Saturday, April 30, 2016

What has Macbeth realized about becoming king in Act III, scene 2 of Macbeth?

Macbeth has realized that becoming king and remaining king are two different conditions. In other words, what's done is not done.


When Macbeth says, "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well/It were done quickly" (1.7.1-2) in his soliloquy before he murders Duncan, he believes he can end his dilemma of how to become king. However, he has not considered how to remain king. Now, Macbeth recalls that the prophecy for Banquo has been that his descendants will be kings. So, despite Lady Macbeth's saying "what's done is done" (3.2.12), Macbeth tells her that he suffers from mental torture because there are still threats to the throne from Banquo and his son, Fleance. Further, he says, "there shall be done/A deed of dreadful note" (3.2.45-46), and a worried Lady Macbeth asks, "What's to be done?" (3.1.47).


This repetition of the word "done" is a reminder that nothing is really finished. Macbeth hires murderers to kill his old friend Banquo, along with his son, in order to prevent the witches' prophecy from fulfillment. But this act, too, will not be "done," as Fleance is not killed.

What are some questions you could ask to interview someone who has escaped human trafficking?

Human trafficking is an incredibly delicate subject, and one that is still surprisingly prevalent in the world today. Human trafficking can take many forms, from selling women and children into sexual slavery to forced labor. Victims of this horrible industry should obviously be treated with respect and delicacy, and any questions you ask should not cause emotional or psychological harm. Yet, there is a great deal of wisdom and truth to be gained by people who have escaped human trafficking, and their answers can help to expose its injustices to the world.


Below I have included several questions that I would ask of victims of human trafficking:


  • What effects have human trafficking had on your home country/town?

  • How widespread is this issue in your home country/town?

  • What can the average person do to help increase awareness about the injustices of human trafficking?

  • What do you think needs to be done in order for human trafficking to be eliminated?

I hope this helps!

The poem "To the Doctor who Treated the Raped Baby and Who Felt Such Despair" seems to move between contrasting settings. Write a paragraph in...

Finnuala Dowling is directly addressing the physician in her poem “To the doctor who treated the raped baby and who felt such despair.” The lines of the poem vacillate between settings; that of the treatment facility where the doctor works on the injured child, and different locations where children are cared for with love and respect.



I just wanted to say on behalf of us all


that on the night in question


there was a light on in the hall


for a nervous little sleeper


and when the bleeding baby was admitted to your care



On the night the baby is raped, around the world, there are others who leave lights on for children who are afraid of the dark, there are uncles singing lullabies, there are children lovingly nursed, and there are mothers inviting their little ones into their warm beds in the middle of the night. The reader goes back and forth between the horrors endured by the baby and the normalcy experienced by other children. In the end, the narrator wants the doctor to know that people can sleep peacefully, turning a blind eye to the abuse, knowing that the doctor is there to care for the child.



and when finally you stood exhausted at the end of her cot


and asked, “Where is God?”,


a father sat watch.


And for the rest of us, we all slept in trust


Friday, April 29, 2016

Why did communism lose its appeal in post–World War II Western Europe? a. because Europeans were convinced by American anticommunist propaganda...

The best answer to this question is Option E.  There was relatively strong economic growth in Western Europe in the decades after WWII.  Because of this, communism seemed like a much less inviting system. 


Communism is a system that appeals most strongly to people who are poor.  Communism tells working people that they are oppressed by their employers. It tells them that their employers take money that should be theirs and keep it for themselves.  People who are doing well economically are not very likely to buy into ideas like this.  They will feel that their lives are going well and that there is no reason to rebel against their bosses and other people of that class.  Therefore, when the economies of Western Europe improved after the war, communism lost its appeal.


We can see that economies did improve in Western Europe during this time.  The real GDP per capita of the United Kingdom, for example, was about 6550 pounds in 1945.  By 1955, it was 8088 pounds.  That is an increase of about 23% in ten years, which is a good rate of growth.  With similar growth happening in the rest of Western Europe, communism lost its appeal. 


Because Western European economies grew, and because communism is most appealing to people in weak economies, communism lost its appeal in Western Europe after the war.

What is post-traumatic stress disorder?


Causes and Symptoms

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is believed to manifest following either direct or indirect exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. Events such as natural disasters (earthquakes, mudslides, fires, floods, tsunamis, tornados), war, domestic violence, rape, violent crime, accidents, and medical procedures may trigger the development of PTSD. PTSD is included as part of a new chapter on trauma and stress disorders in the 2013 revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-5. (The DSM-5 is compiled by the American Psychiatric Association and describes all currently identified mental health problems that may receive a formal medical diagnosis in the United States.) According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs's National Center for PTSD's 2015 data, approximately seven or eight out of every one hundred people will experience PTSD at some point in their lives and about eight million people suffer from PTSD annually.



PTSD involves reexperiencing the trauma, avoidance of things that are reminders of the trauma, and an uncomfortable state of arousal usually connected to readiness to avoid reexperiencing a trauma. Reexperiencing includes recurrent and intrusive thoughts, recurrent distressing dreams and nightmares, feeling as if the event is happening again, intense psychological distress at exposure to any reminders (internal or external) of the event, or intense physical reactivity to any reminders of the event. Persistent avoidance includes anything associated with the event as well as a numbing of general responsiveness. Such numbing may be indicated by several of the following: avoiding thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the event; avoiding activities, places, or people that are reminders of the event; forgetting an important aspect of the event; experiencing markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities; feeling detached or estranged from others; having a restricted range of feelings, such as not being able to love; or feeling that the future is foreshortened. Increased arousal includes at least two of the following: difficulty with sleep; irritability or outbursts of anger; difficulty concentrating; hypervigilance; self-destructive or reckless behavior; or exaggerated startle response. The reexperiencing, avoidance, and arousal start after the traumatic event, last more than one month, and cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.


The course of the disorder varies, with some individuals not experiencing symptoms until years later, but most individuals experience symptoms within three months of the initial trauma. If the trauma occurs early in life, it may have profound effects on stress response throughout the individual’s lifetime.


Persons with PTSD may describe painful guilt feelings about surviving when others did not or about what they had to do to survive. Their phobic avoidance of situations or activities that resemble or symbolize the original trauma may interfere with interpersonal relationships and lead to marital conflict, divorce, or job loss.


The likelihood of developing PTSD increases as intensity and physical proximity to the event increase. Recent immigrants from countries where there is considerable social unrest and civil conflict may have elevated rates of PTSD. The disorder may occur at any age. Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men.


Not everyone who experiences a significant trauma will develop PTSD. Individual differences in terms of immediate post-trauma assistance and support, long-term social support, stress response, physical health, and other biological factors may explain a lack of occurrence in some individuals.




Treatment and Therapy

Treatments for PTSD include individual therapy, group therapy, antianxiety and antidepressant drugs, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). Combinations of therapies can also be effective. In general, the sooner the victim of PTSD receives treatment, the greater are the chances of complete recovery. It is important to note, however, that complex techniques such as trauma debriefing and critical incident debriefing should be attempted only by well-trained persons. Discussing traumatic events in a way that is not sensitive to the experience of the victim may retraumatize them, so caution is advised. For untrained persons, the best way to help someone affected by a trauma is to help them get to a qualified treatment professional as quickly as possible. This is especially important because research has suggested that treatment delivered soon after the trauma may reduce the overall negative impacts of the trauma.



Psychotherapy can help the person come to grips with the traumatic event. Different approaches are used, including exposure (or imagined) therapy, anxiety management/relaxation training, cognitive therapy, and supportive psychotherapy. Also, hypnosis, journaling (such as thought diaries and grief letters), creative arts and art therapy, and a critical-incident stress debriefing may be used in treating PTSD, either alone or in conjunction with psychotherapy.



Group therapy, in which victims of PTSD can share their experiences and gain support from others, is especially helpful. Groups are typically small (six to eight persons) and are often composed of individuals who have undergone similar experiences. Also, marital and family therapy or parent training may be used in treating PTSD.


In general, the goals of psychotherapy include facilitating victims’ emotional engagement with the trauma memory, helping them organize a personal trauma narrative, assisting them in correcting dysfunctional cognitions that often follow trauma, helping them develop increased trust in others, and decreasing their emotional and social isolation. The therapist typically provides empathy, validation, safety, consistency, and sensitivity to cultural and ethnic identity issues.


Antianxiety and antidepressant drugs can relieve the physiological symptoms of PTSD. The major pharmacological agents include benzodiazepines, serotonin
receptor partial agonists, tricyclic antidepressants, MAO inhibitors, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Because of the many biological abnormalities presumed to be associated with PTSD, and because of the overlap between symptoms of PTSD and other comorbid disorders, almost every class of psychotropic agent has been administered to PTSD patients. Whether it includes individual or group therapy, drugs, or some combination of these three, the treatment approach must be tailored to the individual PTSD sufferer and his or her unique situation.


