Distinktion Between British and American English Essay Example for Free

Distinktion Between British and American English Essay Abstract In this paper, distincion between British English and American English on the phonetic aspect will be discussed. The whole paper is going to be devided into several parts, in the first part various of English accents and the outline of the differences between these two variants of English will be introduced in biref ; In the second part, the representative of British English – Recerved pronunciation will be presented in detail on the aspect of sound system; in the thirt part, the phonetic peculiarities of American English will be discussed; in the last part, the sound system of British English and American English will be compaired in detail, thus the differences will be presented minutely. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BRITHS ENGLISH AND AMERICAN ENGLISH ON THE ASPECT OF SOUND SYSTEM Outline: The fanous American author and humorist Mark Twain had said that :English and American are separate languages,..when I speak my native tongue in its utmost purity an Englishman cant understand me at all. (The stolen White Elephant) It is ture, we have already heard the concept of American English and British English when we started to learn this language, although we didnt know and cannot distinguish their differences at that time, we knew, at least, they are different. As an English majoring student, now I know they have distinctions in several aspects including vocabulary, pronunciation, spelling, intonation, etc. and it is my horner and pleasure to write on this theme: distinction between American English and British English on the phonetic aspect. Various accents: One thing which should be mentioned at the very begining is that, in fact,there are various accents in English, in general, linguistists devide  them into two groups: American varient of English and British variant of English, which can also be subdevided as in following graphic: Each of the above mentioned accents has their owen features thus different from each other, in this paper, not all these acctents are going to be discussed, only two representatives will be researched, they are the representative of American Enlish : General American English (GA), and the representative of British English: Received Pronunciation (RP), In general, one of the most siginificant parcularities of Brithish accent is it is cadenced, almost every sylable is pronounced clearly, long vowels and short vowels are distinguished obviously. However in American accent it is kind of ambiguous and vague, most of the long vowels are cutted short. For instance, the vowel a in class belongs to long vowel, British always pronounce it intactly, whereas Americans often enunciate it as a short one, it sound like a in the word bad. An other example can be the word aunt, almost all American pronouce it as ant with out expception, which makes it confusing whether they are reffering to their aunt or the ant creeping in front of their house. British accent invariably enunciate voiceless consonant in unstressed sylables clearly, yet Americans pronouce voiceless consonants as voiced ones, as a result, the word Battery was enunciated as Baddery by Americans. In most countries the English learning materials of schools use British standard English. The English channel of China Central Telivision as well as the dialogues between the spoke men of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and foreing journalists use British English too. Among foreign meida, the accent used by BBC is considered to be acknowledged model of British English. Within Movie stars, Hugh Grant (acted the leading role in Four Wedding and a Funeral) graduated from Oxford University and speaks in standard upper class British accent.. RP: authentic British accent In China, there are various accents in different origins, among them mandarin is the officially stipulated as standard official language, however, although there are also various accents in different origins in Britain, there is no official stipulation on which is the standard one, but in the history of the development of English language, one accent formed its  importance and acknowledged to be the most stand British English, that is: Received Pronunciation, shorter form of which is RP. Retrospect its history, Received Pronunciation formed from an accent used in South Central England. That region extended toward southeast from Midlands to London, among which includes the two famous University towns Oxford and Cambridge. In the 14th century, Received Pronunciation was widely used among traders, and with the rise of Oxford and Cambridge University, this accent is also used by students of the two universities, thus, Received Pronunciation turned into the accent used by people who hav e received good education. From 19th to 20th century, Received Pronunciation became the education language use in British public schools, it was also used by British Broadcasting, and as a result, it is as well named as Public School English and BBC English. The concept of Received English was previously proposed by the English linguistic Daniel S. Jones in his monograph in 1918. To sum up, Received Pronunciation has the following general features: 1. Received Pronunciation is a kind of standard neutral accent, it is deemed to have no definite regional accent character. Whereas, in the British Isles, Received Pronunciation is only used in England, in addition it does not limit area. 2. Received Pronunciation has specific social demarcation. In Britain, RP is regarded as reflection of having received good education, that is, well educated. Hence, it is always connected with upper class of society, sometimes it is termed as Oxford English and King’s/Queen’s English. A coalmine worker frkm Welsh won’t understand and speak elegant Received Pronunciation. 3. Received Pronunciation is always closely bounded together with some particular professions. The main occupations use RP are: lawyers, politicians, diplomats, bond traders, teachers of universities or public schools, as well as announcers of national Broadcasting and Television studios. Evidently, those professions at the same time reflect ‘elegant’ and ‘distinguished’ social positions. What is worth mentioning is that as Received Pronunciation is standard orthodox British English, it is widely used in foreign language education. Therefore, the English learned by non-English first language countries is Received Pronunciation, the English pronounced by some of the excellent learners among them is even more normative than local British people. The principle character of RP is to protrude the sound ‘r’. When two words are connected together, if the  previous one ends with a non-high vowel while the second one starts with a vowel, the RP enunciation will add a non-existing r. By comparing the following two phrases we can see the peculiarities of RP: Regular enuciating situation (ending with a non-high vowel + starting with a consonant): The idea for it saw him in the room. Adding the non-existing r'(ending with a high vowel + starting with a vowel): The idea(r) of it, saw(r) it in the room. Peculiarities of American accent: 1. Abdominal pronunciation: When we listen to American people speak, it is noticeable that their timber is very abundant, the time of resonation sounds very long, even with strong nasal. In fact this is the first peculiarity of American accent abdominal pronunciation. The so called abdominal pronunciation refers to the habit of producing sound from the abdomen in American accent, which is very different in Chinese where the process of sound production is in the chest. More specifically, when we produce vowels, we need to draw in our bellies, then enunciate with vocal cord vibration, only in this way the produced vowels can sound resonant and full. If you want to practice most standard and pure American accent, you must form the habit of producing voice from the abdomen, pronounce with the back of vocal organs, this is the first thing we need to do. 2. Literally pronunciation: The second peculiarities of American accent is literally pronunciation, in general, they are pronounced just as they are spelled., enunciation is more regulated, which exactly match the peculiarity of English language as a kind of phonogram. For instance, the most significant distinction between American accent and British accent is the disposing of the retroflex consonant r. someone always finds it difficult to decide when should he/she roll his/her tongue and when not. It seems very complicated, in fact it is easy when you get it: in American accent, as long as there is letter r in the spelling, you should retroflex when you enunciate the word, on the contrary, if there is no letter r in the word, avoid rolling your tongue by all means. Therefore, we need to retroflex in words like letter, butter,  whereas in words like idea, China we mustn’t roll our tongue. Moreover, American English sounds different from British English mainly because in AE pronunciation tends to agree with spelling. For example, the word vase, according to the rule of ‘if there is a non-pronunced e at the end of the word, then the vowel of that word pronounce its letter sound’, British people pronounce it as [va:z], however, it is enunciated as [veiz] in American English. 