Tuesday, January 28, 2020

The Clothes Make the Man Essay Example for Free

The Clothes Make the Man Essay The Grangerford family serves as an allegory meant to show Southern readers both the horror and the futility of hatred and violence. TSIn the Grangerford home, the feud with the Shepherdsons is kept alive by the authority of Colonel Grangerford. As the father of a typically male-dominated Southern family, he sets the moral compass for them. CDHuck tells the reader that â€Å"every day of [the colonel’s] life he put on a clean shirt and a full suit from head to foot made out of linen so white it hurt your eyes to look at it. CMColonel Grangerford’s â€Å"clean† shirt projects the idea that he is a person of the highest moral quality, even though he advocates racism, vengeance, violence and ignorance under his own roof. Huck voices the collective opinion of Southern society when he decides that the Colonel â€Å"was a gentleman all over† (p. 140) based almost entirely on the man’s possessions. CSTwain uses the Colonel to show that white Southerners judge the moral quality of a man by his superficial appearance rather than focusing on his character. TSThe oldest two sons, Bob and Tom Grangerford, symbolize the pattern by which the family ideology is passed from generation to generation. CDBoth are described as â€Å"dressed in white linen from head to foot, like the old gentleman. † (p. 141) CMThe Colonel imprints them with his belief system from the outside in. It is his rules and his understanding of the world that â€Å"dresses† the ideas of his children. CSJust as the boys try to emulate their father’s external appearance, they also adopt his worldview and moral guidelines. TSBuck’s limited moral and academic education is highlighted frequently during Huck’s time with him. CM Buck desperately wants to murder Shephersons, even though he doesn’t know the reasons behind his family’s feud. What makes the situation sadder is that he seems to respect his enemies’ courage and unity, two of his family’s core virtues, and defends them to Huck. CDâ€Å"There aint a coward amongst them Shepherdsons,† Buck says, â€Å"not a one. † (p. 145) His father’s corrupt teaching has left Buck unable to recognize when he is acting immorally. When Buck fails to correctly spell the name â€Å"George Jackson†, he also demonstrates his academic shortcomings. CSTwain does this to show that even though Colonel Grangerford has enough money to educate Buck, he shields his son from the classroom to maintain control over what he learns. As a result of his limited education, Buck grows up as an incomplete man. When Huck first sees Buck, he notices that â€Å"he hadnt on anything but a shirt, and he was very frowzy-headed. Buck’s unfinished outfit symbolizes his deficient schooling, and the frowziness of his hair represents his father’s negligence in his moral instruction. Huck tells us that when he goes to Buck’s room, â€Å"[Buck] got me a coarse shirt and a roundabout and pants of his. † (p. 131) The rough texture of the shirt is another metaphor for Buck’s stunted mental growth, and its rigid construction reminds us of the stern control that the Colonel, who bought the shirt, exerts over his son. Twain suggests that the Grangerfords’ demise is directly related to their lack of education, when their inability to foresee the Shepherdsons’ ambush results in Buck’s death. He shows the reader how the family stunted their intellectual and spiritual growth by focusing their time and energy on hatred, racism and cruelty. Any southerners of the time who shared similar values as the Grangerfords were likely given much to think about when they read this family’s story and the price they paid for their crooked moral values.

Monday, January 20, 2020

A Good Essay is More than Just Five Paragraphs :: Teaching Writing Essays

A Good Essay is More than Just Five Paragraphs This year in College Writing one has been very interesting. I understand now that there is a lot more that goes into writing a paper than I first thought. I especially realize this when I look back at one of my first papers which was the descriptive essay titled, "The Hidden Truth." The first thing that pops into my mind when I look at this paper is my consideration of the kind of audience I had. I was assuming they were very or somewhat knowledgeable about the topic I chose. I realize this is not true now. This is the process that goes on in my mind when I first meet people. I think, for the audience I had, the main idea needed to be more concrete. As I went on in this class the kind of topics I chose got more & more concrete & audience consideration grew stronger in forming my papers. The second thing that I can determine about how my writing has changed since this first paper is my narrowing of focus. I've realized this is key to writing a good paper.In "The Hidden Truth," my writing jumps from one thing to the next and a lot of it is not tied back to the main idea. Yes, this was a descriptive essay but my descriptions seem to over ride my main focus. My papers have been getting more convincing since I've realized how important this is. Another important aspect of writing is order. I understand now that the same information in a paper arranged differently can make or break a paper. In my paper I just observed the people & figured the most logical order was chronological, starting with the youngest person & going to the oldest. I feel now that if I would have started with the oldest woman, it might have drawn my audience in more & seen what I was talking about early on instead of waiting until the end, after I've already lost their interest Word usage is also very important to papers.This is especially true in descriptive essays. I've learned how different words give us different feelings even if they have the same meaning.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Psychology and Yellow Bile Essay

