B. F. Skinner Essays -- Psychology Psychological Skinner Essays

B.F. Skinner   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  B.F. Skinner was one of the most influential theorists in modern psychology. His work was very important and has been studied by many for years. Skinner was a very straightforward man and a very educated man. His theories have helped mankind in many ways. He has studied the behavior patterns of many living organisms. Skinner was a well-published writer. His work has been published in many journals. He also has written many books on behaviorism. His most important work was the study of behaviorism.   Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  First began by John B. Watson, behaviorism is one of the most widely studied theories today. B.F. Skinner and His Influence in Psychology B.F. Skinner was one of the most famous of the American psychologists. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1904. Skinner was the father of modern behaviorism. Skinner did not get into psychology until he was in graduate school at Harvard. He was driven to Psychology after reading about the experiments of Watson and Pavlov. He received his doctoral degree in three years and taught at the University of Minnesota and the University of Indiana and finally returned to his alma mater at Harvard. Skinner contributed to psychological behaviorism by performing experiments that linked behaviors with terms commonly used to describe mental states. Skinner was responsible for some famous experiments such as the â€Å"Skinner box†. Skinner also wrote some very famous books. One of them was â€Å"The Behavior of Organisms†. This book describe s the basic points of his system. Another was Walden Two. This book describes a utopian society that functions on positive reinforcement. Skinner was a very productive person until his death in 1990 at the age of 86.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Behaviorism is a school of thought in psychology that is interested in observable behavior. Skinner said, â€Å"Behaviorism is not the science of human behavior; it is the philosophy of that science.â€Å" There are various types of behavior, such as innate behavior. Innate behaviors are certain behaviors that we are born with, such as eating when we are hungry and sleeping when we are tired. Early Life Burrhus Frederic Skinner was born in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania on March 20, 1904 to William Arthur and Grace Madge Skinner. Skinner also had a younger brother named Edmond James Skinner, born November 6, 1906. At the young age of sixteen, Edmond died of a cerebral aneurysm. .    .. ...nd that behavior is modifiable.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In another of Skinner’s famous works he talks about his three-part thesis on human behavior. He believed that biology, genotype, and conditioning all work together in natural selection and in the development of social environments. His life was going very well, He had a good family, two children and wife. He also had a good job teaching Psychology at his alma mater, Harvard University. Before his death in 1990 when he died at the age of 86 of leukemia that he had contracted when he was younger. Even when he was dying he still delivered a paper to the American Psychological Association. His work and theories always will be looked at and studied. B.F. Skinner was one of the most important American psychologists ever. He was known as the father of operant conditioning. Skinner’s experiments have paved the way for many ideas and theories that may be developed by future generation psychologists. He was responsible for writing many books that also have he lped in understanding behaviorism. He tried to explain how human behavior would change if the environment were manipulated. In my opinion, Skinner was one of the most well known psychologists.

Further Celebration at Heorot :: Essays Papers

Further Celebration at Heorot PASSAGE SUMMARY Beowulf returns to Heorot after the heroic fight with Grendel's mother; and the Danish warriors, who were unable to stop the monsters' attacks themselves, salute the greatest of Geats. Beowulf greets Hrothgar and tells him about the war under water, the failure of Hrunting, and the slaying of Grendel's mother with the sword he found in the cave: "The sword itself had already melted, its patterned blade burned away: the blood was too hot for it, the spirit that had died there too poisonous" ( Norton, p.48). He presents the golden hilt of the giant sword to Hrothgar, who is grateful to Beowulf for making the land of the Danes free of monsters. Beowulf also brings Grendel's head as the evidence of his glory. Hrothgar then reminds Beowulf about the sin of hubris and tells him the story of Heremod as an example of what happens when that sin overtakes a man. The king also advises the hero, "Have no care for pride, great warrior" (Norton, p.49). Then everyone at Heorot enjoys a great feast. The next day, Beowulf returns Hrunting to Unferth, but says nothing about the sword's failure. Important Names BEOWULF is the remarkable hero of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf, "the greatest of the surviving epics composed by the Germanic peoples" (Norton, 22). He is famous for his strength ("he has in his handgrip the strength of thirty men") and for his courage in fighting monsters. In the epic, Beowulf fights Grendel, a hateful monster who terrorizes Heorot; Grendel's mother, who tries to avenge the death of her son; and the Dragon, who threatens Beowulf's tribe and burns his hall. HROTHGAR is the noble and wise king of Danes. He is referred to as "protector of warriors" and "ring-giver," the latter epithet used to tell readers he is generous. He builds a magnificent mead-hall, Heorot, which becomes threatened by Grendel. Unable to fight Grendel himself, Hrothgar and his people suffer from his attacks for years until Beowulf comes and offers his services. GRENDEL is a monster who is a descendant of Cain, the brother-slayer. For twelve years, Grendel attacks Heorot and kills Danish people: "he wanted no peace with any of the men of the Danish host" (Norton, 29). Hrothgar, the Danish king, doesn't have enough strength to fight Grendel. Only Beowulf can rescue the Danes from the monster's attacks.

