Community culture and change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Community culture and change - Essay Example It bothers much on the issue of the ethnical minority whereas Britain believes in enrichment of lives through cosmopolitan outlook of human existence via eco-social aspect of its perception. Behind the principle of social theories that every good society is ever changing, there erects the monument of the cross-question what about the recognition of the ethnical identity of the mainstream Britain. The opportunity of racial acceptance, religious tolerance, political understanding and economic support led Britain to face this serious question withering the belief that society that does not change gets extinction. Initiated and influenced by British initiative in the post and prior industrial revolution European White settlers almost colonized the one third of the world. The Second World War brought a drastic change in the imperialistic set up and colonial power had to honor the democratic rights of each commonwealth nations. This followed a great influx of immigrants in Britain in the p rocess of idealizing a multicultural British society. Still the question poses the righteousness of such historic liberality.The latest official figures surveyed in 2006 show net immigration to the UK of 591,000 immigrants and 400,000 emigrants Stephens, J. 2006 "Multiculturalism". Only one in six were from Eastern European countries. Immigrants from New Commonwealth countries outnumbered them. Immigration from the Indian subcontinent, mainly fuelled by family reunion, accounted for two-thirds of net immigration. By contrast, at least 5.5 million British-born people are living abroad. The threats born out of liberal public policies in Great Britain demand minute scrutiny over the facts of composite culture. No civilized man would appreciate the historic 7 July whatever be the ground of identity crisis if even one side the bombers and their influencing powers. The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of coordinated terrorist bomb blasts that hit London's public transport system during the morning rush hour. At 8:50 a.m., three bombs exploded within fifty seconds of each other on three London Underground trains. A fourth bomb exploded on a bus nearly an hour later at 9:47 a.m. in Tavistock Square. The bombings killed 52 commuters and the four suicide bombers, injured 700, and caused disruption of the city's transport system and the country's mobile telecommunications infrastructure, (News archive 'The Guardian' UK). Different world free thinkers forums were shocked to get the shocking news that mix origin British citizens carried the nasty terrorist's acts. Fun damental belief system inspired them, which has been a serious concern for the mainstream British today. HISTORIC CULMINATION OF CHANGES IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Social changes that promoted multicultural consensus of human existence under the British clemency had its roots in literature, art, science, technology and every sort of humanistic social institutions. Their terrestrial expansion even propagated a classless and fearless free society where feminism,

Playing Hard to Get Essay Example for Free

Playing Hard to Get Essay Walster, Walster, Piliavin, Schmidt have designed a study to test the why women play hard to get when to comes to dating. This article is talks about how there are two different types of women when it comes to relationships. One type is the easy to get and hard to get. Easy to get women are girls who are either desperate for affection, who might have to many demands for their significant other, may want to get serious right away and possibly may have a disease. Whereas, the hard to get women have something about them that every guy would want to be with, she knows she is pretty and that every guy would do anything for her. A women knows in her mind, playing hard to get will make any man go through all kinds of trouble or challenges just trying to please her and hopefully making the girl like him or even falling in love with him. If a guy, can get to be with her it’s like winning a gold prize and gaining respect from all kinds of men because they can recognize that the girl is a hard to get girl. The experimenters tested 5 different experiments to test and see if any theories can prove about these hard to get girls. Experiment I was the dissonance theory was the first experiment was to predict to see if one had to spend a lot of energy to attain one goal because he would be unappreciative of the outcome. Experiment II was the learning theory was next to see if two advantages were attainable: exclusiveness with value and frustration that will increase drive. Experiment III was the Schachtarian theory requires two components just like the learning theory to test the person for calling it love. Both Walsters Lyons designed a field study and a laboratory experiment in to demonstrate that men prefer a date that plays hard to get. Computer matching service was conducted for women to be hired as experimenters. Precise instructions was given on how to respond when their computer match called them for a date by pausing to think for at least 3 seconds accepting the date, which would be labeled hard to get. Other times women were told to accept the date immediately, to be labeled as easy to get. The results indicated that elusiveness had no impact on the mans liking for his computer. Experiment IV was a laboratory experiment that tested the knowledge that a woman is elusive gives one indirect evidence that she is socially desirable. This indirect evidence should have the biggest impact when a man has no way of acquiring direct evidence about a coeds value or when he has little confidence in his own ability to assess value. When direct evidence is available, and the man possesses supreme confidence in his ability to make correct judgments, information about a womans elusiveness should have little impact on a mans reaction to her. Blind dates were being tested to see if this came true. Experiment V, we had decided that perhaps the hard-to-get hypothesis must be tested in a sexual setting with prostitutes that gave the men mixed drinks that will see if the hard to get hypothesis is true. Later this experiment resulted that there is two components: How hard or easy she is for him to get how hard or easy she is for other men to get. To test this, 71 male