The independent variable Essay Example for Free

The independent variable Essay Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior or in behavioral potentiality that results from experience and cannot be attributed to temporary body states such as those induced by illness, fatigue, or drugs. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005, pg 8) Learning can occur from experience, classical conditioning or operant conditioning. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) Aristotle theorized through his laws of association that information can be recalled through contiguity, similarity or contrast. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) Using the frontal lobes of our brain the information can be manipulated to form ideas or thoughts both directly or abstractly from the knowledge that is stored in longterm memory. Learning is studied by the potential change or observable change in behavior. Studying the change in behavior provides researchers with an observable, measureable subject matter that is necessary in behavioral science. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) The behavior is studied by identifying the variables. The relationship between the stimuli and the responses is the theoretical process called the intervening variable. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) The dependent variable is the behavior. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) The independent variable is what causes the change in behavior. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) The complexity of human thought behavior makes it difficult to study learning. Because of this most learning studies are performed on animals. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) One exception would be Ebbinghaus who studied the relationship between learning irrelevant information like nonsense syllables and relevant information like Byrons Don Juan. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) Ebbinghaus studied himself and methodically recorded the amount of times it took to master nonsense syllables and syllables that were familiar to theorize the associative process in learning. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) Psychologists like Skinner and Pavlov used animals to study the learning process. Pavlov studied learning in dogs through classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is where a conditioned response is used to cause a change in behavior. Pavlov documented a dogs unconditioned response to food which is an unconditioned stimulus. Dogs have a predisposition naturally to start salivating when food is introduced. This condition is innate and similar to  a persons reflex of pulling his or her hand away from a hot stove. Pavlov also showed that a condition stimulus like the sound of a bell alone will not cause a dog to salivate. Pavlov added a conditioned stimulus, the sound of a bell, to the unconditioned stimulus of introducing food. After repeating the conditioned stimulus several times the dogs learned that when the bell sounded that food was going to follow so the dogs would start salivating as soon as they heard the sound of the bell even if no food was presented. (Willingham, 2007)Skinner studied learning through operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is different than classical conditioning because a choice is involved. The dogs did not have a choice but to salivate to the sound of the bell, but in operant conditioning a person would make a choice such as not eat fish if it has made them sick on a prior experience. Skinner used a skinner box made of Plexiglas with a grid floor that can be electrified and a lever that can be pressed that will deliver food to the animal, usually a rat, inside the box. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) The box was used to test escape conditioning or avoidance conditioning. Escape conditioning occurs when the animal inside the Skinner box is given a negative stimulus, an electoral shock from the floor of the box, and the animal has to perform a behavior such as climbing onto a small shelf to turn off the shock stimulus. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) Avoidance conditioning is a signal is activated just before the electric shock to get the animal to jump onto the shelf to avoid being shocked. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) In both of these scenarios the animal makes a choice as a result of the conditioned stimulus. Learning is the process in which knowledge is stored in memory. Aristotle first formulated the law of association to show a correlation between retrieval of nonfunctional knowledge. The law of similarity is the recalling of similar experiences or objects. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) The law of similarity would be when a person learns something during training and later comes across a similar event or interaction. He or she would reinvent what was learned and apply it to the task or interaction based on his or her similar knowledge. (Fenwick, 2000). The law of contrast is recalling the opposite of something. (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) The law of contiguity is recalling something that was experienced at the same time as something else.  (Hergenhahn Olson, 2005) These laws of association give a basis of cognition. A person goes to a fine dining restaurant and orders a tray of signature cheese spreads for the fresh baked bread. When the waiter brings the spreads the person hears the waiter express the imported quality, sees the display of the variety of spreads and the texture, smells the aroma, and taste the spread to be all that the waiter described. A year later the same person sees the cheese spread on the menu and recalls the contiguity of memories being stored about the smell, taste, texture and quality of the cheese and uses the knowledge to make a decision if he or she wants to order it again or not. References Fenwick, T. (2000). Expanding Conceptions of Experiential Learning: A Review of the Five Contemporary Perspectives on Cognition. Retrieved from http://aeq.sagepub.com at Apollo Group Inc. Hergenhahn, B., Olson, M. (2005). An Introduction to Theories of Learning (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice HallWillingham, D. T. (2007). Cognition: The thinking animal (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Allyn4 Bacon.

