Ethics and Issues in Counseling Essay

Question 1 a) Ethics are a list of conduct or principles drawn with the purpose of providing a guideline to what defines professional practice (Corey, 2009) while values are the basis of one’s thoughts or ideals in which decisions are generated (Manthei, 1997). Certain institutions derive their own core values to help provide a guide to â€Å"proper† behaviors. In simple terms, ethics are like â€Å"rules† within a society, culture or institution while values are like â€Å"policeman† in our mind, helping us determine between desirable and non-desirable behaviors while keeping in mind these â€Å"rules† that governs them (Dolgoff, Loewenberg & Harrington, 2008). The professional code of ethics is a guide designed to determine what constitutes professionalism in which governs the institution in the best interest of the values of the profession (Corey, 2009). It not only serves as a clarification to existing and future members of the institution or association governing it, but also helps supports the mission and vision of the institution or association. Its objective is to provide guidelines to practitioners, clarify the professional stand of institutions and organizations governing these practitioners, and at the same time protecting the rights of clients (consumers) (Corey, Corey & Callanan, 2003). The Professional Code of Ethics also helps to bound practitioners ethically so that they do not try to impose their own values onto others and behave as moral authorities. While the Professional Code of Ethics may be written as clear as possible and as comprehensive as possible, in reality there are person’s feelings, values, as well as emotions involved, which are absent during the compilation (Betan, 1997). The ACA Code of Ethics (2005) states â€Å"Counselors terminate a counseling relationship when it becomes reasonably apparent that the client no longer needs assistance, is not likely to benefit, or is being harmed by continued counseling.† The practitioner would be caught in a conflict when his agency deems the client fit to be discharged but he feels otherwise (Betan, 1997). Ethical guides may not be easily integrated into one of vast cultural diversity like that of Singapore as most of the Professional Code of Ethics were formulated within that of a Western context. As such, cultural, socioeconomic as well as linguistic differences may have been neglected in the process (Betan, 1997); while the code may hold autonomy of client at high regards, the cultural stand of the client may not be so. Confidentiality itself also poses a great arguing standpoint especially in a multicultural context whereby there are traditions as well as cultural rules to adhere to (Welfel, 2012). Another important point to not neglect while considering the limitations of the Professional Code of Ethics is its congruency towards the local state laws (Betan, 1997). For instance, one state regulation for consumption of alcohol may differ that from another. In putting ethics into consideration, practitioners should also be aware of their own local state laws. b) Two values that I value as important in life are honesty and being just, ie to try my best to make sure I give or receive equal treatments. Being a straightforward person, I believe in being honest at all times and to take responsibility for your own actions. I believe in giving others a benefit of doubt, unless I have concrete evidence that he/she is telling a lie. I uphold the value of equality; to treat others the way you would like to be treated. Thus, I try my very best not to be bias and constantly remind myself to stay in a neutral stand when others are involved. Because I believe strongly in always giving others the benefit of doubt, I would not doubt on the credibility of my clients’ words even though they might sound absurd. By doing so, it gains trust from clients and help in rapport building with clients. On the flip side, if the client is not a willing client, he might manipulate the trust I have and may try to lie and mislead me. Due to my eagerness to be non-bias and be fair and just as much as I can, I may end up trying to argue and inevitably try to prove myself when some clients at times show biasness towards me due to my experience and age. This  could hinder my work with them as I might try to convince them that they are being bias and indirectly in one way or another, try to argue or indirectly try hard to prove myself. This may come across to some as being argumentative, especially when I always have something to retort back whenever they say something negative, thus spoiling the therapeutic relationship. Of course, being non-bias is important in the counseling relationship as it helps one to not be judgmental and to always maintain a partial perspective. Question 2 The 6 moral principles forming the basis of functioning at the highest level of ethical profession as summarized by Corey et al. (2003, p.16) are autonomy, veracity, justice, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and fidelity. Autonomy refers to the rights or freedom to decide and make independent decisions or choices in one’s own accord within a social and cultural context. Thus, the respect for such autonomy brings about an acceptance that others have a right to choose and act in accordance to his own wishes, unless they hinder the rights of others (Altmaier & Hansen, 2011); practitioners aim at encouraging independence in client and discourage client’s dependency on him. Veracity or truthfulness refers to the practitioner being obliged to be truthful with his clients (Corey et al., 2003). The guideline in the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association (2002) states, â€Å"Psychologists do not make false, deceptive, or fraudulent statements†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (para. 5.01b) since trust is very important in building up a good therapeutic relationship with clients. Justice means to be fair by providing equal treatment to all regardless of culture, religion, race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, disability or age, as they are entitled to equal access and treatment (Corey et al, 2003). To be nonmaleficence means to not cause harm, including actions that might pose a risk to harm another (Altmaier & Hansen, 2011). Practitioners are responsible for their clients to ensure that their risks for exploitation or might result in potential harm are brought down to a minimal (Corey et al, 2003). Beneficence refers to promoting the good and the wellbeing of clients and of others, to help clients grow and develop in their cultural context as well as doing good in their social context (Corey et al, 2003). In short, practitioners are responsible towards contributing to the welfare and growth of another being (Altmaier & Hansen, 2011). Lastly but not least, fidelity means to be truthful in making honest and realistic commitments and honoring these commitments (Corey et al, 2003). It is very important to build a trusting relationship between the practitioners and the people whom they work with and thus practitioners are responsible to make sure they honor fidelity at least on their end (Altmairt & Hansen, 2011). Question 3 a) The 8 essential personal attributes of an effective counselor are emotional intelligence (EQ), warmth and care, unconditional positive attitude (regard), genuineness and authenticity, patience, analytical ability, person-centered and nurturing style of communication and lastly, clear and specific communication. Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to be able to distinguish and have self-awareness of one’s own as well as others’ emotions and feelings, and to be able to use this and guide one’s behavior and thinking, hence encourages development of emotional closeness with the client (Coetzee & Jacobs, 2006). Warmth and care is important in the therapeutic relationship in rapport building as it helps show client that the practitioner is genuinely concern (Coetzee & Jacobs, 2006). When warmth and care is present, practitioner is more aware of client’s cognitive and  emotional needs and the relationship will be more accepting towards each other (Coetzee & Jacobs, 2006). Unconditional positive attitude (regard) is important because it challenges client’s beliefs that if they do not behave in a certain way, others would not accept them. Client had to be sure that his counselor would still see him in the same way after the ‘awful truth’ is made known (Dryden, 1999). The role of genuineness simply means to be yourself; to be sincere, transparent and not putting on a false front (Palmer & Milner, 2006). This role of being genuine and authentic is one that is most challenging, as it requires one to have very high level of self-awareness (Palmer & Milner, 2006). It is important for counselors to have this quality due to the high level of trust needed in order to build effective therapeutic relationship with clients. Patience is an important attribute as different types of clients requires different amount of time to build the trust with practitioners and to be able to open up. While some clients do not have difficulty expressing themselves, some of them do find great difficulty in doing so and would then require much more patience and time from the counselor. Analytical ability is important in listening as it helps the counselor to be able to analyze his own emotions as well as facial expressions while listening to the client (Singh, 2007). In terms of case study, analytical ability is also important to the counselor in helping him to analyze and decipher the bulk of information being presented to him (Singh, 2007). Person-centeredness style of communication refers to the ability to communicate to accept another as a complete unique individual (Wood, 2009). That is to say, counselors do not form pre-conceptualized ideas on how the person is like and not make assumptions during the conversation with client. Nurturing communication occurs when parties involved in the conversation relate to each other in a caretaking manner; indicating to each other that the relationship is being valued (Wood, 2009). Last but not least, clear and specific communication is very important in ensuring that the counseling session is being communicated in the way that it is meant to, without allowing either parties involved to have any misunderstandings after the session. b) If I were to choose 3 attributes that I think are important for myself to undergo the necessary personal transformation, it would be patience, analytical ability and unconditional positive regard. I think that I sometimes lack patience in a counseling session and tend to unknowingly try to rush the conversation by interrupting and not giving client enough time to think about what was being said or asked. Also at times, client may need time for reflection, resulting in pauses during the conversation. While I understand the importance of having such ‘quiet moments’ in a counseling session, I tend to be impatient and would unknowingly try to say something to fill up these ‘uneasy moments of silence’. Analytical ability is something, which I feel I am lacked of. I find myself ‘lost’ in long lengthy conversations at times and unable to ‘process’ huge amounts of information shared. I tend to be more straight-forth in my facial expressions too, and I hope to be more cautious in this area, thus being able to give information being shared more thoughts instead of just deciphering it from the surface level. To be able to achieve complete unconditional positive regard in a conversation is I feel, requires that of a high cognitive level. As every single individual comes from a different background and different culture and social environment, unconditional positive regards is important if counselors want to build on having a therapeutic relationship with client. Without it, clients would not want to return for further therapies or might refrain from sharing certain important information, which could be helpful in the therapeutic process. References: American Psychological Association. (2002). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Washington, DC: Author. Altmaier, E.M. & Hansen, J.C. (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Counseling Psychology. NY: Oxford University Press Betan, E.J.(1997). Toward a hermeneutic model of ethical decision making in clinical practice. Ethics Behaviour, 7(4), 347-365. doi: 10.1207/s15327019eb0704_6 Coetzee, M. & Jacobs, H.R. (2006) Career Counselling and Guidance in the Workplace. Cape Town, South Africa: Juta and Company Corey, G. (2009). Theory and Practice of Counseling and Psychotherapy (8th Ed, pp. 37) CA: Cengage Learning Corey, G., Corey, M.S. & Callanan, P. (2003). Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions. (6Th Ed) CA: Brooks/Cole Dryden, W. (1999) Four Approaches to Counselling and Psychotherapy. NY: Routledge Dolgoff, R., Loewenberg, F.M. & Harrington, D. (2008). Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice (8Th Ed, pp. 19-23) CA: Cengage Learning Manthei, R. (1997). Counselling: The Skills of Finding Solutions to Problems. NZ: Routledge Palmer, S. & Milner, P. (2006) Integrative Stress Counselling: A Humanistic Problem-Focused Approach. GB: Sage Publications Co. Singh, K. (2007). Counselling Skills for Managers. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Wood, J.T. (2009) Interpersonal Communication: Everyday Encounters. CA: Cengage Learning Welfel, E.R. (2012). Ethics in Counseling & Psychotherapy (5th Ed, pp. 150-160) CA: Cengage Learning.

