Erotic Films on Television Analysis on the Debate on Its Influence on Youth Essay Example

Erotic Films on Television: Analysis on the Debate on Its Influence on Youth Essay Erotic films on television: analysis on the debate on its influence on youth A term paper submitted in partial fulfillment of MAC 322 Mass Media and Society Akinyele Omolola 10/52HN009 May 2, 2013 Contents Background1 Theorietical framework4 Global evidence of television influence on the behaviour of young people7 Debate11 Change in Attitudes11 Erotic Films on Television and Sexual Violence14 Premature or inadvertent exposure to sexually explicit content19 Sexual Addiction21 The inappropriate acceptance and adoption of non-mainstream sexual practices22 References26 Background Few inventions of the Twentieth Century were more remarkable, more powerful, or more influential in the daily lives of citizens throughout the world than television. That influence grows daily as more and more areas of the world have access to television and the number of televisions per household increases. The average household has the television set turned on 8 hours and 14 minutes daily. For many children, Television has become the second parent, and to some, more powerful and influential even than their real life parents. The average time children, adolescents and young adults spend watching TV each day is two to four hours. We will write a custom essay sample on Erotic Films on Television: Analysis on the Debate on Its Influence on Youth specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Erotic Films on Television: Analysis on the Debate on Its Influence on Youth specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Erotic Films on Television: Analysis on the Debate on Its Influence on Youth specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer To say that television programming has a profound social impact is a great understatement. Television can be a source of good or evil. At its best, it is educational and entertaining. At worst, it is prurient and frightening. It can be provocative, but it can also be mind numbing, as well. Harm from television programming is hotly debated in some quarters. The question of whether television programming harms, and that is a question with which the world is wrestling now, is, in my judgment, really a question of whether television programming influences. Shows depicting violence, sex, and profanity influence. Television shapes the attitudes, outlook, and morality of its viewers. This is not mere conjecture; advertisers know this and are willing to pay vast sums of money because of it. Erotic films are everywhere as illustrated by (Struthers, 2009) â€Å"I put on self imposed blinders as I wade through tantalizing advertisements with Victoria’s Secret models in the margins of my weather forecast. My Internet service provider’s homepage is littered with dating services (â€Å"Hot Single Girls in Your Neighbourhood Looking for Love! ) and my sports websites have galleries of scantily clad cheerleaders. If I watch a soccer match on television with my children, I have to be vigilant to change the channel when commercials for Viagra are aired. In a world that has been hyper sexualized, it is hard to get through the day without being battered and numbed by the intrusions of erotic films. † This is further confirmed by (Sarracino amp; Scott, 2008, p. xii) â€Å"porn is a cultural trend affecting all age groups, all races, and all classes, and that virtually every aspect of ordinary day-to-day life is being shaped by porn. It’s not, then, much that porn has become mainstream, which we often hear, as that the mainstream has become porned. Increasingly†¦we live porn in our daily lives. Although, this study is on erotic movies, it should be noted that erotic movie has no clear definition â€Å"What’s erotic to you is art to me,† Erotic is in the eye of the beholder. Many argue that what is erotic is culturally defined and that culture changes. Erotic refers to art or literature intended to arouse sexual desire by portraying sex in an explicit way. It is a synonym of pornography, sexually explicit material (SEM) and porn. In this paper it would be used interchangeably with those terms. Logically, worldwide there have been thousands of studies about the television’s sexual content showing that the share of sexual scenes on TV is very high, from cartoons to sports news. Television, which has an enormous influence on the audience, holds a great responsibility for the education of the people. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the debate on the influence of erotic films on young people. Theoretical framework Sexual messages on the television can have both immediate and long-term effects. Viewing a television program may change a persons immediate state by inducing arousal, leading to inhibition of impulses, or activating thoughts or associations. It may also contribute to enduring learned patterns of behaviour, cognitive scripts and schemas about sexual interactions, attitudes, and beliefs about the real world. Immediate effects are the focus of Zillmann’s arousal theory. According to that theory, if television content produces emotional and physiological arousal, some type of behaviour is likely to follow. Whether or not that behaviour is â€Å"sexual† depends on both the personality of the viewer and the environmental circumstances. Because arousal is non-specific, it can also lead to aggression, altruism, or other forms of behaviour if the conditions are conducive to those behaviours. Theories based on observational learning and information processing emphasize lasting effects of exposure to media content. Bandura’s observational learning theory suggests that children will learn not only the mechanics of sexual behaviour, but the contexts, motives and consequences portrayed. They will attend to and learn from models that are attractive, powerful, rewarded, and similar to them. Children do not usually act immediately on what they learn from television; instead, they store such knowledge to be used when their own circumstances elicit it. Berkowitz’s cognitive neoassociationist theory was proposed as a way of understanding effects of violent content, but it appears equally applicable to sexual content. Although similar to observational learning theory in many respects, the theory gives a central place to the viewer’s emotional responses as the links between learned media content and later behaviour. As emotional responses to sexual content are likely to be intense, this idea seems especially Pertinent to â€Å"effects† of such content. Huesmann argues that children learn social and sexual schemas (expectations) and scripts for sexual interactions from exposure to television. This view implies that it is important to examine what is learned about the circumstances for sexual activity, communication, negotiation, and decision-making. Scripts and schemas learned in childhood have particular importance as the child grows because young people may not have well-developed ideas and understandings of sexuality. Content viewed later may modify such schemas or reinforce them, but will not have quite the â€Å"primacy† of what was initially learned. Cultivation theory (Signorielli amp; Morgan, 1990) also predicts that mass media convey images of socially normative behaviour and that young people absorb impressions and assumptions about whom, when, how often, under what circumstances sexual interactions occur. All of these theories recognize that effects of this phenomenon are not unidirectional. Children are not just recipients of television messages; they choose the content to which they are exposed, and they interpret the content within their own frames of reference. But, some theories give prime importance to the active nature of viewers in selecting and using media. From this Viewpoint, â€Å"effects† result from availability of content to serve different functions and from understanding the viewer’s interactions with the medium. Cognitive developmental theory is especially important for the topic of sexuality because of the very large age differences in both comprehension and interest in sex. Collins’ research on children’s understanding of violent content has demonstrated that children interpret media content according to their level of cognitive development generally and their knowledge about the content more particularly. Similarly, one would expect children in late childhood, early, and middle adolescence to interpret and react to erotic films on television very differently. In the communications field, â€Å"uses and gratifications† theories emphasize that people use media to serve different functions. If we want to understand the â€Å"effects† of sexual content, we must know why a young person views it. Is that individual looking for information, for arousal (either alone or with a partner), for rebellion (forbidden fruit), or for something else? Global evidence of television influence on the behaviour of young people A considerable body of research from developed countries, particularly the US, suggests that the visual media influence a broad range of attitudes and behaviours among young people and may exacerbate risky practices. These studies have largely followed the â€Å"media-effects† model and explored the impact of the television on certain risk-taking behaviours such as engaging in sex, use of tobacco and alcohol, aggression and violence as well as such other behaviours as adopting new clothing styles and mannerisms, among others. Studies conducted in the US, in the 1970s and 1980s, have shown a consistent relationship between media viewing and sexual behaviour. For example, a study that compared pregnant and non-pregnant girls found that girls who had become pregnant were more likely to have been watching soap operas prior to the pregnancy (Corder-Bolz, 1981), while another linked TV watching preferences to earlier initiation of sexual experience (Peterson and Kahn, 1984). Further, while viewing media with sexual content was observed to be positively linked to the viewer’s permissive attitude toward pre-marital sex (Greeson and Williams, 1986), viewing more sexual content on television was found to increase the likelihood of engaging in sexual intercourse among teens (Brown and Newcomer, 1991). Reviewing the impact of the media on adolescent sexual attitudes and behaviours, Escobar-Chaves and her colleagues found that exposure to NC-17 rated films (a rating that prohibits admission of anyone who is 17 or under into a theatre) increased the likelihood of having multiple sexual partners, engaging in sex more often, testing positive for HIV AIDS, and having more negative attitudes toward condom use (Escobar-Chaves et al. , 2004). Based on their study with adolescents, Brown and her colleagues suggested that sexually explicit media act as a sexual â€Å"super peer† for teenage youth by serving as a readily available and accessible source of sexual information in the absence of significant counsel from family and school (Brown et al. , 2005). In a subsequent study, Brown et al used â€Å"sexual media diet† (SMD), an index of exposure to sexual content in the mass media, to explore media influences on adolescent sexual behaviour (Brown et al. , 2006). Their longitudinal studies revealed that white adolescent girls in the top 20% of a random sample of SMD density when 12 to 14 years old, were more than twice as likely to have had sexual intercourse at age 14 to 16 as girls who had SMDs with densities in the lower 80%. On the other hand, black teens reported a greater influence of â€Å"perceptions of their parents’ expectations and their friends’ sexual behaviour† than what they saw and heard in the media, a finding that points to the need to identify the