3. The third peculiarity of American English is there is clear distinction between stressed and unstressed syllables. When we speak Kazakh and Chinese, every word can be stressed, so our tone sound constant and forceful, but when we speak AE, we have to get rid of this habit. The rhythm of AE comes from alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables, so if we want to make what we say rhythmist, we have to abbey the role of differentiating between stressed and unstressed syllables, also, we should pay attention to stressed syllables of words, firstly, we cannot shift stresses, then we should weaken the syllables without stresses, hence the word industry, the stress falls on the first syllable, but some people may have the habit of putting stress on the second syllable, this is a wrong habit, we must get rid of it. In order to make clear distinction between stressed and unstressed words or syllables, the most important thing to do is to weaken the unstressed syllables, once we can pronounce the unstressed syllables and words correctly, the stressed can be reflected out. Some general differences between American English and British English: 1. The resonance focus of American accent, i.e. where muscle moves most frequently, is on the back of mouth cavity between tongue and palate. That is the so called ‘pronounce rearwardly ’; in British accent the resonance focus is in front of teeth and between the lips, lips and facial muscles moves more frequently, which is so called ‘pronounced forwardly’. 2. In American accent the pitch changes between the syllables rather than within the syllables. There is no pitch glide within the syllables; however, in British accent, they try to emphasize the logically important words by gliding the pitch (The so called pitch glide is to lengthen the syllable and raise the pitch.). 3. There are 3 main vowels pronounce differently in British accent. /o/ in AE is two-stage-enunciation, while in BE a sound / ÊÅ' / is added before /əʊ/ which makes it a three-stage-enunciation. British /É’/  sound brief and powerful, lips glide fleetly, the degree of lip-rounding become smaller. Whereas when pronounce /É”:/ in BE, lips protract forward far away and bend into a round shape, leaving only a small opening. 4. Some sound in British English is different at times. When the sound /i:/ is at the end of a word (especially when spelled as y or ly ), it is weekend to /i/, for instance, in words like pretty, mostly. In American English, the syllables in the end with sound /sri/, /ori/ are always stressed, however, in British English those sounds are weekend to /É™ri/, and stresses are moved forward. For example in words like necessary, ordinary, category, the sound /à ¦/ in British English may change to /É‘:/ when it is in American English, In general, it would change under the following circumstances: * Before /f/, such as after, laugh, half, calf; * Before /s/, such as fast, last, rascal, repast, pass, glass (except for passenger, passage); * Before /th/, such as bath, path, rath, rather, lather (except for gather) * Before /nc/, /nk/ , such as dance, chancellor, lance, france; * Before /nt/, such as advantage, plant, chant, can’t; * Before /nd/ such as commander, demand, slander (except for and, hand, grand, stand) Irregular situations: the sound a does not change in bat, cat, can, changes in banana, example, sample, ranch, branch. Although the sound /u/ in American English might as well not change, but it is common to change to /ju/, for instance, duke, dual, due, neutral, nuclear, news, Tuesday, tune, tunic, lubricate, ludicrous, lunatic. 4. The letter r will drop when it is after a vowel, only when they are followed by another vowel. 6ï ¼Å½In American English sound t at the end of a word is incomplete plosive, while in British English it is complete plosive. 7. There are also a lot of irregular sound changes, for example: (American English→British English)

American Airlines Essay Example for Free

American Airlines Essay Situational Analysis: Internal factors: Strengths: Joint Venture with Japanese Airline Partnership with JetBlue Member of oneworld alliance International Flies to North America, the Caribbean, South America, Europe and Asia Number of routes AAdvantage frequent flyer program Weaknesses: Older airplanes Unstable chairs on their airplanes Current financial situation External factors: Opportunities: Merge with another airline Reorganization of their company Successful retrenchment strategy Increase profits Update planes Purchase new aircrafts Satisfy consumer needs Threats: Company filed for bankruptcy in November 2011 Competition with competitors low cost strategy Price of fuel has increased Labor costs have increased US economic slowdown Problem: American Airlines is struggling with higher costs, mainly, higher fuel costs and labor costs. These costs became so excessive, that American Airlines had to declare bankruptcy. Alternative 1: American Airlines needs to emerge from bankruptcy as a profitable company, which would enable them to explore the possibility of a merger with another airline provided that the two airlines combined would provide efficiencies and higher profitability. Strengths: Potential increase in profits Opportunity to eliminate duplicate costs Potential to enhance brand recognition because now they will have more routes and more to offer Weaknesses: Always potential for disruption and disorganization as the merger takes place The cost of the merger (usually underestimated) Miscalculation of the difficulties of merging two corporate cultures Alternative 2: They must use the bankruptcy process to lower their labor cost, both by wage concessions and more efficient work roles. Strengths: Lower costs More efficiency of workers Potential increase in profits Lead to lower flying inconveniences Help exit bankruptcy Weaknesses: Resistance from the employees Disruptions could cause cancelations Alternative 3: Use the bankruptcy to lower other employee costs such as medical insurance and pension. Strengths: Lower labor costs Help exit bankruptcy Decrease debt Weaknesses: Resistance by employees Weaken relationships among employers and employees Recommendation: My recommendation would be alternative two: They must use the bankruptcy process to lower their labor cost, both by wage concessions and more efficient work roles. I’m assuming that this alternative will lower costs the most. American Airlines needs to use the bankruptcy process to implement this alternative effectively. They need to go before the bankruptcy court asking them to cooperate to seek wage concessions and more efficient work roles. A combination of the legal department and the finance department need to be in charge of implementing this alternative. This is a legal matter but the finance department must explain to the legal department what is needed in terms of financial relief. This needs to be implemented as soon as possible. It must start in the bankruptcy court. This can be evaluated by examining if this alternative does lower cost without completely destroying employee to employer relationships. The finance department needs to evaluate their financial numbers (examining costs) on a monthly basis.