Political Language Essay

Language is the life blood of politics. Political power struggles, and the legitimisation of political policies and authorities occurs primarily through discourse and verbal representations. Power can either be exercised through coercion or what US commentator Walter Lippman termed in the 1930s the manufacture of consent. Largely unable, and hopefully unwilling, to coerce; political authorities in so called democratic polities often need to manufacture consent in order to undertake their agendas. While this most obviously concerns relations between a government and its wider public, this process has profound effects on the workings inside governments and is an important aspect of socialisation into governmental work cultures. Put simply the manufacture of consent is a language based process of ideological indoctrination. While being astonishingly comprehensive, it is a remarkably subtle process. Discourse carries the very assumptions under which the things it alludes to are known and ordered in the context in which it is used. In concrete terms this means that the content of political language contains the very rationale by which it is to be framed, defined, understood and acted upon. Commonly this produces the manufacture of consent. Political language, as Michael Geis points out in The Language of Politics, conveys both the linguistic meaning of what is said and the corpus, or a part of it, of the political beliefs underpinning any given statement (p7). Whether circulating inside or outside governments this means that political discourse transmits and unconsciously reinforces the ideological foundations and the ways of knowing of the dominant political authorities. Applied to government agencies this means that the language of its official texts contains the means by which things are known and understood within these agencies. This means that official documents are shaped according to the way in which things are known and understood in the context in which they are primarily employed. What is included, excluded and how the document is structured is largely determined by these methods of knowing, understanding, and what these are ideologically deemed to encompass. None of this is to necessarily say that the contents of a document are untrue. In the case of Randolf Paul’s report nothing alleged in it has been refuted. However its structure reflects the prizing of particular modes of linear rational thought, empiricism, and ideas of objectivity characteristic of the US bureaucracy. What he represented may well have been far less straightforward than how he presented it. The events Paul portrayed may well have included other significant happenings that were not included because they were either not recognised as such within the knowledge structures of the US bureaucracy, or because they may have contentiously reflected unfavourably on the ideological principles underlying the US government. On the flip side official documents can be used to identify the ideological principles of a government agency and the political authorities it represents. Where there is conflict in political discourse, there is conflict about the ideological and philosophical assumptions underlying political authority. Official texts, and their structures should be analysed to uncover the assumptions of knowledge and ideology at the foundations of the authority producing the text. According to Foucault, the most useful question in such an analysis is something along the lines of ‘ how is it that one particular statement appeared instead of another statement’ . Further reading : Burton, F., & Carlen, P. , Official Discourse : On Discourse Analysis, Government Publications, Ideology, and the State, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1979. Fairclough, N. , Language and Power, Longman, London, 1989. Foucault, M. The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language, trans. A. M. Sheridan Smith, Pantheon Books, New York, 1972. Geis, M. , The Language of Politics, Spring – Verlag, New York, 1987. HOME DOCUMENT http://teaching. arts. usyd. edu. au/history/hsty3080/3rdYr3080/Callous%20Bystanders/language. html v.