cultural and social factors that account for apparently large variations in young people’s vulnerability to media influence. Strasburger and Donnerstein also support the view that individual characteristics of young people such as race, ethnicity and family background have not been explored well enough to understand their relationship with media consumption and subsequent influence (Strasburger and Donnerstein, 1999). A WHO study further noted that â€Å"films have created a yearning for romance† and that to be labelled ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend’ implies â€Å"popularity, coolness and modernity†. Findings also showed that gangster erotic films are particularly popular with college students and dialogues from these films are used in everyday conversations with friends; when combined with the right kind of accessories (such as motorbikes and mobile phones) this not only becomes a style statement but an indicator of belonging to a youth sub-culture (WHO, 2003). Among efforts to study the influence of the visual media on sexual behaviour is a study of 300 school girls in Pune which found a strong correlation between their TV watching habits and involvement with boys (Joshi, 2005). Other studies have reported that adolescents â€Å"select† songs and speaking styles from films and TV for use as â€Å"scripts† in heterosexual interactions (Belaku Trust, 2004). Schwartz found that the media can provide information on fashion, beauty and body satisfaction, and has the potential to provide positive images for adolescents in the process of their social development and emerging sense of identity, of which fashion decisions are a part (Schwartz, 2004). Debate Change in Attitudes The literature on the effects of sexual media content also includes correlational studies in which young people’s naturally occurring exposure to the media is used to compare their attitudes and behaviours. Strasburger and Wilson (2002, p. 177) note that of six studies on the relationship between onset of sexual intercourse and amount of sexual content viewed on television, only one is longitudinal and four are more than a decade old. Nevertheless, most studies demonstrate measurable effects. One study found that teenagers whose television diet includes higher proportions of sexual content were also more likely to have engaged in sexual intercourse. Another study found a correlation between young women’s exposure to music videos and their premarital sex (Huston et al. p. 14, 27). A recent US study of 18 to 20 year old students concluded that greater exposure to sexual content on television correlated with a belief that one’s peers are sexually active and a more favourable attitude towards recreational sex (Strasburger amp; Wilson 2002, p. 159). Given that such studies are correlational, it is equally plausible that sexual content on television teaches such attitudes, that individuals with such attitudes are drawn to watching programs with sexual content, or that both patterns are caused by other external factors. Dr. Mary Anne Layden, co-director of the Sexual Trauma and Psychopathology Programme at the University of Pennsylvanias Centre for Cognitive Therapy, has shown that exposure to erotic films on television on a regular basis is extremely harmful. Layden said there is a correlation between viewing pornographic materials even soft porn on television and sexual behaviour mong individuals. Viewing erotic films leads to, what Dr. Layden calls, â€Å"permission-giving beliefs,† which she describes as beliefs that claim the action the person is doing is Normal, does not hurt anyone and that everyone is doing them. The individual involved, she notes, does not think they need to change their behaviour. She cites the fo llowing examples of such beliefs: that sex is a consumer commodity that can be bought, sold or stolen at anytime; sex is a male entitlement; male sexuality is viciously narcissistic, predatory and out of control; women enjoy degrading sex and womens bodies are just sexual entertainment for men. She notes that college students who continue to watch pornography can adapt these beliefs, which lead to developing a pattern of unhealthy sexual relationships and dangerous sexual behaviour. Prolonged exposure to pornography, Layden says, can even lead to a high likelihood to commit rape. Several experimental studies document changes in attitudes and knowledge among adolescents exposed to sexual media content when compared to a control group who are not shown the same material. They have found: †¢ adolescents who saw portrayals of pre-, extra- or non-marital sexual relations rate these portrayals as less bad than did peers who saw portrayals of marital sexual relations or non-sexual relations between adults; †¢ Teenagers who saw TV scenes with sexual content learnt terms referring to such activities as homosexuality and prostitution; †¢ Exposure to music videos is associated with greater acceptance of premarital sex; †¢ students shown programs containing information about pregnancy and menstruation, for example, knew more factual information than those who were not shown this material (Huston et. l. 1998, p. 14). One can conclude from the small body of research evidence described that exposure to sexual media content such as on television can change young viewers’ attitudes and knowledge, and there is weak evidence of a relationship between television viewing and sexual behaviour and beliefs (Huston et. al 1998, p. 16). However, i t is only a set of ethical, moral or political values which allows us to determine whether these effects are good, bad or neutral (Thornburgh amp; Lin 2002, p. 75). For example, moral conservatives may judge young women’s premarital sex as negative given their belief in the desirability of sex only within marriage, while advocates of comprehensive sexuality education may be more concerned with whether this sex was consenting and safe or coerced and risky. Finally, media messages have more influence if young people perceive them to be accurate, realistic and high quality (Huston et. al 1998, pp. 15-16). Erotic Films on Television and Sexual Violence There is a more substantial body of research evidence on the impact of sexual content and pornography among young adults and adults in general. A wide range of studies has been conducted among young people aged 18 to 25, often populations of youths in tertiary. In terms of the impact of erotic films, one of the most important areas of social concern has been its impact on men’s sexual behaviour towards women, and particularly male sexual aggression or rape. This concern is expressed neatly in the now-famous slogan advanced by some feminist anti-pornography advocates in the 1980s: ‘Pornography is the theory, and rape the practice’ (Morgan 1980, p. 139). In other words, for these advocates, pornography or any sexually explicit material plays a causal role in sexual violence against women, although other feminist (and non-feminist) commentators dispute this. Thus many empirical studies on pornography’s impact concern the question of sexual aggression. Most focus on the attitudes and behaviours of males, driven in part by the recognition that it is males who are responsible for the majority of sexual assaults, whether against females or other males. If exposure to erotic films on television does shape sexually violent attitudes and behaviours, then this is an important inclusion in our assessment of the impact of pornography on young people. Empirical research among adults on erotic films and sexual aggression can be divided into four types, according to two dimensions of the study. First, some studies are experimental, often in laboratory conditions, and involve testing the impact of exposure to pornography on participants’ attitudes or aggressive behaviour; other studies are correlational and involve the investigation of possible relationships between regular viewing of erotic films (in everyday life) and attitudes or aggressive behaviour. Furthermore, among correlational studies, some compare the use of pornography and other forms of erotica by people convicted of sexually violent crimes with that by non-criminals, while others compare pornography use and reported sexual aggression among non-criminals. The second dimension concerns the dependent variable. Some studies focus on factors believed to affect sexual aggression, particularly attitudes supportive of rape, while others focus on sexually aggressive behaviours themselves (Malamuth et. al pp. 41-42). There is considerable disagreement in the literature on erotic films regarding the significance of the existing body of empirical evidence, with some authors arguing for a clear relationship between exposure to erotic films and sexual aggression and others saying there is no effect. However, the application to existing empirical studies of summary techniques or ‘meta-analysis’ does find consistent relationships. Malamuth et. al (2000) integrates the findings of meta-analytic summaries of experimental and naturalistic research. They find that there is consistent and reliable evidence that exposure to or consumption of erotic films is related to male sexual aggression against women. This association is strongest for violent erotic films and still reliable for nonviolent erotic films, particularly by frequent users (Malamuth et. al 2000, p. 53). The authors also rebut claims, for example by Fisher and Grenier (1994), that there have not been any reliable connections found between the viewing of erotic films and sexual aggression. In arguing that there is an association between the use of erotic films and sexual aggression, there are two caveats to note. First, erotic films and shows on television are not the sole determinant of men’s violence against women. Contemporary scholarship shows a growing emphasis on multivariate explanations of men’s violence against women in which it is assumed that violence is ‘a multifaceted phenomenon grounded in interplay among personal, situational, and socio-cultural factors’ (Heise 1998, pp. 263–264). Violence against women is more likely in cultures where manhood is culturally defined as linked to dominance, toughness or male honour (Heise 1998, p. 77). It is more likely to be practised by men who identify with traditional images of masculinity and male gender role privilege, have hostile and negative sexual attitudes towards women, believe in rape stereotypes, see violence as manly and desirable, and are attached to male peers who legitimate abuse of women. Nevertheless, sexually explicit movies on Television clearly play a role in helping foster the kinds of att itudes and values which may predispose some men to rape women. Second, erotic films on television are ot the only important source of sexist and violence-supportive discourses and representations, other type of television programmes and advertisements are also effective teachers of gender stereotyped and rape-supportive attitudes (Strasburger amp; Wilson 2002, p. 164). However, analysis of the 13 comparative studies on this question finds that convicted sex offenders do not use erotic films more frequently than men from the noncriminal general population, and their age of first exposure is not significantly lower (Malamuth et. l 2000, pp. 47-48). One complexity here is that the noncriminal general population includes individuals who have committed sexual offences but have not been convicted. Given the very low rates of reporting, prosecution and conviction of sexual assaults relative to other crimes, one may be comparing a population of known sex offenders with another population wh ich includes unknown sex offenders. However, some differences are evident between offenders and non-offenders in their relationships to erotic films. Compared to