EMDR is a newer therapy for PTSD. It combines many aspects of the other therapies described and works to facilitate reprocessing of traumatic information and experience. Guided discussion and therapeutic work may involve specific eye movements while remembering different aspects of the traumatic event. It is suggested that this type of activity creates an orienting response that facilitates trauma processing. The technique requires a high level of skill and sophistication and should be used only by appropriately trained professionals. EMDR is very highly recommended for trauma and remains a topic of great research interest.


It is important to remember that PTSD, like many other mental health disorders, may not occur in isolation. Comorbidity, or the presence of more than one disorder, is the rule rather than the exception with PTSD. Depressive disorders, substance use disorders, and other anxiety disorders are the disorders most likely to occur with PTSD. Treatment must address the comorbid conditions when they are present. PTSD can be reliably assessed through semi-structured interview and self-report measures. Treatment typically occurs on an outpatient basis, but it also may occur on an inpatient basis if the symptoms are severe.




Perspective and Prospects

PTSD was observed in World War I after many soldiers had intense anxiety reactions to the horrors they were experiencing. At that time, it was called combat neurosis, shell shock, or battle fatigue. It was formally diagnosed as an anxiety-based personality disorder in the 1960s among Vietnam War veterans, but it is no longer considered a personality disorder and is instead seen as a trauma or stress related disorder. It is also now known that traumatic events may include not only war but also violent personal or sexual assault, kidnapping, terrorist attacks, torture, natural or human-made disasters, severe automobile accidents, or different aspects of life-threatening illness. For children, sexually traumatic events may include sexual experiences that were developmentally inappropriate, even if no threatened or actual violence occurred. PTSD may be especially severe when the trauma is of human origin (for example, torture) and directly related to damage to one’s person.


Promising research identifying change to the stress response system in younger persons following trauma as well as gender differences in trauma response are expected to fuel greater understanding of the mechanisms of trauma response. Such knowledge will in turn be useful for developing new medical, biological, and interpersonal therapies for children and adults and for both women and men.


As part of an effort to bring greater awareness to this serious disorder, the US Senate proclaimed in 2010 that June 27th would serve as National PTSD Awareness Day. In addition, the National Center for PTSD declared that the entire month of June would be PTSD Awareness Month.


Because more and more states have legalized marijuana for medical use, debates have occurred over whether PTSD should fall under the category of conditions that qualify for a prescription for this treatment. Studies have been underway to officially determine whether marijuana has any effectiveness in treating PTSD, and a handful of states, such as New Mexico and Maine, have started allowing doctors and Veterans Affairs Hospitals to begin prescribing medical marijuana in this capacity.




Bibliography


American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. 5th ed. Arlington: Amer. Psychiatric Assoc., 2013. Print.



Araújo, A. X., et al. "Comorbid Depressive Symptoms in Treatment-Seeking PTSD Outpatients Affect Multiple Domains of Quality of Life." Comprehensive Psychiatry 55.1 (2014): 56–63. Print.



Bremner, Douglas J. Does Stress Damage the Brain? Understanding Trauma-Related Disorders from a Neurological Perspective. New York: Norton, 2002. Print.



"Diseases and Conditions: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 15 Apr. 2014. Web. 20 Aug. 2014.



Emerson, David. Trauma-Sensitive Yoga in Therapy: Bringing the Body into Treatment. New York: Norton, 2015. Print.



Foa, Edna B., Terence M. Keane, and Matthew J. Friedman, eds. Effective Treatments for PTSD: Practice Guidelines from the Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. 2nd ed. New York: Guilford, 2009. Print.



Ford, Julian, and Christine A. Courtois. Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders in Children and Adolescents: Scientific Foundations and Therapeutic Models. New York: Guilford, 2013. Print.



Foreman, Edward, and Jay Fuller. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: New Research. New York: Nova Science, 2013. Print.



Horowitz, Mardi J., ed. Essential Papers on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. New York: New York UP, 1999. Print.



"How Common Is PTSD?" National Center for PTSD. US Dept. of Veterans Affairs, 17 June 2015. Web. 5 Aug. 2015.



Levi, Ofir. "Individual Therapy via the Phenomenon of Hope for Treating Chronic and Complex PTSD." Psychoanalytic Social Work 20.0 (2013): 150–73. Print.



McNally, Richard J. Remembering Trauma. Rev. ed. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2005. Print.



Rizzo, Johnna. "Could Pot Help Veterans with PTSD?" Newsweek. Newsweek, 2 Aug. 2015. Web. 5 Aug. 2015.



Schiraldi, Glenn R. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw, 2009. Print.



Shapiro, Francine. Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy. Emmaus: Rodale, 2012. Print.



"What Is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?" National Institute of Mental Health. NIH, n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2014.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

In what ways is Eliezer "a corpse" at the end of the book Night?

Night is a memoir written by Eliezer Wiesel, describing his experiences in the concentration camps of Nazi Germany. Wiesel was taken as a prisoner and sent to the Auschwitz and Buchenwald camps because he and his family were Jewish.


At the end of the book- the end of his time in the concentration camps- Wiesel is quite nearly a corpse. He has been starved and worked very hard, resulting in dramatic weight loss. Most people who were sent to concentration camps were starved to death, and those that survived the lack of food and hard labor suffered health problems. There are photographs of some of the people who were rescued from concentration camps, and if they were not standing on their own two feet, you might mistake them for dead. The prisoners of the camps, Wiesel included, were not much more than skin and bones, kept alive for the purposes of labor and extended suffering.


On a more emotional level, Wiesel felt robbed of his humanity. Trauma has a nasty way of making people feel inhuman. What is it that makes us people and sets us aside from a corpse? Is it a heartbeat? The presence of brain activity? Or is it our experiences and emotions which set us apart? The people in concentration camps were denied their humanity and the rights owed with that recognition. The extreme circumstances they were forced to live (and die) under were an external denial of humanity, but had the result of an internal incapability to feel or care about anything other than basic survival. When people undergo starvation, instinct takes over and the brain begins to focus on little other than food. The feelings of happiness, sadness, excitement all come to revolve around food for the duration of the starvation. To be reduced down to our most basic instinct of eating can make us feel we are not much more than a body. Extreme stress, like starvation, can make us feel like we are lacking in the humanity that sets us apart.


Elie Wiesel likening himself to a corpse quite succinctly describes the physical, social, and psychological effects of his prolonged trauma. 

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

What does the ghost request of Horatio and Marcellus in Hamlet?

While the ghost of King Hamlet appears to Horatio and Marcellus, two officers who are on guard, it does not actually speak to either of them. The next evening the ghost speaks to Prince Hamlet, asking him to avenge his death because he was murdered.



After these officers identify the ghost as that of King Hamlet, dressed in the armor which he wore when he was slain, they report to Hamlet what they have seen. Prince Hamlet asks Horatio if he did not speak to this ghost. Horatio replies, 



My lord, I did,
But answer made it none. Yet once methought
It lifted up its head and did address
Itself to motion, like as it would speak.
But even then the morning cock crew loud,
And at the sound it shrunk in haste away
And vanished from our sight. (1.2.214-220)




When Horatio was with Marcellus and the ghost acted as though it would speak but the rooster crowed, it hurried away because, according to legend, the rooster awakens the god of day. This threat of the approach of dawn makes all wandering ghosts hurry to the places where they hide. And, the ghost of King Hamlet did what other wandering spirits do--he hastened to his hiding place.


Since King Hamlet's ghost has not spoken to anyone, Hamlet instructs Horatio and Marcellus that he will meet them on the guards' platform between eleven and midnight. At that time he will attempt to speak to this ghost of his father if he will reappear.


On the next night, Hamlet arrives as he has promised. The ghost does reappear, but he draws Hamlet away from the others. Nevertheless, Marcellus is determined to follow as he suspects "Something is rotten in Denmark" (1.4.90). After the ghost has led Hamlet away from the others, Hamlet tells the ghost he will go no farther. "Speak, I am bound to hear" (1.5.7). The ghost identifies himself as the spirit of King Hamlet, telling him he must hurry because he is under obligation to return to the fires of purgatory to atone for his sins until he can go to heaven. The ghost then asks Hamlet to "Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder" (1.5.25).





What is an important detail about the house from the story "Liberty" by Julia Alvarez?

