Informal Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Informal Proposal - Essay Example There is a dearth of consultancy service providers against an ever increasing demand (Remenyi, 2012). As a result, most clients fail to obtain the required services because there are few players in the market that specialize in consultancy. Basically, consultancy involves the offering of knowledge and counsel services upon demand. Additionally, consultancy services can be offered along with other professional and business services. The consultancy field is wide enough and involves a multitude of disciplines which implies that any business corporation offering professional or educational services can successfully venture into consultancy. In fact, already established business organizations are in a better position to offer consultancy services because of a number of factors. First is experience, organizations that offer professional or educational services have enormous experience in their particular arenas which could be exploited in consultancy. Offering consultancy services only re quire mastery, expertise, and experience in a relevant field through which firm can offer advice to clients. Therefore, the organization can successfully incorporate consultancy in its product and service range. Consultancy services will be offered along with the regular educational services in the sense that the schedule of the organization will be made more flexible to permit the new service. As a result, a new desk will be opened at the reception labeled consultancy and potential clients can inquire and book appointments with the consultancy department which will be created specifically to offer this service. Since consultancy services are offered on demand, once an appointment is booked the department will arrange and schedule the consultancy session without hindering other organizational processes. Consultancy is a professional field that would require the hiring of individuals with the necessary qualifications to

Effect Of Growth Factors Fcs On Cell Proliferation Biology Essay

Effect Of Growth Factors Fcs On Cell Proliferation Biology Essay Introduction: The technique in which cells normally of one type, removed from animal tissue are grown in presence of supplements and growth factors under controlled conditions is called Cell Culturing. Different cells require different conditions of temperature and gas for their appropriate growth in a cell incubator moreover growth media plays a crucial role in cell culturing, which can vary in glucose concentration, pH, growth factors like fetal calf serum (FCS). The effect of one of the above mentioned variables, we are going to study in this experiment is growth factors. Growth factors as the name suggests enhancers the growth which supplements the media are obtained from animal blood such as calf serum. Cell proliferation is studied by various methods, mainly used methods involve measuring the colour intensity taken up by DNA of cell during cell proliferation in presence of staining dyes e.g. crystal violet and MTT (3-(4,5-dimethyl thiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide). The aim of this experiment is to study cell proliferation by using crystal violet and MTT methods while using mouse Y1 adrenocortical cells under the effect of growth factor FCS. Mouse Y1 adrenocortical cell are grown in Dulbeccos modification of Eagles medium as monolayer cultures. Crystal Violet: It is biological stain used in cell proliferation method which stains DNA of the cells after permeabilisation with methanol. The positive ammonium ions of crystal violet stain DNA of cells in blue colour. The colour intensity produced is directly proportional to number of cells, which is determined in stained cells by colorimeter. Staining with crystal violet and MTT are based on principal of absorbance. MTT: The MTT assay is a standard colorimetric assay in which activity of reductase enzymes are measured which convert MTT to blue insoluble formazan. The metabolic activity of viable cells is used as basic parameter in MTT assay. The tetrazolium salt, MTT is now widely used in quantitative measurement of cell proliferation. This method depends upon uptake of MTT by viable cells, which is a water soluble tetrazolium salt producing a yellowish solution. MTT is cleaved to insoluble blue formazan in the mitochondria of living cells by succinic dehydrogenases in the mitochondrial respiratory chain. Material Used: Mouse Y1 adrenocortical cells, Dulbeccos medication of Eagles medium (DMEM) containing 10% Fetal calf serum, 2mM glutamine, 100u/ml penicillin and 100mg/ml streptomycin, crystal violet stain (0.1% solution in 200mM boric acid), MTT (5mg/ml MTT solution in PBS), PBS methanol, 10% glacial acetic acid, distilled water, acid-isopropanol. Apparatus used: Laminar flow cabinet sterilized two 96 well plates, multi well pipettes, pasture pipettes, sterilized T-flasks, sterilised empty reservoirs, gas incubator, fume cupboard, spectrophotometer etc. Method: Cells of mouse Y1 adrenocortical were separated from their substratum with tris in EDTA as they grow in monolayer cultures. Then added