non offenders, convicted rapists are more likely to perform a sexual act (such as masturbation, consensual sex, or criminal sex) after viewing violent erotic films on Television, are more aroused by portrayals of non consenting sex and are less aroused by portrayals of consenting sex (Malamuth et. al 2000, p. 47-48). Finally, several studies have investigated potential relationships between men’s erotic films consumption and men’s self-reported likelihood of raping or sexually harassing a woman if they were assured of not being caught or punished. This is a measure of attraction to sexual aggression rather than of sexual aggression itself. These studies find that men who watch television programmes with hardcore, violent, or rape erotic scenes, and men who are high-frequency users of pornography, are also significantly more likely than non-users or low-frequency users to report that they would rape or sexually harass a woman if they knew they could get away with it (Malamuth et. al 2000, pp. 51-52). Early arguments for erotic films’ causal role in rape cited as one form of proof the fact that some convicted rapists had erotic films in their possession or claimed that ‘porn made me do it’ (Strossen 1995, p. 256). . Premature or inadvertent exposure to sexually explicit content Depictions of sexual behaviour may be emotionally disturbing to the individual who encounters them. In the first place, children and adolescents may be shocked, troubled, or disturbed by premature or inadvertent encounters with sexually explicit material per se. They may be at an age or developmental level where they are unaware of and inexperienced in sexual activities. Or they may be unfamiliar with or uninterested in sexually explicit details so that involuntary exposure to such portrayals is surprising and upsetting. A recent survey found that 53 per cent of young people aged 11 to 17 had seen or experienced something on the television they thought was offensive or disgusting (Aisbett 2001). Pornography dominated the list of content reported, although there is insufficient detail to determine whether the material was troubling because it was sexually explicit or because it was offensive in some more particular way. the young people said that they felt ‘sick’, ‘yuck’ ‘disgusted’, ‘repulsed’ and ‘upset’, some were annoyed because the erotic films unexpected and difficult to remove from the screen, and others reported feeling ‘uncomfortable’, ‘shocked’, ‘embarrassed’ or ‘degraded’ by the experience (Aisbett2001, p. 41). One should not conclude from this study however that adolescents necessarily are disturbed by sexually explicit depictions. Two recent American studies found that 25 to 30 percent of children aged 10 to 17 have had at least one unwanted exposure to erotic films on television in the last year, but also found that the majority of them were not distressed by these. Finally, some children inadvertently exposed to erotic films on television are upset not by its content but by the potential reactions of their parents (Aisbett 2001, p. 41). They are concerned that their parents may catch them with this content on screen, may be disturbed by this or may not believe that the sexually explicit material was encountered by accident. In turn, some parents are less concerned by the sexual explicitness per se of the material to which their children are exposed but more worried by the fact that exposure occurs in settings without parental guidance and the opportunity to explain how such material is inappropriate and to place it in a context (Thornburgh amp; Lin 2002, p. 168). Sexual Addiction Psychologist, Dr. Victor B. Cline has described his observations of pornography’s negative effects after years of treating sexual illnesses: â€Å"In over 25 years I have treated approximately 350 males afflicted with sexual addictions (or sometimes referred to as sexual compulsions). In about 94% of the cases, I have found that erotic films on television was a contributor, facilitator, or direct causal agent in the acquiring of these sexual illnesses. I note that Patrick Carnes, the leading U. S. researcher in this area, reports similar findings. In his research on nearly 1000 sex addicts, as reported in his Dont Call it Love: Recovery from Sexual Addictions (Bantam Books, 1991): ‘Among all addicts surveyed 90% of the men and 77% of the women reported pornography as significant to their addiction. ’ I found that nearly all of my adult sexual addicts problems started with porn exposure in childhood or adolescence (8 years and older). The typical pattern was exposure to mild porn early with increasing frequency of exposure and eventual later addiction. This was nearly always accompanied by masturbation. This was followed by an increasing desensitization of the materials pathology, escalation to increasingly aberrant and varied kinds of materials, and eventually to acting out the sexual fantasies they were exposed to. While this did on occasion include incest, child molestation, and rape, most of the damage was through compulsive infidelity (often infecting the wife with Herpes or other venereal diseases) and a destruction of trust in the marital bond which in many cases led to divorce and a breaking up of the family. The inappropriate acceptance and adoption of non-mainstream sexual practices In the case of the third type of potential negative effect, the harm is seen to be associated with the practice itself. Sexual behaviours involving bondage, sadomasochism, trans-sexuality, urination, defecation, bestiality and rape are widely regarded as harmful, immoral or unethical in and of themselves, and indeed some are criminal offences. At the same time, cultural judgements of their acce ptability can be internally complex. For example, while the majority of individuals condemn rape or sexual assault, one in seven young people expresses support for beliefs that condone or legitimate rape and sexual coercion. This is because behaviours such as sadomasochism, bestiality and rape are judged by many commentators to be offensive by their nature; portrayals of these behaviours are also seen as harmful. In the first place, such portrayals involve enacting the behaviour in the sense that the act has to be practised if it is to be photographed or filmed. Moreover, portrayals of ‘extreme’ sexual behaviour may incite, eroticise and give legitimacy to it. Thus, the argument goes, it is inappropriate for anyone to see or indeed produce such portrayals, and it is particularly harmful for minors to view such portrayals because they are still in the process of emotional and sexual development, are impressionable and are therefore more vulnerable to influence. In viewing images of non-mainstream sexual behaviour, children and adolescents may come to see such abhorrent practices as acceptable or desirable and may adopt them themselves. This argument therefore depends on two claims regarding the likely impact of exposure and the ethical status of the sexual practices at stake. One version of this argument has been around for a long time, the notion of the ‘recruitment’ of children into homosexuality. A longstanding concern among conservative religious advocates has been that children are recruited into homosexuality through its ‘promotion’, including sexually explicit homosexual imagery. In addition, some parents may be concerned for example that their adolescent son or daughter, ‘confused’ about their developing sexuality, will adopt a gay or lesbian identity following exposure to homosexual materials. However, there is no evidence that being exposed to sexually explicit materials, or indeed any kind of representation, can change a person’s overall sexual orientation, their attraction to one sex or the other. Indeed, systematic efforts to convert individuals from homosexual to heterosexual using therapy, electric shock treatment and other ‘treatments’ have a long record of failure (Allgeier amp; Allgeier 1995, pp. 506-508). Thus, the adolescent son’s or daughter’s likelihood of developing a homosexual identity is no more (or less) likely following exposure to homosexual representations. On the other hand, if the son or daughter does have access to information which is supportive of sexual diversity, they are more likely to accept their own fluctuating desires regardless of their final sexual orientation. In the context of a silence about homosexuality in their everyday lives, young men and women use erotic films to watch on Television to learn what to do when having sex, to improve their knowledge about sexual behaviour or as a substitute for sexual relationships. There is not yet a body of evidence ith which to assess with any certainty whether young people exposed to eroticised images or accounts of anal intercourse, bondage, bestiality and so on are more likely to adopt these than young people who have not viewed such material. Conclusion There are good theoretical reasons to believe that television and other media can play an important role in educating children and adolescents about sexuality. Media portrayals surround children, and young people are intensely i nterested in sexuality, romance, and relationships. The few experimental studies show that television has the potential to change viewers’ attitudes and knowledge. There is also some evidence that such personal factors as interest in sexual content, level of understanding, perceived reality, and parental mediation modify the influence of sexual messages. Much more empirical work is needed to substantiate the claim that naturally occurring sexual content in the media actually does cause changes

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Anthropology - Assignment Example The new class of leaders can easily be recognized by their message and actions. The book illustrates how Muslim leaders have continued to dissociate themselves with violence. According to the book, modern Muslim leaders are fighting in a new frontier in order to disassociate Islam from terrorism. Following the September 11 attack on the US, Islam was placed in the same class as terrorism (Shadid 34). Thus, the new leaders are striving to defend Islamic religion from terrorism accusation by denouncing violence. Unlike conventional Muslim, the new leaders have also formed political parties to push forward their agenda. Political movements are substituting militant organizations such as Mujahidin army, Taliban and Fatah. The new leaders are also concerned with social transformation through peaceful reforms. This has made them to engage in social activities and civic education. Therefore, the new leaders are proposing democratic leadership instead of the traditional militant organizations. Through the new approach, the new leaders hope to transform the Muslim commu nity significantly. In the education system and practices described by Mottahedeh (mantle of the prophet) and Blank (mullahs on the mainframe), what factors in each produce habits of conformity and what features foster critical examination. How does the Taliban education, described by Shadid (legacy of the prophet), compare? Mottahedeh and Blank evaluate the role of education in Islamic transformation. Both writers examine the role of education in the formation of orthodox Islam. In each form of education system described by the writers, westernization or adoption of western values is a common aspect. According to the books, the Muslim world can only achieve development if it detaches education from westernization. For instance Blank notes that orthopraxy among Muslims has created a high level of scientific sophistication. The author also highlights how educational values have been distorted by