Cultural sensitivity and multi-generational awareness Coursework

Cultural sensitivity and multi-generational awareness - Coursework Example Multi-generational awareness on the other hand has been explained by Thinkcos (2009) to mean the situation whereby at the workplace, people of different generations, most commonly, of four different generations live and work together. In the scenario, there are three different cultures, which are African-American, Caucasian and Japanese and two broad generations, which are the old and young. Type of preceptor that would work best with each new nurse In respecting the need for cultural diversity and multigenerational differences, it is very important that the preceptors assigned to these three new nurses are people who belong to their culture and generation; understand their culture and generation; or are ready to accept their culture and generation group. Assigning the new nurses to preceptors, who are of different cultural background and generation or people who are hostile to the individual cultures and generations would create chaos and anarchy at the workplace. What is likely to motivate the nurses to do the best possible job Clearly, these new nurses will be well motivated when they are treated to warm, friendly and welcoming atmosphere.

Discuss the impact of industrialization in 18th century Britain Essay

Discuss the impact of industrialization in 18th century Britain - Essay Example This was an encouraging wave for everyone around as they started to invest more, search more, invent more and got involved in much more economic activities than the past history. During the 18th century, through industrialization, the average income increased to over 10-folds especially in Great Britain. This was due to the ingenious inventions of machine based manufacturing that put the manual labor to rest and saved time and animal labor. This increased the rate of mining, textile production and helped in revolutionizing iron making methods. This industrial growth helped in creating trade routes within the country and outside of Great Britain during the 18th Century. The industry of railways and roads then went on a boom as through steam engines that helped in having faster trade as well as elevated the production, which helped in creating more jobs and more income for the people of Britain. 1 As people mostly wanted to live near their jobs, the concept of Urbanization then occurred and housing started to become more modified and work oriented. As the communication structure through roads was still going under the industrialization phase, people needed to be near to their jobs for faster access and more productivity. Mentally and socially, industrialization had a larger impact. While British public was starting to grow the malnutrition was becoming a problem. With having life expectancy of 35 year before the industrialization era, this Malthusian trap was then soon recovered through better agricultural practice and the life expectancy was increased to 40-45 years of age. Socially the per capita income through many other jobs increased and people around Britain started to live a prosperous life as compared to the 17th Century. Now having better housing facilities as compared to when people lived in shanties and shacks, this changed the people who moved into the

Lab report paraphrasing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Lab report paraphrasing - Essay Example The term, total squared error, is used in defining the accuracy of the original signal in the Fourier series. The accuracy of the Fourier series can only escalate if the value of â€Å"m† increases. The accuracy, for example, deteriorates or is very low when the value of â€Å"m† is 1. Consequently, the accuracy of the experiment is very high when the â€Å"m† value stands at 6. The poor accuracy results from the failure to take into consideration the original signal. The original signal serves as a crucial first step towards solving the Fourier series. It is, therefore, important to have a high value as â€Å"m† in order to increase the accuracy of the series. H. Wilbraham was the first scholar to identify the Gibbs phenomenon. Josiah Gibbs then later studied the phenomenon in detail. The phenomenon has a direct relationship with the Fourier series. It appears as a small sinusoidal wave in square waves. The phenomenon forms part of the troughs and peaks in the series. The sinusoidal waves cannot be eliminated unless the â€Å"m† rises to infinity. In other words, the small peaks forming parts of the square waves are always present. There are several uses of Fourier series in Electrical engineering. There are, for example, very useful in studies involving harmonic analysis. Harmonic analysis refers to the assessment of periodic functions that constitute simple sinusoidal elements. The methods are of immense importance in noise analysis, filter designing, and signal analysis. These are just a few areas of the wide harmonic analysis that calls for thorough understanding before undertaking computations of the

Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 33

Economics - Essay Example Macroeconomics focuses on the international and national economic trends. Neoclassical economics pursues economics through means of demand and supply models, which determine prices on the basis of subjective preferences of consumers and producers. Neoclassical economics depends on subjective preferences in determining prices. Sustainability is associated to the quality of life in a society. It determines whether the environmental, social and economic systems, which make up the society, are offering a productive, meaningful and healthy life for the current and future generations. Sustainable development is the growth, which satisfies the requirements of existing generations without compromising the capability of upcoming generations to satisfy their requirements. There are three features of sustainable development; economic sustainability, environmental sustainability and social sustainability. Environmental sustainability is described as sustenance of life supporting systems. Economic sustainability is described as sustenance of economic capital. It refers to the maximum amount of revenue, which may be spent without diminishing future consumption. Social sustainability is described as sustenance of social resources. Sustainable growth should integrate these categories of sustainability and employ them in ensuring that development is sustainable. There are developments of the new economic ideas in the modern economy. The world economy has experienced various economic conditions and new ideas are evolving, complementing the traditional economic ideas. The following are the alternative economic ideas in the modern economy. First, modern economies are considering shifting from outsourcing to in-sourcing. Economies are encouraging local production to enhance domestic employment. Another idea includes the accessing of wealth of the locals; information and communication technologies are changing