1.Jack is a second-grade student. He seems to have no interest in learning, often daydreaming in class and frequently disrupting the class by throwing objects at other students. Describe how a biopsychosocial approach might provide both an integrated explanation of Jack’s classroom behavior and practical suggestions for helping Jack to cope more effectively with the challenges he faces. Jack is in second grade and is having a hard time behaving in school. Such as not paying attention and disrupting the class. Those two factors seem to play into integrated biopsychosocial. Biopsychosocial has three different elements to it: biological, psychological, and social-cultural. These three things can provide three different ways and reasons of why Jack is acting the way he is in class. An example of biological would be ADHD or ADD, which could be helped by a doctor prescribing him a medication. Psychological could have a lot to do with his acting out in class. He probably has the feeling he needs to fit in and find his group of friends. Psychological problems could be helped in many ways, but one that would really help Jack is possibly seeing a school Counselor. Last but not least, that deals with Jacks behavior is the social culture. This could also have something to do with his friends. His friends could be giving the impression they like him more or will be his friend if they act out. Once the staff and parents look into these three different elements and make changes, Jack will be on the right track again. 2.List and define the principal ways psychologists observe and describe behavior. When psychologists observe and describe behavior, they do it in a systematically, or showing many different methods. A few different methods are case studies, surveys, and naturalistic observation. Case studies are the oldest research method and studies one person in hoping to find the truth of ones problems. A survey though looks in a different angle than the case study. A survey asks many questions which go into detail about one’s behavior. The survey will also hopefully let them figure something out about themselves. The last method of how psychologists observe and describe behavior is naturalistic observations. Psychologists use this in natural environments and can provide research and answer questions. Naturalistic observations do not explain behavior but describes it, according to our book. 3.The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates believed that four basic body fluids (blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm) influenced human behavior, emotions, and personality. Use your understanding of the body’s rapid and slow chemical communication systems to support or refute the general logic of Hippocrates’ theory. The ancient Green physician Hippocartes believed blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm, played a major role in human behavior, emotions, and personality. I don’t think blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm, have to do with anything controlling your human behavior, emotions, and personality. I believe your mood and what you are exactly going through that day make up why your human behavior, emotions, and personality are the way they are. Another reason why I don’t fully believe Hippocartes beliefs are because he had no actual proof of his reasoning. 4.Describe how an understanding of both a normally functioning brain and a split brain enables us to better appreciate the fact that most information processing takes place outside of conscious awareness. To fully understand the functioning of the brain and a split brain, we must first realize that most of our information we take in and store in our brain does take place without us realizing it. The split brain shows that both sides of the brain do not work together which gets in the way of putting information together. The normal brain does work together and does put information together. Whether it’s a normal brain or split brain, we are able to see the amazing things the brain does and how it works.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Gender Schema Theory Explained

