-lane hog†, according to a story in the Amarillo Daily News. 1. Other discourteous driving behaviors include failure to signal before a lane change, changing lanes too closely to the other drivers, and tailgating. B. It is these seemingly unaware drivers that infuriate the aggressive driver and trigger the Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde transformation. 1. Reducing enforcement, highway traffic, congestion or personal issues also play a large role in the disposition o...