Society Social Networking Sites

Introduction The mounting popularity of social networking sites (SNSs) among Internet users across the world certainly demands an introspection of their shorter-term and longer-terms effects on individuals as well as societies. Available statistics demonstrate that an estimated 1.5 billion people across the globe have already created their profiles in SNSs, with the majority being on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Ning and Tagged (Das et al., 2011).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Society Social Networking Sites specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More At the surface, it is believed that SNSs have a great potential to essentially alter the character and scope of our social engagements on all fronts – individual, interpersonal, as well as societal (Ellison et al., 2009).. But while common practice always assumes the shifts to be beneficial, this paper seeks to demonstrate that SNSs have negatively altered the framew ork for social interactions that bind society together. Understanding Social Networking Sites In the literature, SNSs are defined as web-based services that provide people with the capacity to â€Å"†¦ (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system† (Tokunaga, 2011, p. 425). SNSs popularity continue to rise throughout the world, especially among adolescents, not only because of the way they have changed how this group of the population receive information (Neelamalar Chitra, 2009), but also due to their equalizing effect as users often feel the freedom to express themselves in ways not possible via other offline channels (Cardon et al., 2009). However, there exist salient issues that need to be illuminated to understand the actual effects that SNSs are having on the social relations hips that act to glue the society together. Social Networking Sites: Unveiling the Defects By virtue of the fact that online social networking is a type of virtue communication that allows users to connect with each other, there exists a very constricted gap between private and public life in this modern age of communication as users find themselves helpless in controlling the distribution of content they have already uploaded on their profiles (Das et al., 2011). This disposition has occasioned serious personal and social consequences as individuals increasingly find themselves being rejected for job postings due to content they had posted on the sites, not mentioning that a sizeable number of users have already lost their life savings to online fraudsters who visit their profiles and use the personal information available to estimate a person’s social security number and ‘steal’ other sensitive information.Advertising Looking for essay on communications m edia? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Advocates of SNSs have argued that users of these sites can change their default privacy preferences to keep the fraudsters at bay, or to prevent sensitive information from getting into the wrong hands. However, a research conducted on 4000 Facebook profiles of Carnegie Mellon University students revealed that only 1.2 percent of the users took time to change their default privacy settings (Das et al., 2011), implying that many users do not care if their sensitive information, which could fundamentally alter their relationships with other members of the society, becomes open to public discourse. The second point deals with work productivity, which is known to be the mainstay of the society. It is within the realms of public knowledge that a society that does not work cannot look after itself, not mentioning that it cannot prosper or achieve the dreams of prosperity (Tokunaga, 2011). However, ow ing to the proliferation of SNSs, people are spending considerable work hours chatting with their friends and browsing sites to update profiles. Indeed, extant literature demonstrates that â€Å"†¦it becomes a compulsive habit to visit own profile several times in a day for checking friends updates, changing status, and commenting on others photos and videos† (Das et al., 2011). In the workplace context, the attention of employees is distracted as they routinely visit the sites to update their status and communicate with friends, occasioning major adverse consequences on their productivity and customer satisfaction levels. Of course some advocates of SNSs would like to argue from the viewpoint that employers can always install monitoring software to dissuade employees from visiting these sites during work hours; however, it has already been found that monitoring of employees’ online activities raises serious ethical and legal concerns (Ellison et al., 2009). More importantly, the monitoring software is not full-proof, meaning that employees could still engage in these actions that bring adverse societal ramifications in lowered productivity and heightened customer dissatisfaction levels (Cardon et al., 2011). A recent study conducted on 237 corporate workers revealed that about eight in every ten employees use Facebook during work hours, resulting in 1.5% slump in their productivity (Das et al., 2011).