Primary Socialization Theory Essays - Conformity, Social Psychology

Primary Socialization Theory Traditional sociological analyses tie secondary socialization sources to behavior, usually using linkage through stress. Situations, personal traits, etc. lead to stress, and drugs relieve them. According to Oetting and Donnermeyer, these secondary socialization sources operate only via their effects on primary socializations sources. "Unless a personality trait, a community characteristic, stress, or any other factor influences bonding with the primary socialization sources or alters the communication of norms through those sources, the theory proposes that there will be little or no effect on deviant behaviors. (Oetting and Donnermeyer, 1998) Thus far (there is to be a series of three articles, only one of which has been published) the major analysis has been of adolescents. Three primary sources of socialization are proposed: family, school and peer groups. While any of these groups are capable of transmitting both prosocial and deviant norms, family and school are seen as being primarily prosocial and peer groups carrying the main risk of trasmitting deviant norms. Family socialization contains two components which impact an adolescent's risk for deviance: the strength of the family bond, and the use of those bonds to transmit prosocial norms. Dysfunctional families may either alienate their children and/or provide deviant normative information to them. The family bond of concern in these cases is not just a matter of support of love. It is more specifically limited to the level to which an individual is willing to accept and adopt values and norms from the family, and thus to behave accordingly. Society currently assigns schools the responsibility of transmitting certain cultural and behavioral norms. In the same way that there are dysfunctional families, there are also dysfunctional schools which have parallel weaknesses. The typical image of a dysfunctional school, of the resignation to chaos and deviance is only one type. Even in the best schools, there will be alienated peer groups. Poor grades, disciplinary problems etc. tend to erode the bond between an adolescent and school, and thus erode the ability of the school to transmit prosocial norms. These students are forced outside the circle in which other peers may be receiving normative socialization. Studies of these disaffected groups have shown that students experiencing alienation, lack of success within the school framework, and other problems with deriving rewards from school have a greater tendency toward drug use and deviancy in general. Peer groups form the last primary socialization group, and have the greatest impact on those alienated from the first two groups. These groups may be formed on the basis of, among other things, ethnicity or activity - including drug use. An individual's choice of peer group has been shown to correlate with their risk of drug use/abuse (Oetting and Donnermeyer, 1998). Primary socialization theory thus provides a powerful tool in analyzing the sources of risk for subtance abuse. It integrates many other theories, and thus it's applicability is extremely wide. In terms of policy implications, it points to the importance of maintaining social ties between family, school and adolescents. Moreover, it can reveal certain alienating aspects of punishment as counterproductive in the school's role as transmitter of prosocial norms. Finally, it suggests that a certain emphasis in creating social bonding among recovering addicts is uniquely important in successfully treating addiction. As an overall theme, there are two components to all of these instances. First, there must be a strong social bond of a very unique sort. It is one among people who draw upon each other when making normative judgements intimate to their lives, or more specifically, the course of action with respect to drugs. Identification with this group with respect to the judgement at hand is essential for the adoption of similar norms. The second component is that these bonds must become used to transmit that normative information. Strong bonds do not prevent drug use if that identity does not in some way involve a consideration of drug use as deviant. Finally, the limitations of this theory must also be considered. That is, in some cases, drug use stems from a perception that all social bonds have been severed. Thus the behavior is not learned from an intimate peer group, but from the environment in general. In this case, the old-fashioned