impact of feminism on fashion

impact of feminism on fashion Impact of Feminism on Fashion There has been a heated discussion on the equality of man and woman since a century ago when feminists began to strive for womens benefit. Compared to women in nineteenth century, women in this day and age have more rights and freedom. Women are now more considered to be independent individuals, as long time ago, they were possessions of men. Furthermore, women were compelled to follow every single order from men unconditionally. As an important impetus to fashion, feminism, which was mainly formed by three waves, has changed the stereotype significantly and lead to the decrease of restrictions on womens dressing. â€Å"Feminism encompasses many different theoretical, political and academic traditions. At the centre of feminist concerns, however, is the liberation of women from oppressive social practices and ideologies.†The first wave of feminist movement dated from nineteenth century to 1940s in United Kingdom and United States. Accompanied by anti-feudal movement, feminism finally became the most indispensable part and the criteria of social revolution. Originally it focused on the promotion of equal contract and property rights for women and the opposition to chattel marriage and ownership of married women (and their children) by their husbands. However, by the end of the nineteenth century, activism focused primarily on gaining political power, particularly the right of womens suffrage. Basically, it was the first time when women have the opportunity to vote. During this wave, World War I took place, which was another cause of changes in womens status. In order to defend national sovereignty, men were conscribed to fight in the battle front. Therefore, women had to do mens physical labour in factory. Females no longer stayed in the house only serving their own family, but also went out working to support the household and their country. Not accidentally, (see Illus. 1) Coco Chanels simple and practical designs catered to the needs of working women. In her shop, she sold â€Å"flannel blazers, straight linen skirts, sailor tops, long jersey sweaters and skirt-jackets†which were inspired by menswear. These convenient clothes enabled women to work with higher efficiency. †Chanel used such serviceable materials and relaxed patterns in the design of fashionable daywear for sophisticated urban women, safe in her knowledge of their aspirational and practical qualities.† Her accomplishment in fashion helped her situated in the roles of feminist pioneer. Simplicity has become a recognized characteristic of Coco Chanel and affected the fashion trend afterwards. Unfortunately, after the men returned from war when the WWI ended, women were dispatched back to the kitchen.†Still, an important new stage had been reached, since the induction of women into the war effort initiated the whole process of liberation.† Between early 1960s and late 1980s, it was the second-wave feminism. Though after the first-wave feminism women have won over some legal rights, they were still limited and oppressed in working place. Slightly different from the first wave, the second-wave feminism concentrated on issues of real equality of women such as eliminating discrimination. Feminists went all out marching and protesting in the street. Owing to their hard struggle, females gradually earned some equality in the working place and other aspects of life. In all their achievements, the most remarkable event was the release of some gynocentric legal reforms. Without the legal obstructions to womens personal freedom and professional achievement, women had a chance to prove themselves to be as capable as men. The 1960s, also called the Sixties, was a decade when tremendous changes happened to fashion. In this era, fashion was influenced by various factors such as â€Å"social mobility, daring fashion photography, easier travel abroad, the Vietnam War, new music of the Beatles and their much copied hairstyles, retro military and ethnic clothes, musicals, pop art and film all played a part†. Feminism was absolutely one of the most influential causes of all. Le Smoking (see Illus. 2), designed by Yves Saint Laurent in 1966, is a typical example of impact on fashion by feminism. Yves Saint Laurent wasnt the first person who created trousers for women. However, it was the first of its kind to draw attention in the fashion industry and the public. This innovative creation started androgynous style for women and pantsuits have been popular ever since. Its still one of the favourite outfits of office ladies in present-day society. The popularity of power suits demonstrates womens liberati on and equality between men and women to some extent. Besides, it provides women another choice in their wardrobes and dresses were not the only selection any more. In a word, the appearance of pantsuit is a symbol of women been considered to be an independent individuals in workplace. In group of people in younger age, some daring youths were seeking for something new in fashion as restrictions on women reduced.   Mary quants miniskirts (see Illus. 3), of which the hemline was set 6 or 7 inches above the knee, fulfilled their needs. It was controversial when it first came into the market, but then more people began to accept it in the mid-1960s and went into the major international trend. Miniskirt was reckoned to be a sign of womens liberation and enabled women to run and show their beauty without limits. The third-wave feminism began in the early 1990s, and the fashion in this decade was casual and comfortable. However, fashion and feminism dont always go hand in hand. The release of womens body didnt go further because every woman wants perfect body for both personal reason and attracting men. Wearing garments that show their nice body makes women feel better, more beautiful and sometimes even more confident. Fashion nowadays emphasized on silhouette and only slim and S-shape body is deemed to be beautiful. This brings stress on women and urges them to fit themselves into clothes that might be too tight. After struggling for equality for more than one hundred years, phenomena of inequality have decreased remarkably. But men have been in the dominant position for the majority of time in history. Reforms in laws are definitely not enough to change the status. To gain real equality, male chauvinism should be eliminated entirely. Anyway, its still a long way to go to have final equality of men and women.