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Society Social Networking Sites specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The third point revolves around the fact that some SNSs â€Å"†¦have loosely articulated social or interactional norms dictating appropriate actions and behaviors† (Tokunaga, 2011, p. 426). In using SNSs, many people are unaware or ignorant of the context-specific social norms because of the inadequately specified set of conventions, further degrading the social fa bric because these people end up relying on social behaviors learned and negotiated in offline contexts to direct their online actions and behavior. Equally uninteresting, a sizeable number of users end up relying on social behaviors learned in online contexts to guide and direct their off-line relationships, actions and behavior. Fourth, many online social norms, according to Tokunaga (2011), are characterized by carelessness and impoliteness, not mentioning that they have the potential to adversely demoralize the interpersonal relationships that act to hold the society together. In other words, it can be argued that constant interactions via social networking platforms have inexorably harmed interpersonal relationships that glue society together by providing a forum for negative incidences that result in relational strain. On context-specific norms and interpersonal relationships, advocates of SNSs would want to differ by putting up the argument that â€Å"†¦through social n etworking, people can use networks of online friends and group memberships to keep in touch with current friends, reconnect with old friends or create real-life friendships through similar interests or groups† (Neelamalar Chitra, 2009, p. 126). However, the germane issue is the context-specific norms used to relate to online friends and if these norms could still be used in furtherance of offline interpersonal relationships that are key to the stability of the society as a whole. Findings reported by Tokunaga (2011) demonstrate that not only are the context-specific norms for the two types of relations essentially different and hence cannot compliment each other, but some norms and value systems learnt in SNSs are adversely affecting interpersonal relationships, through which the foundation of the community is grounded. Lastly, it is a well known fact that the ambiguous and elastic concept of â€Å"friends† on social networking platforms has always presented further co ncerns through which millions of visitors to these sites must navigate. As postulated by Tokunaga (2011), â€Å"†¦friends merely refer to the contacts individuals create on SNSs, which obscures the nature of the relationships between users† (P. 426).Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More People who have never met even for a single day suddenly become the best of friends because of their presumed shared interests that are matched in the arena of online protocols. Not only has this insensitive disposition of friendship continues to hurt the very basis of society (Das et al., 2011), but the dichotomous categorization of friends and non-friends on many of these networking platforms acts as fuel to many of the social problems encountered by users (Tokunaga, 2011), including falling prey to fraudsters and sexual offenders. It is possible that advocates of SNSs may seek to downplay this issue of the creation of strange friendship bonds on account that people are free to talk to anyone across the world (Neelamalar Chitra, 2009), and that these sites have assisted communities to minimize transaction costs for finding and connecting with ‘friends’, who may share one interest or concern but deviate on other dimensions (Ellison et al., 2009). These assertions, in my view, are valid to the extent that some of these friendship bonds have provided opportunities for some users, including but not limited to, job openings, educational prospects, skills acquisition and knowledge sharing. But we have seen the consequences of users who unconditionally accept friendship requests from strangers and end up being killed and mutilated in a presumed sex party. We have read in the news how children as young as 10 years are hijacked for ransom by their presumed ‘online friends.’ Conclusion It is indeed true that most SNSs have beneficial outcomes, but care must be exercised so that these sites do not alter the framework for social interactions that bind society together. Important issues relating to privacy, work productivity, context-specific norms, interpersonal relationships as well as the conception of friendship, need to be evaluated in more detail to ensure that the society does not suffer under the heavy baggage of the social networking s ites. References Cardon, P.W., Marshall, B., Jeongil, C., El-Shinnaway, M.M., North, M., Svensson, L†¦Juan, P. (2009). Online and offline social ties of social network website users: An exploratory study in eleven societies. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 50(1), 54-64. Das, B., Sahoo, J.S., Jyoti, S. (2011). Social networking sites – a critical analysis of its impact on personal and social life. International Journal of Business Social Science, 2(14), 222-228. Web. Ellison, N.B., Lampe, C., Steinfield, C. (2009). Social network sites and society: Current trends and future possibilities. Web. Neelamalar, M., Chitra, P. (2009). New media and society: A study on Indian youth. Estudos em Communicacao, 45(6), 125-145. Web. Tokunaga, R.S. (2011). Friend me or you’ll strain us: Understanding negative events that occur over social networking sites. CyberPsychology, Behavior Social Networking, 14(7/8), 425-432. This essay on Society Social Networking Sites was written and submitted by user Geraldine Flynn to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Chaucer Canterbury Tales essays