The Crucible - Form and Structure Essay -- English Literature

The Crucible - Form and Structure Arthur Miller uses various different techniques in the form and structure of ‘The Crucible’ to create suspense and maintain the audience’s interest. Of course, one of the main factors of the form and structure of the play is its genre. ‘The Crucible’ can be described as being a symbolic play, a tragedy, a political play, an historical play and a narrative play in naturalistic form. It is symbolic, political and historic as although the story revolves around the Salem witch trials, the ideas and morals behind the plot can be viewed as Miller’s criticism of McCarthyism. The play can also be seen as being narrative in a naturalistic form due to the lengthy set descriptions and stage directions followed by regular, natural yet stylised conversational prose. Obviously, the plot of ‘The Crucible’ is tragic as it ends with Miller killing off the main characters. One method Miller uses to keep the audience excited and interested is his use of high tension and climaxes. He ends each of the four acts with a climax, for example, Act Three finishes with Hale exclaiming, ‘I denounce these proceedings, I quit this court!’ as ‘he slams the door’ behind him. Climaxes such as this will always keep an audience alert and wanting to know more. Scenes like this particular one also create an engaging atmosphere and help the audience to understand extreme Puritanism more clearly. The theme of witch hunting in ‘The Crucible’ is an exciting factor which will also maintain audience interest. Miller also changes the focus of the play in each act. For instance, Miller’s main idea in Act One is ‘fear of the unknown’ which he shows through Parris’ insistence on there being ‘no unnatural cause here... ...d his wife creating tension not only by the change of space on stage, but also by adapting to a much slower dialogue with pauses. Through acting out various scenes from ‘The Crucible’, I have learnt that by ending each act with a cliff-hanger it is human nature which makes one feel like they must know more and what happens next. By forming each act as a story in itself, Miller heightens the atmosphere of mass hysteria due to this ongoing use of tension and climaxes. Miller succeeds in keeping the audience’s interest flowing despite this way of a different story in each act by using subplots, for example, the rivalry between Giles Corey and Thomas Putnam. Altogether, ‘The Crucible’ is written with an easy to follow form and structure using pace, dialogue and action to aid builds of tension and climaxes and therefore remain interesting to the audience.