The Nursing Shortage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Nursing Shortage - Essay Example The nursing shortage problem is made worse through poor retention strategies of healthcare institutions. Taken as a whole, nursing professionals expressed better job and career satisfaction than professionals from several of the other fields. Finally, the average age of RN’s is on the rise. Moving on to the action required for easing the pressure on RN’s and preventing the shortage of RN’s in the long run, the authors recommend finding the means to eliminate the poor workplace environment for nurses; take measures to improve the contributions made by nursing to patient safety and quality of care of patients; maintain a long term perspective in all these aspects; take steps to enhance the capacity of nursing education programs; and accept that the nursing work force can change for the better. In conclusion the authors suggest that complacency on the issue of nursing shortage should be avoided, and that nursing professionals can be assured of the recognition of soc iety for their contributions, which would lead to society taking measures for improvement in work related issues of RN’s. ... act on nursing, the changes required, and the transformational leadership that is required for leading the requisite changes in the profession of nursing. Nursing is an embattled profession in the U.S.A. fighting the battle of nursing shortage. Yet, the policy solutions that have been set forth do not provide any positive feeling. In the opinion of the author this may be due to the negative nursing affectivity with which the problems faced by nursing is perceived. What is required is to perceive the requirement for nursing professional as a consequence of the generational changes that are occurring in American society. and the opportunity that it presents for nursing. An opportunity has been presented to nursing, but by living in the past of complaining about the shortage of nurses, and crying for more nurses, nursing is missing the boat. Nursing leadership needs to recognize that there have been changes in the health delivery systems that have enhanced the complexity in the health d elivery system. Consequently nursing has to change accordingly by arming itself with better expertise and competencies. This is the transformation thinking that is required in nursing leadership. The challenge can be met only by thinking out of the box, so that the profession is transformed into one capable of meeting the diverse and complex needs of society. These diverse and complex needs include on one side profit of shareholders and return on investment on one side and cost considerations for the healthcare service users on the other hand. In conclusion the author opines that inculcating humanistic values with a focus on patient well-being is the need in the modern healthcare system. Nursing in collaboration with the medical profession is in a position to balance cost effectiveness with

American Writers Essay Example for Free

American Writers Essay List of American Novels for Research Project English 11H Historical/War Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane Killer Angels, Michael Shaara A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier My Brother Sam is Dead, JL Collier African-American Beloved, Toni Morrison (mature themes) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou Native Son, James Baldwin The Color Purple, Alice Walker (mature themes) Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston Malcom X (autobiography- lengthy) A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest Gaines. The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Ernest Gaines Go Tell it on the Mountain, James Baldwin Black Boy, Richard Wright (memoir) Dystopian/Futuristic/Science Fiction Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card Slaughterhouse 5, Kurt Vonnegut Catch-22, Joseph Heller The Giver, Lois Lowry Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury Realism/Naturalism/Regionalism The Call of the Wild, Jack London White Fang, Jack London O’Pioneers, Willa Cather My Antonia, Willa Cather Maggie, Girl of the Streets, Stephen Crane The Jungle, Upton Sinclair Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain Miscellaneous Modern/Contemporary novels The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd. The Natural, Bernard Malamud (baseball; Jewish myth) One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey (set in a mental asylum) House on Mango Street, Sandy Cisneros Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (Chinese-American culture) The Help, Kathryn Stockett (set in 1960s; about African-American maids in the South) Shoeless Joe, WP Kinsella (baseball) Franny and Zooey, by JD Salinger (from 1950’s; If you have an interest in world philosophy or eastern religion, you’d probably like this. ) The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath (mature themes) Research Novel Lottery Preparation. Native American Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Sherman Alexie Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, Sherman Alexie Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko Quest/Journey On the Road, Jack Kerouac The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway The Road, Cormac McCarthy Dark Romanticism The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne (set in Puritan New England; challenging) ark Roma nticis m he Scarlet Letter For our project, you will read one of the books on this list and (later) research the reasons this has become a significant member of the American literary canon. (What literary elements make it unique or powerful? What impact has this work had on our history or way of thinking? ) During our next class, we will conduct a lottery so that each student has a different title. To help insure that you end up with a title that you will enjoy, please spend 20-30 minutes choosing 4 titles from the list that you will be pleased to read and research. You ARE NOT allowed to read any book that you have previously read. I strongly suggest you do some Internet searches on various titles to examine what those books are all about, and to determine if their content might appeal to you. You also need to make sure ahead of time that your choices are okay with your parents. Remember, we will draw names and choose titles, so it’s highly likely you won’t get your first choice. You may, in fact, want to come up with more than four choices! Four top choices: 1_________________________________________________________________________ 2_________________________________________________________________________ 3_________________________________________________________________________ 4_________________________________________________________________________ Please see side two for list of titles?

History Of Crime And Social Construction

History Of Crime And Social Construction This paper will evaluate the statement is crime a social construct? In order to evaluate this statement social construction as well as the history of crime and its recorded beginnings have to be analysed accordingly and different sociological views taken into consideration. It will also look into the social construction of the Official Crime Statistics and the theories that blame society for crime. Crime is the product of the social structure; it is embedded in the very fibres of society. In this essay, I aim to explore different theories as to why crime exists within society and how we as a society therefore construct it. Crime is a social construct; it is always in society and is on the increase. It is inevitable. Where does it come from? It comes from legislation, from the making of laws. Deviance can be simply defined as fundamentally norm-breaking behaviour and crime simply, essentially deviant behaviour which is against criminal law. However, defining crime is not as straightforward as it seems, it is a contested concept and this could be due to laws changing over time and place and subsequently changing the definition of crime. There is very rarely a unanimous agreement about what criminal is, for example one persons terrorist maybe anothers freedom fighter. However, there are other behaviours which may not be considered criminal in law but which many of us may think of as crimes, this therefore describes deviance as an act that breaks the norms held by the majority in society. There have been many biological and psychological theories of criminal behaviour. This essay focuses on the arguments that no behaviour is inherently criminal and society creates crime by making rules and consequently breaking those rules constitutes crime. Crime and Punishment In 1998 Croall explained that there is a very narrow borderline between what is considered as criminal and normal, legal or illegal. For instance many people often break the speed limit but would not label themselves as criminal. It is the social problems within communities that reflect what people are concerned about presently, what they find undesirable and need to be removed. Depending on the situation these problems are subject to change and can bring new legislation into action, therefore changing the laws. Spector and Kitsuse described social problems as the activities of individuals or groups making assertions of grievances and claims with respect to some putative conditions. The emergence of a social problem is contingent upon the organisation of activities asserting the need for eradicating, ameliorating, or otherwise changing some condition. (Spector and Kitsuse 1987: 75-76). Pfohl showed in 1977 that it was only in the early 60s that child abuse became a problem and something had to be done. Previous to this children were abused and beaten and it was never brought to the publics attention, it was only when medical specialists acted out in order to make this condition become a major public problem (Hestor and Elgin 1992). This could be described as a moral panic; a term which was first used by Jock Young in a 1971 article published describing the publics concern about drug use. According to Thompson moral panic has five stages. Firstly a threat to values or interests, then the thre at is portrayed by the media, this increases the publics concern which in turn forces the authorities to respond and finally make a change, such as amend or introduce new legislation and hence, create more crime opportunity. This is crime being socially constructed. Classicists believe that punishment should be proportionate to crime and looked upon as a deterrent. It is believed that it controls and direct behaviour by affecting rational behaviour. George Void (1958) stated that An exact state of punishment for equal acts without reference to the individual involved and with no attention to the question of special circumstances under which the act came about. Beccaria described crime as injurious to society; basically punishment given to criminals should be focused on the harm it has done to the society as a whole. He also claimed that criminal law should be clear and rational in order to guide society. Bentham suggested that all punishments should be proportionate to the crime committed. These ideas fail to take into account the reasoning for the crime being committed and assume that there is a unanimous set of values. Positivism developed due to new scientific developments, it intended to search, explain and predict future patterns of social behaviour. It suggested that a persons behaviour was biological and that they had no control over how they acted. Lombroso focussed on criminals and concluded that a criminal was a lower form of human evolution and had certain characteristics. Positivists assumed that there is an primary agreement within society with crime as the key violation and that criminals are only from certain social groups, ignoring