summer students at the University of Wisconsin were recruited for a dating research project. This was designed to determine whether computer matching techniques are in fact more effective than is random matching. All participants were invited to come into the dating center in order to choose a date from a set of five potential dates. When the subject arrived at the computer match office, they were handed folders containing background information on five women. Some of these women had supposedly been randomly matched with him and others had been computer matched with him but in reality, all five folders contained information about fictitious women. Experiments asked if they liked her, would you get along, first impressions and questions of that nature. All these results of their hypothesis turned out to be false but learned new information of women being hard to get. In my own opinion, the experiments did their best to test this phenomenon regardless of how old this article is because till this day, a hard to get women is described as someone who requires a lot of work in order to talk or to be seen with. Being with a women gives the man a lot of respect because start to question to figure out what does a man have to do to be such a girl with high standards. These experiments are valid even though they have failed but have demonstrated how these women work when playing hard to get. When it comes to girls, men are usually clueless because there are no set rules on how they react or how to keep them happy. Any interaction with women are general is an experiment because it involves a lot of variables, different possibilities of what the men can say leading to various reactions from the women. A follow up study can be done because this article is over 20 years old but it may just strengthen the results of this article. A study of how or why women act hard to get in the first place, their intentions or see if there are any tricks to get by these kinds of women. Experiment V was the best experiment to test by randomly selecting girls for the men and seeing what their likes and dislikes were when women were being hard to get. Men today have changed a lot when these experiments have taken place according to society at that time. I feel that these experimenters did all they could with their limited technology and how boys and girls acted in that time frame. Nowadays, women explore all options of being hard to get and easy to get by mixing it to fully get what they want and that drives men insane because we tend to get clueless of how things work. This article is valid of what has been tested and outcomes that of that women playing hard to get is still unknown till this day.

Prototype Theory

Prototype Theory PROTOTYPE THEORY and DEFINITIONS: THE ROLE OF BASIC FACTORS, LEARNT KNOWLEDGE and CULTURE a small-scale empirical study 1. Introduction The purpose of the present empirical research paper is to investigate how Prototype Theory works in defining categories in real life. The theory was introduced by Rosch (1975) in order to explain how semantic categories are represented in our mind. Several experiments prove the functioning of Prototype Theory, but in everyday life we often categorise instances based on our culturally bound definitions rather than based on similarity to a typical instance. Thus, this paper investigates the role of the two mechanisms through a small-scale study, aiming at finding answers to the following research questions: Are prototypes and definitions formed similarly or differently? What is the role of learnt knowledge in creating the prototypes and definitions? Do cultural factors play a role in creating prototypes and definitions? 2. Literature review 2.1. Basic concepts In this section a review of the most important concepts related to Prototype Theory will be provided. To begin with, prototype theory suggests that many mental concepts we have are really prototypes. [] (It) has been useful in investigations into how concepts are formed, [] and to what extent certain concepts can be considered universal or specific to certain cultures / languages (Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 2003, p. 432). A prototype is a person or object which is considered (by many people) to be typical of its class or group (Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 2003, p.432). Rosch (1975) defines it as the clearest case of a category, and Aitchinson (1984) also stresses the typicality of the prototype regarding its category. The prototype consists of a set of prototypical features, which are the attributes that are shared by most members, but by only a few non-members (Rosch, 1975), therefore are able to differentiate between categories. A category is a set of attributes that we consider as characteristics of groups of people or objects, or a number of objects that are considered equivalent (Rosch, 1978). The category plays an important role in word recognition because it can serve as the basis of identification of an object, as people often define a concept by reference to typical instances (Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 2003, p. 432). Other related concepts to prototypes are stereotype and schema. Stereotypes are beliefs about groups, i.e. the number of attributes that we consider as characteristics of certain social groups (The Cambridge Dictionary of Psychology, p. 520). There are, for instance, stereotypes based on race, ethnicity, gender or certain professions. A schema is a concept used in pragmatics to refer to a mental representation of a typical instance. Semantic processing allows people to interpret new experiences quickly and economically. (Cook, 1997, p. 86). All in all, prototypes play an important role in the cognitive processes of categorisation and word identification, which will be discussed in the following section. 