Fiancial Information for managers Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fiancial Information for managers - Coursework Example The four financial statements are the income statement, balance sheet, the statement of retained earnings, and the statement of cash flow. The purpose of this paper is analyze and describe how managers can utilize ratio analysis to analyze the financial results of an enterprise. Managers can utilize the data contained in the financial statements to perform analysis of the financial state of the company. A technique that can be used by managers to analyze the financial performance of a corporation is ratio analysis. Ratio analysis involves using financial formulas that utilize whose inputs are data retrieved from the financial statements of the company. There are different categories of financial ratios. Two of those categories are liquidity, profitability, and financial leverage ratios. In order to illustrate the value of ratio analysis this paper includes a ratio analysis of Marney Ltd. Appendix A shows financial ratios corresponding to the fiscal years 2008 and 2009. The ratios that are included in the analysis are gross profit margin, operating profit margin, current ratio, acid test ratios, average sales period, and average settlement period for account receivables. The gross margin of a company is calculated by dividing net profit by sales (net income / sales). Managers should seek a high gross margin metric. Firms that have low gross margin are not attractive common stock investments because its profitability is poor and the firm may run the danger of ending up with negative net margins. Gross margin is considered a ratio of broad profitability (Garrison & Noreen, 2003). The gross margin of Marney Ltd in 2008 was 46.3%. The gross margin figure of the company is good. In the following year the gross margin of the company was 41.4%. The movement in gross margin of the company from one year to the other was a reduction in gross margin of 4.9%. A reduction in gross margin is a bad sign. The reduction in gross margin could have occurred due to higher

Referral coursework- Viva Alterative Coursework

Referral - Viva Alterative - Coursework Example hers had highlighted a possible relationship existing between the ecological characteristics of the Canary Islands and the morphological characteristics exhibited by the Chalcides lizard. Such previous researches have associated the differences in morphology exhibited by the lizards as occurring due to adaptation to the varied environmental conditions or because of the nutrients available in the four Canary Islands. In a bid to ascertain whether this relationship between the morphological characteristics of lizards and the environmental conditions in the different islands existed, 296 lizards were identified as an effective sample for the study. Notably, the 296 lizards used in the study were obtained from the four islands which exhibit varied environmental conditions. The lizards were transferred to a laboratory and effective preservation occurred in preparation for the statistical analysis. Notably, there was a possibility that lizards from the same island would have different morphological characteristics. Among the 296 lizards, 88 were from the La Gomera islands while 74 were from the Gran canary. In addition, 85 lizards were collected from the Tenerife Island and the remaining 47 were obtained from El Hiero Island. The study observed body scalation and body dimensions and went forth to use the one way ANOVA to analyse the covariance between the morphological traits and the environmental co nditions in each island. There was evidence that there is an existing correlation between the two variables in the different Canary Islands. Evidently, obtaining a sufficient sample size of the four Canary Islands, considering the geographical condition of each was a major challenge. This required both time and adequate resources as well an effective identification and collection technique of the Chalcides lizards. Moreover, the climatic conditions of the islands were not favourable for the researcher and the research required resilience if an effective sample size was to