The most telling detail about the house in “Liberty” is that wires had been installed in all the rooms – bugs, for government officials to listen in on what was happening inside.  The narrator of the story, a little girl living in the Dominican Republic during the dictatorial rule of Rafael Trujillo, is the daughter of a man opposed to the brutal politics of the dictator.  He is collaborating with members of the American embassy to get his family safely into the United States, but after these wires are found it is evident that their plans are not so secret as they had hoped.


The narrator stumbles upon two men hiding in their yard, and upon telling her parents about the encounter the house is searched and the wires found.  These men were government spies sent to monitor the conversations and activities of the narrator’s family.  They tell the narrator to keep their presence secret, but she does not.  This incident is likely what allows the family to escape, for after this any discussions about the escape are conducted outside, and certain conversational topics are forbidden inside the house.  Trujillo is aware that the narrator's father opposes him, and that he has dealing with the Americans -- thankfully, the family is able to keep the dictator in the dark enough to escape.

How is Atticus an imperfect parent in To Kill a Mockingbird? How do these imperfections make him an even better parent to Jem and Scout?

Most parents are not perfect, but although Atticus’s children find him somewhat disappointing, he tries his best to be a good father.  First of all, Atticus is raising his kids on his own.  Aunt Alexandra does not approve of the fact that Scout does not have a woman’s influence in her life and Atticus lets her wander around in overalls.  However, the fact that he lets Scout be a tomboy and express her individuality actually makes him a pretty good father by most measures.


Another reason that Atticus might be lacking is his unusual parenting style.  Most children do not call their father by his first name.  Why he has them do this is not ever really clear.  Maybe he just doesn’t like the word “Dad.”  The children are never familiar or disrespectful.  They actually call him “Sir” most of the time.


Scout explains her life this way.



We lived on the main residential street in town— Atticus, Jem and I, plus Calpurnia our cook. Jem and I found our father satisfactory: he played with us, read to us, and treated us with courteous detachment. (Ch. 1)



“Courteous detachment” means that Atticus gives his kids quite a bit of freedom.  However, freedom to play and run around is important for a child.  That is how children learn.  Scout and Jem may not be well-supervised during the summer, but they grow into adults through their antics then.


Scout and Jem in particular do not like the fact that their father does not spend as much time with them as they would like because he works a lot.  They are also concerned that he is too old to play with them physically or spend time with them the way they would like.  Basically, Scout and Jem feel he is boring.



Atticus was feeble: he was nearly fifty. When Jem and I asked him why he was so old, he said he got started late, which we felt reflected upon his abilities and manliness. He was much older than the parents of our school contemporaries… (Ch. 10) 



Atticus keeps some of life secret from his children.  They have no idea that he can shoot a gun better than anyone in the county until he has to shoot the mad dog.  They also do not really understand the complexities of Maycomb’s racist justice system until he defends Tom Robinson.  His children become the target of many of the townspeople’s disgusted taunts, but he is never really specific about what he is doing.  This is the reason his children end up in the company of a lynch mob one night. 


Fortunately for his children, Atticus sets a good example.  He has given them enough independence and provided them with a moral compass, so he can trust in their decisions.  They learn how the world works and their places in it as they grow up, and they both turn into pretty good people.  Jem demonstrates that he is not a racist during the trial, and Scout shows that she can have empathy for others through her treatment of Boo Radley.


The situation in Maycomb was hardly ideal for raising children when Scout and Jem were growing up, and Atticus had to do it alone.  However, he treated them with dignity and respect and taught them to treat everyone else the same way, regardless of race or class.   

Find the marginal cost of producing the 185th unit of output in the attached table. Show all steps used.

To find the marginal cost of producing the 185th unit of output in this scenario, the first thing we have to do is see how much the output changed when the fourth unit of labor was added.  When there were only three units of labor being used, the workers produced 155 units of output.  When the fourth unit of labor was added, the output rose to 185 units.  When we subtract 155 from 185, the difference is 30.  That means that the fourth unit of labor added 30 units of output.


Next, we need to think about cost.  We know from the question that each unit of labor costs $500.  That means that our costs went up by $500 when we added the fourth unit of labor.  (We have to assume here that there are no costs other than the cost of labor.  We do not have any information about the cost of any materials that are being used, so we must say that labor is the only cost.)  This is the marginal cost for the last 30 units of output because we are looking for how much the cost of production changed when we produced those last 30 units.


Now we have to find the marginal cost of the 185th unit of output.  Each of the units between 155 and 185 has the same marginal cost.  Their marginal cost is the cost of the last unit of labor divided by the number of units of output that that unit of labor produced.  Therefore, all we have to do is to divide $500 (our costs) by 30 units of output.  This gives us our marginal cost per unit.  500/30 = 16.67, making $16.67 the marginal cost of the 185th unit of output.


So, our steps are 1) find the marginal output of the 4th unit of labor; 2) find the cost of the 4th unit of labor; 3) divide the marginal output by the cost of the 4th unit. 

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

What is child abuse?


Introduction

It is difficult to imagine anything more frightening to a child than being
neglected, threatened, beaten, or molested by an adult who is supposed to be his
or her primary source of care and protection. Yet throughout human history,
children have been abandoned, incarcerated, battered, mutilated, exploited, and
even murdered by their caregivers. Although the problem of child maltreatment is
an old one, both the systematic study of child abuse and the legally sanctioned
mechanisms for child protection are relatively new and have gained momentum in the
last half of the twentieth century.











In the United States, child abuse and neglect are defined in both federal and
state legislation. The federal legislation provides a foundation for states by
identifying a minimum set of acts or behaviors that characterize maltreatment. The
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), passed in 1974 and amended in 2003 by the Keeping Children and
Families Safe Act, defines child abuse and neglect as "any recent act or failure
on the part of a parent or caretaker, which results in death, serious physical or
emotional harm, sexual abuse or exploitation, or an act or failure to act which
presents an imminent risk of serious harm."


When applied by legal and mental health professionals in real-world situations,
however, the definition of abuse may vary according to the developmental age of
the child victim, the frequency or intensity of the behaviors regarded as abusive, the degree of
intentionality, and a consideration of extenuating circumstances. In general,
however, child abuse includes any act or omission on the part of a parental figure
that damages a child’s physical or psychological well-being or development that is
nonaccidental or the result of a habitual behavioral pattern. A broad spectrum of
behaviors is considered to be abusive, ranging from the more easily recognizable
physical abuse to more subtle forms of maltreatment, including neglect and
emotional abuse.




Types of Abuse

Physical abuse is characterized by the nonaccidental infliction of physical
injury as a result of punching, pushing, striking, kicking, biting, burning,
shaking, or otherwise harming a child. The parent or caretaker may not have
intended to badly hurt the child; rather, the injury may have resulted from
overdiscipline or physical punishment. Child neglect is characterized by failure
to provide for the child’s basic needs. Neglect can be physical, educational, or
emotional. Physical neglect includes refusal of, or delay in, seeking health care,
food, clothing, or shelter; abandonment; expulsion from the home or refusal to
allow a runaway to return home; and inadequate supervision. Educational neglect
includes the allowance of chronic truancy, failure to enroll a child of mandatory
school age in school, and failure to attend to a special educational needs.
Emotional neglect includes such actions as marked inattention to the child’s needs
for affection; refusal of or failure to provide needed psychological care; spouse
abuse in the child’s presence; and permission of drug or alcohol use by the child.
The assessment of child neglect requires consideration of cultural values and
standards of care, as well as recognition that the failure to provide the
necessities of life may be related to poverty.


Sexual abuse includes fondling a child’s genitals, intercourse, incest, rape, sodomy, exhibitionism, and commercial exploitation through prostitution or the production of pornographic materials. Many experts believe that sexual abuse is the most underreported form of child maltreatment because of the secrecy or “conspiracy of silence” that so often characterizes these cases.


Emotional abuse (psychological or verbal abuse, or mental injury) includes acts
or omissions by the parents or other caregivers that have caused behavioral,
cognitive, emotional, or mental injury. In some cases of emotional abuse, the acts
of parents or other caregivers alone, without any harm evident in the child’s
behavior or condition, are sufficient to warrant intervention and investigation by
the Child Protective Services (CPS). For example, the parents or caregivers may
use extreme or bizarre forms of punishment, such as confinement of a child in a
dark closet. Less severe acts, such as habitual scapegoating, belittling, or
rejecting treatment, are often difficult to prove. Therefore, CPS may not be able
to intervene without evidence of harm to the child.