same volume of medium and centrifuged after that number of cells were counted on haemocytometer and diluted to concentration of 1.25 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ © 105 cells/ml and made it up to 30 ml. Then cells were passaged into centre 60 wells of 96 well plate in duplicate with concentration of 0.25 à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ © 10à ¢Ã‚ Ã‚ µ cells/ 200ÃŽÂ ¼l in each well while outside wells of 96 well plate were filled with same amount of phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and allowed the cells to incubate overnight at 37  °C temperature in humidified gas incubator. After that cells were washed with PBS three times and different wells of each plate were treated with different concentrations of FCS which is shown in table 1. Hence 12 wells of each plate were treated with 0, 1, 5, 10 and 20% v/v concentration of FCS and both plates were incubated for 72 hours. One plate was used for crystal violet staining method and other for MTT assay. Table 1: Dilution of FCS % FCS Volume of Serum (ml) Volume of Medium (ml) 0 0 10 1 0.1 9.9 5 0.5 9.5 10 1 9 20 2 8 Crystal violet staining method: For this method cell media was removed first of all from incubated plate and then cells were washed with PBS. After that were fixed with 200ÃŽÂ ¼l of methanol for 15 minutes in fume cupboard. Then methanol were removed and cells were allowed to dry in fume cupboard for few minutes. Then cells were treated for 20 minutes with crystal violet stain 200ÃŽÂ ¼l/well. Later cells were washed three times with distilled water and stained cell layer was allowed to solubilised in the 50ÃŽÂ ¼l of 10% glacial acetic acid and plates were incubated for 30 minutes in gas incubator. After that absorbance of each well was read by plate reader spectrophotometer set at 540nm. MTT Method: To perform MTT assay, each of centre 60 wells of 96 well plate was treated with 20ÃŽÂ ¼l of MTT solution and plate was incubated for 4 hours at 37o C temperature in gas incubator. After 4 hours, the medium was removed from each well and 100ÃŽÂ ¼l of acid-isopropand was added to dissolve blue formazan crystal in the cell layer. Then plate was incubated for 30 minutes at room temperature. When blue formazan crystal were solubilised, absorbance of each well was measured at 570nm using the plate reader. Calculations: Cells in five squares of Haemocytometer = 24 Volume of each square is =4ÃÆ'-10-3ÃŽÂ ¼l The no. of cells in five squares multiplied with 5ÃÆ'-104 gives no. of cells in 1ml. Hence no. of cell in 1ml = 1.2ÃÆ'-106 cells/ml Required cell suspension = 1.25ÃÆ'-105 cells/ml Dilution Factor = Concentration Required/Concentration got Dilution Factor = 0.104 Therefore, in order to make 30 ml of cell suspension 3.125 ml of cell suspension was mixed with 26.875 ml of medium. Similarly 30 ml of cell suspension was prepared having 1.25ÃÆ'-105 cells/ml. Results: Observation Table for crystal violet staining method %FCS Average Standard Deviation 0 0.205 0.0218 1 0.255 0.0307 5 0.309 0.0450 10 0.432 0.0614 20 0.581 0.0844 Table2: Data obtain from plate reader at 540nm Graph showing effect of FCS with Crystal Violet Method Above graph shows that with increase in serum concentration the absorbance increases, which is directly proportional to cell number. Observation Table of MTT staining method: % FCS Average Standard Deviation 0 0.094 0.0081 1 0.115 0.0138 5 0.152 0.0191 10 0.276 0.0724 20 0.400 0.0807 Table3: Data obtained from plate reader at 570nm. Graph showing effect of FCS with MTT staining Above graph shows that with increase in serum concentration the absorbance increases, which is directly proportional to cell number. Discussion: Crystal Violet Staining method and MTT Assay is based on principle of absorbance, more is colour intensity, more will be the absorbance value. The result of Crystal violet staining method clearly indicated that absorbance value was directly proportional to cell proliferation as it was increasing with concentration of FCS. FCS stimulated Cell Proliferation Result in more cells and DNA Methanol increased cell membrane permeability Result in more stained DNA More Colour intensity Hence More Absorbance Value Similar results were seen in MTT Assay but in this assay only viable cells were stained while in crystal violet method both viable and non viable cells were stained. So Crystal Violet method of staining is not specific staining technique because in this absorbance is not direct index of cell viability. The drawback of MTT Assay is that some reducing agent may reduce MTT also which could show slight increase in absorbance, moreover this method depends on some variable like pH, presence of D-glucose and pyridine nucleotides which can affect the specificity of Assay. In spite of above said limitations these methods are mostly followed because they are safe, simple, cheap and reproducible. Differentiation of K562 cells to megakaryocytes/platelets To study cell differentiation of K652 cells chronic myelogenous leukaemia, K652 cell line, indicates an early differentiation stage of granulocyte lineage. K652 cells are non-adherent, circular shaped with