Overview Of Theory And Treatment Of Substance Abuse Philosophy Essay

Overview Of Theory And Treatment Of Substance Abuse Philosophy Essay This paper is an overview of the chemical use, assessment, history and treatment recommendations of Jay W. a college student dealing with failing grades and alcohol. Upon interviewing Jay, his parents, and researching various textbooks and video teachings on the theorys and treatments of substance abuse this paper will examine the spiritual, genetic, and psychosocial aspects of Jays behavior. The assessment will asses if Jay is in use, abuse, or addictive cycle, and will show if there are any co-occurring issues. This assessment of Jay W. makes a referral based on the determination of Jays current needs. This paper will give specific steps that our needed to be successful in the recovery process. CHEMICAL USE ASSESSMENT/HISTORY AND TREATMENT RECOMMENDATIONS Name: Jay W. DOB/Age: May 2, 1991 Dates of Interviews: April 20, 2011 Evaluator: Richard M. Doucett REASON FOR ASSESSMENT: Jays parents are concerned about his drinking and how it appears to be interfering with his aspirations of being a chemical engineer. Jay W. was referred for assessment after flunking out of his first year in college. SOURCES OF INFORMATION: Beths (mother) interview, Dons (father) interview, Jays interview, Doweiko, H.E. (2009). Concepts of Chemical Dependency (7th ed.) Belmont, Ca: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning, May, G.G. (1991). Addiction Grace; Love and Spirituality in the Healing of Addictions. New York, NY: HarperCollins, Hawkins, R. (2009). Theology and Addiction www.libertyuniversity.edu, Clinton, T. (2009). Addiction and Recovery www.libertyuniversity.edu. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: Jay W. was born May 2, 1991 to Don and Beth W. The pregnancy was reportedly normal with no complications to the labor and delivery. Jay W. met all his developmental milestones early and was described as an advanced baby. Jay reportedly excelled in school with needing very little effort to maintain a straight A report card even in the gifted and talented program. Jays parents report that Jay began drinking at the age of 12. They described the drinking as experimental initially but they state they became excessively more concerned as he got older. Jay and his parents describe his early drinking years as typical of teenage behavior. They all three began attending AA together but Jay dropped out after 3 months. Don and Beth state they are both still active in AA and Al-Anon. Jay states he stopped going because, all they talk about is war stories. CURRENT STATUS: Jay appears reluctant to treatment but agreed to come because his parents state they will not continue financing his college if he does not get help. Jay states that currently he drinks a 12 pack or more on the weekends. He qualified this by stating his friends help him drink the beer. He also does admit that his weekends sometimes start on Thursdays and dont end until Mondays. He states that he does not believe his drinking is the issue with his grades in college. He states he just gets bored in classes and his professors dont really know as much as they think they do. He states sometimes he just doesnt feel like going to class because it is dumb. Jay does admit to blackouts, drinking more than he intends to, and does seem to recognize that many of his friends have similar drinking patterns as he. INDICATIOR OF USE/ABUSE/DEPENDENCY: Attitude and Behavior of Jay W.: Jay W. uses alcohol because it makes him feel good; and because it does feel good he wants to repeat this experience. Jay states he is willing to come to counseling but does not think he has a drinking problem but he would like to figure out how to win his girlfriend back. Dr. Clinton tells us that the tragedy of addiction is that is destroys, individuals, families, and friendships (Clinton, 2009) Jay W. does not feel like he needs counseling but wants his girlfriend back, his parents arent happy with him, and he is destroying his own life by failing the classes that he needs to succeed. The basic laws of behavioral psychology hold that if something increases the individuals sense of pleasure or decreases his discomfort, then he is likely to repeat that behavior. This process is called reward process. This consequence has a stronger impact on behavior than delayed consequences (Doweiko, 2009, p.10). Thats why, since Jay found the effects of alcohol to be pleasurable, he will be tempted to use it again and again. Another meaningful fact is individual expectations as a component of alcohol use. The individuals expectations for alcohol have been found to be a strong influence on how Jay interprets the effects of alcohol. These expectations evolve in early adolescence as a result of multiple factors, such as a peer group influences and Jays exposure to advertising (Doweiko, 2009, p.10). Social Functioning of Jay W.: Human beings are social animals. A given Jays decision to use or not use alcohol is made within the social group. Alcohol use can make mild social problems worse by causing people to be more irritable and likely to argue and by affecting judgment and control of behavior. Alcohol use can also be the topic of arguments. Jay W. qualified this by stating his friends help him drink the beer. He also does admit that his weekends sometime start on Thursdays and dont end until Mondays. He does seem to recognize that many of his friends have similar drinking patterns as he. He also reports a recent break up with his girlfriend of 2 years. He states he truly loves this girl but she broke up with him because she doesnt like his friends. One of