Chaucer Canterbury Tales essays Some say the things we most desire are these: Freedom to do exactly as we please, is an excerpt from Geoffrey Chaucers Canterbury Tales that directly correlates with the books easily recognizable thematic idea. Mankind will bring about his own fate by his behaviors. Within the three tales of The Franklin, The Merchant, and The Wife of Bath, the fortunateness of the characters marriages comes from each of the individuals' actions. The human nature of love and courtship is revealed through each marriage and can be easily understood when analyzing every couples selfish or selfless behaviors. When a pretentious Knight takes advantage of a young girl at his discretion, a selfish demeanor of this character is revealed. The Wife of Baths Tale shows the successfully progressive behavior of this Knight. To save from being punished from this deed he is set on a journey to find what women desire most. Last in the story, he is forced to marry an old hag who helped him discover that women want control. Basic nature for this knight would be to shun the objectionable courtship, but instead he gives his new wife the choice of how to better herself. You make the choice yourself, for the provision Of what may be agreeable and rich, is a contrasting attitude the Knight has then from before. At this point the wife becomes beautiful and good. The knights selflessness shone through to bring him the good fortune he deserved. The Merchants Tale on the contrary to the other two tales, portrays all of mankinds poor attributes. An old man has set out to find himself a young wife, and in the process of doing so, he looses sight of what is important in his future wedlock, Flesh should be young though fish should be mature. And with his repeated misperception of satisfactory love, he continues to be mistreated by the youthful wife he obtained. The old man had a selfish attitude, as...

Design Patterns - Behavioral, Creational, Structural Research Paper

Design Patterns - Behavioral, Creational, Structural - Research Paper Example There are several classifications of design patterns - this essay focus on three designs, including memento for behavioral patterns, singleton for creational patterns and lastly facade for structural patterns. Memento Pattern This is a software design pattern that has the capability of bringing back an object to its initial state. As a pattern, it allows the initial state of an object to be restored without interfering with the rules of encapsulation. This means that the arising object can be designed appropriately, though it can be restored to its original state. Therefore, memento pattern has the ability of restoring the internal state of an object without breaking the encapsulation rules. As a behavioral pattern, Memento indicates the manner through which communication between entities or classes is achieved (Schmidt, 1997). Basically, the design pattern is popular in applications with â€Å"undo’ functionality. Memento pattern has two participants: the caretaker and the o riginator. The originator restores memento to its internal state while the caretaker guarantees memento safekeeping. According to Gamma et al. (1995), memento does not allow access to other objects other than originator. It has two interfaces, including narrow and wide interface. Caretakers only find the narrow interface and pass memento to other objects while the originator finds the wider interface through which it allows access to data that enabling restoration of the initial state. Benefits and drawbacks Memento pattern has chain of responsibilities that offers great flexibility especially when processing an application. In this case, it manages complex events by dividing the responsibilities into simpler elements that allows a set of classes to behave as a whole. However, the flexibility of this pattern is hard to develop, debug and test. This is because the chain becomes extremely complex. In addition, failure to plan for varied forwarding possibilities could result to message s that lack a handler, hence failing to attract any response. Singleton pattern Singleton is a creation design pattern that ensures only one object of a given class is created. It has only one class that is accessible by clients from identifiable access points. The single class must be extensible and the clients should easily use extended instances without alteration to their codes. Therefore, this pattern is particularly useful when a single object is needed to manage actions across a system. Singleton ensures efficiency when creating numerous identical objects and it uses a particular algorithm that requires a single point of control to interact with a resource that cannot be shared. Benefits and drawbacks The singleton pattern exerts control over the instantiation process and therefore this class has the flexibility to change the instantiation process. In addition, singleton pattern ensures that every object accesses the singleton object and preventing other objects from instanti ating their own copies. However, weaknesses associated with singleton pattern includes introduction a global state into the program. It allows uncontrolled access to the program hence being one of the most used patterns. In this regard, programs that are heavily used are difficult to test. This is because it is not possible to test it without testing other