small microvilli. In the presence of tumour promoters like phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) these type of cell are differentiated to megakaryocytes. The induction of megakaryocytic differentiation of K652 cells is known to be initiated by two signalling pathways which are the nuclear factor kappa B(NF-ÃŽÂ ºB) -depends pathways and other is extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK)/mitogen activated kinase (MAPK) dependent pathways. Human chromic myelogenous leukemic cells, K652 cells have Philadelphia chromosome. Tumour promoter, PMA which is a potent mitogen for human peripheral blood lymphocyte also act as a protein kinase C (PKC) activator which differentiate K652 cells to megakaryocytes. The various changes that occurs during differentiation of K652 cells are: Changes in cell morphology Cell growth arrest Adhesive properties of cell change Expression of markers associatated with megakaryocytes Endomitosis NADPH oxidase complex which is known as a primary source of ROS (Radio active oxygen species), is initiated by PMA. PMA stimulates NADPH ROS (Signalling Molecule) Induction of gene expression is directly related with ROS. The Expression of CD61, a platelet cell marker helps in identifying differentiated cells. The expression of CD61 can be seen on platelets, osteoclasts, macrophages and on some tumour cells, involved in tumour metastasis and in adenovirus infections. Results and Discussion: It was observed that PMA treated slide was stained pink while cells devoid of PMA were stained blue as shown in Pic. 1 2. In PMA treated slide the K562 cells were clearly differentiated to megakaryocytes which suggested that tumour promoter, PMA induced differentiation in K562 cells by signal transduction and expressed by CD61 as shown in picture below. C:UsersmkkaushalPicturescell bio picsmail2.jpg Pic. 1 PMA Treated Cells clearly showing Differentiation to Megakaryocytes C:UsersmkkaushalPicturescell bio picsmail.jpg Pic. 2 Cells Devoid of PMA stained blue in Colour The expression of CD61 was recognised by addition of rabbit anti-mouse IgG antibodies that bind to CD61 antibodies when incubated in presence of alkaline phosphatise anti alkaline phosphatise (APAAP) complex. The cells were stained pink because fast red dye get attached to APAAP so this is how CD61 was expressed in cell treated with PMA. Moreover cells treated with PMA were larger, irregular, in shape and fewer in number as compare to untreated cells. On the contrary, Cells devoid of PMA were much smaller in size than treated cells. Diagramatic Representations of Immunocytochemical Reactions To Detect CD61 PMA Treated Cells PMA Untreated Cells CD61 bound to both treated and untreated cells Then Cells are washed to Remove CD61 unbound Treated with RAM Then RAM binds to APAAP and cells are stained pink in colour. : Mouse Antihuman CD 61 (Primary Antibody) : Rabbit Antimouse IgG (RAM- Secondary Antibody) : Mouse Alkaline Phosphate AntiAlkaline Phosphatase(APAAP Tertiary Antibody)

George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four 1984 Essay -- essays research pa

Nineteen Eighty-Four is a compelling novel, written in the period just after W.W.II. It details the life of one man, Winston Smith, and his struggles with an undoubtedly fascist government. The book is set approximately in the year 1984, in which Winston's society is ruled by a governing force known as "The Party". At the head of this government is a fictional figure known as Big Brother, to whom all citizens must love and respect. In this society, privacy and freedom do not exist. People are constantly monitored by telescreens, and subjected to a constant barrage of propaganda. Any devious thought or action is dealt with by cruel and deadly punishment. Winston is a worker in one of the government agencies. His job: to rewrite the past so that The Party, specifically Big Brother, appears to be omnipotent. From as long as he can remember, he has despised The Party and what it stood for, although he doesn't reveal his true feelings to anyone around him. When Winston begins a torrid love affair with one of the young women in his agency named Julia, he finds someone else who shares in his beliefs. The two have several meetings throughout the book, in which they discuss their hatred for the government. They join a secret alliance called The Brotherhood, who's specific purpose is the end of The Party. Through the literature of The Brotherhood, they learn about the inner workings of The Party and how it accomplishes its stronghold on the people. The world as Winston knows it comes crashing down when he and Julia are arrested by the thought police, a faction of the government which deals with those who do not agree and abide by the ways of The Party. They are taken to a prison unlike any other. Winston is constantly tortured and beaten, until he confesses to crimes which he didn't commit or never even happened. If the party just killed Winston right away, they might run the risk of making a martyr out of him. Instead they re-educate him with the morals of The Party, using such techniques as pain, starvation, and using Winston's greatest