The History of the BASIC Programming Language

The History of the BASIC Programming Language In the 1960s, computers ran on gigantic mainframe machines, requiring their special rooms with powerful air-conditioning to keep them cool. The mainframes received their instructions from punch cards by computer operators, and any instructions given to a mainframe required writing a new piece of software, which was the realm of mathematicians and nascent computer scientists.   BASIC, a computer language written at Dartmouth college in 1963, would change that. Beginnings of BASIC The language BASIC was an acronym for Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. It was developed by Dartmouth mathematicians John George Kemeny and Tom Kurtzas as a teaching tool for undergraduates. BASIC was intended to be a computer language for generalists to use to unlock the power of the computer in business and other realms of academia. BASIC was traditionally one of the most commonly used computer programming languages, considered an easy step for students to learn before more powerful languages such as FORTRAN. Until very recently, BASIC (in the form of Visual BASIC and Visual BASIC .NET) was the most widely known computer language among developers. The Spread of BASIC The advent of the personal computer was crucial to the success of BASIC. The language was designed for hobbyists, and as computers became more accessible to this audience, books of BASIC programs and BASIC games surged in popularity. In 1975, Paul Allen and Bill Gates, the founding fathers of Microsoft,) wrote a version of BASIC for the Altair personal computer. It was the first product Microsoft sold. Later Gates and Microsoft wrote versions of BASIC for the Apple computer, and IBMs DOS which Gates provided came with its version of BASIC. The Decline and Rebirth of BASIC By the mid-1980s, the mania for programming personal computers had subsided in the wake of running professional software created by others. Developers also had more options, such as the new computer languages of C and C. But the introduction of Visual Basic, written by Microsoft, in 1991, changed that. VB was based on BASIC and relied on some of its commands and structure, and proved valuable in many small business applications. BASIC .NET, released by Microsoft in 2001, matched the functionality of Java and C# with the syntax of BASIC. List of BASIC Commands Here are some of the commands associated with the earliest BASIC languages developed at Dartmouth:   Ã‚  HELLO - log inBYE - log offBASIC - start BASIC modeNEW - name and begin writing a programOLD - retrieve a previously named program from permanent storageLIST - display the current programSAVE - save the current program in permanent storageUNSAVE - clear the current program from permanent storageCATALOG - display the names of programs in permanent storageSCRATCH - erase the current program without clearing its nameRENAME - change the name of the current program without erasing itRUN - execute the current programsSTOP - interrupt the currently running program

The right to know Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

The right to know - Essay Example Ultimately, the right to know is essential for eliminating deception and the consequences that flow from the deceptive nature of erroneous information. This paper will examine the significance of the right to know, why information and portrayal of actuality can be deceptive and the consequences of deception. This examination will be conducted by reference to Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen, M. Butterfly: With an Afterword by the Playwright by David Hwang and The Forger’s Spell: A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century by Edward Dolnick. The right to know in the US originates out of repression of information during colonization under English rule and attempts to prohibit public disclosure of the royal government’s action (Forstel 1). The right to know the workings of the government was eventually aligned with natural rights by America’s founding fathers. The right to know was refined to be characterized as freedom of expression which entails, freedom of information. America’s founding fathers considered freedom of expression as a natural and inalienable right (Forstel 1-5). This right was included in America’s Declaration of independence in 1776 (Forstel 4). The struggle for transparency and frank and honest disclosure is significant for understanding the importance of the right to know. Recipients of information typically make decisions on the information imparted. When those imparting information control the information released, they are indirectly manipulating decisions more favorable to them rather than decisions made on the basis of truth. When the right to know is ignored so that information is deceptive, general mistrust is the inevitable result. Essentially what happens is, recipients have one of two choices. They can either ignore the information or

Marketing plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Marketing plan - Assignment Example Further, it is essential for the organization to consider all the 7Ps of Service Mix and hence, contribute in all these areas to gain sustainable development. Besides, the sustainability in the business process would be gained through appropriate financial control and control measurement. These would lead the organization to accomplish its vision of performing with enhanced market share and profitability. Baglow is an organization that has certain unique business idea. This is with regard to the introduction of a business plan of bag cleaning service. The market that Baglow is targeting is Qatar. For delivering an effective service to the customers, the organization has planned to undertake the strategy of introducing advanced technology. Moreover, the organization has recruited some of the highly skilled cleaning professionals. These make the service of the organization highly effective and hence, it is able to meet the satisfaction level of the customers significantly. The service of the organization is categorized into different segments of target customers. These include the cleaning of the travel bags, school bags, gents bags, ladies bags, and miscellaneous other bags. The service of the organization is further segregated into leather, cloth and others. This segmentation is done, as the materials and the method used for the cleaning purpose are different for leather, cloth and o thers. Moreover, in order to make the service of the organization highly convenient to the customers, the organization has adapted the strategy of serving at the door of the customers. In this regard, the organization takes the bags from the home of the customers. The organization further cleans the bags at the working zone of the organization. After cleaning and pressing the bags, the organization delivers the bag at the convenient locations of the customers. In the cleaning process, it is