Extent of Abuse

According to data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System of the
Department of Health and Human Services, there were approximately 686,000 reports
of child abuse or neglect in the United States in 2012, representing a 3.3
decrease in the number of reports from 2008 (716,000). Of these reports,
approximately 78 percent indicated child neglect, 18 percent indicated physical
abuse, 9 percent reported sexual abuse, and 8.5 percent reported psychological or
emotional abuse. It is estimated that more than four children die every day in the
United States as a result of child abuse, with 70 percent of these children being
under the age of four years. It is important, when considering the actual
magnitude of the problem of child maltreatment, to remember that the estimates
given most likely underestimate the true incidence of child abuse, both because of
the large number of cases that go unreported and because of the lack of agreement
as to precisely which behaviors constitute “abuse” or “neglect.” In addition,
abusive treatment of children is rarely limited to a single episode, and it
frequently occurs within the context of other forms of family violence.


Certain forms of maltreatment seem to appear with greater regularity within
certain age groups. Neglect is most often reported for infants and toddlers, with
incidence declining with age. Reports of sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment
are most common among older school-aged children and adolescents. Physical abuse
seems to be reported equally among all age groups; however, children less than
five years old and adolescents have the highest rates of actual physical injury.
Boys and girls are equally as likely to be victims of child abuse and neglect, but
the rate of abuse-related fatality is slightly higher for boys.


Although research studies generally conclude that there is no “typical” child
abuse case consisting of a typical abused child and a typical abusive parent or
family type, certain characteristics occur with greater regularity than others.
For example, there is considerable evidence that premature infants,
low-birth-weight infants, and children with problems such as attention-deficit hyperactivity
disorders, physical disabilities, and intellectual
disabilities are at particularly high risk for being abused by their caregivers.
Physical abuse and neglect are reported with approximately equal frequency for
girls and boys, while sexual abuse against girls is reported four times more
frequently than sexual abuse against boys.


Although female caregivers are the perpetrators in approximately 60 percent of
all reported cases of child maltreatment, male caregivers are more likely to
inflict serious physical injury, and men are the primary perpetrators in cases of
sexual abuse of both male and female children. Although no single abusive
personality type has been identified, research has revealed a number of areas of
psychological functioning in which abusive parents often differ from nonabusive
parents. Abusive parents tend to exhibit low frustration tolerance, have poor impulse
control, and express negative emotions (for example, anger or disappointment)
inappropriately. They are more socially isolated and are more likely to abuse
alcohol or drugs than nonabusive parents. Abusive parents also tend to have
unrealistic expectations of their children, to misinterpret their children’s
motivations for misbehaving, to utilize inconsistent and inflexible parenting
skills, and to view themselves as inadequate or incompetent as parents.


Research also indicates that marital conflict, unemployment, large and closely
spaced families, overcrowded living conditions, and extreme household
disorientation are common in abusive homes. Statistics regarding race, education
level, and socioeconomic status of abusive families are somewhat controversial in
that there exists the possibility of an underreporting bias favoring white,
middle- to upper-class families. However, like several other negative outcomes in
childhood (for example, academic underachievement, criminality, teen pregnancy),
child abuse is associated with family poverty, underemployment, insufficient
education, and the increased experience of stress and social isolation that
coexists with these sociodemographic variables.




Consequences of Abuse

Children who have experienced abuse are believed to be at much greater risk of
developing some form of pathology in childhood or in later life, most commonly depression,
anxiety, eating disorders such as anorexia and
bulimia, or suicide ideation. When considered as a group and
compared to nonabused youngsters, abused children are at a higher risk of
exhibiting a variety of psychological difficulties and behavioral problems. Yet no
single emotional or behavioral reaction is consistently found in all abused
children. It is important, when investigating the impact of child abuse, to view
the abuse within a developmental perspective. Given a child’s different
developmental needs and capabilities over the course of a child's development, one
might expect that both the psychological experience and the impact of the abuse
would be quite different for an infant than if the same maltreatment involved an
eight-year-old child or an adolescent. One should also note that, in some cases,
the experience of the abuse per se may not be the singular, most powerful
predictor of the psychological difficulties found in abused children. Rather, the
child’s daily exposure to other, more pervasive aspects of the psychological
environment associated with an abusive family situation (for example, general
environmental deprivation, impoverished parent-child interactions, or chronic
family disruption and disorganization) may prove to be more psychologically
damaging. Finally, it is important not to view the range of symptoms associated
with abused children solely as deficits or pathology. These “symptoms” represent
an abused child’s best attempt at coping with an extremely stressful family
environment given the limited psychological resources and skills he or she has
available at that particular time in his or her development.


From the home environment, and from parents in particular, children learn their earliest and perhaps most influential lessons about how to evaluate themselves as valuable, lovable, and competent human beings. They learn about controlling their own actions and about successfully mastering their environment. They learn something about the goodness of their world and how to relate to the people in it. Growing up in an abusive home distorts these early lessons, often resulting in serious interference with the most important dimensions of a child’s development: the development of a healthy sense of self, the development of self-control and a sense of mastery, the capacity to form satisfying relationships, and the ability to utilize one’s cognitive capacities to solve problems.


In general, research has shown that abused children often suffer from low
self-esteem, poor impulse control, aggressive and antisocial
behaviors, fearfulness and anxiety, depression, poor relationships with peers and adults, difficulties with
school adjustment, delays in cognitive development, lowered academic achievement,
and deficits in social and moral judgment. The way in which these difficulties are
expressed will vary according to a child’s stage of development.




Signs of Abuse

In infancy, the earliest sign of abuse or neglect is an infant’s failure to
thrive. These infants show growth retardation (weight loss can be so severe as to
be life-threatening) with no obvious physical explanation. To the observer, these
infants appear to have “given up” on interacting with the outside world. They
become passive, socially apathetic, and exhibit little smiling, vocalization, and
curiosity. Other abused infants appear to be quite irritable, exhibiting frequent
crying, feeding difficulties, and irregular sleep patterns. In either case, the
resulting parent-child attachment bond is often inadequate and
mutually unsatisfying.


Abused toddlers and preschoolers seem to lack the infectious love of life, fantasy, and play that is characteristic of that stage of development. They are typically anxious, fearful, and hypervigilant. Their emotions are blunted, lacking the range, the spontaneity, and the vivacity typical of a child that age. Abused toddlers’ and preschoolers’ ability to play, particularly their ability to engage in imaginative play, may be impaired; it is either deficient or preoccupied with themes of aggression. Abused children at this age can either be passive and overcompliant or oppositional, aggressive, and hyperactive.


School-aged children and adolescents exhibit the more recognizable signs of low self-esteem and depression in the form of a self-deprecating attitude and
self-destructive behaviors. They may be lonely, withdrawn, and joyless.
Behaviorally, some act in a compulsive, overcompliant, or pseudomature manner,
while others are overly impulsive, oppositional, and aggressive. Problems with school adjustment and achievement are common. With the school-aged
child’s increased exposure to the larger social environment, deficits in social
competence and interpersonal relationships become more apparent. Progressing
through adolescence,
the manifestations of low self-esteem, depression, and aggressive, acting-out
behaviors may become more pronounced in the form of suicide attempts, delinquency,
running away, promiscuity, and drug use.


These distortions in self-esteem, impulse control, and interpersonal
relationships often persist into adulthood. There has been much concern expressed
regarding the possibility of an intergenerational transmission of abuse—of the
experience of abuse as a child predisposing a person to becoming an abusive
parent. Research indicates that abused children are six times more likely to abuse
their own children than are members of the general population. Approximately 30
percent of abuse and neglected children will abuse their own children in the
future; however, the vast majority of people who experienced abuse and neglect as
children will never neglect or abuse their own children.




Explanations

Child maltreatment is a complex phenomenon that does not have a simple,
discrete cause, nor does it affect each victim in a predictable or consistent
manner. Perhaps the most comprehensive and widely accepted explanation of child
abuse is the ecological model, which examines both the risk factors for and
protective factors against child abuse and neglect. This model views abuse as the final product of a set of interacting
factors, including child-mediated stressors (for example, temperamental
difficulties or intellectual or physical disabilities), parental predispositions
(for example, the parent's history of abuse as a child, emotional immaturity, or
substance abuse), and situational stresses (for example, marital conflict,
insufficient social
support, or financial stress) occurring within a cultural context that
inadvertently supports the mistreatment of children by its acceptance of corporal
punishment and tolerance for violence and its reluctance to interfere with family
autonomy. Utilizing this ecological framework, one can imagine how an abusive
situation can develop when, for example, an irritable, emotionally unresponsive
infant is cared for by an inexperienced, socially isolated mother in a
conflict-filled and financially strained household embedded within a larger
cultural context in which the rights and privileges of childhood do not
necessarily include freedom from violence.