The Life Of Kurt Vonnegut Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 7500 words

The Life Of Kurt Vonnegut - Essay Example After the war, Kurt attended the University of Chicago as a graduate student in anthropology and also worked at the City News Bureau of Chicago. He described his work there in the late 1940s in terms that could have been used by almost any other City Press reporter of any era: "Well, the Chicago City News Bureau was a tripwire for all the newspapers in town when I was there, and there were five papers, I think. We were out all the time around the clock and every time we came across a really juicy murder or scandal or whatever, they’d send the big time reporters and photographers, otherwise, they’d run our stories. So that’s what I was doing, and I was going to university at the same time."[15] Vonnegut admitted that he was a poor anthropology student, with one professor remarking that some of the students were going to be professional anthropologists and he was not one of them. According to Vonnegut in Bagombo Snuff Box, the university rejected his first thesis o n the necessity of accounting for the similarities between Cubist painters and the leaders of late 19th Century Native American uprisings, saying it was "unprofessional." He left Chicago to work in Schenectady, New York, in public relations for General Electric, where his brother Bernard worked in the research department. Vonnegut was a technical writer but was also known for writing well past his typical hours while working. While in Schenectady, Vonnegut lived in the tiny hamlet of Alplaus just across the Mohawk River from the city of Schenectady.

Critically evaluate the reasons for the recent global financial crisis Essay

Critically evaluate the reasons for the recent global financial crisis - Essay Example This view has recently been confirmed by an IMF report (2011), that financial crises usually follow "credit or asset price bubbles" (IMF, p. 6). Moshirian (2010) has found that the inability of national regulatory bodies to respond adequately to a global market that has become increasingly interdependent has left these bodies unable to control regulatory arbitrage and the international movement of toxic assets (p. 504). In a way of confirming these last two perspectives Longstaff (2008) has found that lower movements in the ABX Index of credit-default swaps did cause financial contagion in other financial markets. This report will show how in the US, deregulation did serve to encourage market liquidity that could have advantaged banks and homeowners. The report will explain how the lack of appropriate regulation in the financial markets led to both a real estate bubble and the global financial crisis that reached the UK and world markets. ... gulation policy expressed through passage of US federal acts that eventually, though not intentionally, allowed banks to collateralize the assets and to use them, as investment banks, to participate directly in the secondary financial markets. Deregulation was originally intended to finance supply with more liquidity of resources in order to meet an increasing demand in the real estate market. Eventually supply overtook demand while banks and financiers overtook market safeguards in favor of speculative profit. The US housing bubble that occurred in 1983 with the savings-and-loan debacle was amplified to multiple effects in 2008, producing the financial crisis that spread to the UK and the world. The 2011 US Congressional Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission Report identified "widespread failures in financial regulation and supervision" producing instability that undermined world markets (p. xviii). Deregulation McClendon (2010) explains how in 1980 the Depository Institutions Deregul ation and Monetary Control act freed banks from usury ceilings held by US states, enabling them to charge conventional high interest rates to appropriate populations for home mortgage loans. This act also raised the deposit insurance limits up to $100,000. The ceiling had previously been $40,000. The Alternative Mortgage Transaction Parity Act of 1982 soon followed and allowed banks to make adjustable rate and interest-only mortgages outside of state restrictions. Both of these measures were intended to help banks and savings and loans institutions spread more liquidity into appropriate markets. The US Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982 enabled savings and loans banks to enter the lending market with low loan-to-value ratios (McClendon, 2010). The result was that the