2.2. Prototypes in categorisation The mental representation of a prototype is formed on the basis of several factors. First, a prototype is often described on the basis of its appearance: the size, the colour or the shape of an object can influence whether they are considered as typical instances of a category. Second, in some cases it is important what the object is capable of doing. For example, one of the most important characteristics of a bird is that it can fly, and a flightless bird is often considered as less typical. Moreover, the usage of an object often influences our judgement about the typicality of the object. Finally, the frequency of the word also defines whether we consider it typical or not, as a bird that always sings outside our windows can be judged most typical than an exotic bird that we rarely encounter. All in all, these characteristics influence our judgements of the typicality of objects with regards to certain categories (Rosch, 1978). According to another aspect, two types of attributes can define a category. Aitchinson (1987) distinguishes between identification criteria and stored knowledge, i.e. the attributes that are essential to the identification of a concept, and the attributes that we attach to the objects through our learnt knowledge of the world. In this respect the impact of ones culture is of high importance, as there is evidence that prototypes vary from language to language, and from culture to culture (Schwanenflugel and Rey, cited by Field, 2003, p.103). For instance, on the basis of its appearance, a bat could be categorised as a bird, but influenced by our knowledge we acquired in our biology lessons, we will most probably put the bat in the category of mammal. The role of the above mentioned basic factors, learnt knowledge and cultural stereotypes and schemata was investigated in an empirical study, which will be outlined in the next section. 3.  Research methods The aim of the empirical study is to answer the research questions presented in the Introduction. Research is based on data collected with the help of a questionnaire, and analysed quantitatively. 3.1. The research instrument The research instrument consisted of two basic parts. In the first part of the questionnaire there are five lists of words that participants had to evaluate on the basis of their typicality with regards to certain categories. The five lists of words were chosen on the basis of Rosch (1975, cited by Field, 2003, p. 102.), and consisted of nine words that had to be evaluated on a 7-item scale, on which 1 means the least typical, and 7 is the most typical instance. In the second part of the questionnaire participants had to define the same categories with their own words. The aim of the five open-ended items was to identify the basic attributes participants used to formulate a definition of the categories. These answers were then compared with the results of the judgements of prototypicality in the previous task, with the purpose of giving an account for the similarities and differences in the two kinds of mental operations. 3.2. Participants The research was carried out with the participation of 25 respondents. They were approached through personal contacts on the Internet. The average age of the participants is 22.4 years, and the gender proportion is almost equal (with 13 male and 12 female respondents). 4.  Results and discussion The aim of this section is to present and analyse the data of the empirical study, with the purpose of finding answers to the research questions. 4.1. The judgements of typicality The results of the judgements of the typicality of the instances of the categories are in line with Roschs (1975) findings that prove that the typicality of certain instances is evaluated very similarly by different people. Table 1 shows the order of the words within the categories: Table 1. The order of instances within the categories based on the respondents evaluation on a 1-7 scale. Furniture Bird Vehicle Fruit Woman table 6.85 blackbird 6.92 car 7 apple 7 mother 7 dresser 6.77 hawk 6.92 bus 7 orange 7 nurse 6.76 chair 6.76 sparrow 6.87 subway 6.69 pear 6.93 teacher 6.67 stool 5.61 raven 6.77 taxi 6.08 melon 6.54 actress 6.54 lamp 4.08 parrot 6.62 cart 5.77 mango 6.54 ballerina 6.23 piano 3.62 canary 6.54 yacht 4.08 fig 6.23 doctor 5.92 vase 2.39 ostrich 5.30 elevator 2 nut 3.23 police-woman 4.77 picture 2.30 penguin 4.85 ski 1.85 pumpkin 2.84 miner 3.30 telephone 1.92 bat 1.38 wheel-barrow 1.69 olive 2.30 football player 2.46 The evaluation of the prototypicality of the items seems to be based on several factors. The first factor is the appearance of the items, which influenced the judgements of prototypicilaty in the case of, for instance, the categories of bird or fruit, where the most typical instances have a lot in common with regards to physical appearance. Another aspect is the frequency of the items, that is, how often respondents encounter the given instance of the category in real life. The category of fruit is a good example for the importance of this factor, in which apple and orange were the ones being judged as most typical instances, and the less frequently consumed exotic fruits like mango or fig scored lower. Another example is the category of bird, in which the different evaluations of blackbird and canary cannot be accounted for in terms of physical appearance (they are quite similar in size and form). The frequency of the two species, on the other hand, is different, as the blackbird is a more common type of bird than the canary. A final factor in the judgement of the typicality of the objects is cultural schemata and stereotypes. The best example of the importance of cultural factors can be seen in the category of woman, where the traditionally feminine roles (e.g. mother, nurse or teacher) scored higher than the traditionally masculine professions (e.g. policewoman, miner or football player). Our culturally bound schemas are in work in the case of vehicles as well, where car and bus embody the best instance, while cart scored considerably lower. The fact that protypicality is a universal phenomenon of our minds is suggested not only by the consistency of the answers, but also by the fact that the findings are very similar to the results of the original experiment by Rosch, as summarised by Aitchison (1987, p. 53): On the bird list, sparrow, canary, blackbird, dove and lark all came out high. Parrot, pheasant, albatross, toucan, and owl were somewhat lower. Flamingo, duck and peacock were lower still. Ostrich, emu and penguin came out more than half-way down the seven-point rating, while last of all came bat, which probably shouldnt be regarded as a bird at all. Although the present research did not investigate the prototypicality of all items on the original list, the order of the items of my own study are in line with the findings of Rosch. 