fear against him. Once re- educated, he is introduced back into society. But he is not the same person, just a hollow shell. Winston had once said in the novel that if he could die hating Big Brother, then he would have won. But when Winston is finally killed, the only thing he can think is that he love... ...ten path in search of a greater truth. The novel also caused myself to reflect upon how important it was that such tyrannical dictators such as Hitler have been stopped, sometimes with great costs, from making life unbearable. Reading this novel gave me a great sense of hope for human kind, as we have been able to keep totalitarian movements under control. Maybe sometimes people can get carried away with a lust for power, but it will always come back to living in a society that is tolerable to everyone. It is safe to say that a Utopian society will never exist, but we must make an effort to get as close as we can. Many disputes which occur today are because of petty differences between people. Although there are some flaws in human nature, we have always been able to keep from digging a grave too deep to climb out of. It is scary to think how close the world could have come to having a society like the one in Nineteen Eighty Four, and know that we as humans have to gain a better understanding of one another. I enjoyed reading this book because not only did it give the reader something exciting to read, but it also was able to put an interesting perspective on life itself.

Walmart

WAL-MART’S COST LEADERSHIP STRATEGY HISTORY OF WALMART ? 1962, Sam Walton starts WAL-MART ? In 5 years expanded to 24 stores revenue more than 12. 6 million in sales ? 1972, listed in New York Stock Exchange MARKETS OF WAL-MART (2003) o Total Sale of Wal-mart o Total Retail Area o Total Employers US $ 313 Billion 663 Million Sq. ft. 1700,000 SALES & INCOME GROWTH (PAST 12 MONTH) COMPANY INDUSTRY SALES GROWTH INCOME GROWTH 12. 00% 5. 20% 11. 50% 5. 90% NET PROFIT MARGINS (%) COMPANY COMPANY 5YEAR AVG. INDUSTRY 3. 6% 3. 5% 3. 6% WAL-MART TODAY ? Operates 6,500 stores in 15 countries ?Serves more than 176 million customers around the globe ? Employs 1. 8 million worldwide ? Health plans insure more than 1 million people ? Saves the average American household more than $2,300 per year Let us start the journey†¦. 1960’s†¦.. The Success Term was EDLP ? EVERY DAY LOW PRICING ? To provide customers – a wide variety of high quality, branded and unbranded product s at the lowest possible price, offering better value for their money EDLP : The strategy ? To procure products in bulk at the lowest possible prices from the manufacturers ? Sharing the savings with customers ?Wal-Mart’s products were usually priced 20% lower than its competitors Wal-Mart’s advertisement describing EDLP said: â€Å"Because you work hard for your every dollar, you deserve the lowest price we can offer every time you make a purchase. You deserve our Every Day Low Price. It’s not a sale; it’s a great price you can count on every day to make your dollar go further at WalMart † Explaining his pricing strategy Mr. Sam Walton said: â€Å" By cutting your price, you can boost your sales to a point where you earn far more at the cheaper retail price than you would have by selling the item at the higher price.In retailer language; you can lower your markup but earn more because of the increased volume† EDLP : WAS A HIT ? This led to increase loyalty from priceconscious rural customers. ? The surplus generated was re-invested in – Building facilities of an efficient scale – Purchasing modern business related equipment – And employing the latest technology Other areas where the cost was checked ? The stores were set up in large buildings, while ensuring that the rent paid was minimal ? Not much emphasis was laid on the interiors of the store ? Did not invest in standardized ordering programmes ?Did not even have a standard distribution system in place ? Accounting data were manually written-up ? There was a high check in recruiting the staff 1970’s†¦. ? Wal-Mart became public-held company ? Equipped with funds, it started reorganizationing its business activities. ? The foremost challenge was to put in place a standard distribution and interstore communication system ? So it came up with the most popular Hub And Spoke Structure The Hub And Spoke Structure ? Goods were centrally or dered ? Assembled at the distribution center (hub) ?From where they were dispatched to the individual stores (spokes) as per the orders received from stores. STORE STORE D. C. STORE STORE The benefits of Hub and Spoke structure ? Centralized purchase of goods in huge quantities ? Distribution of them through its own fast and responsive logistics infrastructure to the retail stores ? By passing all intermediaries, they managed to get the goods at lowest price ? The company was able to replenish the store twice a week ? In 1978, Wal-Mart became the first company to establish a fullyautomated distribution centerClaude Harris once stated that : â€Å"Don’t ever feel sorry for a vendor. He always knows what he can sell, and we want his bottom price. We would tell the vendors ‘ don’t leave in any room for a kickback because we don’t do it here. † Massive expansion strategy ? Strategy was to build stores around the distribution centers ? That is to be effe ctively served by the center and controlled by district managers and to management at Bentonville ? The store needs to be a maximum of a day’s drive away from the center Benefits of massive expansion strategy Wal-Mart was able to accelerate its revenue growth and reap significant economies of scale ? As the number of store increased the popularity of the company increased ? Since the company generated tremendous word of mouth publicity, it was able to minimize spending on advertising and promotion activities 1980’s†¦..Maintaining cost through re-investment ? In 1983, Wal-Mart ventured into the membership club business – called Sam’s Club ? Installed the Point of Sale (POS) scanning system to further reduce the cost Maintaining cost through re-investment (contd. ) In 1987, it installed a Satellite Communication System (SCS) ? In December 1987, Wal-Mart opened its first hyper-mart in the US 1990’s†¦.. ? Supercenters and Sam’s club we re more focused to fuel the growth ? In 1994, Wal-Mart bought 99 Pace membership warehouses Wal-Mart’s store count (1991-2003) Format________ year 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Discount Sam’s club stores 1573 1720 1850 1953 1990 Super center 3 6 30 68 143 Neighbourhood markets – 148 208 256 419 428 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 1995 1960 1921 1869 1801 1736 1647 433 436 443 564 721 888 1066 219 44 441 451 463 475 500 1 1 7 19 31 2003 1568 1258 525 49 Source : Wal-Mart Annual Report 2003 ? Employed improved inventory management practices and upgraded its IT systems ? Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) AND THE RESULTS WERE GOOD†¦. ? Amount of inventory reduced by an estimated $ 2 billion ? Savings of $ 150 million on interest cost were generated 2000’s†¦.. ? Wal-Mart launched a programme called ‘Store of the community’ ? ‘Global Sourcing’ was initiated (2002) Strengths of Wal-Mart Wal-mart’s SUBSIDIARIES Discount st ores Neighbourhood market Sam’s Club Super centerYearly sales Total employees across the globe (approximately) Number of stores worldwide Number of new stores opened in 2003 (worldwide) Total number of suppliers Wal-Mart’s rank/position among all retailers across the globe (in terms of sales) Number of pallets shipped by Wal-Mart truck every week (2002) Total occupied floor area of Wal-Mart (2002) Yearly advertising expenditure (2002) Highest one-day sales record till date (November 28, 2003) Number of customers every week at Wal-Mart stores worldwide (approximately) Estimated market capitalization of Wal-Mart in 2020 Source : Wal-Mart Annual Report 2003 244. 5 billion 1. 3 million 4,688 274 65,000 1 50 million 18. 3 square miles $498 million $1. 52 billion 138 million $11. 1 trillion Revenue (%) of the major consumer goods companies in the US through Wal-Mart Company P&G Tandy Brand’s Accessories RJR Tobacco Dial’s Del Monte Foods’ Clorox’ Revlon’s % Share (As a % of total sales) 17 % 39 % 20 % 28 24 % 23 % 23 % Source : BusinessWeek, October 2003 †¦. and the journey still continues †¦ PRESENTED BY :~ o o o o o o Prashant Wankhede Prajakta Sane R. Maruthi Yeshwanth Vikram Gharmalkar Mehul Chheda Nitin Agrawal

Behaviorism the beginnings

Behaviorism is one of the most influential schools of psychology, especially American psychology. The development of behaviorism was spurned as a reaction to structuralism and functionalism. Behaviorism was posited as a revolution in the methodology of the science of psychology (Hothersall, 1995), while structuralism and functionalism have argued that the rightful object of study of psychology is the mind and consciousness and have developed methods that congruently were subjective and enabled the psychologists of that time to study the mind and consciousness.Although behaviorism has become established as a major force in psychology, in its earlier days it was not popular and embraced by many psychologists. However as behaviorism evolved and developed into a theoretically based and objective science many have found its assumptions practical and scientific. Western psychology’s history is short and colorful compared to other sciences, it started with structuralism from Germany with Wundt at the helm (Murphy, 1930). When psychology arrived in America it obviously followed structuralism, and since it was too philosophical for the American scholars.James developed his own paradigm and called it functionalism, which in essence focused on the function of consciousness in explaining behavior than in studying the structure of the mind. Functionalism held greater influence in American psychology but together with structuralism it still espoused that psychology is the study of the mind and consciousness. The zeitgeist of that period was that the focus of psychology is the understanding of the human mind and internal experiences (Hothersall, 1995).This inspired psychologists to devise methods of studying perception and consciousness in the attempt to discover the workings of the human