Best teacher Essay Example for Free

Best teacher Essay My best teacher that I have had thus far in my academic teacher would have to be Elias Semaan. Professor Semaan taught the upper level Finance courses here at JMU and his intelligence as well as his passion captured my attention and made me want to absorb the knowledge that he was preaching. I had Professor Semaan my sophomore and junior year and he was great. He taught a difficult course, FIN 360 Analytical Methods in Finance but he made difficult concepts and equations seem easy by going through the logic behind them and why and how we use them. He added in humor to lighten the heavy load of the courses content and keep the class happy. He was also very creative and used his own little real world examples while explaining bigger critical concepts. Professor Semaan did an excellent job of keeping the class active and participating. He was open to the student’s opinion and always asked at the beginning of class if anyone was having trouble with anything in the course or had any questions, if they did we would discuss it as a class until everyone was caught up. At first I had difficultly grasping some of the concepts as I had switched my major from Management to Finance, but he sat down with me one on one in his office and walked me through any questions I had with clear cut explanations until I had them down. He used tests as assessments for the class and they were tough but fair. If you paid attention and did all your work, the problems would seem familiar and if you slacked off in class or did not attend it would show through the grade of his tests. He was not an easy teacher by any means and you had to work hard for a good grade but he made you want to succeed and motivated me to reach my full potential more than any other of my teachers had. I liked him so much in FIN 360 that the next year I took his other class, FIN 450 Financial Risk Management. I grew a close relationship with Professor Semaan as we shared stories, went over new and challenging concepts, and he served as a role model for me through my College career. Professor Semaan said I remind him of a younger version of himself and I take that as a great compliment. He is very intelligent, he received his PhD in Finance at George Washington University and has been teaching at a University level for over 10 years now. He is in his early 50s and has had a hard life with many ups and downs but continues to push forward and motivate his students to succeed and reach their highest potential. He is dedicated, ambitious, intelligent, funny, charismatic and strong-minded and I admire him and respect him tremendously as a person and mentor. He has made me want to put in all of my effort and work as hard as I have to until I understand what I am learning. He pushed me in the right direction and offers me priceless career information as to what paths to go into and how to make myself look good to employers. He even gave me his cell number to call him if I have any questions or problems at any time. He has my back and I respect him for all that he has done for me and all that he has accomplished throughout his life. I believe Professor Semaan’s teaching philosophy is to have his students maximize their learning potential and focus on their strengths to pick a career path where they will ultimately be happy as well as successful. He has done a great job abiding by his philosophy and has helped me through College and the job searching process. He held office hours by schedule and by appointment and was very flexible and would work with you and do whatever he had to ensuring that his students learned. He also pushed his students to succeed through his charisma and charm and worked one on one with students who went out of their way to learn. He was my best teacher and I feel very lucky that him and I were able to cross paths and establish such a great relationship as teacher/student, mentor/role model, and friends.