the values, cultures or structures of the groups. The Positivist approach is simply about a deviants reaction to external forces beyond their control. The followers of the Interactionist theory, on the other hand, reject this positivist approach and say that it is due to the internal factors of the individual. Emile Durkheim believed that morality could be explained in terms of social interaction. According to Durkheim a certain amount of crime is normal in any society; he claimed that it plays a number of important functions. He described an adaptive function which described the idea that crime presents new ideas and practices into society hence allowing change rather than stagnation. He then describes a boundary maintenance function; this reinforces social values and norms and helps to reiterate the difference between right and wrong. He explained that crime is something inherently social in character and can only be explained through reference to social factors. His ideas made us reconsider the definitions of crime and he demonstrated them through analysing suicide statistics. He concluded that different social conditions can influence propensity to commit suicide amongst certain groups and between different societies and explained that this is the case for other crimes. Functionalists see crime deviance in society as a function, in that it serves to remind us, through public condemnation of those who have broken the rules, of our shared values and norms. Furthermore, they suggest that crime is a result of structural tensions and a lack of moral regulations within society. If the aspirations held by individuals and groups in society do not coincide with the available rewards, this disparity between desires and fulfilment will be felt in the deviant motivations of some of its members. This was the basis for Mertons Anomie theory. (Robert Merton 1957) The Marxism theory however, is structured towards the accumulation of wealth rather than social need. Edwin H Sutherland was the first sociologist to study this area known as White Collar Crime in 1949. Let us now look at crimes of the powerful and the less powerful. There are two main points; deviance is a product of unequal power relations and equality in general. Despite the fact that the law is in favour of the dominant class, some of its members do break the rules for their own gain. Power and equality affect the quality of deviant acts. Thus, people that are more powerful are more likely to engage in profitable deviant acts such as corporate crime i.e. bribery and corruption in business and politics, misconduct by professionals such as lawyers etc. On the other hand, the powerless are more likely to commit less profitable deviant deeds such as burglary, theft and armed robbery. (Ermann and Lundman 1996) Power, or rather social class, is therefore the key element which determine s the type of deviance people are likely to carry out. The powerful are more likely to commit deviant acts because of something that is called Relative Deprivation. This is the feeling of being unable to achieve the high standards they set for themselves, compared with the powerless, whose standards are typically low. Their aspirations are so high that they become less achievable. The more that people experience this Relative Deprivation, the more likely they are to commit deviant acts. (Cookson and Persill 1985) Furthermore, the elite have more legitimate opportunities than the poor worker to commit crime i.e. A banker will have better opportunities to defraud customers for instance, and because of his status, the crime is less likely to be detected, whereas the poor worker would probably have to resort to robbing the bank, a much more visible crime. Furthermore, the powerful are subjected to weaker social control. They have more influence in the making and enforcement of control. The laws against higher status crime, the White Collar crime, are therefore relatively lenient and rarely enforced, but the laws against crime which is committed by those with a lower status, are harsher and more often enforced because they are so visible and detected much more easily. The activities of White Collar crime occur on a daily basis, but there is no public outcry or moral panics about it and therefore no legislation made, whereas, street crime attracts massive law enforcement. As Jeffrey Reiman (2001) s o aptly stated, The rich get richer and the poor get prison. Interactionism was quite popular from 1960s to 1970s. Max Weber and George Herbert Mead favour the Interactionist approach and suggest that crime is a social process, that crime is an interaction between the victim, the police/officials and the offender. Crime is shaped by the nature of this interaction and this selective labelling, stigmatisation, negative labelling of those without power and more vulnerable. This approach focuses upon the interaction between deviance and those who define it as such, hence the Labelling Theory. Howard F Becker, the founder of this theory, argues that society creates deviance by making rules. Rules that when broken, constitute deviance, and by labelling those particular people as deviants, they are also labelling them as outsiders. Therefore, it is not the act of the person, but rather a consequence of applying the rules by others to an offender. Deviant behaviour is behaviour that people so label. Becker suggests that in one sense there is no such thing as a deviant act. An act only becomes deviant when people define it as such, when they label it as such. Such labels largely override their status as workers, friends, parents etc and others see them negatively. This labelling of people who commit crime, often results in the denial of an ordinary life to them, and because of this denial, out of necessity, they develop illegitimate routines and often resort to a life of crime. Thus, a criminal career is formed and the only way that they can be a part of society, is by grouping with likewise people, and being part of a different type of society. It may be a criminal society, but at least they fulfil that human need to belong. This process results in what is known as the self-fulfilling prophecy i.e. a person is to be known as a criminal, he/she may as they may as well act that way. The Feminist approach is critical of the mainstream approaches in that they see them as male dominated and this gender bias is part of the structure of the Criminal Justice System, the majority of its personnel being male. Crime is specific to the gender, males being more violent and women committing softer crime such as benefit fraud, shoplifting etc. This approach sees that there is a need for more support and resources for women and that anti-sexist training is necessary in the police force. These sociological theories are intended to apply to both sexes but feminists disagree. For example, Mertons anomie theory assumes that people are inclined to strive for material success, which is true for men but not necessarily for women, although this is on the increase. (Merton 1957) In the past women have been socialised differently to men. They are traditionally less interested in achieving material success as their place has been in the home. However, this social construct is changing, because women are being given more equal opportunities, and are more likely to strive for that material success, which would account for some increase in womens crime rates. (Chesney-Lind 1997;Daly and Chesney-Lind1998) This may be an indication that opportunities for women are still far from equal. Anomie theory may apply if this is the case, as the opportunities available to women are lacking in relation to womens increasing desire for independence and material success, therefore causing the disparity that Merton talks about. Furthermore, men and women calculate the risk of arrest differently. Women are more aware of that risk and that awareness becomes a disincentive. Another interesting argument would be that it is a fact that over 90% of people convicted of crime, are male. (John Hagan et al 1996) Between 1971 and 1993 the volume of recorded crime dramatically rose within the UK. This showed the significant rise of major crime most crime committed however, has always been property crime. Despite the publics belief that crime has risen it has in fact fallen considerably since 1993. Property crime is more likely to be committed by juveniles rather than adults and from working class backgrounds rather than middle or higher classes. In 1995 Andy Pilkington noted that the official statistics does not contain a complete record of crime i.e. summary offences. This shows that there is a dark figure of unrecorded crime and that the statistics do not show a true representation. As illustrated during public surveys that showed over 80 percent of crime may not be reported for various reasons and around 40 percent of crimes reported are not recorded and do not end up in the statistics. Holdaway (1988) noted that the official statistics are not facts of crime but are the end product of a co mplex series of decisions and interactions therefore, socially constructed. Interpretivist sociologists such as have argued that the OCS (Official Crime Survey) are a result of selective policing. That the criminal statistics stem from the relation between police officers and suspects. On the other hand it has been shown that social groups receive different treatments from the police. The claim that a high proportion of working class offenders within the statistics are the result of the police negatively stereotyping young working class people hence they are stopped more frequently. Smiths and Grays study of the Metropolitan police suggested that male officers were more likely to stop a male rather than a female. Another study by these also demonstrated that, on average, six out of ten young black people are stopped five times a year. Hoods research showed that almost 80 percent of magistrates are from higher socio economic backgrounds, with almost a complete absence of working class on the bench, another Hood study in 1989 suggested that black males have a 17 percent greater chance of receiving a custodial sentence than white males committing the same offence. Let us now examine how time and space has affected the way that society has constructed crime and deviance. For example, is the death penalty an act of murder? It is in some countries, but not in some US states. Is abortion an act of murder? What about war? Murder exists in some contexts as a crime and not in others. Crime then is a social construct which is ever changing according to time and space. It makes no sense to say that crime is a result of biochemistry only because crime is the result of political decision making, and we can easily change those decisions according to different contexts, without changing our own biochemistry. In an effort to solve the crime problem then, our task is to determine how much of the crime problem is in fact the result of these definitions and political decisions, and what part is the result of broader sociological or biological forces. The government, in its efforts to tackle the crime problem, has little regard for the way that working class people and their environments actually work. Its new measures to be tough on the causes of crime fail to question why these things happen, and hence how they might be prevented. Creeping inequalities in education, the health services, housing and pensions, contribute to the lack of belonging that people feel. This disconnected feeling of our seemingly society-less age can only contribute to the crime problem. It is time to review other methods because the governments endless clamping down on those who already have the least stake in society is not the solution.