4.2. The definition of the categories According to the results, the definitions of categories are based on the same factors as the prototypes. Categories differ concerning whether they are formed on the basis of appearance, usage or frequency, and whether identification criteria or stored knowledge are dominant in forming the category. Table 2. The scores of the elements according to the number of their appearance in the definitions of the categories. Appearance Usage / function Frequency Experience Learnt knowledge Furniture 8 24 0 21 9 Bird 19 20 0 20 21 Vehicle 6 16 1 15 18 Fruit 17 18 0 19 19 Woman 5 7 0 10 21 The definitions of the categories were coded into numerical data: the definitions were broken down into components of meaning (based on the factors that determine prototypes, see section 2.2), and then the different components were grouped according to whether they referred to appearance or property, usage or function, or the frequency of encountering the given category. It was also decided whether the participant used world experience or learnt knowledge to formulate a definition. The results reveal that the dominance of the certain aspects of meaning in creating a definition varies from category to category. The definition of furniture is based on usage and function (e.g. an object with functions of decorating and personal use) and world experience. In the case of the category of bird, appearance (e.g. has wings) and function (i.e. what it does, for instance usually capable of flying), and experience (e.g. it can sing) and learnt knowledge (e.g. a type of vertebrates that reproduces with eggs play an equal role. Vehicle is defined dominantly according to its usage (e.g. used for the transportation of people), but experience and knowledge are both important bases of the definition. The definitions of fruit use all four aspects equally. Finally, the category of woman is defined negatively in a lot of cases (e.g. the opposite of man), and almost exclusively on the basis of learnt knowledge (e.g. has XX chromosomes and capable of giving birth). It is important to note that the frequency of encountering the category, which is an important factor in judging the typicality of an instance, does not play a role in defining a concept. 4.3. Prototype theory in the light of the results The results imply that the theoretical Prototype Theory and the everyday definitions of categories work similarly in practice. (1) Are prototypes and definitions formed similarly or differently? According to the results, the same factors (as outlined by Rosch (1978, see section 2.2.) play a role in formulating prototypes with regards to a category and in formulating a definition of the category. The mental operations that underlie the forming of stereotypes play a role in forming the definitions, although the definitions do not cover every prototypical instance. (2) What is the role of learnt knowledge in creating the prototypes and definitions? Based on the results of the study, stored knowledge determines prototypicality in the case of some categories. Attributes that we attach to the objects through our learnt knowledge of the world seem to override our world experience especially in the case of the definitions, which are most often formulated on the basis of learnt knowledge. (3) Do cultural factors play a role in creating prototypes and definitions? Cultural factors play a role in the judgement on prototypicality and creating definitions. Cultural stereotypes are at work in the case of the category of woman. Judging the prototypicality of the given social roles, cultural stereotypes and conventions determined the answers. The definition of the category of woman was defined on the basis of both biological sex and the social convention of gender. 5. Conclusion The present small-scale empirical study investigated the similarities and differences of the functioning of Prototype Theory and definitions. The results imply that the theoretical approach of Prototype Theory and the everyday definitions of categories work similarly in the practice, as the same basic factors, learnt knowledge and cultural aspects underlie the mental representations of prototypes and categories. 6. References Aitchison, J. (1987). Words in the mind. An introduction to the mental lexicon. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell. Cook, G. (1997). Key concepts in ELT: Schemas. ELT Journal, 51(1), 86. Field, J. (2003). Psycholinguistics: A resource book for students. New York: Routledge. Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics (3rd ed.). (2003). Harlow: Pearson ESL. Matsumoto, D. (Ed.) (2009). The Cambridge dictionary of psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Rosch, E. (1975). Cognitive representations of semantic categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 104, 192-233. Rosch, E. (1978). Principles of categorisation. In Rosch, E., Loyd, B. B. (Eds.). Cognition and categorisation (pp. 27-48). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

A Trip to the Dentists Office Essay -- Personal Narratives Descriptiv

A Trip to the Dentist's Office The phone rings, and I answer, â€Å"Thank you for calling Enterprise, how may I help you?† The voice on the other end asks for Andrea, and I reply, â€Å"This is she.† The voice says she is calling to remind me of my 11:00 AM dental appointment. I sigh and tell her I will be there on time. I enter the brick building and walk over to the elevator; I push the up button and patiently wait. The elevator door promptly opens, and I get in. I push the button with a number two on it, and the doors close†¦ up I go. Once on the second floor, I exit the elevator. Even before I go into Dr.Taylor’s office, I can immediately smell the mixture of wintergreen-flavored toothpaste and bleach out in the hall. As soon as I open the outer door, a blast of cool air from the air conditioner hits me in the face and makes me shiver all over. I walk in and add my name to the list on the sign-in sheet. Mindy, the gray-hared women behind the frosted glass slide window, sees me and lets me know that the doctor will be ready soon. While I wait for the dental assistant in her crisp white uniform to call out my name, I look at the fish in the large blue tank in the corner of the room. The sleek fish dart about playing hide and seek with the plastic mermaid at the bottom of the tank, while tiny silver bubbles slip to the top of the tank's surface and break silently. I then turn and see a photo album sitting on a coffee table; I pick it up only to see pictures of decaying teeth and...