Knowledge regarding the impact of child abuse has also changed over the years,
from a view of maltreated children as almost doomed to develop some form of
psychopathology to an acknowledgment that child abuse, like other major childhood
stressors, can result in a broad spectrum of adaptive consequences, ranging from
psychological resilience to severe psychiatric disorder. Some children actually do
well in their development despite their experience with extreme stress and
adversity. For example, while adults who were abused as children are more likely
than nonabused individuals to become child abusers, nearly two-thirds of all
abused children do not become abusive parents. The important questions to be
answered are why and how this is so. Research on “stress-resistant” individuals
such as these nonabusers has shifted the focus away from pathology to the
identification of factors within the individual (for example, coping strategies) and
within the environment (for example, social support) that appear to serve a
protective function.


Finally, while the treatment of abused children and their abusive caregivers
remains an important goal in the mental health field, a focus on the prevention of
child abuse has also gained momentum. Many abused children and their families can
be helped with proper treatment; however, the existing need for services far
exceeds the mental health resources available. An increased understanding of the
factors that protect families against engaging in abusive behaviors has resulted
in the creation of successful preventive interventions. These prevention programs
seek to reduce the incidence of new cases of child abuse by encouraging the
identification and development of competencies, resources, and coping strategies
that promote psychological well-being and positive change in parents, children,
and families.


The problem of child abuse does not occur in isolation. It coexists with other
abhorrent problems facing families such as poverty, lack of access to adequate
medical care, insufficient quality child care, and unequal educational resources.
Child abuse, like these other problems, can be prevented and eradicated.




Bibliography


Bass, Ellen, and
Laura Davis. The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of
Child Sexual Abuse
. New York: Collins Living, 2008. Print.



Briere, John N.
Child Abuse Trauma. Newbury Park: Sage , 1992.
Print.



Cicchetti, Dante,
and Vicki Carlson, eds. Child Maltreatment: Theory and Research on
the Causes and Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect
. New
York: Cambridge UP, 1997. Print.



Clark, Robin E.,
and Judith Freeman Clark. The Encyclopedia of Child Abuse.
3rd ed. New York: Facts On File, 2007. Print.



Conte, Jon R., ed.
Critical Issues in Child Sexual Abuse: Historical, Legal, and
Psychological Perspectives
. Newbury Park: Sage, 2002. Print.



Crosson-Tower,
Cynthia. Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect. 7th ed.
Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2007. Print.



Garbarino, James,
and Gwen Gilliam. Understanding Abusive Families. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1997. Print.



Goodyear-Brown, Paris. Handbook of
Child Sexual Abuse: Identification, Assessment, and Treatment
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Hoboken: Wiley, 2012. Print.



Kantor, Glenda K.,
and Jana L. Jasinski, eds. Out of the Darkness: Contemporary
Perspectives on Family Violence
. Newbury Park: Sage, 1997.



McCoy, Monica L., and Stefanie M. Keen.
Child Abuse and Neglect. New York: Routledge, 2014.
Print.



Sargent, John, Rochelle F. Hanson, and
Robert M. Reece. Treatment of Child Abuse: Common Ground for Mental
Health, Medical, and Legal Practitioners
. 2nd ed. Baltimore:
John Hopkins UP, 2014. Print.



United States. Dept. of Health and Human
Services. Child Maltreatment 2012. N.p.: n.p., 2013. PDF
file.



Wolfe, David A.
Child Abuse: Implications for Child Development and
Psychopathology
. 2nd ed. Newbury Park: Sage, 1999.
Print.

What is intoxication?


Causes and Symptoms

Intoxication is a type of substance-induced disorder described in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5 (5th ed., 2013). Intoxication results from the consumption of substances such as alcohol, caffeine, marijuana, other illicit drugs, some mushrooms and other plants, and even some over-the-counter and prescription drugs.



Intoxication is diagnosed via identification of the substance in the body system and the observation of characteristic symptoms in the person affected. Specific substances do certain things to the body and therefore create certain symptoms. Tests of breath and/or urine samples are often used to detect intoxication. Additionally, simply watching the individual for psychological and behavioral signs or asking the individual to perform certain tasks can help with detection. Police officers who suspect alcohol intoxication, for instance, may ask individuals to try to walk a straight line or to close their eyes and try to stand up straight. Such tests allow the officers to observe the person’s balance and body sway. Loss of balance or significant body sway can indicate intoxication.


Each substance has specific symptoms associated with its intoxication state. Therefore, when testing someone for intoxication, different tests may be needed to determine whether any individual substance has been used.


Alcohol intoxication is marked by symptoms such as slurred speech, coordination problems, unsteady gait, nystagmus, impairments in memory or attention, and stupor. Nystagmus is an involuntary condition in which the eyes do not track the movement of objects smoothly. Stupor is a condition in which a person is in a daze and has numbed senses. With alcohol intoxication, stupor can escalate to coma. In addition to these symptoms, problematic behaviors may also manifest themselves, such as aggression, impaired judgment, mood problems, or problems interacting socially or at work.




Treatment and Therapy

Intoxication is usually short-lived, and once a substance has been processed out of the body, the effects dissipate. Treatment usually consists of a process called detoxification, often shortened to detox. This usually is done in emergency rooms or inpatient units in hospitals. Sometimes, however, it may be done in community settings where nonmedical models of intervention are practiced. In all these settings, symptoms are monitored closely as the person withdraws from the substance, as withdrawal can be dangerous. Withdrawal varies from drug to drug. It also varies depending on how long the person has used the substance and how much has been used. Severe withdrawal from certain substances, such as alcohol, and certain illicit drugs, such as heroin, can be lethal.




Perspective and Prospects

Intoxication for some substances is easier to identify than for others. Increasingly, methods are being developed to identify intoxication with greater ease via objective measures. For instance, technology to assess the iris of the eye to detect marijuana intoxication or the use of patches to detect substance use, such as with drugs that may be excreted in sweat, are two recent efforts.




Bibliography


Advokat, Claire D., Joseph E. Comaty, and Robert M. Julien. Julien's Primer of Drug Action: A Comprehensive Guide to the Actions, Uses, and Side Effects of Psychoactive Drugs. 13th ed. New York: Worth, 2014. Print.



American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. 5th ed. Arlington: APA, 2013. Print.



Morris, Glenn J., Jr., and Morris E. Potter, eds. Foodborne Infections and Intoxications. 4th ed. Amsterdam: Academic, 2013. Print.



Peleg-Oren, Neta, et al. "Mechanisms of Association Between Paternal Alcoholism and Abuse of Alcohol and Other Illicit Drugs Among Adolescents." Journal of Child and Adolescent Substance Abuse 22.2 (2013): 133–49. Print.



Quinn, Patrick D., et al. "An Event-Level Examination of Sex Differences and Subjective Intoxication in Alcohol-Related Aggression." Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology 21.2 (2013): 93–102. Print.



Weil, Andrew, and Winifred Rosen. From Chocolate to Morphine: Everything You Need to Know about Mind-Altering Drugs. Rev. and updated ed. Boston: Houghton, 2004. Print.



Wood, Debra. "Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism." Rev. Michael Woods. Health Library. EBSCO, 7 Feb. 2014. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.



Wood, Debra. "Drug Abuse and Drug Addiction." Rev. Michael Woods. Health Library. EBSCO, 24 June 2013. Web. 16 Feb. 2015.

List some of the significant locations/settings in The Picture of Dorian Gray.

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, there are a number of settings which are significant because they reinforce the novel's key themes.


Firstly, consider Basil's studio. This setting, with its "rich odour of roses" and "heavy scent" of lilac, represents Dorian's innocence and youth, before he makes his supernatural pact to stay young and before he meets Lord Henry, who contributes to the corruption of his soul. It is interesting to note how the description of Basil's studio and garden reflect the importance of this meeting with Lord Henry: "The wind shook some blossoms from the trees . . . a grasshopper began to chirrup by the wall." This coming-alive of nature is symbolic of the impact which Lord Henry will have on the young Dorian. 


Secondly, Dorian's old schoolroom is an important setting in the novel. This first appears in Chapter Ten and evokes memories of Dorian's "lonely childhood" and the "stainless purity of his boyish life." The schoolroom thus symbolises repression: Dorian represses the painting from public view, so that his secret pact will never be revealed, just like he has repressed the painful memories of his childhood.


Finally, the opium dens, which feature in Chapter 16, are significant because they represent the corruption of Dorian's character and his soul. The opium den is the epitome of Dorian's hedonistic lifestyle and his selfish pursuit of pleasure. This idea is supported by the description of Dorian as he roams around:



Callous, concentrated on evil, with stained mind, and soul hungry for rebellion, Dorian Gray hastened on.