Joseph Stalin Essay -- essays research papers

Joseph Stalin was a Georgian Marxist revolutionary leader and later dictator of the USSR. He was born in Gori, Georgia. He studied at Tiflis Orthodox where he was expelled from in 1899. After joining a Georgian Social Democratic organization in 1898, he became active in a revolutionary underground, and he was twice sent to Siberia. As a leading Bolshevik he played an active role in the October Revolution. In 1922, he became general secretary of the Party Central Committee, a position that he held until the day of his death. Stalin also occupied other key positions, which enabled him to build up enormous personal power in the government. This is a key point in Stalin’s life where he was enormously confident about himself which led him to do things that were no acceptable in today’s standard life. After the death of Vladimir I. Lenin in 1924 Stalin became leader of the Soviet Union where he made many changes to agriculture and industry. He believed that the Soviet Union w as one hundred years behind the West and that they had to catch up as quickly as possible. This is where the idea of his "Five Year Plan," came about. The five-year plan basically got the people involved and motivated them into a modern life. From the 5-year plan, 25 million farms were produced which were only big enough to feed the families that were harvesting them. The more successful peasants were called the Kulaks. Along with the five-year plan, Stalin launched a campaign for the &q...

Trumans Domestic Policy :: American America History

Truman's Domestic Policy Despite strong opposition from a Republican congress, Truman attempted to extend Roosevelt's New Deal policies by strengthening social security, conservation, implementing rent controls, and providing housing to low-income families. At times, however, Truman was inconsistent with his own party's beliefs and the ideal of the New Deal in order to suit the immediate situation and retain public support. Furthermore, Truman supported civil rights actions and for the first time, increased the political status of African American citizens. Truman's various other reforms were much like the proposals of Roosevelt, but the mood of the nation due to its affluence and that of Congress opposed his efforts and the changing times proved that Truman's Fair Deal was not as necessary as FDR's New Deal. Truman's organized policy to elaborate on the New Deal was termed the Fair Deal and aimed to improve social conditions like Roosevelt's plan had done previously. His immediate goals were full employment and an improved economy, as well as to provide for the common good. The Fair Labor Standards Act increased the minimum wage from 40 cents to 75 cents and the Social Security Act increased benefits to the elderly by 77.5%. Also, to the advantage of those who lived in rented homes and apartments, Truman lengthened rent controls to March 1951, and in addition, the Housing Act vowed to eliminate slums and established 810,000 low-income houses, thus providing a good amount of citizens with affordable housing. The president also implemented the Employment Act in 1946 to help stabilize the postwar economy. The act created a three member council of economic advisors and a joint committee to study and propose stabilization measures. Moreover, Truman attempted to establish a Missouri Valley Aut hority while extending the power of the Tennessee Valley authority, but was unsuccessful. However, the president did obtain increases in hydroelectric, water control, and irrigation projects in the west. Like Roosevelt, Truman was concerned about the welfare of farmers and encouraged the Brennan Plan to maintain farm income standards through price supports, loans, and storage of nonperishable commodities. Although the plan failed , the Agriculture Act of October, 1949 continued price supports at 90% parity through 1950 and then at 75-90% afterwards. This act was consistent with New Deal farm policy. Truman made other New Dealish attempts, like National Health Insurance and federal aid to education, but both were defeated with the help of protests by interest groups, namely the American Medical Association and the Roman Catholic Church.