the factors that influence recreational alcohol use is the social learning component of alcohol use. Individuals do not start life expecting to abuse alcohol. Rather, Jay W. must have been taught that alcohol is acceptable; he must have recognized the effects of the alcohol and interpreted it as desirable. All of these processes are accomplished through the process of social learning, which takes place through peer groups, mass media, family feedback etc (Doweiko, 2009, p.11). Occupational Functioning of Jay W.: Jay W. is a student in a college, where he lives and spends time with his friends. Although he used to be a great student in school with needing very little effort to maintain a straight A report card even in the gifted and talented program. Jay is trying to become a chemical engineer in college, but he has already failed his first year. It seems that he has gotten in a circle of social failure and escape from feeling a looser. Alcohol and his alcohol use disorder (AUD) help him to forget about social responsibilities and attain the success among his drinking friends in Jays artificial world. He can control everything in this alcoholic world: Jay decides when he wants to get into this world of pleasure (from Thursday till Monday or on weekends). Nevertheless when he goes out from these times of illusory euphoria, he gets into new troubles such as studying. To escape from these troubles, Jay buys a new pack of beer and starts the same circle of esca pe from responsibility. This is typical of a person starting on the road to addiction. Dr. Clinton tells us in our video presentation that the key components to addiction our: control problems, compulsiveness, narrowing focus, denial, tolerance and withdrawal (Clinton, 2009). We see many of these components in the occupational functioning of Jay. Financial Aspects of Jay W.: Abuse of alcohol may make current financial problems worse and cause new ones, including: having less money for necessary expenses like food and clothing; neglecting to pay bills; and creating additional expenses, such as extra medical costs, fines, or car repairs. Jay W. reports spending an average of $75.00 a week on beer and his money doesnt always last until the end of the month. He attributes that to his parents not giving him enough money. He states they only give him $1,000 a month. The adverse impact on the financial status of the family of the alcohol abuser is one of the harms related to alcohol. There is an increasing level of expenditure by the alcohol abuser to sustain his habit. Gradually, due to the restrictions that the family income imposes, the alcoholic abuser begins to borrow money, steal and/or sell household objects in order to sustain his habit (Doweko, 2009). Familial Relationships of Jay W.: The relationship between an alcohol abuser and his family is complex. Family members report experiencing guild, shame, anger, fear, grief and isolation due to the presence of an alcohol abuser in the family. They are often subjected to moderate to severe forms of harassment, conflict and tense atmosphere when they confront the drinking behavior of their alcohol-abusing family member (Doweiko, 2009, p.300). Spouses in families where there is chronic, excessive use of alcohol are frequently separated. Children of alcohol abusing persons report a higher incidence of emotional and school-related problems. Don W., Jays father, is a neurosurgeon and his mother, Beth is a research scientist. Don was described by Beth as a functional alcoholic displaying heavy drinking patterns and binge drinking when he was not on call. She states however, Don quit drinking 3 years ago when they realized Jay had a problem. Both Beth and Don have fathers that were alcoholics . Don states he quit drinking after the DUI incident because he wanted to support Jay in stopping. They all three began attending AA together but Jay dropped out after 3 months. Dan and Beth state they are both still active in AA and Al-Anon. Other complications in the family include long absences from home, destruction of household objects in rage, lack of communication between the alcohol abuser and the remaining family members, hostility and criticism that marginalize the alcohol abuser, and domestic accidents (Doweiko, 2009, p.300-305). Legal History of Jay W.: His parents state they first began worrying about Jays drinking when he totaled his first vehicle two weeks after his 16th birthday. Jay lost his drivers license at that time and was charged with a DUI. Jay seemed to suggest his parents are over reacting because he has had several friends that have lost their license. Jay is becoming like most people dealing with addiction in the fact that he is what Dr. Clinton says destined to misunderstand the story we find ourselves in because hell loves to confuse us (Clinton, 2009), Jay is confused and misunderstanding his story by thinking his parents are over reacting and lots of people have lost their license. Health History of Jay W.: Jay W. was born May 2, 1991 to Don and Beth W. The pregnancy was reportedly normal with no complications to the labor and delivery. Jay W. met all his developmental milestones early and was described as an advanced baby. Although at this time he doesnt have any special diseases, alcohol abuse may cause short-term and long-term problems. The short-term effects of alcohol on the body include: upset stomach; diarrhea; lack of coordination and judgment; headaches; and insomnia). Abuse of alcohol can cause many different long-term problems because the whole body is affected. Some of these problems can lead to death. The long-term effects of alcohol are: heart disease; cancer; liver problems; problems