In other words, the opium dens transform Dorian, and he becomes just like the painting that he has tried so hard to conceal.

Monday, April 25, 2016

What are a few quotes regarding how Atticus is affected by racism in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee?

Atticus Finch is a noble man. He is appointed as Tom Robinson's attorney by Judge Taylor, which is a case no one wanted to take. Still, Atticus takes Tom's case very seriously because he's not racist. In fact, Atticus wants to do his best for his client because he not only has a chance to save a man's life, but also sees defending Tom well as an opportunity to stand up for what is right. Unfortunately, the community treats Atticus with great prejudice because of the deep roots of racism in Maycomb. About six to eight months before the trial actually takes place, Atticus tells his brother Jack the following:



Why reasonable people go stark raving mad when anything involving a Negro comes up, is something I don't pretend to understand... I just hope Jem and Scout come to me for their answers instead of listening to the town (88).



Jem and Scout aren't able to avoid the town, though. At school and on their own street, the children hear people call their father a "ni**** lover" a lot. Scout asks her father if that is what he is and he responds with the following: 



I certainly am. I do my best to love everybody... it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is, it doesn't hurt you (108).



Atticus takes people treating him with disrespect with a proverbial grain of salt. He's an emotional and psychological rock! Atticus even teaches his kids to remember that everyone on the opposite side of his case will always be considered friends. For the most part, that remains true after the intensity of the trial ends and dies down.


The only person in the community who doesn't continue to be Atticus's friend is Bob Ewell. In chapter 23, Bob Ewell confronts Atticus coming out of the post office and spits on him. Ewell also threatens to kill Atticus and provokes him to fight. Atticus's response is that he isn't interested in fighting because he's too old, not because he's a coward. Atticus's dry response to everything in life comes off a little bit funny and ironic. Normally, a person would be riled up by what Bob does, but Atticus isn't. All Atticus says to his children is, "I wish Bob Ewell wouldn't chew tobacco" (217).

Saturday, April 23, 2016

"No varnish can hide the grain of the wood." How does Dickens present the qualities of a gentleman in Great Expectations?

Pip, after his encounter with the lovely but condescending Estella and Miss Havisham, wants to be nothing but a gentleman, though he has little hope of accomplishing this. When he grows up and approaches adulthood, he is given the opportunity of becoming just that by an unknown benefactor. Through the character of Pip, Dickens explores the inadequate description of a gentleman as one who is independently wealthy, not required to work, and who spends his time as he wishes, usually spending his money on frivolous activities. However, Pip learns that this description is far from being that of a true gentleman. Pip learns the identity of his benefactor, and is not happy to find that his benefactor is a former criminal. He rejects the financial support but tries to help his benefactor to escape from the law and certain death. He has also helped his friend Herbert Pocket to succeed in reaching his goal of becoming a clerk. In this way, Pip is acknowledged to have become a true gentleman, a person who is of service to others. Dickens thus portrays a true gentleman as one who looks to help others, not thinking only of himself. It is kindness, not money, that brings nobility. This quality is one that Pip has had from the very beginning, and which gained him the attention of his secret benefactor. Pip thought the money would help him to become a gentleman. Instead, the fact that he was a gentleman gained him the money.

Thursday, April 21, 2016

In "Soldier's Home," why does Krebs avoid complications and consequences?

Krebs gets back from the war later than most other soldiers, so he does not receive the hero's welcome that those earlier returners had. In order to be heard, to get some attention and appreciation, Krebs lies about some of his exploits during the war. He tries to portray a heroic persona, so that he might more easily fit back into society.


Eventually, he develops a feeling of nausea about telling these lies. Subsequently, even though he wants a girlfriend, he does not want to put in the work to get to know a girl, let alone reveal things about himself. He doesn't want to have to deal with conflicts or the consequences of his own lies.



He did not want to tell any more lies. It wasn't worth it. He did not want any consequences. He did not want any consequences ever again. He wanted to live along without consequences. 



Using this rationale of avoidance, Krebs prefers to watch girls from a distance rather than interact with them in any personal or intimate way. It was easier for him to engage with French and German girls during the war because talking was not an issue.


Krebs may also have had traumatic experiences during the war, not counting those he lied about. These possibly have affected his ability to engage his feelings upon his return. Krebs lies when he returns as a means of fitting back into a normal social world. His only means of relating to others is by lying. When this lying leads to uncomfortable mental and physical reactions, he simply doesn't want to, or doesn't know how to engage with other people.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

After the trial, how do the children and Atticus respond to Bob Ewell's threats?

Bob Ewell had a great amount of contempt toward Atticus during and after the trial. One day, Atticus left the post office in Maycomb. Bob Ewell approached Atticus with a string of threats. He spat on him and even threatened to murder him. Instead of verbally fighting back, "Atticus didn’t bat an eye, just took out his handkerchief and wiped his face and stood there and let Mr. Ewell call him names wild horses could not bring [Miss Stephanie] to repeat" (To Kill a Mockingbird, Chapter 23). Atticus told Mr. Ewell that he was too old to be fighting and he humbly walked away.


Scout and Jem did not like their father's reaction. They wished that he would have fought Bob Ewell. They knew that their father was an excellent shot. In addition to these feelings, the children were also scared. They thought Mr. Ewell was a dangerous man. They expressed their feelings to their father. He told them that he did not regret the work he did in the courtroom. Atticus responded to their concerns:



"So if spitting in my face and threatening me saved Mayella Ewell one extra beating, that’s something I’ll gladly take. He had to take it out on somebody and I’d rather it be me than that houseful of children out there."



Atticus was willing to sacrifice to better the lives of others.

What is reinforcement in psychology?


Introduction

The casual, everyday use of the word “reinforcement” generally refers to the granting of a reward for some behavior. While the use of this term by psychologists is more formal, a great deal of research has been dedicated to studying the effects of rewards on behavior. The most influential of the early studies were those done in the 1890s by American psychologist Edward L. Thorndike
. Thorndike created a problem box from which a hungry cat could escape by performing a specific action, such as pulling on a wire, stepping on a pedal, or some similar behavior, thereby gaining access to food. From these studies Thorndike proposed his famous law of effect; that is, actions that are followed by satisfying events are more likely to recur while actions that are followed by discomfort will become less likely. The more satisfying or the more discomfort, the greater the effect on subsequent behavior.











Not all psychologists have used the word “reinforcement” to describe the same processes. In research where he conditioned dogs to salivate upon hearing certain tones, the Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov
called pairing a stimulus (food) that automatically elicits a response (salivation) to a second stimulus (a tone) reinforcing; that is, the food reinforced the ability of the tone to generate the same response. This process has come to be known as Pavlovian conditioning. Unlike Thorndike, who was referring to consequences after the organism emitted some specific behavior, Pavlov was describing an effect that occurred during the presentation of stimuli before the organism responded. Another difference was that Thorndike studied an animal’s voluntary behavior while Pavlov studied a reflexive, glandular response.


Most psychologists followed Thorndike and reserved the term “reinforcer” for voluntary behavior and its consequences. For many, though, it meant any consequence to a behavior, whether it increased or decreased the behavior’s future probability. In this usage, a reinforcer could mean any kind of motivation, whether it was to seek a pleasant or to avoid an unpleasant set of circumstances. To be sure, there were modifying words for these specific situations. Thus, if a behavior resulted in the acquisition of some desired commodity (such as food), reducing a need or a drive state, it was said to be positive reinforcement. On the other hand, if the behavior caused an unpleasant situation to be terminated or avoided, it was called negative reinforcement. Both of these consequences would increase the rate of the behavior.


To make matters more confusing, some psychologists employed the term “reinforcement” even when the consequence reduced the likelihood of a specific behavior. In the 1960s, American psychologist Gregory A. Kimble described omission training as withholding a positive reinforcer when a specified response occurs. Conversely, Kimble said that if a negative reinforcer is given when the response occurs, this is punishment.




Modern Definitions

To maintain a reasonable degree of consistency, most psychologists use the term “reinforcement” exclusively for a process of using rewards to increase voluntary behavior. The field of study most associated with this technique is instrumental conditioning. In this context, the formal definition states that a reinforcer is any consequence to a behavior that is emitted in a specified situation that has the effect of increasing that behavior in the future. It must be emphasized that the behavior itself is not sufficient for the consequence to be delivered. The circumstances in which the behavior occurs are also important. Thus, standing and cheering at a basketball game will likely lead to approval (social reinforcement), whereas this same response is not likely to yield acceptance if it occurs at a funeral.