My Father: No Ordinary Man Essay -- Personal Narrative, essay about my

My father was a great fan of Mark Twain. He had a couple of Twain quotes he loved to recite, and one in particular he liked to recite around me: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." I could never really think of dad as ignorant, even when I was fourteen. He was a walking encyclopedia, an encyclopedia I consulted daily. But he was an easy man to underestimate. In part this was because he was a great listener, and like all great listeners would rather hear than be heard. That was another one of his favorite Twain quotes: "Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." But he was also easy to underestimate because he tended to underestimate himself. He would have been astonished, genuinely astonished, at the outpouring of love and admiration that has washed over our family in the last week. And there is enough of my father in me that I have been astonished as well. Friends of mine, some of whom I thought barely knew dad, have called or sent word from as far away as Vienna and Taipei to say that my father changed their life for the better. My oldest friend, who is now a mountain climber and a nature photographer, astonished me by saying he might never have becom... ...e Bailey couldn't see in the movie It's A Wonderful Life. George Bailey saw himself as a very ordinary man. And because he was a man of great intellect and potential, he sometimes saw his ordinary life as a kind of failure. It was not until the angel took him out of his own life and showed him the profound connections between his life and every other life in his community, that he was finally able to see himself for the hero that he was. My father was a George Bailey. And just as George's friends came together and emptied their pockets for him when he was in trouble, all of his friends joined together in a celebration of his life. I only wish he could have seen it, because he never would have believed it. My Father: No Ordinary Man Essay -- Personal Narrative, essay about my My father was a great fan of Mark Twain. He had a couple of Twain quotes he loved to recite, and one in particular he liked to recite around me: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." I could never really think of dad as ignorant, even when I was fourteen. He was a walking encyclopedia, an encyclopedia I consulted daily. But he was an easy man to underestimate. In part this was because he was a great listener, and like all great listeners would rather hear than be heard. That was another one of his favorite Twain quotes: "Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." But he was also easy to underestimate because he tended to underestimate himself. He would have been astonished, genuinely astonished, at the outpouring of love and admiration that has washed over our family in the last week. And there is enough of my father in me that I have been astonished as well. Friends of mine, some of whom I thought barely knew dad, have called or sent word from as far away as Vienna and Taipei to say that my father changed their life for the better. My oldest friend, who is now a mountain climber and a nature photographer, astonished me by saying he might never have becom... ...e Bailey couldn't see in the movie It's A Wonderful Life. George Bailey saw himself as a very ordinary man. And because he was a man of great intellect and potential, he sometimes saw his ordinary life as a kind of failure. It was not until the angel took him out of his own life and showed him the profound connections between his life and every other life in his community, that he was finally able to see himself for the hero that he was. My father was a George Bailey. And just as George's friends came together and emptied their pockets for him when he was in trouble, all of his friends joined together in a celebration of his life. I only wish he could have seen it, because he never would have believed it.