Issues of State Intervention in the Market Economy

Issues of State Intervention in the Market Economy Free Market Economy The free market economy is designed to operate with a minimum of state intervention. However, as this paper will show, there are certain issues that can only be addressed by state intervention. These include avoidance of unfair trading, employee and supplier exploitation. In many cases, such as the expansion of the power of supermarkets, economists are of the opinion that the state does not go far enough in protecting the public (Marguand, 1977, p.5). This report shows that, whilst a free market is good for economic growth, there is a need for intervention from the state, however limited, to protect public services and the rights of the individual. Introduction Although many economists and politicians have concluded that the â€Å"free market economy† is the most appropriate form of trade, it seldom is allowed to operate without some measure of state intervention. The purpose of this paper is to study the concept of a â€Å"free market economy† and, at the same time provide an understanding of the reasons for and operation of state intervention. To provide an example of how such intervention manifests itself in practice, its recent impact on the Tesco supermarket chain is explored. The basic premise of a free market economy is one where the distribution of resources is determined solely by market forces, without any state interference (Philip Allan Updates, 2006). The main condition of is that exchange of resources should be undertaken freely, without duress or deceit. In a free market, the price of goods or services is agreed between buyers and sellers, and there is no government restriction imposed upon this process. If the state interferes by influencing price for any purpose, be that to aid the consumer or seller, a free market cannot be said to exist. Proponents of the free market system believe that it can provide its own solution to problems and that state interference is a hindrance to that process (Ian Adams, 1998, p.23). Essentially, the free market operation is based on the laws of supply and demand. A buyer, by offering to pay a given amount for a product creates the demand. Conversely, a producer, by offering to sell a product or service at a price creates the supply. In a free market, an exchange between a buyer and seller takes place when the amount offered by a buyer matches the price requested by the seller. The optimum price will normally be determined by the level of demand and supply. If the supply is higher than demand, there being not enough buyers, prices will tend to fall as suppliers compete to sell their products and buyers look to reduce the price offered. In such circumstances, suppliers may also choose to reduce their production or even cease business altogether. The suppliers who remain will be those whose product unit cost is at the lowest level, allowing them to retain profitability levels despite price reductions. When the reverse occurs, in that demand exceeds the number of products available (the supply), prices will rise. In this situation, the seller is in command of the market. An excess demand situation may also lead to existing suppliers increasing production levels, and may tempt new producers into the marketplace. However, businesses that achieve rapid growth, even when an excess demand arises, are typified by sellers who maintain lower than market demand prices, such as supermarkets. Often this is achieved by constraining supplier prices. It can be seen therefore, that a free market is very much based on an enterprise system, where entrepreneurs are the most important factors (Marquand, 1977, p.159). Many economists agree that the free market cannot exist without some state intervention. For example, â€Å"Keyness argument [is][1] that the only way to stop the market wreaking havoc is for the state to intervene in the economy.† (Quoted in Peter Morgan, 1999). However, economists often disagree about the extent of such intervention. In an ideal version of a free market economy, the state role would be limited to ensuring freedom of competition remains and to protect the marketplace from incidences of intimidation, conspiracy or deceit. Therefore, if a situation develops where a group of sellers agree to maintain prices at an artificial level, forming a cartel for the purpose of price fixing irrespective of the market demand, the state may intervene. Similarly, the state may intervene if a large corporation endeavours to force suppliers to meet restrictive conditions including price, in order to an unfair competitive edge over other sellers, or attempts to achieve dominant market share by maintaining artificially low prices. Included within this area is the concept of free and unencumbered competition. This presupposes that no one corporation, or group of corporations, should be allowed to dominant their sector in a way that precludes other suppliers from entry (Erik Ringmar, 2005). In order to address these situations, state intervention usually occurs by the introduction of anti-competition laws