Interaction in the social world: Family Essay

This author is an arts teacher who is equally preoccupied in her home as she is the mother of a two-year-old daughter who constantly keeps her on her heels. Apart from her happy and close-knit family, which is the backbone of her life, her social world that is related to her work also holds a special place in her mind and heart. Just as she draws immense satisfaction in being a central figure of her family, she gets pleasure in teaching to students who give her an opportunity to learn new things everyday. She looks forward to get immersed in this social world everyday. Due to this interest in her job, which is highly evident in her performance, she enjoys great respect and love from both her students and colleagues. This author’ s interaction in this social world is very satisfying to her and with experience of how to deal with people with different age groups and in different settings she feels very confident of dealing with people even outside this social world. She finds that children give her very valuable lessons in their own ways. Just by observing their interaction patterns she learns a lot about human relationships and interactions. She gets a glimpse of how people feel when some one fights with them, someone is nice with them, if some one betrays them or ignores them by just observing how children behave with each other. She feels that though she is observing children she is getting a great insight about how to deal with adults as both share same emotions, the only difference is that adults try to hide their real feelings especially those of sadness, disgust or contempt while children make it easily evident. She thinks that all of us have a child within us but age and maturity has bestowed on us the capacity to put on a social face even when we are hurt by somebody’s comments or feel neglected by the extra attention that someone else in the group is getting. So she feels that she teaches arts to children while children teach her the art of living. She also feels privileged that she is able to fill children with confidence especially those who are not good at arts and as a result suffer from inferiority complex due to this. If children are boosted with confidence in their primitive years, only then can they gather the guts to become confident adults in future. So instead of reprimanding them as mentioned by Madon and others in Myers, â€Å"High expectations do seem to boost low achievers, for whom a teachers’s positive attitude may be a hope-giving breath of fresh air. † (2007, p. 111) Similarly when teachers surround her in the teacher’s lounge she gets an opportunity to learn a lot about social interactions. Since the teachers belong to different age groups and genders and possess different personality characteristics, just trying to maintain a healthy relationship with them gives her important lessons in social psychology. She tries to apply the insight she has gained through her theoretical knowledge in the practical setting of the social world of her work group, which is a bundle of varied personalities. She feels that with constant practice of dealing with this group she has become a socially intelligent person with whom everyone wants to spend time, as there is give and take of positive vibes in the process. At the end of any social interaction one wants to feel acceptable and respected as a human being and the author thinks that with practice and improvisations in one’s verbal as well as non-verbal communication she is getting better day by day. This is evident by the quality of camaraderie she shares with everyone and the way people greet her and like her presence around them. All this contributes to her self-confidence immensely. One incident that has hugely helped her in improving her self-efficacy is as follows: Six months back a new boy got admitted to her school. He was very restless and lacked good manners. The day when his parents came to admit him to the school they made it clear to the authorities that they were unable to handle him at home as he constantly indulged in some or the other form of misbehavior even after frequent spanking. When the authorities pointed towards the fact that too much of spanking was not good for children’s emotional growth, they said that the boy’s antics made them crazy and it was the only option left for them and soon they would understand it too. That boy was sent to this author’s class. The first few days were really terrible with him. He lacked any sense of respect for the teacher and constantly disturbed the coherence and smooth functioning of the class. But this author took this pupil as a challenge to prove how someone lacking basic social skills can be improved by empathy, love and patience. Instead of telling him again and again that he should behave nicely in class or he should learn good manners from his classmates, the author started treating him just like others even when he did something wrong. The fact that whatever he did, did not affect the author much gradually brought changes in his personality. He started improving. The next step that the author took was that she made him the class prefect, so instead of getting reprimanded because of his unruly behavior he started promoting good behavior in class. Hence instead of consciously making him aware of his shortcomings, the author unconsciously instilled a sense of discipline in the child. According to Pennington, et. l â€Å"Research has shown that if a person is aware that attempts are being made to condition certain aspects of behavior, conscious awareness of this can prevent conditioning taking place. (2003, p. 149. ) The author applied this very concept and the positive result was evident in a short span of time. The way the author handled this situation was highly commended by the staff of the school and she gained an important place not only in the school but also in the heart of that troublesome student and his parents. This incident helped in increasing the author’s self-efficacy to a great extent.