Is Now the Time for Reparations for African Americans

The idea of reparations stems from the argument that African Americans should receive compensation for their unpaid labor, captivity, and the ongoing discriminations. Slavery did provide the means for whites to build wealth, income, and status while African Americans have continued to struggle. The oppression of segregation and the lack of rights made it impossible for African Americans to have any political and economic power to change their position.African Americans were unable to vote and use the power government to better their situation, like the Irish immigrants did in New York, until the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965 and that only allowed free black men to vote. The reparations for African Americans debate has caused more disagreements than affirmative action has. On one side people believe that reparations are not relevant because it is so strenuous to identify the victims of slavery or punish those who committed the crime especially when they may be no longer around. They also think that reparations would have a negative effect on future racial grievances and the U. S. treasury. On the other side it has been argued that reparations are necessary to reach an economically equal society and reparations is the correct way of dealing with past wrong doings and the current racial inequalities in the United States. Robert L. Allen is in favor of reparations for African Americans. He believes that the problems that African Americans currently face are acquiring property, income and accumulating wealth and that these are a direct result of slavery and segregation.Allen says that reparations can be the start of redistribution of wealth in America so the economic equality between blacks and whites can be less dramatic. African Americans have been fighting for reparations as early as 1854. The reparations were asking for â€Å"redress of our grievances for the unparalleled wrongs, undisguised impositions, and unmitigated oppression which blacks have suffer ed at the hands of American people. † An anti-slave activist, Sojourner Truth, campaigned to receive free public land for former slaves after the Civil War. In the 1890s, Callie House filed a lawsuit for reparations.A pastor of Third Baptist Church in San Francisco, named Reverend Amos Brown, asked for reparations by way of tax credits and tuition for higher education. In its program for establishing a separate state the Nation of Islam demanded reparations stating that â€Å"former slave masters are obligated to provide minerally rich and fertile land. † Reparations were also desired by the Black Panther Party in tier Ten Point Program. Pointing out in Point Number Three that forty acres and two mules was promised one hundred years ago and would like to receive payment in cash to distribute among the community.In 1969, in New York City, former SNCC leader James Forman presented a Black Manifesto to Riverside Church requesting five hundred million dollars in reparations from white Christian Churches and Jewish synagogues. Forman wrote in The Making of Black Revolutionaries that reparations that were being asked were not only monetary but were also for revolutionary action toward the attitude of white America towards Blacks. The money would be used to help black farmers, businesses, community organization and research on black economic development.In 1968 the Republic of New Africa was founded to establish an independent Black Republic in the southern states with the largest African American population. In 1972 the Republic of New Africa developed an Anti-Depression Program that asked for three hundred billion dollars in reparations to establish self-sustaining communities as a part of an independent black nation. The Republic of New Africa stated that with reparations it is common that one nation pay another to compensate for damage caused by unjust acts of war and that is what has happened to the African nation in America.The programs did make mu ch progress but drew attention in good and bad ways. I believe that African Americans should get reparations but the attitudes of the ones that oppressed them have been to dismiss or undermined them and not show any blame. The National Black Political Convention supported reparations, stating that the poverty of black communities is traceable to slavery and the discrimination that blacks have faced in America. That wealth, power, and capitalism of America was built off of the exploitation of black people. A white law professor names Boris Bitker wrote a booked called The Case for Black Reparations in 1973.Instead of demanding reparations based on the injustice of slavery, Bitker argued to seek reparations for â€Å"injuries caused by a system of legally imposed segregation that violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. † That segregation and the Jim Crow laws founded in 1954 were unconstitutional and therefore subject to redress. Economists, following the lead of Robert S. Browne, produced work on the economics of slavery, the present value of past labor performed by slaves, the value of black labor since emancipation and racial disparities in distribution of wealth.From a political economic standpoint Robert Allen believes the process of underdevelopment of the African American community and the role of the state are vital in understanding the quest for reparations. The author of How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America, Manning Marable, argued that capitalism is the root cause of the underdevelopment of black America, while the wealth from slave labor has increased the development of North America economically and politically.He wrote in his book that capitalist development has occurred because of black exploitation and African Americans have never been equal in the American Social Contract because the system exists to under develop Black people. This is true but that is are more opportunities for African Americans to pull t hemselves out of poverty but that doesn’t mean that it is correct to leave large communities in that situation.The underdeveloped African American community was established by the restriction of black labor in slavery and underclass work, the restriction and twisted development of African American business and home ownership, the regressive political leadership, destruction of black education, racist violence, and the incarceration of black youth. As Marable also stated in his book and had support from many others, that the role of the state played an important part in the black communities’ underdevelopment. The state was directly involved in taking the value from black workers and blocked the capital accumulation by Black people.Laws establishing that black labor could be abused without compensation or punishment have been passed since the earliest colonial period. Slavery existed in the Virginia colonies in the 1640s and it because institutionalized by 1660s. P401 E dward Fagan, a New York Lawyer, started a campaign against companies that have he thinks have profited from slavery. He is targeting at least 60 companies some which are Lehman Brothers, New York Life, Aetna, Liggett, and Norfolk Southern. He is filling suits on behalf of all descendants of slaves in America and the defendants are the legal successors of entities that existed and profited during slavery.Economists plead ill gotten gain in the trillions that is asked for but Fagan expects the settlement to be in the tens of billions. Along with a black activist by the name of Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, Mr. Fagan bases is plan on two main things, lobbying the government to pay its share and for a few companies to grow tired of the lawsuits and pays off. Congress made payouts in the sum of one point six billion dollars to eighty thousand Japanese-Americans were placed in camps during the Second World War. The German government also made reparations to Israel for its role in the Holocaus t. Mr.Fagan and other lawyers sued German companies on behalf of former slave laborers. Two of the suits were dismissed as a matter of foreign policy but New York regulators along with hundreds of local authorities threatened Deutsche Bank and other businesses to regulatory sanctions. The firms and the German government created a fund of five point two billion dollars which is being disbursed. The case may be undermined by the money because every dollar that should have been paid to slaves one hundred and fifty years ago can be worth anywhere from six thousand dollars to four hundred thousand dollars.It is also hard to assess the profits that the banks and insurers received from slavery. To overtake these obstacles Mr. Fagan thinks that public opinion can play in his favor, if there are boycotts, shareholder lawsuits, and local politicians willing to hold hearings and study the impact of slavery in their jurisdiction. The challengers of reparations for African Americans typically do not accept the connection between America’s racist past and the underdeveloped black communities.They also think that the current generation of African Americans doesn’t hold them accountable. There has been so much time that has passed since slavery and there is still so much animosity on both sides that I don't believe that the conflict will never go away. The opponents of reparations actually think that the overall view of white Americans is that they no longer identify themselves the racist past of the United States. Reparation in the United States for African American slavery is a controversy that is surrounded by resistance. Word Count: 1527