The Effect Music Has on the Brain Essay Example for Free

The Effect Music Has on the Brain Essay Music has been around for centuries and centuries. We have heard that different types of music can be helpful and harmful. There are so many genres of music out there and it continues to grow. This research will look at studies done on music and how it effects and influences us and the Human Behavior. The Effect music has on the brain There have been many studies done on music and how or if it affects your brain, whether positively or negatively. There is no direct answer to this but we will take a look at why that is and the variety of reasons. years ago, when I became pregnant I tried something that is fairly common amongst new moms that I had heard about. I put on classical music and placed earphones on my belly. Like most moms I did not research the benefits or if what the rumors said were true. The idea behind this method was â€Å"If you play music while you’re pregnant so the baby can hear it, your baby will be smart†. Janet DiPietro a psychologist for the University of California at Irvine says â€Å"There are no studies done on the effects of stimulation before birth on intelligence, creativity, or later development†. However a study has been done on older children in who have had music lessons. Scientists at the Chinese University in Hong Kong, whose research was published in the journal Nature in 1998, say kids who have at least six years of music lessons before the age of 12 learn more words than those who go without. (Robledo). The Psychology of Music â€Å"Studies indicate that music can have profound physical and psychological effects not only on people but also on animals and plants†. (Copley, 2008 sec. 1). In 1997 a high school student by the name of David Merrill conducted a study for his school science project using mice, a maze, and music. There were two types of music used for this study the first being classical music, the second being hard rock. David wanted to see how music would affect the ability to learn new things. David let each mouse run through the maze and timed them using a stop watch to record their initial running times. On average the mice needed a good 10 minutes to find their way through the maze. He separated the mice into groups; the first group of mice was exposed to music of Mozart for ten hours every day for three weeks. The second group of mice listened to the heavy metal music from the group Anthrax for ten minutes as well. The volume was set at seventy decibels, which is about the same level as a vacuum cleaner or a television set from one meter away. The last group of 24 mice served as a control group and was not exposed to any music. What happened was extremely shocking. At the end of each week, David let all the mice run through the maze three times in a row while timing them. Group 3 of the non-musical mice only needed half the time. They completed the maze in five minutes. The Mozart mice completed the maze in one in a half minute!! The Hard Rock Mice stumbled around as if they were drunk, bumping into walls and took a whopping THIRTY minutes to complete the maze. What is even more interesting was this experiment ha to be done twice because the Hard Rock mice in the first experiment showed aggressive behavior and ended up killing each other off. A similar study has been conducted using plants as well. A scientist by the name of Dorothy Retallak conducted a study on plants and the effects different genres of music has on them. She used a group of petunias and separated them into two groups. The first group had a speaker on one side playing classical music for 3 hours of the day, the second group played rock for 3 hours of the day. She found that the petunias that listened to rock music refused to flourish and the petunias who listened to classical music developed beautifully. But that’s not all. In the second week of the experiment the petunias exposed to classical music leaned towards the speaker where the classical music was playing, and the Rocker Petunias did the exact opposite. They actually leaned away from the music and grew unevenly. Within the month the rocker petunias died. We’ve read about the effects that different music can have on animals and plants†¦ but what about the smartest creatures on the planet, I’m referring to you and me, Humans. Music Lyrics Influence on Human Behavior When I was younger I would hear about the older generation talk about â€Å"our music† today and how it has changed. They frowned upon the lyrics and the fast rapping, saggy pant wearing rappers. As a follower of hip hop I felt, they just didn’t understand. It’s not about the lyrics or what they’re saying, I defended; I just like the beat to dance to. But for some reason when I listened to RB like Jodeci, Aaliyah, R. Kelly, etc. , I knew it word for word and wanted to find what they were singing about, â€Å"Your love is one in a million† (Aaliyah, 1996). Personally when I’m having a horrible day I would put on music to make me feel better, something uplifting like gospel, or RB. But when I go out to have a good time and I know I’m about to dance I put on something a little more fast paced and up tempo such as hip hop and rap to get me ready for a night out on the town. The