and regulations, unless a self-regulatory code of ethics and conduct is agreed. To reduce the incidence of fraud by corporations most states, nationally and internationally, have introduced a combined system of codes and laws designed to combat this problem. In the UK, such laws include the consumer protection act, anti-competition laws and corporate governance regulations, supported by the company’s acts. A significant part of the role of these acts also serves to protect consumers from abuse by corporate action. In this respect, the state considers that the consumer needs to have access to accurate information, such as pricing and content of products, which they might otherwise be denied. In recent decades, state intervention has also focused on protecting the rights of the workforce, to stop workers being exploited, unfairly treated or discriminated against by the businesses they work for. To achieve this many acts have been instigated, the latest of which is the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 Another area where governments intervene in the free market scenario is to protect and provide public services. These include the National Health Service. Despite the move to greater privatisation on public services, generally the ordinary member of the public favour these being run by the state (Erik Ringmar, 2005, p.136). To fund their role in the economy, the state imposes taxes upon the enterprises that occupy the market. Although in theory, such taxes should be limited to this purpose, in reality governments also use taxation as another form of intervention. For example, in an effort to address health and environmental issues, such as tobacco and alcohol addition and global warming, additional taxes have been levied on products that cause these addition and the use of which exacerbates environmental problems. Thus, in the UK we have seen the introduction of additional levies on such items as cigarettes, beers, wines and spirits, and fossil fuels and energy usage. Margaret Thatcher, during her terms as Prime Minister, was a strong supporter of the free-market, believing it to be a moral and sound way to develop the economy (Ian Adams, 1998, p.79). In the UK, one of the commercial sectors that have benefited most from the freedom of trade under the â€Å"Thatcher† years was Supermarkets. This ethos has been carried through the Blair years, although some ministers now admit that such freedom is not necessarily the right path (Stephen Byers, 2003). As a result, supermarkets have experienced almost unprecedented growth, creating an imbalance in many market sectors, to the extent that the high street is dominated by four major chains, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury and Safeway (now Morrisons) (Joanna Blythman, 2003). Of these, Tesco’s is the largest and accounts for one eight of all consumers shopping and over a third of groceries. Because of increased concerns over supermarket power and competition issues, the government has taken a direct approach in terms of intervention. For example, the monopolies commission was instrumental in stopping further consolidation of supermarket numbers by subjecting the Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury bids for Safeway, the fourth largest, to full inquiries, allowing Morrisons to succeed (Richard Northedge, 2003). For Tesco’s, a number of similar planned expansion projects, to extend its stores numbers through construction or acquisition, have been thwarted by various government methods. However, the supermarket chain responded to these measures by achieving expansion through a different route. Using the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) own two-market view of grocery retailing, namely that one-stop and convenience shopping were separate markets, Tesco has expanded into the latter field, despite concerns expressed by some ministers (Julia Finch, 2005). The corporation has aggressive ly built a six hundred-store presence in this marketplace, with plans to double this in the near future. In 2002, in response to continuing concerns and complaints regarding the supermarket’s treatment of their suppliers, which included Tesco, the Office of Fair Trading, a government-funded body, introduced a supermarket code of practice (Joanne Blythman, 2003). Since then, there have been no further complaints. However, it is widely believed the reason for this is not so much satisfaction with the working of the code, but more the enormous influence supermarkets such as Tesco’s exercise over their supply chain. It is considered that this influence is used to deflect intervention (Joanna Blythman, 2003). In respect of the protection of employees, over the past few decades the UK government, partially driven by European Commission regulations, has intervened by introducing laws including the Protection of Employee (Fixed Term Work) Act 2003, together with numerous other Acts that deal with a wide range of discrimination issues, such as race, disability and age. In addition, to further reduce the possibility of exploitation of workers and to provide them with a reasonable standard of living, a system of setting a minimum wage was introduced. In an effort to