How Noise Affects Memory and Learning

According to past studies background and low-level noise in homes, work, and school, disrupts concentration and lowers the performance of people while learning and studying. For example, Anderson and Fuller (2010) looked at the effects of music on reading comprehension. Their results state the music environment reading comprehension score was lower than the non-music environment score. Even though this study was done with music, no matter what type of sound it is, it will bother someone's concentration and performance on a task.A study has shown having ackground white noise while performing a task, such as word recall, will produce low performance (KJellberg, LJung, ; Hallman, 2008). It also depends on the type of population you are trying to study. For some populations, the predictions of noise being a distraction, is stronger. For example, people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are more vulnerable to distractions than people without ADHD or any other type of disorder (Soderlund, Sikstrom, Loftenes, ; Sonuga-Barke, 2010).This introduction will further examine the effects of noise on learning and memory. Music and Learning/Memory It has been shown that music has a negative effect on reading performance (Anderson r am ; Vizard, 2011). Anderson and Fuller (201 investigation of the effect of lyrical music on reading comprehension by adolescents. They used the reading comprehensions subtest of the Gates-MacGinitie Reading tests, 4th edition. The music that was used in this study was taken from the Billboard Magazine's (2006) top hit singles.Anderson and Fuller (2010) tested three hypotheses; (1) a difference exists between reading comprehension scores completed in the environment without music and scores obtained with lyrical music playing in he background, (2) a gender difference exists regarding comprehension scores completed in the environment without music and scores obtained with background music, and (3) a relationship exists between degree of p reference for studying with music and scores obtained on reading comprehension tests completed in either the environment without music or with music playing in the background (Anderson & Fuller, 2010).The results of this experiment were that across experimental groups of this study, the music environment reading scores were lower in the music group compared to the no music group. About three-quarters of the students who took the test did less well while listening to music in the background. This means hypothesis 1 was accepted in this study. Girls had a greater decline in scores under the music environment compared with the non-music environment than did boys, which means hypothesis 2 was accepted.Hypothesis 3 was only semi-accepted because the students total music preference score was not related to their reading comprehension score, but the total music preference score was correlated with the reading comprehension difference score (music vs. no music). The students, who were asked if they usually listen to music while studying, and said yes, had a lower reading comprehension score in both noise conditions (Anderson & Fuller, 2010).Anderson and Fuller (2010) explain that these results happened because students paid more attention to the lyrics depending on if they were listening to the songs and artists they liked or did not like. Perham and Vizard (2011) conducted a study to explore whether the preference of background music influences performance in more realistic cognitive settings, such as doing everyday tasks. According to Perham nd Vizard (2011) research suggests that listening to background music prior to task performance increases cognitive processes, such as attention and memory, through the mechanism of increasing arousal and positive mood.Their hypothesis was if this mood and arousal extends to more common and realistic music, then the preference for background music while studying should show greater recall performance while listening to liked mus ic than disliked music in the background. If the preference of music shows no effect, then performance should be the same in both liked and disliked music conditions. In this study done by Perham and Vizard (201 1), their procedure was done by selecting music by asking their participants to bring in music they have listened to on a daily basis, and they excluded people who like to listen to thrash metal music.The results of this test were only correct if an item was recalled in the exact same position in which it was presented, which showed that performance was best in the quiet condition. The liked music condition, in which participants brought in their own music, showed the highest rating for the likeability and pleasantness properties. The quiet condition was less distracting than the other ound conditions. Disliked music, which was the thrash metal, was rated as being more ottensive than the other sound conditions.Even though the results ot this study showed that the liked music condition was the highest rated condition, performance was actually as poor in this condition as the disliked, thrash metal, condition. This study showed that no matter what type of music you listen to, either liked or disliked, both are evenly disruptive. Memory and learning in regular white noise The influence of distracting noise has been studied in children with attention deficit disorder. A study done by Soderlund, et al. 2010), predicted that inattentive children would be enhanced by adding background white noise while attentive children's performance would decline.There were two noise conditions used during this study, which was a high noise condition, and a low noise condition. In the high noise condition, verb-noun sentences were given during the auditory background noise (78 decibels). In the low noise condition, sentences were presented without noise. The results showed that both groups performed at the same level across both sound conditions, but the interaction between noise and the two groups was ignificant. Inattentive children performed better in the high noise condition rather than the low noise condition, but the opposite happened with the attentive children.This study also had to do with reading comprehension. Before the study had started, the inattentive and attentive children were tested for their reading level scores, and the inattentive children had a much lower reading level compared to the attentive children. With these results, there was a negative correlation between reading skills and a positive effect of these scores with the noise in the background, a positive orrelation between attention and reading ability, and a positive correlation between teacher ratings of the children being inattentive and their hyperactivity.This study showed that there was a significant improvement in performance for the children rated by their teachers as inattentive, and a decline in performance for those rated as attentive as noise levels were increas ed. KJellberg, et al. (2008) studied the effect of white noise on word recall. They predicted that (1) recall of words is better without background noise, (2) recognition of sentences is less sensitive to the noise han the recall of words, but background noise prolongs response times, and (3) the expected noise effect on recall and recognition will be weaker for subjects with high working memory capacity.There was a free recall of long word lists that was performed with and without background noise. Working memory capacity was tested with a test of reading span. A third test was done with sentence recognition in the same conditions done in the word recall test. This sentence recognition test was less of a resource for results, but was included for the measurement of response times in both noise conditions. For the results of this study, the word lists were split up into three parts (first, 10, middle 30, last 10).The reason for splitting up the second, third, and fourth groups of 10 words was that in these groups, many subjects did not recall any item correctly. In line with the hypotheses, subjects remembered less of the words when presented with background noise. Recognition of sentences was found to be unaffected by the noise, and the performance of this task was unrelated to reading span. The hypothesis was confirmed regarding performance of the word recall task, but not for the sentence recognition task.The effects of noise were apparent on the recall of the first and last part of the word list, which shows that retrieval from a short term and long memory storage were both impaired by noise. The hypothesis stating that noise ettects were expected to be less sever tor persons with a better working memory capacity as defined by their reading performance was strongly supported from the noise effect on the recall of the last part of the word list. The hypothesis that word recall was rated as more difficult than sentence recognition in the noise condition was also accepted.For the last of the results for this study, here was a shorter response time with noise in the sentence recognition task. There were more misses with the shorter response time. This does not confirm the hypothesis that decisions should take longer in the noise condition, and there is no obvious explanation for this result. How memory is affected by road traffic noise and meaningful irrelevant speech. The influence of road traffic noise and meaningful irrelevant speech was studied by Boman (2004), Enmarker (2004), and Hygge, Boman, and Enmarker (2003).Boman (2004) predicted that the encoding of new verbal episodic information should be mpaired by both road traffic noise and meaningful irrelevant speech, but the impairment for the encoding will be stronger for the meaningful irrelevant speech, and the impairment will be more for the recall than the recognition of a text in episodic memory. It was expected that both recall and recognition in a text reading task when expos ed to noise during the encoding part would be impaired by noise sources, but the cued recall and meaningful irrelevant speech would be more pronounced.Performance on free and cued recall from the sentences encoded with and without enactment (such as â€Å"roll the ball† or â€Å"kick the ball) would be impaired by oise, but the self-performed enactments will produce a better memory performance, and will withstand both noise conditions. It was expected that intentional memory, and recognition of given names, would be impaired by noise. Like the rest of the predictions for this study, irrelevant speech would be more of an impairment than the road traffic noise.For recognition from non-verbal material (faces) no noise effects were expected because the face recognition test could be assumed to provide enough cues for memory retrieval. An interaction between noise and gender was expected, while girls performance on free and cued recall from the pisodic memory tasks would not be a ffected as bad as boys during noise exposure. To examine the predicted role of attention on episodic memory, attention was measured by a search and memory task.A speech accuracy trade off (SATO) – which is we prefer accuracy over the speed of getting something done – was expected with more lines of the tasks completed in noise, but at a lower accuracy. Boman (2004) split up the results section into five parts. In all of these analyses, the direct effects of noise, gender, and the interactions between noise and gender were all assessed. Episodic memory was assessed first. For cued recall and recognition of text, meaningful irrelevant speech impaired cued recall as expected, but there was no effect of gender or an interaction between gender and noise found for cued recall.In line with the predictions, the analysis for the recognition items also showed a main effect of noise. There was a better recognition in silence than irrelevant speech, but there was no difference bet ween silence and road traffic noise. For free and cued recall of sentences, neither the effect of noise nor the interaction between noise and gender was