A punisher is likewise defined as any consequence that reduces the probability of a behavior, with the same qualifications as for reinforcers. A behavior that occurs in response to a specified situation may receive a consequence that reduces the likelihood that it will occur in that situation in the future, but the same behavior in another situation would not generate the same consequence. For example, drawing on the walls of a freshly painted room would usually result in an unpleasant consequence, whereas the same behavior (drawing) in one’s coloring book would not.


The terms “positive” and “negative” are also much more tightly defined. Former use confused these with the emotional values of good or bad, thereby requiring the counterintuitive and confusing claim that a positive reinforcer is withheld or a negative reinforcer presented when there is clearly no reward, and, in fact, the intent is to reduce the probability of that response (such as described by Kimble). A better, less confusing definition is to consider “positive” and “negative” as arithmetic symbols, as for adding or subtracting. They therefore are the methods of supplying reinforcement (or punishment) rather than descriptions of the reinforcer itself. Thus, if a behavior occurs, and as a consequence something is given that will result in an increase in the rate of the behavior, this is positive reinforcement. Giving a dog a treat for executing a trick is a good example. One can also increase the rate of a behavior by removing something on its production. This is called negative reinforcement. A good example might be when a child who eats his or her vegetables does not have to wash the dinner dishes. Another example is the annoying seat belt buzzer in cars. Many people comply with the rules of safety simply to terminate that aversive sound.


The descriptors “positive” and “negative” can be applied to punishment as well. If something is added on the performance of a behavior which results in the reduction of that behavior—that is positive punishment. On the other hand, if this behavior causes the removal of something that reduces the response rate—negative punishment. A dog collar that provides an electric shock when the dog strays too close to the property line is an example of a device that delivers positive punishment. Loss of television privileges for rudeness is an example of negative punishment.




Types of Reinforcers

The range of possible consequences that can function as reinforcers is enormous. To make sense of this assortment, psychologists tend to place them into two main categories: primary reinforcers and secondary reinforcers. Primary reinforcers are those that require little, if any, experience to be effective. Food, drink, and sex are common examples. While it is true that experience will influence what would be considered desirable for food, drink, or an appropriate sex partner, there is little argument that these items, themselves, are natural reinforcers. Another kind of reinforcer that does not require experience is called a social reinforcer. Examples are social contact and social approval. Even newborns show a desire for social reinforcers. Psychologists have discovered that newborns prefer to look at pictures of human faces more than practically any other stimulus pattern, and this preference is stronger if that face is smiling. Like the other primary reinforcers, experience will modify the type of social recognition that is desired. Still, it is clear that most people will go to great lengths to be noticed by others or to gain their acceptance and approval.


Though these reinforcers are likely to be effective, most human behavior is not motivated directly by primary reinforcers. Money, entertainment, clothes, cars, and computer games are all effective rewards, yet none of these would qualify as natural or primary reinforcers. Because they must be acquired, they are called secondary reinforcers. These become effective because they are paired with primary reinforcers. The famous American psychologist B. F. Skinner
found that the sound of food being delivered was sufficient to maintain a high rate of bar pressing in experienced rats. Obviously, under normal circumstances the sound of the food only occurred if food was truly being delivered.


How a secondary reinforcer becomes effective is called two-factor theory
and is generally explained through a combination of instrumental and Pavlovian conditioning (hence the label “two-factor”). For example, when a rat receives food for pressing a bar (positive reinforcement), at that same time a neutral stimulus is also presented, the sound of the food dropping into the food dish. The sound is paired with a stimulus that naturally elicits a reflexive response; that is, food elicits satisfaction. Over many trials, the sound is paired consistently with food; thus, it will be conditioned via Pavlovian methods to elicit the same response as the food. Additionally, this process occurred during the instrumental conditioning of bar pressing by using food as a reinforcer.


This same process works for most everyday activities. For most humans, money is an extremely powerful reinforcer. Money itself, though, is not very attractive. It does not taste good, does not reduce any biological drives, and does not, on its own, satisfy any needs. However, it is reliably paired with all of these things and therefore becomes as effective as these primary reinforcers. In a similar way, popular fashion in clothing, hair styles, and personal adornment, popular art or music, even behaving according to the moral values of one’s family or church group (or one’s gang) can all come to be effective reinforcers because they are reliably paired with an important primary reinforcer, namely, social approval. The person who will function most effectively as the approving agent changes throughout life. One’s parents, friends, classmates, teachers, teammates, coaches, spouse, children, and colleagues at work all provide effective social approval opportunities.




Why Reinforcers Work

Reinforcers (and punishers) are effective at influencing an organism’s willingness to respond because they influence the way in which an organism acquires something that is desired, or avoids something that is not desired. For primary reinforcers, this concerns health and survival. Secondary reinforcers are learned through experience and do not directly affect one’s health or survival, yet they are adaptive because they are relevant to those situations that are related to well-being and an improved quality of life. Certainly learning where food, drink, receptive sex partners, or social acceptance can be located is useful for an organism. Coming to enjoy being in such situations is very useful, too.


An American psychologist, David Premack, has argued that it is the opportunity to engage in activity, and not the reinforcer itself, that is important; that is, it is not the food, but the opportunity to eat that matters. For example, he has shown that rats will work very hard to gain access to a running wheel. The activity of running in the wheel is apparently reinforcing. Other researchers have demonstrated that monkeys will perform numerous boring, repetitive tasks to open a window just to see into another room. This phenomenon has come to be known as the Premack principle. Premack explains that any high-probability activity can be used to reinforce a lower-probability behavior. This approach works for secondary reinforcers, too. The opportunity to spend money may be the reinforcer, not the money itself. Access to an opportunity to eat, to be entertained, to be with others who are complimentary about one’s taste are all highly probable behaviors; thus, they reinforce work for which one may be paid.


According to Premack’s position, a child might eat vegetables to gain access to apple pie, but not vice versa. Obviously, for most children getting apple pie is a far more effective reward than getting vegetables. Nonetheless, as unexpected as this is, such a reversal is possible. For this to work two conditions must be met: The child must truly enjoy eating the vegetables (though apple pie could still be preferred), and the child must have been deprived of these vegetables for a fair amount of time. This may make more sense when considering what happens to a child who overindulges in a favored treat. The happy child who is allowed to dive into a bag of Halloween candy, after having polished off a few pounds of sweets, would not find candy all that attractive.


A newer view of Premack’s position that incorporates situations such as these is called the bliss point. That is, for each organism there is a particular level of each activity that is most desirable (that is, the bliss point). If one is below that level, that activity has become more probable and can be used as a reinforcer for other behaviors, even those that normally have a higher probability. Thus, if a child has not had vegetables in quite a while and has become tired of apple pie, the vegetables would be effective as reinforcers to increase pie eating, though only temporarily. Once the child has acquired the bliss point for vegetable eating (which is likely to be fairly quickly), its effectiveness is ended.


The bliss point idea addresses some of the confusion about positive and negative reinforcers as well. Intuitively, it seems that positive reinforcement should be the addition of a pleasant stimulus, and that negative reinforcement would be the removal of an unpleasant stimulus. However, as anyone who has overindulged in some favored activity knows, there are times when what is normally very pleasant becomes distinctly unpleasant. Thus, adding this stimulus would not be reinforcing, even though in general it seems that it should be. It is as if the organism conducts a cost-benefit analysis concerning its current state. If the consequence is preferable to the alternative, even one that is not particularly attractive, it will function as a reinforcer. Therefore, adding what would normally be an unpleasant stimulus is positively reinforcing if it is better than going without.


Another useful idea about what makes a particular situation reinforcing is called the establishing operation. This concept describes the process of creating a need for the particular stimulus. After a large meal, food is not an effective reinforcer, but after a period of not eating, it is. Denying an organism food establishes food as an effective reinforcer. The organism is below its bliss point. Secondary reinforcers can be explained by this concept as well. By pairing neutral stimuli with primary reinforcers, one is establishing their effectiveness. Finally, that different organisms find different situations or stimuli satisfying is no surprise. Ducks find the opportunity to swim satisfying; chickens do not. A species’ natural history establishes what will be effective as well.




Patterns of Reinforcer Delivery

It is not necessary to deliver a reinforcer on every occurrence of a behavior to have the desired effect. In fact, intermittent reinforcement
has a stronger effect on the stability of the response rate than reinforcing every response. If the organism expects every response to be reinforced, suspending reinforcement will cause the response to disappear very quickly. If, however, the organism is familiar with occasions of responding without reinforcement, responding will continue for much longer on the termination of reinforcers.