of the stomach, lungs kidney, skin, muscle, and bones; infections; mental disorders; insomnia; malnutrition; and impotence and infertility in men (Doweiko, 2009, p.75-85). Spiritual History of Jay W.: When Jay entered the college he found new stresses, responsibilities, and work. He may have felt lonely; his girlfriend left him so he tried to relieve his pain. He hates feeling guilty, empty and alone. He longs to have acceptance and love; alcohol use provides a remedy that helps to forget the pain, at least for awhile. Alcoholism draws sorrow. Alcohol also provides Jay with predictable moments he can count on, an illusion of control, and the addiction masters him. The effect is always self-destructive bondage. Jay is forced to choose between his alcohol abuse and those, who love him. Although he does not want to lose those he loves, he does not want to quit drinking, even if he drinks every day. DIAGNOSTIC IMPRESSION: Jay W. seems to have alcohol abuse problem on the level heavy social use/early problem alcohol use. Between social use and clear cut problem use. People whose chemicals use falls in this point in the continuum would use chemicals in such ways as to: be clearly above the norm of society, and/or begin to experience various combinations of legal, social, financial, occupational, and personal problems associated with chemical use (Doweiko, 2009). Jay can be classified as being at risk for a substance use disorder or of becoming a problem drinker. Thus, not everybody from this category would progress to an addictive disorder. Still, at this level, Jay attempts to hide or deny the problems that develop as a result of his alcohol abuse. RECOMMENDATIONS: Jay needs new goals to become a fully functioning human. Dr. Hawkins in the video presentation Theology and Addiction list six ways out of addiction to recovery and they are; have encounter with the Heavenly Father, allow for the power of the Holy Spirit, make a commitment to a new goal, submit to a new truth, have accountability to a new family, engage in a new process (Hawkins, 2009). Dr. Hawkins firmly believes that recovery is an inside out issue requiring the Holy Spirit (Hawkins, 2009). Jay should start visiting again AA-group with his parents to start with. Jay W. does not need any hospitalization, he needs his own will. In our reading of the text Addiction and Grace the author tells us for the power of addiction to be overcome, human will must act in concert with divine will. (May, 1991, p.178) Second he needs the support of others: his family and possibly his girlfriend to be with him, and support him. Third he needs to understand his own vulnerability, desi re and anger; our textbook also told us we cannot make this empowerment happen on our own, we can pray for it, seek it actively, open our hands for it and try our best to live it (May, 1991, p.178). If Jay wants to be a success, he has to open his eyes, his current illusion of power and control is only that an illusion. In Addiction and Grace we also learned that the alignment of our will with Gods must happen at a heart level (May, 1991, p.178). Studying hard and working hark is real life, sometimes it is lonely, but real life with real results can help you understand real love. ______________________________________ _____________ Signature Date

Analysis of the Jurors in 12 Angry Men :: Twelve Angry Men, Reginald Rose

Guilty or not guilty? This the key question during the murder trial of a young man accused of fatally stabbing his father. The play 12 Angry Men, by Reginald Rose, introduces to the audience twelve members of a jury made up of contrasting men from various backgrounds. One of the most critical elements of the play is how the personalities and experiences of these men influence their initial majority vote of guilty. Three of the most influential members include juror #3, juror #10, and juror #11. Their past experiences and personal bias determine their thoughts and opinions on the case. Therefore, how a person feels inside is reflected in his/her thoughts, opinions, and behavior. Juror #3 is very biased against the 19-year-old boy that is being tried, and this affects all of his thoughts and actions regarding the case. He has this bias because his own son hit him in the jaw and ran away from home at the age of 15: â€Å"I’ve got a kid†¦when he was fifteen he hit me in the face†¦I haven’t seen him in three years. Rotten kid! I hate tough kids! You work your heart out [but it’s no use] (21).†According to this quote from the text, this juror condemns all teenagers and feels resentment towards them. He especially feels strongly about the boy being tried, because the boy grew up in the slums, and this juror is also biased against these people who grew up there. It is because of these feelings that he is strongly cemented in his vote of guilty. Juror #10, a garage owner, segregates and divides the world stereotypically into ‘us’ and ‘them.’ ‘Us’ being people living around the rich or middle-class areas, and ‘them’ being people of a different race, or possessing a contrasting skin color, born and raised in the slums (poorer parts of town). It is because of this that he has a bias against the young man on trial, for the young man was born in the slums and was victim to domestic violence since the age of 5. Also, the boy is of a Hispanic descent and is of a different race than this juror, making him fall under the juror’s discriminatory description of a criminal. This is proven on when juror #10 rants: â€Å"They don’t need any real big reason to kill someone, either. You know, they get drunk, and bang, someone’s lying in the gutter†¦ most of them, it’s like they have no feelings (59).