significant. As predicted, girls' recall performance was igher than the boys in cued recall or categories with enactment. Semantic memory was analyzed second. For word tluency, there was no significant noise ettect or interaction between noise and gender.For word comprehension, there was better word comprehension in silence than in meaningful irrelevant speech. Attention was analyzed next, and this was not impaired by noise, and since this happened, the predicted role for attention on episodic memory can be ruled out. Self-ratings were analyzed last. For affect, there was no significant difference between the three noise groups on the affect dimensions measured before both noise exposures. Meaningful irrelevant speech and road traffic noise did not differ from the silence condition.For annoyance, effort, and difficulty, there were n o significant effects of noise on self reports and the difficulty of reading. Since this happened, the distraction on the text reading tasks in silence and noise can be ruled out as an explanation of the noise effects of recall and recognition. Enmarker (2004) examined how irrelevant speech and road traffic noise affected teacher's memory and attention, and also examined whether the noise effects on memory were age dependent. Ninety-six male and female teachers were chosen to articipate and were between the ages of 35-45 and 55-65.It was predicted that (1) of noise effects on episodic memory – noise would interfere with verbal episodic memory tasks, and impair free and cued recall and recognition, but the recall was supposed to be impaired more than recognition tasks, (2) like Boman (2004), most of the episodic memory tasks, the meaningful irrelevant speech will impair the tasks more than the road traffic noise, (3) the older teachers should be less able than the younger teac hers to accurately recall, both free and cued, tasks in the noise ondition, (4) of noise effects on semantic memory – less attention requirements are needed during retrieval than during encoding.More automatic than controlled retrieval is present in more semantic memory, and this study was not sure whether noise would affect the semantic memory system, and (5) of noise affects on attention – noise would impair attention as the result of fewer resources available for the task. There will be a fast performance for answers, but most of these answers will not be accurate. For the results of this study by Enmarker (2004), younger teachers overall ad a better hearing status than the older teachers.Noise impaired cued recall of the text in episodic memory, but the impact of irrevlevant speech and road traffic noise did not differ. There was no difference between the younger and older teachers performance during noise impairment. There was no significant difference of effort m ade during text reading for subjects in silence and irrelevant speech, and also the perception of difficulty to the text. The recall of sentences with and without enactment showed no overall noise effects and no interaction between noise and age.The tasks for intentional and incidental learning and first and family names showed an overall effect of noise. Incidental learning did not show any noise effects. Intentional learning did not show any influences of noise either. There was an overall effect of noise on the three word fluency tests in semantic memory. More words were recalled in silence than in irrelevant speech. The predicted speech to accuracy effect was not supported, and neither was there any interaction between noise and age on attention. The studies done by Boman (2004) and Enmarker (2004) were replications of Hygee et al. 2003). All predictions, basic designs, procedure, and noise controls have been replicated. A types ot episodic and semantic memory tasks are also rep licated. A results have been shown to be the same across all three studies. How learning and memory are affected by aircraft noise Hygge, Evans, and Bullinger (2002) studied the effects of aircraft noise on cognitive performance. Before the opening of the new Munich, Germany airport and the destruction of the old one, children near both of these airport sites were brought in to be tested.Two groups of children, an airport noise group, and a control group – no ircraft noise – were examined. In this study, 326 children participated; 43 children who were by the old airport, were put into a no-noise group; 65 children who were by the old airport, were put into a noise group; 107 who are by the new airport, were put into a no noise group; and 111 who are by the new airport, were put into a noise group. This study assessed how children's reading was affected by changes in ambient noise levels cause by the new airport and old airport locations.On the word- list part of the re ading test, only difficult words showed differences between the groups. The airport group and the high noise exposure were significant. Reading and long term memory affects were related, but disappeared when the old airport closed, and the new airport opened. Although children's reading worsened with noise exposure at the new airport and recovered following lower noise exposure at the old airport, speech perception deficits among noise exposed children at the old airport did not recover.Performing the task in acute noise or no noise did not qualify for the interaction involving chronic aircraft noise over time, but there was a main effect of acute noise. The last was that poorer short term memory performance of the noise group recovered to reach the level of the control group's performance. Separate tests showed more correct responses in the no-noise group than in the noise group. For the conclusion of this study done by Hygge, et al. (2002) it states that noise exposure damages the development of speech perception in different ways during the early and late stages of the reading comprehension tasks.This study also raises a question about the validity of inattention or â€Å"tuning out† different noises as an explanation for the impact of noise on reading performance. How visual memory is affected during white noise A study was done by Wais and Gazzaley (2011) about the impact of auditory distraction on retrieval of visual memories. The goal of this study was to examine the effect of sound distraction on retrieval of episodic memory. Based on prior research, Wais and Gazzaley stated that there is a possibility that the environment changes may interfere with the recollection of visual memories.This study hypothesized that a comparison of effects of distraction from different sensory systems might slow down evidence for or against interference on recollection. This experiment studied the influence of sound distractions on episodic memory recollections usi ng both busy caf © sounds and white noise. There were a few different results found in this study. With auditory distractions and false alarms, there was a greater amount of false recollection during silence compared to both the white noise and the auditory distraction of a busy caf ©.Relevant visual details during the test with the busy caf © noise showed significant decline compared to white noise and silence. There was no difference between white noise and silence. These results show that auditory istraction (busy caf © noise) showed more of a distraction than white noise. It might be possible that the results ot talse alarms are greater in silence because the participants are more relaxed during this time period and might loosen their decisions. There was also a task done with visual distractions.In this experiment, the conditions corresponding to the silence, white noise, and the auditory, busy caf ©, distraction conditions in the present study were the eyes shut, eye s open with a grey screen, and eyes open with a complex natural scene. One distracting complex natural scene was presented at each trial. Stimulation during the auditory, busy caf ©, distraction is more dynamic than that from the eyes open-grey screen images (Wais & Gazzaley, 2011). The results of the visual distraction showed that recollection of relevant visual details during the auditory distraction showed low accuracy compared to silence and white noise conditions.In comparison with these studies, the present study is going to be studying how auditory distractions affect memory. The test that was presented to our participants was the digit span test and a reading comprehension test. The digit span test is used to measure working memorys umber storage capacity (Cambridge Brain Science). The participants were presented with a series of numbers (e. g. 6, 7, 9) and must repeat them back immediately, and if they do this accurately, they will be given a longer list of numbers (e. g. 6, 4, 8, 9) Oahanshahi, Saleem, Ho, Fuller, & Dirnberger, G. 2009). Both the reading comprehension test and the digit span test was presented in three different noise conditions, (1) obnoxious noise, (i. e. Jackhammer) (2) calming noise (i. e. bird chirping), and (3) no noise/regular classroom noise, such as students in the hallways, or onstruction outside the windows. A question that is being asked is how do different noise conditions affect memory for both these tasks? It was hypothesized that participants in the no noise/regular classroom noise will perform better than in the two noise conditions.Method Participants Data was collected from participants who signed up for Experimental Psychology experiments, which helped with the random sampling of the students. Seventy-one students participated in the study (57 females and 13 males) ranging from ages 18 to 24. Twenty-two subjects were in the no sound condition, twenty in the calming noise i. e. bird chirping) condition, and twent y-nine in the obnoxious noise (i. e. Jack hammer) condition. All participants gave informed consent before participating in the experiment. Only one participant reported having a hearing problem.Materials Questionnaire. A self-made questionnaire was given to each student during the experiment. This questionnaire consisted of (1) age, (2) gender (a) female or (b) male, (3) what is your current academic standing? (a) Freshman, (b) Sophomore, (c) Junior, or (d) Senior; (4) Overall GPA; (5) Do you currently wear glasses or contacts? (a) yes, or (b) o; (6) Are you hearing impaired? (a) Yes, or (b) no; (7) How do you study? (Choose all that apply) (a) silence, (b) with television, (c) with music, (d) with friends, (e) other (8) Please rate how stressed you feel when you study? (a) no stress, (b) okay, (c) great, (d) stressed, or (e) very stressed; (9) Do you better under your course material when: (a) a professor lectures (b) when you read your textbook/notes on your own, or (c) both. Rea ding Comprehension test. An 8th grade reading comprehension test was presented to the participants. The test was chosen from the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test which was tound online (Florida Department ot Education). T story is called â€Å"The Wreck of E. S. Newman† by Ruth Ewers. The story also had questions that were answered by the participants.This passage also came with the answers to these questions. Participants must pay close attention to the story because once the story is taken away from them, they were no longer able to go back and look at it. Digit Span Test. The Digit Span test was originally a subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test (WA'S) (Cambridge Brain Science). David Wechsler used the digit span test to test the participants working memory. Analysis of the digit span test suggests that participants must hold the first few items presented in memory. According to Jahanshahi, et al. 2008) the digit span test monitors incoming information, and revises updated information by changing the new items. The Digit Span test can be presented verbally, or on a computer program. In the present study, the Digit Span test was pre-recorded so that the variable was held constant and the participants will have no problem understanding what we say. Participants were presented with a string of random numbers and were