There are two basic patterns of intermittent reinforcement: ratio and interval. Ratio schedules are based on the number of responses required to receive the reinforcer. Interval schedules are based on the amount of time that must pass before a reinforcer is available. Both schedules have fixed and variable types. On fixed schedules, whatever the rule is, it stays that way. If five responses are required to earn a reinforcer (a fixed ratio 5, or FR 5), every fifth response is reinforced. A fixed interval of ten seconds (FI 10) means that the first response after ten seconds has elapsed is reinforced, and this is true every time (responding during the interval is irrelevant). Variable schedules change the rule in unpredictable ways. A VR 5 (variable ratio 5) is one in which, on the average, the fifth response is reinforced, but it would vary over a series of trials. A variable interval of ten seconds (VI 10) is similar. The required amount of time is an average of ten seconds, but on any given trial it could be different.


An example of an FR schedule is pay for a specific amount of work, such as stuffing envelopes. The pay is always the same; stuffing a certain number of envelopes always equals the same pay. An example of an FI is receiving the daily mail. Checking the mailbox before the mail is delivered will not result in reinforcement. One must wait until the appropriate time. A VR example is a slot machine. The more attempts, the more times the player wins, but in an unpredictable pattern. A VI example would be telephoning a friend whose line is busy. Continued attempts will be unsuccessful until the friend hangs up the phone, but when this will happen is unknown.


Response rates for fixed schedules follow a fairly specific pattern. Fixed ratio schedules tend to have a steady rate until the reinforcer is delivered; then there is a short rest, followed by the same rate. A fixed interval is slightly different. The closer one gets to the required time, the faster the response rate. On receiving the reinforcer there will be a short rest, then a gradual return to responding, becoming quicker and quicker over time. This is called a “scalloped” pattern. (Though not strictly an FI schedule, it does have a temporal component, so it illustrates the phenomenon nicely.) Students are much more likely to study during the last few days before a test and very little during the days immediately after the test. As time passes, study behavior gradually begins again, becoming more concentrated the closer the next exam date comes.




Bibliography


Flora, Stephen Ray. The Power of Reinforcement. Albany: State U of New York P, 2004. Print.



Hilgard, Ernest Ropiequet. Psychology in America: A Historical Review. San Diego: Harcourt, 1987. Print.



Kimble, Gregory A. Hilgard and Marquis’ Conditioning and Learning. 2nd ed. New York: Appelton-Century-Crofts, 1968. Print.



Kimble, Gregory A., Michael Wertheimer, and Charlotte L. White, eds. Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology. Washington: APA, 1991. Print.



Lieberman, David A. Learning: Behavior and Cognition. 3rd ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2000. Print.



Ormrod, Jeanne E. Human Learning. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.



"Positive Reinforcement: A Self-Instructional Exercise." Athabasca University. Athabasca University, 2013. Web. 7 July 2014.

Monday, April 18, 2016

In I Am The Messenger, why doesn’t Ed kill the man from Edgar Street?

The first card that Ed is sent, the ace of diamonds, contains three addresses: 45 Edgar Street, 13 Harrison Avenue, and 6 Macedoni Street. With no concrete idea of what he is supposed to do, Ed shows up at each address at the given time. He is horrified at what he finds on Edgar Street: a large man “built like a brick sh*thouse” comes home drunk and rapes his wife while their daughter sits on the porch and cries.


While Ed finds that he can help Milla from Harrison Ave and Sophie on Macedoni, he avoids Edgar Street for lack of knowing how to help. Once, he sees the wife in a store and notes that:



Once, when the mother’s crouched down looking at packet soups, I see her fall silently to pieces. She crouches there, dying to fall to her knees but not allowing herself.



But once he’s finished helping Milla and Sophie, he must return to Edgar Street. One night, as the man comes home, Ed finds himself frozen on the porch and the girl opens the front door, asking if he is there to save them.



I crouch down to look at her properly. I want to tell her I am, but nothing comes out. I can see that the silence from my mouth has all but extinguished the hope she has conjured up. It’s almost gone when I finally speak. I look at her truthfully and say, “You’re right, Angelina—I’m here to save you.”



But then, he falters once more:



The fear has tied itself around my feet, and I know there’s nothing I can do. Not tonight. Not ever, it seems. If I try to move, I’ll trip over it.



Ed expects the girl to be furious, but instead she only hugs him tightly and “tries to crawl into [his] jacket.” He leaves, ashamed, and at 2:27 in the morning the phone rings. A voice tells him to check his mailbox, and he finds a gun.


A concrete objective, sanctioned by some unknown entity, has been introduced: it would be all too easy for Ed to simply kill the man. And indeed, he plans to. Ed arranges to pick the man up in his cab, gives him doped vodka, and drives to an isolated area, at which point he beats the man with his gun. The man is terrified, sobbing and admitting to raping his wife. And after the initial rush of adrenaline has left left him, Ed is paralyzed:



I begin to lurch and quake at the thought of killing another human. The aura that surrounded me earlier is gone. The air of invincibility has deserted me, and I’m suddenly aware that I have to do this surrounded by nothing but my own human frailty. I breathe. I almost break.



Ed’s humanity is emphasized in this moment: he is agitated, scared, and wants nothing more than to have never encountered this particular situation in the first place. And yet his end goal seems more just than the alternative. He cannot find a better solution than killing the man, but he does not want to commit murder.


Ed waits so long that the man falls asleep. At dawn he wakes the man up and confronts him, “feverish” and sweating. The scene ends as Ed pulls the trigger: the reader at first assumes that Ed has killed the man. The illusion is dispelled on the following page, and yet it serves an important purpose—the catharsis of the moment, with all of its inherent moral ambiguity, is retained. And after all, Ed has succeeded: the man leaves town, never to return.


His ultimate decision not to kill the man from Edgar Street establishes Ed's agency. Even though he was provided with the means to make such a choice, Ed chooses instead to let him go, trusting that the man will not return. Such a choice is imperfect, suiting Ed's position as an imperfect man. 

What is the significance of The Grapes of Wrath?

The Grapes of Wrath made a significant impact on the way Americans viewed the victims of the Dust Bowl.  The book was published in the spring of 1939.  The severe drought that contributed largely to the conditions that caused the Dust Bowl did not end until the autumn of that same year.  Until John Steinbeck's book, there was general awareness of what was happening but not a large scale response.  The news reported what was happening to those outside the effected regions and photographers such as Dorothea Lange showed a more human aspect of the devastation.  However, it was John Steinbeck's novel that showed the details of the utter desperation of people who lost their livelihoods, their homes, and their health.  


Many farmers, who could not grow enough crops to make a living, faced eviction and foreclosure.  Many packed up their families and traveled on Route 66 to seek a new life in California.  In California, they faced discrimination.  They were called "Okies," which was a derogatory term.  Some merchants event posted signs saying that they would not serve "Okies."  The work the migrants found paid little and was often seasonal.  Many people suffered health problems due to breathing in dust for years.  "Dust pneumonia" could kill victims.


The fictional Joad family in Steinbeck's book suffered losses of their home and livelihood.  They moved to California to seek a new life.  California was not what they expected.  Their experiences reflected the real experiences of many people.  In writing this story, "Steinbeck was able to familiarize such a complex and interwoven set of events and experiences."  The book was popular and award winning, and this brought awareness of the situation and plight of the migrants.  Well know and influential leaders read it including the First Lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt who, "upon reading the book, called for congressional hearings that resulted in reform to labor laws governing migrant camps."

Sunday, April 17, 2016

How does the point of view influence the overall tone of the novel Lord of the Flies?

In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses a third person omniscient narrator to tell his story. The distance this narrator has from the events of the story helps to create a tone of both unflinching directness and of haunting beauty.


For example, when the hunters kill Simon, mistaking him for the beast, the narrator uses simple, straight-forward language:



"the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore" (pg 153)



Later, when Ralph is being hunted, the same language comes out:



"Break the line.
A tree.
Hide, and let them pass.
[...]
Hide was better than a tree because you had a chance of breaking the line if you were discovered.
Hide, then" (pg 217) 



In these examples, the narrator's direct look at the evils the boys are unleashing creates a tone of unflinching observation.


At other moments in the novel, the narrator uses beautiful imagery to evoke the sense of evil and foreboding that haunts the boys and the island itself. Lines like the following, describing the pig's head and the forest (respectively) demonstrate this:



"The head remained there, dim-eyed, grinning faintly, blood blackened between the teeth" (pg 137)



and



"for a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter" (pg 143).



These quotes show that the distance the third person narrator has to the action of the story allows him/her to poetically contemplate the evil that the boys themselves are in direct struggle with.

How does the choice of details set the tone of the sermon?

Edwards is remembered for his choice of details, particularly in this classic sermon. His goal was not to tell people about his beliefs; he ...