Free Essays on A Comparison Of Arthur Dimmesdale And Pearl

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and Pearl are two essential characters. Because they are father and daughter, they have some similar qualities, but also some different ones. The apple does not fall far from the tree: the apple is the child of the tree (the parent); therefore, it inherits similarities in personality, but it also retains its own individual qualities. Dimmesdale and Pearl share few similar traits, but Hawthorne makes these similarities significant. Passion greatly affects the lives of both Dimmesdale and Pearl. Dimmesdale commits adultery a sin of passion. Pearl inherits â€Å"all this enmity and passion [ . . . ] by inalienable right† (Hawthorne 87). From the moment Hester Prynne gives birth to her daughter, the sin of adultery marks Pearl permanently just as the scarlet â€Å"A† marks her mother. Throughout the entire novel, Pearl serves as a symbol of Dimmesdale and Hester’s passion. Although the same force of passion affects Dimmesdale and his daughter, he makes the choice to commit adultery while Pearl does not have the power to decide to be borne out of a sin. This sin inflicts grief upon both the father and daughter. Dimmesdale, â€Å"overcome with a great horror of mind,† feels a â€Å"gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain† because his guilt haunts him (Hawthorne 136). It c ontinues to haunt him for as long as he refuses to confess to the sin. Grief also bears a heavy weight on Pearl, not just her father. Hawthorne writes, â€Å"Nothing [is] more remarkable than the instinct, as it [seems], with which the child [comprehends] her loneliness† (86). Not only does Pearl’s father refuse to acknowledge her as his daughter, but also the children of the town refuse to allow her to play with them. How can she not be grief stricken? The mutual love between her mother and herself helps Pearl to cope with the grief; neither one of them receives Dimmesdale’s a... Free Essays on A Comparison Of Arthur Dimmesdale And Pearl Free Essays on A Comparison Of Arthur Dimmesdale And Pearl In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and Pearl are two essential characters. Because they are father and daughter, they have some similar qualities, but also some different ones. The apple does not fall far from the tree: the apple is the child of the tree (the parent); therefore, it inherits similarities in personality, but it also retains its own individual qualities. Dimmesdale and Pearl share few similar traits, but Hawthorne makes these similarities significant. Passion greatly affects the lives of both Dimmesdale and Pearl. Dimmesdale commits adultery a sin of passion. Pearl inherits â€Å"all this enmity and passion [ . . . ] by inalienable right† (Hawthorne 87). From the moment Hester Prynne gives birth to her daughter, the sin of adultery marks Pearl permanently just as the scarlet â€Å"A† marks her mother. Throughout the entire novel, Pearl serves as a symbol of Dimmesdale and Hester’s passion. Although the same force of passion affects Dimmesdale and his daughter, he makes the choice to commit adultery while Pearl does not have the power to decide to be borne out of a sin. This sin inflicts grief upon both the father and daughter. Dimmesdale, â€Å"overcome with a great horror of mind,† feels a â€Å"gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain† because his guilt haunts him (Hawthorne 136). It continues to haunt him for as long as he refuses to confess to the sin. Grief also bears a heavy weight on Pearl, not just her father. Hawthorne writes, â€Å"Nothing [is] more remarkable than the instinct, as it [seems], with which the child [comprehends] her loneliness† (86). Not only does Pearl’s father refuse to acknowledge her as his daughter, but also the children of the town refuse to allow her to play with them. How can she not be grief stricken? The mutual love between her mother and herself helps Pearl to cope with the grief; neither one of them receives Dimmesdale’s a...

The Best Way to Set Up and Troubleshoot Your Sales Funnel

The Best Way to Set Up and Troubleshoot Your Sales Funnel If you’re a marketer, you’re likely privy to the infamous sales funnel. You know how it works in theory†¦ But maybe you’re having some problems implementing it in practice. There might be areas were your funnel is leaking†¦ OR Maybe you’re not quite sure how to measure your funnel’s performance. This post covers: The best way to set up your sales funnel. How to troubleshoot problems in your funnel. Great tools to help improve your funnel’s performance. AND some awesome examples to inspire you. Download our Free Sales Funnel Templates Before learning how to troubleshoot your sales funnel, check out these free templates. They’ll help you get organized AND help your team get more done in less time. This download includes: A content audit guide to help identify your content deficits. A content mapping template to map your content to each funnel stage. A 2019 content calendar to get your year all planned out. A user persona worksheet to help you target the right people.Plan All Your Funnel Content with One thing is clear†¦ There is a lot  of content that goes into a full-funnel marketing strategy. Try using to get it all organized. With things like custom tags and filtered views, you know exactly what content is being created and where it falls in your funnel strategy. To create a custom tag, first, choose the category of content you will create. Name your content item and add a few tags like funnel stage. To visualize all the content you are creating according to funnel state, hover over the left-hand hamburger menu and click â€Å"Create new saved view†. Click â€Å"Add filter category† and choose the â€Å"tag† option. Find the funnel stage you want to create a saved view for. Now you can easily see a bird’s eye view of every content item that is being created for each funnel stage. Now that you know creating a full funnel content strategy doesn’t have to be a hot mess, here’s how to actually do it. The Sales Funnel: A Brief Introduction The sales funnel is meant to visualize the stages a buyer goes through before purchase, and how a marketer can tailor activities to help move someone towards that purchase. A lot of folks assume that a marketer’s job is to throw out some ads to raise awareness about a business. While this is certainly one element a marketer will engage in, there’s a lot more that goes into a full funnel strategy. A full funnel strategy means there are