asked to repeat the string of umbers forward. This means if the numbers are presented as 6-1-2, they must write those numbers down in that particular order.Participants may find themselves rehearsing the string of digits as they hear them being presented from recording. The Digit Span is scored 2, 1, or O; 2 points if the participant passes both trials, 1 point if the participant passes only one trial and O points if the participant fails both trials. Even though there are two trials, we only used one trial for this experiment and was scored using 1 point. PANAS scale. The Positive and Negative Affect schedule is a 0-item sel f-report measure of positive and negative affect developed by Watson, Clark, and Tellegen (1988).The negative scale has three subscales (1) distress, (2) unpleasureable engagement, and (3) the absence of feelings. Positive affect represents an individual with high pleasurable experiences and engagement with the environment. Emotions of happiness and alertness are indicated with the positive affect of the PANAS, and emotions of sadness and lethargy are indicated with the negative affect (Crawford & Henry, 2004). The participants were asked to read each item and list the number from the scale next to each word. This indicated the way a person feels at the present moment.The rating scale is (1) very slightly or not at all, (2) a little, (3) moderately, (4) quite a bit, and (5) extremely. The 20 words that will be presented on the PANAS scale are (1) interested, (2) distressed, (3) excited, (4) upset, (5) strong, (6) guilty, (7) scared, (8) hostile, (9) enthusiastic, (10) proud, (11) ir ritable, (12) alert, (13) ashamed, (14) inspired, (15) nervous, (16) determined, (17) attentive, (18) Jittery, (19) active, and (20) afraid. Recordings. The recordings that were used during the experiment are Jackhammers and birds chirping.These sounds ame from www. sounddogs. com and were played from a CD through the computer system from the classroom that was used to perform the experiment. The exact name for the Jackhammer sound from the website is called â€Å"Tools – Jackhammer – Ext – MCIJ – Jackhammering Concrete Long Stand. † The exact name for the bird chirping sound from the website is called â€Å"Birds – Morning – Suburban Neighborhood Morning Birds – Ext – Distant – 6:30am – Various Pretty Birds Sing ; Chirp. † Procedure The experiment was conducted in a St. Francis College classroom.Since some classrooms nave ditterent color walls, we decided to use a classroom witn white olored walls o n all sides. The participants came in and sat down anywhere they want in the classroom, and each participant was given an informed consent. The informed consent explained the basics of our experiment, how long the experiment will take, they may quit at any time, and that they will be anonymous throughout the experiment. After all participants handed in their informed consent, the experiment will start. The digit span test was given out first.As said as before, each string of numbers will be pre-recorded so there are no confounding variables. After one set of umbers is said, each participant will have to memorize that set and write it down. The string of numbers was longer each time they are presented. The reading comprehension paragraph was given next. Each participant was given the paragraph of our choice and was required to remember as much as possible from reading this paragraph. The reading comprehension paragraph was then taken away and the questionnaire was given in between th e reading paragraph and the reading comprehension quiz.This is because we are studying memory and we want to see how much they remember after five minutes. After they have finished with the questionnaire, they were given a sheet with a few questions on it asking them about the paragraph they have Just read. During the digit span test, and the reading comprehension paragraph, each group had noise playing in the background. There were three noise conditions. In the first condition, the obnoxious noise (i. e. jackhammer) was presented, during the second condition, the calming noise (i. e. birds chirping) was presented, and in our last condition, there was no noise presented.The PANAS scale was presented after the experiment was finished to see f the background noise had any effect on the participant during the experiment. After the PANAS a manipulation check was asked to see if the independent variable has had any effect on the participants, and the debriefing about the experiment was presented last. This experiment had two risks which are (1) they might have frustration during each task because of the noise in the background, and (2) because of this frustration they might receive a headache because they could not concentrate well.A benefit the participant will receive is that they may learn their own individual apabilities in learning and memory related to noise. Results The present study hypothesized that participants in the no noise/regular classroom condition will perform better than in the two noise conditions (i. e. calming and obnoxious conditions.

Leadership plan

The Leadership Plan Project has caused me to carefully access my Leadership. I have observed my areas of weakness and strength in detail. In whatever we are doing whether it is leading a ministry or business the concept of servant leadership works best. It is not a strategy but a type of heart that Christ has formed in believers. Servant Leadership Constructs Agape Love: â€Å"This love leads to serve the best interest of others, Illuminating the corporate culture, and freeing the leader from self-doubt, self-criticism and self-imposed limitations (Patterson p. 2003). In terms of committing my time to those under my Influence I have done well, however I would say that sometimes I have an element of self -doubt, self-criticism, self-imposed limitation. I am learning that the more you focus on others the less time you have beating up yourself. Any time I attend to the needs of others; I am free in my mind and can believe God for anything. Humility: â€Å"Servant Leaders are not arrog ant, they see things from another's perspective and show appreciation and respect for leadership within the organization.The servant leader Is not Interested In their mage or in being exalted, they are more concerned about being accountable† (Patterson p. 6, 2003). In ministry it was a process learning how to be accountable. As a young adult minister we had meetings where team members would state corrections I needed to make. Through this process I discovered that leader should be the most humble on the team. Humility also gives you peace with yourself. Altruism: Altruism Is strong concern for the welfare of others. As an employee I have been on the receiving side where companies only concern is getting the work done.Very little concerned was shown to employees. However this experience taught me how to behave when I become a business owner. As a manager I must first care about the wellbeing of my employees before I approach the situation of getting the work done. Vision: Patte rson (2003) states that the servant leaders focus on the future state of the individual members of the organization. I am a strong visionary, I always Like to see where we plan on going before we take a step and move. I love seeing the big picture. There were times where I would share my Sino with my team members and it seemed that they were not entertaining of the vision.Followers usually want to know where they fit in the vision. Are they being uplifted in the vision? Those are self-reflecting questions I had to ask myself. Trust: This construct under the servant leadership concept is somewhat heartfelt to me. To know that Christ trusted me with his Son even when I felt I was Incapable of doing well has given me a deeper meaning of the word trust. I use to think that If I trust this person how I will be sure they wont fail. I have come to the complete revelation that o one is immune to failing. The human race is an imperfect race so why should I expect perfection.Empowerment: is e ntrusting power to others; actually it is giving it away' (Patterson, p. 8, 2003). I believe that this is the art of uplift others, making them see their significance. I once heard a statement saying: â€Å"followers are your assets†. I have taken It further to see followers as leaders under your care. Service: short staffed or someone needs help, the manager would put on her scrubs and get right to work. My pastor always makes a statement that there are no supervisors in he God's kingdom but only servants. That is the type of leader I aspire to be.I basically see it as what I expect from my leaders I should first expect from myself. Motivation Gifts Test and LIP Assessment Based on the responses you provided, we have computed the following scores for you (on a scale to 100 percent): The Perceiver: 40 % The server: The Teacher: The Encourager: 60 % The Giver: The Ruler: 75% Showing Mercy: 52% How the tests relate to me as a Leader The results about my motivational gifts confi rmed to me what I have been learning about myself. According to the results I possessed a gift strong in the area off ruler.I did not want to accept this because I saw this gift as road to arrogance. When I read the description I realized that a ruler is servant gift like all the others. The ruler is a visionary, organizer, administrator, and a gift that moves everyone towards the same goal. All of these describe the way I see situations. I was not pleased to see that I score fair on the serving gift. My plan is to develop myself in that area. The same feeling go for the mercy gift. The LIP explained a lot, on an average I score well. My interest is in my ability to develop cooperate relationships in the organization.As I make steps to start my own business I notice that the line between working and relationships is very thin. I scored an average 7 on this aspect. It is interesting because the servant leader constructs are pathways to healthy relationships in the work place. Strengt h I see my strength as being able to see the end point of projects and goals, my ability to commit to others and see the big picture. When I believe in a cause, I put all my energy and time into that purpose. I have openness to new things and thirst for adventure. Weakness I would not consider myself not to strong in the area of writing.It is sometimes difficult for me to adaptation to transitions that happened spontaneously. I also tend to over analyze situations people and circumstances. A man of God once told me that if you are moved by individuals' criticism you also be moved by their praise. Be dead to both! Balancing Work and Family 1 Timothy 5:8- â€Å"But if any one does not provide for his own and his household he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever†. In the area of work and family, the scripture teaches us that the wellbeing of your family is a picture of Christianity.Also 1 Timothy 3:5 states â€Å"If a man cannot manage his household how can he t ake care of the family of God† This means that family comes first. Even though I am minister, I am no less a son, a brother, a friend. According to scripture my work should not interfere to the point of losing my family. My Role in the Global Society I see my role in the society as a light shining in the darkness. My role is to use to provide a source of income to families. My role in the global community is to express Christ principals in the area of administration.My role is also to encourage others and help them see who God created them to be and be free from all self- imposed limitation. Personal Action Steps within the Scope of God's plan. Jeremiah 29:11 â€Å"For I know the thoughts and plans I have towards you, they are thoughts/plans of good and not of evil; to give hope and an expected destination† 1 . All plans come from God and I believe God places his plan in our heart in the form of ideas. My first step is to identify with the ideas I have in my mind. 2. Wr ite the ideas/ plans on paper. It is important for record keeping.