Association for Psychology Science (APS) says that intelligence boys between the ages of 6-15 who took music lessons scored higher on tests of verbal memory than a control group of students without musical training. Also Music is used as a therapy particularly with children who are diagnosed with autism. These children have a hard time interacting with peers and teachers and become annoyed very easily in noisy and changeable environments. Studies show that children with Autism respond very well to music therapy, it helps keep them calm when under duress and helps these individuals socialize effectively. Music Therapy uses musical interaction to help individuals with their cognitive and emotional challenges to improve their ability to function. By interacting with adults and children on the autism spectrum, musical therapists can build skills, lower anxiety, and even develop new communication skills. (Rudy, 2012) I grew up in hip hop and rap and can sing every word to any rap song that comes out on the radio lyric by lyric. But has it had an effect on me? I have been guilty of referring to myself as a â€Å"bad Bitch† which is defined as a hip hop term referring to â€Å"a self-respected, strong female who has everything together. That consists of body, mind, finances, and swagger. Also, a female who does gets hers by any means necessary†. And this is something I picked up from the hip hop generation in 2012. But if I picked this up as an adult what are younger more influential children picking up from this type of music that music that they may hear their older siblings or parents listening to? As a young female hearing the words you may not understand them at the time but once you have a song stuck in your head repetitively you begin to break down some of the phrases. I listen to Lil Wayne who has some of the catchiest beats and punch lines in hip hop. But I don’t hear the clever analogies until the third or fourth time I hear the song. Violent Music Lyrics â€Å"We’re not against Rap, We’re not against rappers, but we are against those thugs† (Lyrics to Bone Thugs and Harmony 1994 hit single Thuggish Ruggish Bone). American Psychological Association reports â€Å"Violent music lyrics increase aggressive thoughts and feelings†. Aggressive thoughts can influence perceptions of ongoing social interactions, coloring them with an aggressive tint. Such aggression-biased interpretations can, in turn, instigate a more aggressive response -verbal or physical than would have been emitted in a nonbiased state, thus provoking an aggressive escalatory spiral of antisocial exchanges. (Anderson, 2003, sec. 5) New hugely popular 17 year old Rapper Chief Keef from Chicago, Illinois raps about Guns, Killing, Gangs and violence. He has a criminal record, is currently on probation for a gun charge and has a huge following in his hometown. The violence rate in Chicago also happens to be the highest it’s ever been. In the first 127 days of 2012, 169 people were murdered in Chicago. â€Å"In Chicago, more than 530 people under the age of 21 have been killed since 2008 and many more have been shot or have otherwise suffered violence—often at the hands of their peers and particularly in the city’s African-American and Latino communities. Nearly 80 percent of youth homicides occurred in 22 black or Latino communities on the city’s South, Southwest and West sides—even though just one-third of the city’s population resided in those communities. The rate of youth homicide in West Englewood on the city’s South Side, for instance, was nearly five times higher than the citywide mark† (The Chicago Tribune reports). You cannot look at these facts and simply think it is a coincidence, if you do so I believe you may be deeply in denial. What I call the 90’s and Millennium babies, aren’t like the 80’s babies of my generation where we could listen to music as feel good music. In this later youth society I feel they cannot differentiate entertainment and real life. They want to live out what they hear and see on music videos and hear on the radio. In Chicago that life is shooting and killing your enemies, keeping it real with a non- remorseful attitude, and welcoming street life. The audience of the music from chief keef ranges from as young as 14 – 21 years of age. The questions of â€Å"where are their parents† always comes up in situations like this, and rightfully so. But that is a whole different article. In conclusion Music can be helpful, therapeutic, sensual and downright good for the soul. But there has and always will be music that reflects what we perceive as violent and or negative. Music is Just like food, what we put into our bodies is what we get out of it. If all you put into your body is poison, you then become poisoned. Vice Versa if you nurture and take of your body with positive nutrients you flourish like the flowers on classical music. You can drink here and there but when you become an alcoholic the damage can be fatal. Mix up your selection its ok to get a little loose with the beat and the rhythm but when you become what you hear. You are what you eat. Music can have an effect on your brain. Weather positive or negative depends on your choice of music, your mental state, and how you perceive the world and the things in it.