Analysis of Johnson Music Essay

To assist in the overall report, evaluate the chosen system to include professional diagrams or images, of a computer system. Labeling the different hardware components give a description of the function of each of the main elements of the system. Make sure the explanation is clear enough to understand as the client may have little or no knowledge of a modern computer system. The terminology associated with systems should be elaborated on for clarity. Justify your choice of computer systems and in a critical way suggest how the choice could have been better. Find suitable illustrations of the selected hardware and software to meet P2 & M3 criteria. Windows 98 or Win 2000 operating system will be o/k. The ICT system that I have recommended to I.T.NOON, includes full details of the specification for the hardware stated. I have also found illustrations (JPEG Image) for the hardware items that are listed and which I have recommended. An operating system is the software responsible for allocating system resources, including memory, processor time, disk space, and peripheral devices such as printers, modems, and monitors. Operating systems perform basic tasks, such as recognizing input from the keyboard, sending output to the display screen. All applications use the operating system to gain access to these resources as necessary. The operating system is the first program loaded into the computer as it boots, and it remains in memory throughout the session. Operating systems provide a software platform on top of which other programs, called application programs, can run. The application programs must be written to run on top of a particular operating system. The choice of operating system determines the applications you can run. For PCs, the most popular operating system is Windows, but others are available, such as Linux. As a user, you normally interact with the operating system through a set of commands. â€Å"For example, the DOS operating system contains commands such as COPY and RENAME for copying files and changing the names of files, respectively. The commands are accepted and executed by a part of the operating system called the command processor or command line interpreter.† Graphical user interfaces allow you to enter commands by pointing and clicking at objects that appear on the screen. Johnson Music (JMusic) was founded in 1901 at its current premises as a guitar shop. It specialised in trading in old guitars, refurbishing them and selling them on. At first the company had very few customers, but gradually grew. By 1910 the company had reasonable success, and started selling guitars directly from manufacturers. The founder, George Johnson, noticed that some guitar brands didn’t sell very well, and others did. One guitar brand that did sell well was Ibanez guitars. The company gradually started selling more Ibanez guitars, becoming more successful for the company. In 1950 the shop stopped selling all guitars other than Ibanez guitars and became a dedicated Ibanez dealer. The company soon moved on from guitars and started selling more than that, including pedals, amplifiers and bass guitars. This is how the company currently stands. Johnson music is owned by George Johnson, the son of the founder of the company. Its current location is:  Johnson Music  17 Churchgate  Bolton  BL1 1HU  UK.  The shop has two floors. One floor stores bass guitars and bass amplifiers, as well as bass effects pedals. The second floor stores guitars and guitar amplifiers as well as guitar effects pedals. The shop has two storage rooms: one upstairs and one downstairs. Downstairs stores all bass guitar products and upstairs stores all guitar products.  The shop has had a constant reasonable success and has a steady customer base at present. The company is in no danger of going out of business as it currently stands.