The Children in Sons and Lovers and What Maisie Knew :: Lawrence Sons and Lovers Essays

The Children in Sons and Lovers and What Maisie Knew      Ã‚  Ã‚   The characters in Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence and the characters in What Maisie Knew each have a special meaning.   They all seem to be interwoven with one another portraying a new cycle in another characters life.   For instance, in What Maisie Knew Mrs. Wix was introduced, in my opinion, at a time when Maisie needed a mother figure. Also, Sir Claude is introduced when she seems to need a father figure.   On the other hand, in Sons and Lovers there are not very many new characters introduced. However, the ones that are introduced seem to want to try and break the bond that Paul and his mother have.  Ã‚   Thus, James and Lawrence seem to be using similar themes with different surroundings and events.   Although the circumstances are different, Henry James and D. H. Lawrence characterize the children as being Impoverished.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Henry James in his novel What Maisie Knew, portrays the main character, Maisie, as being impoverished emotionally.   The emotional poverty that Maisie experiences in her life exist because of her parents extremely vicious hatred for each other.   They use Maisie as a "vessel for bitterness" (13). To Beale and Ida, Maisie was just a tool that they used to hurt the other person.   Eventually, Maisie figured out that they were using her to be the bearer of brutily hateful messages.   Consequently, she learned not to deliver such messages.   This made her parents very angry and they decided that she had "grown incredably dull".   Thus, Maisie realized " They had wanted her not for any good they could do her, but for harm they could, with her unconscious aid, do each other." Unfortunately, Maisie's emotions were of no concern to either parent.   As a result, Maisie seldom experienced any meaningful affection from either of her parents. Furthermore, on the rare occasions when Maisie's mother embraced her it was performed without any affection, or it is so convulsive that it makes her feel as though "she had suddenly been thrust, with a smash of glass, into a jeweller's shop-front..." (112 Lawrence).  Ã‚  Ã‚   Likewise, Maisie's father subjects her to emotional neglect by reminding her that everything had " changed on her account, everything ordered to enable him to give himself up

The Population Problem Essays -- essays research papers fc

The Population Problem Two hundred years ago, Thomas Malthus, in An Essay on the Principle of Population, reached the conclusion that the number of people in the world will increase exponentially, while the ability to feed these people will only increase arithmetically (21). Current evidence shows that this theory may not be far from the truth. For example, between 1950 and 1984, the total amount of grain produced more than doubled, much more than the increase in population in those 34 years. More recently though, these statistics have become reversed. From 1950 to 1984, the amount of grain increased at 3 percent annually. Yet, from 1984 to 1993, grain production had grown at barely 1 percent per year, a decrease in grain production per person of 12 percent (Brown 31). Also strengthening to Malthus' argument is the theory that the world population will increase to over 10 billion by 2050, two times what it was in 1990 (Bongaarts 36). Demographers predict that 2.8 billion people were added to the world population between 1950 and 1990, an average of 70,000 a year. Between 1990 and 2030, it is estimated that another 3.6 billion will be added, an average of 90,000 a year (Brown 31). Moreover, in the 18th century, the world population growth was 0.34%; it increased to 0.54% in the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century to 0.84% (Weiskel 40). Neo-Malthusians base their arguments on the teachings of Thomas Malthus. Of the Neo-Malthusians, Garrett Hardin is one of the most prominent and controversial. Hardin's essays discuss the problem of overpopulation and the effects it will have on the future. In Lifeboat Ethics, he concludes that continuous increases in population will have disastrous outcomes. Neo-Malthusian arguments come under much scrutiny by those who believe that the population explosion is only a myth. Those who hold these beliefs state that the evidence Neo-Malthusians use to justify their views is far from conclusive. Critics hold that the Neo-Malthusian call for authoritarian control is much too radical. Thus, these critics belittle the theories of Neo-Malthusians on the basis that population is not a problem. However radical Hardin's theories may be, current evidence shows that he may not be too far off the mark. It is hardly arguable that the population has increased in the past few decades, for current statistics show that this a... ...gy, November 1993, pp. 88-92. Day, Henry C. The New Morality: A Candid Criticism. London: Heath Cranton Limited, 1924. Douglis, Carole, and Gaylord Nelson. â€Å"Images of Home.† Wilderness, Fall 1993, pp. 10-23. Hardin, Garrett. Stalking the Wild Taboo. Los Altos, California: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1978. Hardin, Garrett. The Limits of Altruism: An Ecologist's View of Survival. London: Indiana University Press, 1977. James, Daniel. â€Å"Close the Borders to all Newcomers.† Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Political Issues. Ed. George Mckenna and Stanley Feingold. 9th ed. Guilford, CT: Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc., 1995. Malthus, Thomas Robert. An Essay on the Principle of Population. Ed. Phillip Appleman. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1976. Mandel, Michael J., and Christopher Farrell. â€Å"The Price of Open Arms.† Business Week, 21 June 1993, pp. 32-35. Morganthau, Tom. â€Å"America: Still a Melting Pot?† Newsweek, 9 August 1993, pp. 16-23. Thomas, Rich, and Andrew Murr. â€Å"The Economic Cost of Immigration.† Newsweek, 9 August 1993, pp. 18-19. Weiskel, Timothy C. â€Å"Can Humanity Survive Unrestricted Population Growth?† USA Today Magazine, January 1995, pp. 38-41.