Africa and African continent Essay

Slavery is and it involves conditions of controlling people against their expectations or lives; this can especially be done with violence, compulsion and force. Slavery is practiced so as to obtain cheap labor from people that have been illegally against their will. Slave trade was experienced in almost all African countries the most common form of slave trade was trans-Atlantic slave trade. ( E. W. Duggan (2003). â€Å"Generating systems requirements with facilitated group techniques. † Human-Computer Interaction 18, 373–394. ) Slave trade was the trading of the illegally obtained labor for exchange with cheap goods and services from the western countries, the slaves used to do too much work with very little pay or exchange for goodies from the people who took them as slaves. Slave trade had both negative and positive effects on the traders, the slaves and the African continent as a whole. The impacts were felt in the economical, social and psychological welfare of the African societies. (Thornton, John K. â€Å"Sexual Demography: The Impact of the Slave Trade on Family Structure. † In Slave Trades, 1500-1800. Ed. Patrick Manning. Variorum, 1997: 133-143. ) Impacts of slavery on the African people were; it took away healthy and strong young people who were working in the industries, this slowed down industrialization in Africa; slave trade brought about African racism with the Atlantic world which still affects Africans up to date because Africans were looked down upon as dirty workers; it led to a polygamous society as most of the slaves who were taken were men leaving behind women and children; slavery brought about hatred with different African communities because some rulers wanted to trade their people while others did not want; slave trade brought civilization to the African people as they were able to obtain material that they were not manufacturing locally and at very cheap price. ( J. Mustajoki, R. P. Hamalainen and M. Marttunen (2002). â€Å"Participatory multi-criteria decision analysis with Web-Hipre: a case of lake regulation policy. † Systems Analysis Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology. ) Impacts on the continent of Africa were; due to slave trade Africa was able to be exposed to the outside world; it led to slow growth of population in Africa as most of the slaves were relocated another continent most people were taken as slaves and some died on their way during their shipment; Africa was able to develop economically as there was development in infrastructure, growth of urban centers it also improved living standards in the Africa because the traders and African rulers received a lot of exchange I return for the slaves they sold; it also brought about region a class of very wealthy and highly Europeanized traders who took their children to get better education. ( Thornton, John K. â€Å"Sexual Demography: The Impact of the Slave Trade on Family Structure. † In Slave Trades, 1500-1800. Ed. Patrick Manning. Variorum, 1997: 133-143. ) To conclude slavery and slave trade had impacts in the African people and the African continent. There were either negative and positive impacts on the slave trade depending on your argument one can talk about the positive or the negative impacts. Some people view the slavery and slave trade as the best thing that ever happened in Africa and Europe and some view it as the worst. Because the impacts are still being felt up to date in both Africa and the rest of the world, things like racism are still affecting blacks all over the world because they were taken as slaves though too many efforts have been used to make sure that there is no racism its still affecting Africans allover the world positively it brought a great deal of urbanization in Africa which brought about industrialization, urbanization and all that Africans would have not done that by themselves. If we look at a country like South Africa that attained its independence recently there are great things that the slave trade which led to colonization did in South Africa that any other country in Africa. Reference: 1. Thornton, John K. â€Å"Sexual Demography: The Impact of the Slave Trade on Family Structure. † In Slave Trades, 1500-1800. Ed. Patrick Manning. Variorum, 1997: 133-143. 2. J. Mustajoki, R. P. Hamalainen and M. Marttunen (2002). â€Å"Participatory multi-criteria decision analysis with Web-Hipre: a case of lake regulation policy. † Systems Analysis Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology. 3. E. W. Duggan (2003). â€Å"Generating systems requirements with facilitated group techniques. † Human-Computer Interaction 18, 373–394.