Race Is Real Essay

In society, people socially construct institution based on sensory perception. Race is in fact a social construct made from systems of constitutive rules. It is used to generalize people into specific groups characterized by supposedly distinctive and universal physical characteristics. Although humans have created this entity, there are many sources that provide proof that race is impossible to define biologically. Since colonization began, humans have been given racial identities which continue to cause uproar in nations and states. People simply assuming the existence of race makes it real. Despite this, the assumption of the existence of race does not make it valid. Race cannot be objectively specified, and it should be seen as a whole. There is only one human race. D’Andrade classifies a constitutive rule as â€Å"an entity created by the social agreement that something counts as that entity† (91). A simple understanding of a constitutive rule is a rule that exists only because society believes in it, and adheres to it. Marriage is a clear example of how constitutive rules create a social entity; it exists solely on the fact that a culture agrees that it exists, and agrees on the general guidelines in which it exists. Generally speaking, constitutive rules rely on people’s adherence and shared thoughts to exist. D’Andrade explains the differences between constitutive and regulative rules. Regulative rules are those which provide guidelines and restrictions for existing forms of behavior. A regulative rule is not involved with the creation or elimination of an entity, whereas a constitutive rule does exactly that through social agreement. D’Andrade said that â€Å"Institutions are systems of constitutive rules. Every institutional fact is underlain by a system of rules of the form ? X counts as Y in context C'† (91). In this formula, X is the ideas that a culture believes in, Y represents the institutions and rules that those ideas count as, and C is the specific situation or culture. Constitutive rules define situations and/or subjects that have an effect on the reactions which come from the situation itself. The entity of family is an example of this. The systems of ideas that make up what we consider family are constitutive rules. Families can be classified into different categories including immediate and biological families, teams/teammates, religious groups, organizations and/or clubs. In this example, C is considered the American culture and the different ideas of what makes up a family is X. Although many believe family to be biological, even the boundaries of that can be argued. The considerations of family types are indistinguishable throughout the world. Those involved within families, especially close immediate families tend to pursue and enjoy a contented lifestyle. Many families strive to be involved with those within the family and help out one another. This positive involvement can also be seen within a team or organization of some sort that may grow to call themselves a family. Since it is socially constructed, the exact definition of family is hard to create and so all these groups may be considered family. Although a family is usually viewed as a positive aspect in one’s life, just like other constitutive rules, they are overlooked because they are too involved within the cultural aspect. After extensive research, it has been proven that race cannot be biologically defined. In general, people categorize people within a certain race depending mainly on their skin color, the construction of their eyes and even the color of one’s hair. These characteristics are arbitrary. In attempts to prove this, Jared Diamond wrote the article â€Å"Race without Color. † He arbitrarily chooses the gene that causes sickle-cell anemia. By using this way to classify people, Greeks, Thai and New Guineans would be put together as once race, and some Africans and Norwegians in another racial group (84). Classifying people into certain races is not biologically acceptable or possible to do objectively. It only creates views about others through our own eye, and leads to subconscious differentiation and discrimination. However, it is common today for people to use race as a simple way to categorize people. Considering all of the different classifications, Diamond, along with many anthropologists suggests, â€Å"one cannot recognize any human races at all. † It is given through anthropologists’ studies that rules that separate races from one another are constitutive rules. A socially constructed institution is only possible through the thoughts and ideas of those within a society. Race continues to be one of these examples, although it is known through facts and research that race is not properly appraised. In American culture every one has been subjected to the question of their race at one point or another. While taking exams or signing up for SATs here in America, people are questioned about their racial back rounds. This shows that race is real. Another example is seen in â€Å"Hotel Rwanda. † In the film, although the Hutus and Tutsis are from the same nation and seem physically identical to one another, there was bloodshed amongst these two races because of socially constructed identities. Race has evolved as a worldview and system of perspective. Race creates a body of prejudgments that distorts our ideas about differences between humans. The simple existence of two races in Rwanda made it so that the groups of people perceived differences and problems between them. Regardless of ideas and falsely created identities, race is real and should be viewed as a whole. A great example of the reality and issues of race within our society date back to the Rodney Glen King incident which took place in Los Angeles in 1991. During the month of March, Rodney King led police on a high speed pursuit though red lights and stop signs. After eventually stopping, police proceeded towards the car and threw King to the ground. The police officers claim he resisted arrest and was continuously stuck with batons, tackled and even tasered. George Holiday, a private citizen video taped this incident from his apartment, creating an international media sensation. In 1992, the officers were acquitted by a jury. The acquittal was based in part on a 13-second segment of the video tape. The jury verdict created massive rioting in LA for four days. By the time order was able to be restored, an estimated $1 billion in damage, with â€Å"55 deaths; 2,383 injuries; more than 7000 fire responses; 3,100 businesses damaged† (Smith, Anna Deavere). Smaller riots ensued in other U. S. cities. After the riots occurred, federal charges of civil rights violations were brought up against the officers. Two of the officers were found guilty and sentenced to 30 months in prison, while the other two were acquitted. During the acts of violence and riots, King had appeared in public in front of news cameras stating, â€Å"People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? † (Keyes. 1992) Although these acts of racial incidents occurred, in the midst of it, the one who was beaten stepped out and asked for peace and camaraderie amongst all. As described earlier, there was uproar across the country as people believed that the police involved in the attacks were initially not persecuted because racial factors. As seen in King’s quote, it is evident that he spoke in respect to racial neutrality while asking if everyone can get along. He was able to show that race is real in that simple quote. He referred to â€Å"we† as people living within this world, making them seem as a whole, as one race. As observed through this case and many others, including the most recent Jena 6 trial, race is still a factor for individuals and groups. Yet race still remains impossible to define and use. Race fits the anthropological formula for constitutive rules, â€Å"X counts as Y in context C. † Race, seen as a biological entity, is in fact a social construct made from systems of constitutive rules and is used to generalize people into certain groups. Although society views race as separate divisions among people, through scientific knowledge it is clear that human populations are not categorical, biologically distinct groups.