enable employees to bring complaints against employers, a tribunal system, together with an independent body, ACAS[2] has been set up to intercede in these issues. In most cases, supermarket chains, such as Tesco, have pre-empted these regulations, by introducing their own human resource strategy to deal with the issues. For example, before the age discrimination act that came into force in 2006, Tesco had previously taken steps to address the problem. Such was their success in this area that they won the â€Å"Personal Today 2004 Age Positive Award† (Tesco Website 2006), which acknowledged the steps they had undertaken to eliminate age discrimination. Although historically it can be seen that the free market system has led to significant economic growth, a side effect was that it also created problems and, in some cases, misery for many people (Erik Ringmar, 2005). To redress the balance required state intervention. It can be seen from the research carried out for this paper that, certainly in an effort to counteract the power of supermarket giant’s such as Tesco, a free market economy needs to have a certain element of state intervention in order to protect suppliers and employees. References Adams, Ian (1998). Ideology and Politics in Britain Today. Manchester University Press. UK. Anon (2006) Price and resource allocation. Philip Allan Updates. Retrieved 14 December 2006 from http://www.philipallan.co.uk/images/532-T2.pdf Blythman, Joanna (2003). Lord of the aisles. The Guardian, UK. 17 May 2003 Byers, Stephen (2003). I was wrong. Free market trade policies hurt the poor. The Guardian, 19 May 2003 UK. Finch, Julia (2005). Calls for an end to Tesco’s bully-boy tactics have grown too loud to ignore. The Guardian, 12 November 2005. Marquand, David (1997). The New Reckoning: Capitalism, States and Citizens. Polity Press, Cambridge. UK. Morgan, Peter (1999). The new Keynesians: staking a hold on the system? International Socialism Journal. Issue 82, March 1999 Northedge, Richard (2003). Morrisons profits will boost Safeway bid. The Scotsman on Sunday. UK. Ringmar, Erik (2005). Surviving Capitalism: How We Learned to Live With the Market and Remained Almost Human. Anthem Press, UK. Statement (2006) Older Staff. Tesco website. Retrieved 13 December 2006 from http://www.tescocorporate.com/page.aspx?pointerid=DE09B90CFDD44BE995DFE562405EAF38 The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. London. UK. Footnotes [1] Words in brackets added [2] Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (UK)

Psychotherapy Essay -- Psychodynamic Therapy

The aim of psychotherapy is to encourage self-awareness and self-evaluation in order to enable transformation and facilitate possibility. It is this self-evaluation process that is crucial to personal agency (McKay, 1987) and integral to psychodynamic therapy (PDT) and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This essay will critically evaluate cognitive behavioural and psychodynamic theories regarding self-awareness and self-evaluation and explore ways in which these theories and their understanding of self may be utilised within clinical hypnosis. CBT and rational emotive behaviour therapy REBT (Ellis, 1955) rely on self-reflection and evaluation in order to achieve success. CBT utilises the stimulus -response (SR) model (Pavlov, 1903). Reflexive response to stimulus (Gross, 2005) becomes modified to stimulus –cognition- response (SCR) (Beck, 1967). This introduces a reflective element, similar to the input- processing -output schema found in the computational model of the mind (Putman, 1961, 1988; Fodor, 1979). Decision-making and rationality (Jones and Pulos, 1993) are employed in order to negotiate knowledge of internal influence. Once this knowledge is perceived cognitions are evaluated and reassessed before rational alternatives are generated (Ellis, 1962). Thereby introducing the possibility of transformation. CBT is most effective with anxiety disorders (Beck et al 1985; Schoenberger et al, 1997; Brown 2007) and eating disorders (Baker and Nash, 1987; Griffiths et al, 1996). Meta analysis also supports the use o f CBT with depression (Gaffan, Tsaosis, Kemp-Wheeler, 1995; Butter and Beck, 2000). However, whilst some studies suggest that CBT is most effective when used alone i.e. without drugs (Marks, Swinson, Basoglu, Kuch, N... ...hin hypnotherapeutic practice. Freud’s regression technique is usefully employed within hypnosis in order to gain insight or to recognise the source of a problem e.g. inner child work, counting back. Furthermore, Freud’s concept regarding trauma fixation which concerns psychosexual stages may be used to indicate the root cause of habitual behaviours e.g. oral re: eating, oral aggressive re: nail biting, anal-retentive re: OCD. Having said this it is important to recognise the flaws within Freud’s research. Firstly, his sample group are not universally representative. Secondly, the culture and era make theories less relevant to today. Furthermore, research comes from a personal perspective and therefore is not empirically sound. It could also be argued that too much emphasis is put on sexuality being at the root of psychological and behavioural problems throughout.