Positivist Theory †Crime Essay

Positivism is a theory of knowledge which states that science is based upon theories that have been derived solely upon empirical evidence. The positivist theory approach to crime consists of three major features which include biological, psychological and social positivism. Biological: The biological component of positivism seeks to examine data from sources such as twin studies, family studies, genetic patterns and biochemical aspects in an attempt to conjure an explanation for a particular behaviour. Biological positivists generally look for biological causes generally in genetic inheritance. Psychological: The psychological component of positivism also seeks to observe biological factors but also adds behavioural factors such as child rearing practices and brain abnormalities that cause identifiable behaviour outcomes. Those who are extroverts are easy to condition and easy to de-condition those who are introverts are difficult to condition and also difficult to de-condition. Psychological positivism emphasized counselling and improving the lot of potential criminals. Social: Sociological positivism claims that societal factors such as poverty, membership of subcultures, or low levels of education can influence people to conduct criminal behaviour. Adolphe Quetelet made use of empirical evidence such as data and statistical analysis to investigate the relationship between crime and sociological factors. It was found that age, gender, poverty, education, and alcohol consumption were important factors related to crime. This is the theoretical aspect of this unit. Criminal theory is the study of criminal behaviour and is often known as the study of criminality or of law breaking behaviour. Some criminal theories take a psychological approach, some a biological approach other emphasise the sociological aspects of criminality and of course many emphasise all – taking a multi-disciplinary approach an approach that is often clumsily referred to as a psycho/bio/social approach. All of these orientations aim fundamentally to understand criminal behaviour – its nature, its causes, and ways of dealing with it. This will include the incidence of crime, crime in adults, youth and children, gender differences, differences in types of crime e.g. crimes relating to property and violent crime. A relatively new area of study is  referred to as ‘Victimology’ the study of the effect of crime upon those who are the victims or criminal behaviour. In the notes to follow we will discuss a nu mber of criminal theories. Basically we will try to cover the basic approaches and illustrate the differences. This will not be an exhaustive description of all criminal theory and students may wish to study other approaches not covered here. We will look at Classical Criminal Theory and is updated version known as Neoclassical Theory. We will also look at what are referred to as the more scientific approaches known collectively (and probably in the strict meaning of that term erroneously) as Positivism many of which have biological or genetic components. Other approaches have a more sociological character while others examine the phenomenon of rational choice that is a modern offshoot of the classical/neoclassical tradition. Some of the readings will give you some historical introduction to criminal theory – the introductory reading by Henry and Einstadter is useful as is the reading by Beirne. The biological perspectives is overviewed in the reading by Fishbein. Other readings examine mental illness a nd crime and female criminality. Module 2 Penal Theory and Practice This is the practical side of this unit. Here we examine strategies for dealing with criminal behaviour – this covers strategies for punishment, correction, rehabilitation and preventative strategies. All of these are controversial and are the subject of much debate. All relates to issues about what we should do about crime as a society – what to do to those who commit crime, how to prevent it. Historically and amongst different societies there have been different answers. Some form of punishment or retribution is nearly always the case but the form it takes and on what crimes it is visited varies. Punishment may take the form of social and personal deprivation (locked away from the community in an institution (a gaol are correctional institution) the infliction of pain (corporal punishment) or the death sentence (capital punishment). The choice of these options depends on what a society views as the seriousness of the crime, the level of responsibility of the person committing the crime and sometimes the gender and age of the offender – and at times the damage to the community and the victim/s. In the second module we wil also discuss the implications of imprisonment (incarceration) for certain disadvantaged groups. This will  obviously include indigenous groups (now known as Aboriginals and Torres Straight Islanders) who are very much over-represented in the criminal justice system and in jails. The special issues relating to women and children in jails will also be discussed. Also we need to look at issues of those who are incarcerated who have a mental illness, an intellectual disability and those with drug and alcohol overuse problems. The Jail environment is a microcosm of the everyday problems in the community and all the probems we see in the community are there in the jails many times exagerrated . Finally the way a society deals with crime also depends on what it considers to be the nature of the criminal personality or the nature of criminality as such. Criminals are variously seen as mentally ill (mad), evil (bad) or more recently nowadays in the popular media inexplicably intelligent and fundamentally evil (terrorism and serial killing).