mind. Research at that time was centered on identifying and describing physiological experiences and how it affected human behavior. Psychologists were comfortable with the notion tha t psychology is the study of the mind and most of them wrote about the self, attention, consciousness, perception and even mental processes that were believed to be the cause of human behavior.At this point, methods used to study the human mind were subjective and did not lend itself to replication and reliability which in turn questioned the veracity of psychological researches. Although functionalism stressed that the mind and consciousness were responsible for human actions, they viewed behavior as a product of mental processes and ignored its importance in the study of psychology. Functionalism however stressed the application of psychological knowledge to practical issues such as learning, education and organizational development.The pragmaticism of functionalism led it to the discovery that human behavior is as much important to study since it is directly related to the human mind. Functionalism also identified the shortcomings of structuralism and its methods and since it was heavily influenced by Darwin, functionalism also welcomed the idea of studying animals in laboratories to test psychological assumptions. While this new developments were gaining support, a new school of psychology emerged from the work and writings of Ivan Pavlov (Hothersall, 1995).Pavlov was able to demonstrate that a dog can be trained to salivate with just the sound of a bell intrigued some psychologists and became one of the most popular teachings in psychology; Pavlov called this process classical conditioning. In America, John B. Watson was impressed with the experiments of Pavlov that he embraced the idea that behavior is the mot important aspect of man that should be studied by psychology (Watson, 1913). John B. Watson was an influential person and he is conventionally credited to be the father of behaviorism as he strongly and eloquently articulated the new psychology of that time.Central to Watson’s argument was that he accepted that animal behavior is quite simil ar to human behavior and that they are legitimate subjects in the experimental study of behavior. Earlier, it was mentioned that behaviorism was revolutionary in the sense that it developed a methodology of study of psychology and that it held few theoretical explanations to human behavior. Watson (1913) posited that any behavior is a response to a stimuli and the relationship between the stimulus and the response should be the subject matter of psychology.Watson also erased the mental processes that the structuralism and functionalism was focused on, arguing that studying mental processes are futile and subjective and did not uphold the scientific and experimental tradition of the discipline. Watson became the editor of the Psychological Review, one of the earliest scientific journals in psychology and used his position in the paper to put forth his ideas and conceptualizations of psychology as the behaviorist would see it (Watson & Evans, 1990).Watson was a radical behaviorist, he always referred to himself as â€Å"the behaviorist† and it implied that he renounced all mental processes as devoid of any psychological insight. He reasoned that structuralism and functionalism are limited perspectives and it did not offer objective and rational explanations of behavior. He was famous for his experiments with Little Albert, wherein he conditioned fear of white and flurry objects in a small child. He demonstrated that fear can be conditioned and that it is manifested in different objects that fit the original object used as a stimulus (Watson, 1928).Watson believed that every action is a product of conditioning and that genetics or cultural orientations does not have anything to do with it. When asked to explain thinking, he said that thinking was not a mental process per se; instead it is an act of speaking in symbolic form (Watson, 1913). Watson’s intense dedication to behaviorism led him to believe that he can train any child to become what he wan ts them to be by subjecting them to the environment and experiences that would support this personality (Watson, 1928).Watson was a true-blooded behaviorist and this actually was the main criticism leveled against him. Psychologists who were trained in the functionalist and structuralist traditions had difficulty accepting Watson’s theories since it took out the mind and consciousness in psychology. There were a number of supporters but they also believed that mental processes are as much important as behavior. another criticism of Watson was that behaviorism was too deterministic, it seemed that the person had no free will since he/she is controlled by his/her environment.It can be remembered that psychology was the child of philosophy and for those who were trained in philosophical logic stressed free will, choice and freedom. Support for Watson waned in the later part of his career since he became too caught up in his assumptions on behaviorism that his contentions became too radical and lacked scientific credence. Watson’s