Gender schema theory is a cognitive theory of gender development that says that gender is a product of the norms of one’s culture. The theory was originated  by psychologist Sandra Bem in 1981. It suggests that people process information, in part, based on gender-typed knowledge. Key Takeaways: Gender Schema Theory Gender schema theory proposes that children create cognitive schema of gender that they derive from the norms of their culture.The theory accounts for four gender categories, which can be measured with the Bem Sex Role Inventory: sex-typed, cross-sex typed, androgynous, and undifferentiated. Origins In her article introducing gender schema theory, Sandra Bem observed that the gender binary between male and female had become one of the basic organizational structures in human society. As a result, children are expected to learn about their culture’s conceptions of gender and incorporate those conceptions into their self-concept. Bem noted that many psychological theories speak to this process, including psychoanalytic theory and social learning theory. However, these theories don’t account for what is learned about gender and how it’s utilized when new information is encountered. It was this shortcoming that Bem sought to address with her theory. Bem’s approach to gender was also influenced by the cognitive revolution that took place in psychology in the 1960s and 1970s. Gender Schemas As children learn about gender-specific attributes, they form gender schemas. Children learn whatever gender schemas are available in their culture, including whatever divisions exist between the two sexes. These cognitive structures enable people to apply the subset of schemas that match their own sex to themselves, which influences their self-concept. In addition, their sense of adequacy may be based on their ability to live up to the appropriate gender schemas. Bem cautioned that gender schema theory was a theory of process. The theory does not account for the specific content of gender schemas, as they may differ between cultures. Instead, it focuses on the way people process and utilize the information their culture provides about masculinity and femininity. For example, a traditional culture may maintain strict divisions between men and women, such that women are expected to take care of the household and raise children while men work outside the home and support the family. Children raised in such a culture will develop gender schema in line with what they observe, and through their schema, will develop an understanding of what they can do as a boy or girl. Meanwhile, in a more progressive culture, the distinctions between men and women might be less obvious, such that children see both men and woman pursuing careers and dividing chores at home. Still, children will look for cues about the differences between men and women in these cultures. Perhaps they’ll notice that people respect powerful men but are dismissive of women who strive for power. This will impact children’s gender schema and their understanding of the way their culture views appropriate roles for men and women.   Gender Categories Bem’s theory suggests that people fall into one of four gender categories: Sex-typed individuals identify with the gender that corresponds to their physical sex. These individuals process and integrate information according to their schema for their gender.Cross-sex typed individuals process and integrate information according to their schema for the opposite gender.Androgynous individuals process and integrate information based on their schema for both genders.Undifferentiated individuals have difficulty processing information based on any gender schema. Bem Sex Role Inventory In 1974, Bem created an instrument to place people into the four gender categories called the Bem Sex Role Inventory. The scale presents 60 attributes, such as assertive or tender, that respondents rate based on how well each attribute describes them.  Twenty of the attributes correspond to a culture’s idea of masculinity, twenty correspond to the culture’s idea of femininity, and the final twenty are neutral. Individuals are scored on masculinity and femininity on a continuum. If they score above the mid-point on the scale that conforms to their sex and below it on the scale that doesn’t conform to their sex, they fall into the sex-typed gender category. The opposite is true for cross-sex typed individuals. Meanwhile, androgynous individuals score above the mid-point on both scales and undifferentiated individuals score below the mid-point on both scales. Gender Stereotypes Bem didn’t directly address gender stereotypes or discrimination based on noncomformity to gender schema in her theory. However, she did question society’s over-reliance on gender distinctions. Thus, research by other scholars on gender schema theory has investigated the ways gender stereotypes are communicated in society. For example, studies have explored the way children’s coloring books communicate gender stereotypes and how these stereotypes may influence children’s gender schema and cause them to conform to gender stereotypes. Gender schemas and the gender stereotypes incorporated into them enable people to understand the social difficulties they may encounter if they fail to conform to their culture’s gender norms. For example, a man who cries at a wedding may be mocked for being less masculine, while a woman who does the same is thought to be exhibiting gender-appropriate behavior. Meanwhile, a woman who speaks forcefully during a company meeting may be seen as bossy or too emotional by her employees, but a man who does the same is considered authoritative and in control. Critiques Gender schema theory provides a useful framework for understanding how knowledge structures of gender are formed, however it has not avoided all criticism. One weakness of the theory is that it fails to account for the ways biology or social interactions impact gender development. In addition, the content of gender schema remains unclear. While the theory is meant to account for the process—not the content—of these schema, its difficult to measure schema with no understanding of their content. Finally, cognitive schemas about gender have been shown to predict thinking, attention, and memory, but they are less predictive of behavior. Therefore, one’s gender schema may not match the behavior one exhibits. Sources Bem, Sandra Lipsitz. â€Å"Gender Schema Theory: A Cognitive Account of Sex Typing.† Psychological Review, vol. 88, no. 4, 1981, pp. 354-364. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.88.4.354Cherry, Kendra. â€Å"Gender Schema Theory and Roles in Culture.† Verywell Mind, 14 March 2019. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-gender-schema-theory-2795205Martin, Carol Lynn, Diana N. Ruble, and Joel Szkrybaio. â€Å"Cognitive Theories of Early Gender Development.† Psychological Bulletin, vol. 128, no. 6, 2002, pp. 903-933. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.6.903â€Å"Sandra Bem’s Gender Schema Theory Explained.† Health Research Funding. https://healthresearchfunding.org/sandra-bems-gender-schema-theory-explained/Starr, Christine R., and Eileen L. Zurbiggen. â€Å"Sandra Bem’s Gender Schema Theory After 34 Years: A Review of Its Reach and Impact.† Sex Role: A Journal of Research, vol. 76, no. 9-10, 2017, pp. 566-578. http://dx.doi.org/10.100 7/s11199-016-0591-4