William Blakes The Little Black Boy Essay example -- William Blake Th

William Blake's 'The Little Black Boy' The theme of guardianship, being the act of guarding, protecting, and taking care of another person, is very prominent in William Blake's 'The Little Black Boy';. Three distinct instances of guardianship can be seen in Blake's poem. These guardianship roles begin with the little boy's mother, followed by God, and ultimately ending with the unsuspecting little black boy himself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It is relatively easy to see the repression of blacks by whites in the way in which the little black boy speaks and conveys his thoughts. These racial thoughts almost immediately begin the poem, with the little black boy expressing that he is black as if bereaved of light, and the little English child is as white as an angel. The wonderful part of these verses is the fact that the little black boy knows that his soul is white, illustrating that he knows about God and His love.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Blake's poem, it is very clear that the little black boy and his mother have a very close and affectionate relationship. The boy expresses how his mother sits with him under the shade of the tree and shares with him the love of God. The little black boy, being influenced by society during this time, believes that once his black skin passes away, then the English child will love him. In hopes of changing his view of himself and his skin color, the boy's mother tells him that there is an advantage to having black skin. The mother implies that black skin can bear more ...

Miranda Assignment

Miranda warnings are based on the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court initially laid down this principle in the case of Miranda v. Arizona (384 U.S. 436) and was affirmed in the case of U.S. v Charles Dickerson (530 U.S. 428) that the Miranda warnings are guarantees to ensure the protection of the rights of the criminal suspect during police investigations. These constitutional rights refer to the right to have counsel, the right against self incrimination and a general basic right to due process (Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478) .The criminal suspect is supposed to be informed and advised of his constitutional rights by reading to him the Miranda warnings during custodial investigation or interrogation (Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436). Custodial investigation is defined as â€Å"questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person is taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his or her freedom in any significant way† (West's Encyclopedia of American L aw, 1998).The rationale for this is the fact that in custodial investigations there is the tendency of law enforcement or police officers to coerce the criminal suspect. There is also the likelihood for the criminal suspect by reason of fear during the antagonistic environment, to lie to defend himself or admit to the commission of the offense or criminal act being investigated. The Miranda warnings are supposed to protect the suspect from being intimidated and making forced confessions by reason of the strategies that may be employed by the law enforcement officers [Illinois v. Perkins, 496 U.S. 292 (1990)].The Court interpreted the meaning of ‘custody’ as one which restricts the physical movement of the suspect (Orozco v. Texas, 394 U.S. 324). It may also occur even if the inquiry or interview is non-confrontational [Oregon v. Mathiason, 429 U.  S. 492 (1977)}.In the instant case, Police Officer Watson should have advised the suspect of the Miranda warnings before h e asked him questions. The suspect is deemed to be under custodial interrogation already even if at the time Officer Watson asked the question, they are not in the police station yet. The custodial investigation is deemed to have commenced when Officer Watson started to ask the suspect.As the court ruled in the case of Orozco v. Texas, a criminal suspect is deemed to be under custody even if he is in the comfort of his own home when his freedom of movement is restricted (Orozco v. Texas, 394 U.S. 324). It is noteworthy to point out as well that Officer Watson failed to inform the suspect of his rights when he was brought to the police station for interrogation. Consequently, the statements made by the suspect shall be deemed inadmissible against him during trial except to impeach his own testimony in consonance with the exclusionary rule doctrine (Walder v. United States, 347 U.S. 62 (1954).Under the probable cause doctrine, the Miranda warnings are no longer necessary. Law enforcem ent officers are required by law to have probable cause before arresting a suspect. Probable cause is defined as â€Å"a level of reasonable belief, based on facts that can be articulated, that is required to sue a person in civil court or to arrest and prosecute a person in criminal court† (West's Encyclopedia of American Law, 1998).The suspect’s answer to the first question of Officer Watson cannot affect the admissibility of confession because there was lack of coercion to force the suspect in making such a statement. The important factor to be determined is whether the suspect made his statement knowingly and voluntarily, a doctrine enunciated by the Court in the case of Oregon v. Elstad [Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298 (1985)].ReferencesDickerson v. U.S., 530 U.S. 428. Retrieved on April 15, 2008, from                   http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/530/428.htmlEscobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478. Retrieved on April 15, 2008, fromhttp://cas elaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/378/478.htmlIllinois v. Perkins, 496 U.S. 292 (1990). Retrieved on April 15, 2008, fromhttps://www.oyez.org/cases/1989/88-1972