Reinforcement and Punishment in Our Daily Life Essay Example for Free

Reinforcement and Punishment in Our Daily Life Essay Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behaviour analysis for the delivery of a stimulus, (immediately or shortly) after a response, that results in an increase in the future rate or probability of that response. The response strength is assessed by measuring frequency, duration, latency, accuracy, and/or persistence of the response after reinforcement stops. Experimental behaviour analysts measured the rate of behaviours as a primary demonstration of learning and performance with non-humans. For example, rate is measured as the number of times a pigeon pecks a key in a 10 minute session. Reinforcement is the stimulus, event, or situation whose presentation is dependent upon a response. B. F. Skinner, the researcher who articulated the major theoretical constructs of reinforcement and behaviourism, defined reinforcement according to the change in response strength rather than to more subjective criteria, such as what is pleasurable or valuable to someone. Accordingly, activities, foods or items considered pleasant or enjoyable may not necessarily be reinforcing (because they produce no increase in the response preceding them). Stimuli, settings, and activities only fit the definition of reinforcement if the behaviour that immediately precedes the potential reinforcement increases in similar situations in the future. For example child who receives a cookie when he or she asks for one. If the frequency of cookie-requesting behaviour increases, the cookie can be seen as reinforcing cookie-requesting behaviour. If however, cookie-requesting behaviour does not increase, the cookie cannot be considered reinforcing. Reinforcement theory is one of the motivation theories; it states that reinforced behaviour will be repeated, and behaviour that is not reinforced is less likely to be repeated. The sole criterion that determines if an item, activity, or food is reinforcing is the change in probability of behaviour after administration of that potential reinforcement. Other theories may focus on additional factors such as whether the person expected the strategy to work at some point, but in the behavioural theory, reinforcement is descriptive of an increased probability of a response. Primary reinforcement A primary reinforcement, sometimes called an unconditioned reinforcement, is a stimulus that does not require pairing to function as reinforcement and most likely has obtained this function through the evolution and its role in species survival. Examples of primary reinforcement include sleep, food, air, water, and sex. Other primary reinforcement, such as certain drugs, may mimic the effects of other primary reinforcement. While this primary reinforcement is fairly stable through life and across individuals, the reinforcing value of different primary reinforcement varies due to multiple factors (e. . , genetics, experience). Thus, one person may prefer one type of food while another abhors it. Or one person may eat lots of food while another eats very little. So even though food is a primary reinforcement for both individuals, the value of food as reinforcement differs between them. Secondary reinforcement A secondary reinforcement, sometimes called a conditioned reinforcement, is a stimulus or situation that has acquired its function as reinforcement after pairing with a stimulus that functions as reinforcement. This stimulus may be a primary reinforcement or another conditioned reinforcement (such as money). An example of a secondary reinforcement would be the sound from a clicker, as used in clicker training. The sound of the clicker has been associated with praise or treats, and subsequently, the sound of the clicker may function as reinforcement. As with primary reinforces, an organism can experience satiation and deprivation with secondary reinforces. 3. 1 Increase of desire Positive reinforcement A positive reinforcement may be used as part of a behaviour intervention plan (BIP). Unlike negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement are strategies used to help increase targeted behaviours in students who are experiencing academic or behavioural problems at home and school. How is Positive Reinforcement Used? Positive reinforcement helps students learn behaviours necessary to be successful academically and socially. For example, a students behaviour goal may be to increase the amount of time he stays on-task in class. Positive reinforcement would be used as a reward for improving over a period of time. Positive reinforcement includes any actions, consequences, or rewards that are provided to a student and cause an increase in desired behaviour. They may include rewards and privileges that students like and enjoy. For example, a student may earn physical rewards such as school supplies, healthy snacks, or choice of free-time activities. When choosing a positive reinforcement, it is important for the IEP team to know the child well. If possible, it can be helpful to allow the child to help choose the type of positive reinforcement he would like to earn. Examples: Positive reinforcement increase a students targeted behaviours. Positive reinforcement is similar to rewards, but they are also intended to increase behaviours over time. They are not just a one-time reward for good behaviour. 3. 2 Drawbacks of Positive Reinforcement Positive reinforcement may seem to be an ideal technique to increase certain positive behaviours. Managers may be able to motivated employees using positive reinforcement techniques. However, there can be some drawbacks. First, the use of positive reinforcement techniques may result in people becoming more extrinsically motivated. Extrinsic motivation may undermine creativity. In Amabiles (1985) experiment, people were asked to write two poems. Before writing the second poem, some people were given a questionnaire in which they were asked to rank the importance of some reasons for writing. In one condition, these reflected extrinsic motivation. In another condition, they reflected intrinsic motivation. In the control condition, people did not receive a questionnaire with reasons for writing. The poems in the extrinsic-orientation condition were judged to be less creative, on the average, than the poems in the control condition. Second, the ideal employee may be one who is intrinsically motivated and does not require constant supervision. Intrinsically motivated employees may be less likely to be late. They also may be more likely to excel at their jobs. Thus, positive reinforcement techniques may not lead to ideal employees in a company. 3. 3 Effect of Positive reinforcement for children Positive Reinforcement Can Improve Your Childs Behaviour: Using positive reinforcement is an easy way to nix behaviour problems. You can use positive reinforcement can help you encourage your child to do everyday tasks you need her to perform. Turning off an annoying song when a child asks their parent is an example of negative reinforcement (if this results in an increase in asking behaviour of the child in the future). Another example is if a mouse presses a button to avoid shock. Do not confuse this concept with punishment. There are two variations of negative reinforcement: oAvoidance conditioning occurs when behaviour prevents an aversive stimulus from starting or being applied. oEscape conditioning occurs when behaviour removes an aversive stimulus that has already started. A lot of students are confused about negative reinforcement. Whats the difference between that and punishment? Perhaps some examples of negative reinforcement would be helpful (remember, its reinforcement so the behavior increases, and because its negative, the reinforcement is removed after the response). Negative Reinforcement strengthens behaviour because a negative condition is stopped or avoided as a consequence of the behaviour. Punishment, on the other hand, weakens behaviour because a negative condition is introduced or experienced as a consequence of the behaviour. Here are two examples of Negative Reinforcement: 1. A rat is placed in a cage and immediately receives a mild electrical shock on its feet. The shock is a negative condition for the rat. The rat presses a bar and the shock stops. The rat receives another shock, presses the bar again, and again the shock stops. The rats behaviour of pressing the bar is strengthened by the consequence of the stopping of the shock. 2. Driving in heavy traffic is a negative condition for most of us. You leave home earlier than usual one morning, and dont run into heavy traffic. You leave home earlier again the next morning and again you avoid heavy traffic.