Business Ethical Problem

From September 2010 to May 2011 I interned with the Health Care Administration under the direction of the Executive Nursing Administrator at a hospital facility with nationally integrated service networks. I was told at the time of my hire that I would be privy to all conferences which took place with administrative officers; and that information discussed would be strictly confidential. During the course of my internship there were conferences held with administration and other â€Å"agents† at least once a week. I attended 2 meetings during my internship— neither of them eventful—and was conveniently given my supervisor’s work to complete while she attended the aforementioned conferences. Unknown to me at the time, the facility was under investigation due to complaints filed with the Attorney General from clients, client’s families and medical staff; including nurses and medical doctors. I learned quite recently that special federal investigators had been carrying out an official examination of the hospital since August 2010; concerning quality control issues, adherence to hospital policy and procedures; and other legal matters, including but not limited to: †¢Embezzlement of grants/misappropriation of funds †¢Understaffing Personnel employed in management positions where they were neither qualified, certified nor did they have prior experience in regard to the units they managed †¢Clients being admitted to psychiatric units without a 2 PC order †¢No PRN Protocol in place and agitated clients were admitted to units causing injury to self, other workers and clients. †¢Patient neglect and injuries due to accidents One day I was instructed by the Executive Nursing Administrator (ENA) to prepare 2 spreadsheets: One was a patient satisfaction survey and the second was a unit complaint survey which was to include in the questionnaire specific areas of complaint. I prepared the surveys and since I was given no direction, I researched what questions to ask; and (with SUNY’s documented approval); I utilized my university’s survey program. I prepared the surveys and they were approved by administration (hospital director, medical director and the ENA. I was then instructed to conduct the two survey interviews, which took place from September 2010 to March 2011. Ethical Problems I Faced: At the time of my internship the Unit Complaint Survey I constructed contained the name of the complainant, person’s title and 7areas of complaint; each complaint involved a different area of concern and was to count as a total number of complaints in that particular area; (i. e. : understaffing, p atient injuries/accidents, lack of prompt medical attention; admission documents incomplete, missing or not signed by the admitting physician, medication errors, etc. When Administration (who had previously approved the survey) reviewed the results of the questionnaire and observed that almost all of the units had more than 20 complaints a week, the ENA requested me to adjust the number of complaints to one per person if he/she had filed complaints in several areas of concern. In addition, I was to modify the number of complaints per Unit in regard to specific areas of concern to and combine the figures to reflect 1 complaint in that area. In other words, if 10 units had the same complaint regarding patient injury, the10 complaints would be combined on the survey and count as 1 instance of patient injury. After I completed my internship, the administrative nursing assistant called on behalf of the ENA (who took credit for creating the survey) to request that I come in and train health administrative personnel on how to use the programs I created; and to instruct them on recreating new spreadsheets with the template I had designed for the surveys utilizing SUNY’s survey/software program.