Application of Forensic Psychology within a trial: R vs. Golds

Introduction Before delving into the applications and relevant theories in Forensic Psychology in this case, it is first necessary to summarise the particulars of this case. This will allow for the evidence to be objectively assessed, and then broken down as the empirical evidence provided by the field of Forensic Psychology pertains to specific points. This will allow for the value of various aspects of the evidence on both sides to be assessed, which may result in a re-evaluation of the overall verdict. The psychological evidence will then be evaluated within the relevant theoretical framework, and these theories will in turn be critically analysed so that the degree to which the relevant findings and theories of forensic psychology can be used to interpret the meaning and weight of evidence in this case can be evaluated. The defendant was convicted of murdering his wife, but appealed against conviction on the grounds that he was suffering from a mental illness and therefore was impaired substa ntially enough to meet the criteria for manslaughter, not murder. The appeal was dismissed. Although the defendant admitted killing his wife he did not give evidence at the trial, stating that he was not in a fit mental state. A voir dire by a medical expert, B, attested to the fact that the defendant ought not to give evidence due to his mental state, and when recounting this to the jury the judge ruled that no adverse inference should be drawn from this. The judge did however not allow evidence from B to be given at the trial. The evidence in support of the defence was given by three expert medical witnesses all attesting to the deteriorating mental state of the defence and that the criteria for diminished responsibility were satisfied. No medical testimony disputed this. Evidence admitted by the judge against the defence came from the defendant’s daughter, S, who recounted a conversation in which the defendant admitted assaulting the victim on a prior occasion. This was ta ken as evidence of the defendant’s bad character. During the trial there was some discussion of the definition of the term ‘substantially impaired’; the defence counsel defined the term as anything ‘more than trivial[ly impaired]’ but the judge refused this definition and declined to give the jury any further guidance as to the legal definition of this term. A verdict of manslaughter would suggest that the defendant was not able to fully understand the nature of what he was doing, make a rational decision and exercise self-control (Morse, 2003). Of course the legal definition of ‘substantially impaired’ is also relevant; as it is defined by the English Homicide Act (1957) substantial impairment is constituted either by a ‘common sense’ standard or by any degree of impairment which is more than trivial but less than total (Prevezer, 1957). Whether the defendant reaches the threshold for these definitions of substantially impa ired will decide whether he is convicted of manslaughter or murder. One issue raised by the defendant in the appeal was that although the judge did explicitly state that the jury was not to draw any condemning inference from the defendant’s lack of testimony, he failed to remind the jury that S’s evidence should be considered with caution, because the defendant was not able to give any account of the alleged conversation. According to the literature in forensic psychology there could be valid grounds to this claim, however the claim itself could also be redundant entirely. This is because jurors do indeed evidently find it difficult to evaluate the weight of evidence and draw inferences appropriately (Thomas and Hogue, 1976). Thomas and Hogue (1976) developed a decision-making model for jurors, showing broadly that the weight jurors will ascribe to evidence varies across the population according to a variety of factors relevant to the characteristics of the jury. In th is model the decision threshold which defines whether the jury votes for the plaintiff or defendant varies little across the population but may vary between cases and be affected by factors such as instructions to jurors. This latter point is very important because it addresses the effect that instructions to the jury can have, even a small effect could have made a substantial difference to the way the jury regarded evidence. Evidence suggests that this is particularly the case with emotionally-charged evidence which is pertinent to this case, Cush and Delahunty (2006) found that mock jurors who received no pre-evidence instructions to consider emotionally evocative evidence (gruesome photographs) dispassionately or with caution gave more verdicts in favour of the victim and scored higher on measures of victim compassion and crime negativity than did jurors who did receive such instruction. Embedded within cognitive theory this evidence supports the defendant’s position on th is point; without all of the pertinent evidence with the appropriate weights the juror as a sense-making machine would not be able to reach an informed decision (Pennington and Hastie, 1991). The heuristics and biases approach (Griffin, Gonzalez and Varey, 2001) views decision-making, thought and perception as vulnerable to various cognitive biases and distortions from mental archetypes. One such source of bias has been dubbed ‘WYSIATI’, or ‘what you see is all there is’. This notion is important in a forensic context because the jury will naturally find it difficult to take into account evidence that is not readily presented to them (Neal and Grisso, 2014) especially when presented with material evidence which contradicts it. Another point to consider is the value of S’s evidence; factors which may be important to consider are the age of the witness (Ceci, Ross and Toglia, 1987), the power of hindsight and the nature of reconstructive memory (Leippe , 1980). According to a retrieval theory of memory, recognition and recall styles of memory are possible through a resonance-style spreading-activation pattern of retrieval attempts (Ratcliff, 1978). When a search of memory in this way is performed, certain archetypes or contextual information and assumptions about the objects in memory may fill in gaps or add meaning; depending on the age of the witness this may be even more important, because young children are more susceptible to such biases (Ceci, Ross and Toglia, 1987; Leippe, 1980). There may have been subtleties in the alleged conversation with the defendant which would reinterpret the meaning, especially in light of the defendant’s alleged mental illness which S could have missed in her memory of the conversation. Even if the judge had instructed the jury to treat S’s evidence with caution though, the question is what effect would this have had on the verdict. The answer would seem to be that even though it may have changed the jury’s perception of the evidence (Cush and Delahunty, 2006), this would not have substantially affected the verdict because the evidence of S was of limited significance in the first place because of the strength of other evidence that the defendant had abused the victim. A cognitive decision-makin framework would see people evaluating this evidence overall in favour of the victim (Pennington and Hastie, 1991). In addition to this it was made clear to the jury that the case of the defendant was that he had not abused the victim. This makes it a somewhat trivial point in the overall case. Cognitive theory is useful in the context of forensic psychology because it provides a framework for the decision-making process to be understood, and an opportunity for the value of evidence to be quantified. The theory does view human beings as rational agents who are able to objectively consider evidence, simply adding additional weight to emotional evidence. This could be seen as reductionist as it ignores a wealth of human experience and much of the cultural meaning inherent in cases such as this one. The spreading-activation