content and marketing activities that raise awareness and generate demand; nurtures leads and educates; helps close the final deal; and turns customers into loyal advocates. Generally, here’s what the sales funnel looks like: Let’s start by breaking down each section of the funnel. Top of Funnel a.k.a TOFU The top of the funnel is where you’ll focus on generating interest and awareness for your business. You want to focus on bringing the right  people in according to your user personas. Who enters at the Top of Funnel? A TOFU individual is someone who is in your target market and could be doing general online research related to your industry. They likely aren’t quite ready to make a purchase at this point but are looking to learn more about a particular topic. When searching, they typically use phrases like, â€Å"how to†, â€Å"what is† or â€Å"why do†. That said, you’ll want to focus on educating them; enticing them to leave an email address or visit your site; or engage with your content in an additional way like downloading an ebook or signing up for a webinar. TOFU Content Examples Here are a couple great examples of content you can produce to capture leads at the top of your sales funnel. Top of Funnel Content: Blog posts A good TOFU blog post is one that focuses on solving one of your user personas’ problems. Keep in mind that this individual isn’t ready for a hard sell. They are looking for help or info on a particular topic. You want to establish trust by helping them work through an issue or giving them the knowledge they need to succeed on their own. Recommended Listening: TOFU, MOFU, BOFU: How To Talk To Prospects At Every Stage Of The Marketing Funnel TOFU Blog Post Example - Nested Bean Nested Bean is a company that makes slightly weighted baby swaddles, pajamas, and sleep sacks. The products are meant to help babies and young children sleep longer at night. They have a ton of great examples of TOFU blog content on their site – all focused on educating readers on various sleep-related topics. Here’s an extensive post they wrote about baby colic. It educates about the topic and teaches readers how to help soothe a colicky baby. Recommended Reading: How to Create Effective Blog Posts That Convert Like Crazy Top of Funnel Content: How-to Series Since TOFU content should focus on education, it makes sense that a how-to series would be the perfect fit for attracting people into the sales funnel. The Home Depot capitalizes on this by providing visitors an awesome how-to series for all your DIY needs. The series builds trust by focusing on teaching visitors how to use basics tools to accomplish their at-home DIY projects. Top of Funnel Content: White Papers White papers take a deep dive into a specific topic – usually, one that is research driven or covers topics that tend to be more B2B in nature than what you would find in a how-to series or blog post. Marketo has a wide variety of white papers on its site. This one on engagement checks a few boxes of what a good white paper should look like. It offers a comprehensive look at a topic, covers original research conducted by the company and highlights the company’s industry expertise. Since white papers take significantly more time to produce, you should consider gating the content. I.e. requiring the visitor to leave their email address before downloading. Recommended Reading: How to Write White Papers People Actually Want to Read (Free Template) Top of Funnel Content: Webinars Webinars have the ability to deliver your audience tremendous value. One of the best ways to get the most out of a webinar is to include an industry expert to talk about a specific topic. This not only increases the reach of your webinar but also adds additional educational value to attendees. Gartner is a world leader in providing research and consulting services to business. And they are no stranger to webinars. The company offers both live and on-demand webinars on a range of topics – all of which are tailored to high-level individuals such as CEOs and CTOs. Top of Funnel: What to Measure The goal of your TOFU content should be to attract as many of your targeted personas as possible. To know if the first stage of your funnel is performing, try tracking the following metrics: Page Views  - A healthy funnel should have a good amount of people viewing content. You’ll want to track this over time to make sure potential customers are finding your content. Bounce Rate  - Tracking your bounce rate will tell you how many sessions ended without the visitor taking any further action. This is a helpful way of knowing if visitors are finding your  content engaging and relevant. Email Subscribers - You want visitors to move on to the next stage in the funnel and become closer to making a purchase. Every time a visitor subscribes to your email list indicates that they are interested in your content and want to know more. It also gives you the opportunity to nurture those lead and encourage downward movement in the funnel. New vs Returning Visitors - Top performing TOFU content should always aim to bring new visitors to your site. Tracking new vs returning visitors will not only tell you if you’re consistently bringing new people to your site, but it will also tell you if your content is good enough to come back for more. Prospects  - By drilling down a little deeper into your data, you’ll be able to see how many new email subscribers are your target personas. Keep in mind, you’ll have to have a short form on your site to collect additional information. TOFU Tools to Track Your Funnel Health Google Analytics With Google Analytics, you’ll be able to track page views, bounce rate, and new vs. returning visitors. To find this info, first, navigate to Google Analytics. Then choose Audience and Overview. Just below the line graph, you’ll see page views, bounce rate, and visitor data. KissMetrics KissMetrics is a  powerful analytics and reporting tool that can track loads of things. With a little help from your website developers, you can easily set up a KissMetrics dashboard to see how many email subscribers your content is converting. Here’s a peek at what your dashboard will look like: You can see things like total email subscribers, daily averages and date range comparisons. Ahrefs Ahrefs is a content marketers dream. When composing your content strategy, you’ll want to make sure that the keywords you target are both something your audience is interested in and something that you can rank on search engines. The magic keywords should have a low