major contribution to psychology is his emphasis on objective methods of research and the use of rats and animals in the study of psychology.Behaviorism became one of the great schools of thought in psychology because it evolved and developed into what we now know as modern behaviorism (Hothersall, 1995), a theoretical perspective that still focuses on human behavior as the object of study but have come to acknowledge the importance of mental processes, genetics and environmental experiences, as well as using methods that not only seek to elicit behavior but also gives due attention to thinking, attention, emotions and consciousness.References Hothersall, D. (1995). History of Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill. Murphy, G. (1930). A Historical Introduction to Modern Psychology. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, Inc. Watson, J. (1913). Psychology as the behaviorist views it. Psychological Review, 20, 158-177. Watson, J. (1 928). The Ways of Behaviorism. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishing. Watson, R. & Evans, R. (1990). The great psychologists: An intellectual history 5th ed. New York: HarperCollins.

Photography and Fetish essays

Photography and Fetish essays In order to explore the contribution of Christian Metzs' "Photography and Fetish" to the understanding of the photographic image in the modern era, it is important to look at the term fetish as it is explained in the dictionary as well as at modern psychoanalitical (especially Freudian) techniques because this knowledge is pivotal for the comprehension of the essay. Fetish: a thing to which more respect or attention is given than normal or sensible: He makes a fetish of his work (4) or also an object or activity that is necessary for or adds to an individuals sexual pleasure (4) Freud, in On Sexuality; three essays on the theory of sexuality and other works Vol. 7 described a fetish as an unusual object-choice by a person and said that generally they recognized the fact that it was abnormal but seldom felt that it was the symptom of an ailment accompanied by suffering. He continues by saying that usually, these people were quite satisfied with their fetish and even praised the way in which it eased their erotic life and that as a rule, fetishism makes its appearance during psychoanalysis only as a subsidiary finding. When analyzed, the meaning and purpose of a fetish is always the same, it is a substitute for a phallus that should be present but is not due to its loss in a persons memory at some point between early childhood and adulthood The classic Freudian example of a fetish being created is that of a young boy looking at his mothers body and realizing that she has no penis whereas he has one (he had assumed that everyone had one). This leads him to fear castration and so a fetish is formed to protect his mind from this fear, this may or may not affect his development in a negative way. In addition, this non-existence of the phallus acts as a reminder that it once existed (or that it should have) and therefore its substitute which is always present (cigarette, stocking, religious symbol, etc.) acts as a defense mechani...

Common Sense essays

Common Sense essays When someone says that psychology is a process of using simply common sense, this is far fetched. Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes. (Myers,1998) Psychology is filled with hundreds of different theories and has been using studies to observe peoples behavior for years. Some parts of psychology are common sense, but every thing in life has some part of common sense in it. There are six major perspectives that the psychologists use when trying to figure out what is wrong with one of their patients. These different perspectives cover almost every possible area that can be covered. Psychologists use these different perspectives to try and decipher what the persons problems are and why they react the way they do. The first is a perspective called Neuroscience; this is how the body and brain create emotions, memories, and sensory experiences. The psychologists use this to perspective to try and figure out how the messages that the brain sends out are transmitted through out the body. (Myers. 1998) The psychologists use another perspective to find out how evolution influences behavior tendencies. This is called the evolutionary perspective. Behavior genetics is another perspective that is used to see how much our genes, and our environment, influence our individual differences. (Myers, 1998) These are all biological perspectives; the others have to do with the persons environment. Environment has a lot to do with the way that people react and behave in different situations. The psychologists use the behavioral perspective to find out how we learn observable responses. (Myers, 1998) The cognitive perspective is used to figure out how we process, store, and retrieve information. (Myers, 1998) The last of the perspectives is the behavioral one. This is when they try and figure out the different state of thinking and behavior between different cultures and situations. (Myers, 1998) The ...