theory of memory also has its opponents. Some memory researchers prefer to view memory errors as arising from consolidation or encoding errors (Squire and Alvarez, 1995). Both are useful in a forensic psychology context but it is important to remember that the evidence is interpreted theoretically, and there must still be a weight assigned to evidence based on theory. It must therefore be acknowledged that the interpretation of evidence is at least somewhat arbitrary based on these theories. A second point in the appeal was that the judge was supposedly wrong to not allow the evidence of B to go before the jury. The value of expert witnesses is debateable in the literature, assuming that their professional opinions within their fields are valid and reliable, the problem arises with the effect their testimony has on the jury. Expert testimony usually affects the credence that the jury gives to the testimony or stance of the individuals being evaluated, and in this case the evidence of B may well have contributed to the judge’s decision to instruct the jury to draw no condemning inference from the defendant’s lack of testimony. Due to certain cognitive biases, the message an expert tries to convey may not be received by the jury as intended, which may vindicate the judge’s decision to not allow B’s testimony. Jury members will often ascribe disproportionate impact to expert testimony (Krafka, Dunn, Johnson, Cecil et al., 2002), meaning the intended message is exaggerated or otherwise distorted resulting in jurors who may believe something contrary to what the literature on mental illness suggests. B had stated that the defendant was not in a fit state to give testimony, and attested to the reality of his mental illness and deteriorating mental state despite the usage of antips ychotic medication. This last point may be of particular importance because members of the general public may not have a full understanding of the research into the effects of antipsychotics (Jorm, Korten, Rodgers, Pollitt et al., 1997) which B presumably did have. If the jury believed that antipsychotics could cure the defendant’s mental illness then this could lead to them drawing a condemning inference. The weight that B’s evidence would have had is in question though because of the already substantial amount of evidence in support of the existence and chronic worsening of the defendant’s mental illness. This is an issue because if the jury was already convinced that the defendant was indeed mentally ill at the time of the killing and still voted to convict the defendant of murder then the impact B’s evidence may have had is a moot point. The only remaining question is whether B’s testimony would have added anything to the testimony of the other experts due to the voir dire examination. It does seem unlikely that the testimony of B would have differed significantly from the other experts, and due to the evidence suggesting that the individual persuasive ability of experts has more of an impact on jurors than the content of their message (Bank and Poythress, 1982) the judge was probably right to not allow the additional expert testimony. A criticism of most of this research is that it mostly uses mock jurors, and also the mock cases obviously involved different experts and circumstances to the one in question. This means that the effect may be more or less pronounced in this scenario, but the evidence is from a very relevant context and is extremely likely to still be useful. The only potential problem lies in the participants not taking the mock case as seriously as they would a real case. The general population may not have a good understanding of mental illness or mental capacity as these terms are defined in legal disco urse (Jorm, 2000) which did necessitate at least some expert testimony. Another point is that the judge did not give any contrasting definition for the term ‘substantially impaired’ when the defence counsel offered the definition of ‘anything impairment more than trivial’. Although this was submitted as grounds for appeal, the evidence suggests that if anything this point would have resulted in the jurors adopting a standard of impairment that was too liberal by legal standards. This is because jurors and indeed people in general are not as able to disregard presented information as readily as most people believe (Lieberman and Arndt, 2000). According to theories in social psychology, hindsight bias and belief perseverance can lead to jurors actually relying on inadmissible evidence more than other evidence (Lieberman and Arndt, 2000). This is very useful research in this context because it highlights the importance of presented information; the definition offered by the defence counsel will be given inappropriate attention. Since the verdict was still to convict, this suggests strongly that the court was right to dismiss the appeal. In light of the strength of the evidence and theory reviewed and the applications in this case, it is clear that the second and third points submitted by the defendant in the appeal were properly rebuffed by the judge, in fact the evidence suggests that these issues would have worked in the defendant’s favour if the judge had responded differently. As for the first point, it appears from the research that any effect on jury perception would be negligible, although there is some conflict in the literature as to the effect of instructions of limitation from the judge. References Morse, S. J. (2003). Diminished rationality, diminished responsibility. Ohio St. J. Crim. L., 1, 289. Prevezer, S. (1957). The English Homicide Act: A New Attempt to Revise the Law of Murder. Columbia Law Review, 624-652. Thomas, E. A., & Hogue, A. (1976). Apparent weight of evidence, decision criteria, and confidence ratings in juror decision making. Psychological Review,83(6), 442. Cush, R. K., & Delahunty, J. G. (2006). The influence of limiting instructions on processing and judgments of emotionally evocative evidence. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 13(1), 110-123. Griffin, D., Gonzalez, R., & Varey, C. (2001). The heuristics and biases approach to judgment under uncertainty. Blackwell handbook of social psychology: Intraindividual processes, 1, 207-235. Neal, T., & Grisso, T. (2014). The cognitive underpinnings of bias in forensic mental health evaluations. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 20(2), 200. Pennington, N., & Hastie, R. (1991). Cognitive theory of juror decision ma king: The story model, A. Cardozo L. Rev., 13, 519. Ceci, S. J., Ross, D. F., & Toglia, M. P. (1987). Suggestibility of children’s memory: Psycholegal implications. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 116(1), 38. Leippe, M. R. (1980). Effects of integrative memorial and cognitive processes on the correspondence of eyewitness accuracy and confidence. Law and Human behavior, 4(4), 261. Ratcliff, R. (1978). A theory of memory retrieval. Psychological review, 85(2), 59. Alba, J. W., & Hasher, L. (1983). Is memory schematic?. Psychological Bulletin, 93(2), 203. Bank, S. C., & Poythress Jr, N. G. (1982). Elements of Persuasion in Expert Testimony, The. J. Psychiatry & L., 10, 173. Jorm, A. F. (2000). Mental health literacy Public knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 177(5), 396-401. Lieberman, J. D., & Arndt, J. (2000). Understanding the limits of limiting instructions: Social psychological explanations for the failures of instru ctions to disregard pretrial publicity and other inadmissible evidence. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 6(3), 677. Squire, L. R., & Alvarez, P. (1995). Retrograde amnesia and memory consolidation: a neurobiological perspective. Current opinion in neurobiology,5(2), 169-177. Jorm, A. F., Korten, A. E., Rodgers, B., Pollitt, P., Jacomb, P. A., Christensen, H., & Jiao, Z. (1997). Belief systems of the general public concerning the appropriate treatments for mental disorders. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 32(8), 468-473.