difficulty score and high search volume. To find this data, navigate to the menu item called Keyword explorer. Type in your keyword in the text box and click the magnifying glass. Ahrefs will tell you a ton of valuable data like approximately how many backlinks your content will need to rank in the top 10, the search volume for the specific keyword, as well as similar keywords to target. Common TOFU problems and How to Troubleshoot Alright, you’ve got the top of your sales funnel all set up and are tracking the things you need to†¦ But maybe you’re encountering some problems bringing in people and converting them. Here are a few common problems that occur at the top of the sales funnel and how you can troubleshoot them. 5 common top of funnel #marketing problems and how to troubleshoot them. #TOFUYour Content Isn’t Converting One of the most common problems for any TOFU content is that it isn’t converting. Content that doesn’t convert at the top spells trouble for the rest of your funnel. The fewer people that move on to the next phase of the funnel, the less people will be closer to making a purchase. Here are a couple ways to make sure that your content is converting. Focus on Your Content Core Your content core is where the topics your customers care about merges with what you have to offer them as a business. Finding your content core allows you to go beyond traffic, eyeballs, and audience building and actually create content that gains customers. The first step here is to make sure you focus on what your customers  care about and not what your audience  cares about. If your content is really good at generating traffic, but not very good at generating leads and converting, you likely have a traffic trap problem. You’ll know you have a traffic trap problem if your website traffic is increasing, but revenue isn’t increasing proportionally. You can fix this by making sure your content is both helpful to potential customers AND presents the unique value proposition your business provides. The Sandwich Approach Another issue that could be causing low conversion rates on your content is lack of CTAs. Let’s say your company is religiously pumping out blog content that solves your customer’s problems. BUT, your revenue growth is stagnant and your content isn’t moving the needle to increase purchases. Try the sandwich approach. The sandwich approach is a simple way of mixing in your business’ unique value proposition into all content items. Essentially you sandwich in your products into the middle of your content to highlight how your product helps solve the customer’s problem. Nested Bean, which was our blog example above, does this perfectly. They start by helping you solve the problem on your own, introduce their product and how it can help, followed by more tips about how to solve the problem yourself. Your Page Views are Dropping Maybe your content was performing well for quite a while, but you’ve slowly losing pageviews. This could indicate that your most popular content is losing its position on search engines. Search engines like Google typically favor new and fresh content over things that are more dated. Try regularly updating your content with fresh advice, extra list items, etc. This helps ensure that your most popular posts will continue to be found via search. You’re not Ranking on Keywords Ranking on keywords is no easy feat. It can be particularly challenging if you are choosing keywords that are highly competitive. How do you know if this is you? Look up your keywords with Ahrefs or a similar tool. If the ones you are targeting have a high difficulty score, it’s unlikely that your content will be found via search. You’ll want to try to find keywords that have a high search volume and a low difficulty score. Middle of Funnel a.k.a MOFU The middle of the funnel is the where you’ll begin nurturing the leads brought in by your top of funnel content. In this stage, your goal is to move website visitors further down the funnel toward making a purchase. Once you’ve captured a piece of information (such as an email address), you can begin placing them into an email drip campaign, begin building a relationship with the contact, and targeting them with content tailored to their needs. Who Enters the Middle of Funnel? As a buyer moves down the funnel, they will likely start comparing products uncovered during their initial research. Keep in mind that the length of these funnel stages can vary greatly depending on conversion value. Big-ticket purchases will encounter a longer buying process and therefore spend more time evaluating options and comparing what’s available. MOFU Content Examples MOFU content is designed to provide prospects with the information that will put your company and its products or services ahead of all others being considered. Here are a few characteristics of MOFU content: Middle of Funnel Content: Case Studies Case studies are designed to provide potential customers with proof points highlighting how your product solves problems in real life. LinkedIn provides visitors a swath of case studies outlining how various businesses used it’s ad platform to reach their target audiences and improve advertising results. In its case studies, LinkedIn does a great job of outlining the company’s challenge, how they provided the right solution, and what the final results were. Recommended Reading: How to Write a Powerful Case Study That Converts Leads Into Customers With 50 Examples and 7 Templates Middle of Funnel Content: Reviews How many times have you read a review online before making a purchase? If you’re like me, this is almost a must-do before making any purchase. In fact – 88% of consumers  have been influenced by a review they saw online. Encouraging existing customers to leave reviews for your business provides prospects the social proof they need to move closer to making a purchase decision. Mattress company Casper, reaches out to each customer via email to encourage them to leave a review. Feeling wary about the possibility of negative reviews? Try not to be. An occasional negative review is inevitable. Two positives come from a negative review†¦ It gives you the opportunity to rectify the situation or improve your product. Negative reviews show authenticity. 30% of consumers  believe that reviews are fake if there aren’t any negative comments. Middle of Funnel Content: Data Sheets Datasheets provide prospects the quick and dirty details of your product. Outline things like cost, features, benefits, and specifications. Keep in mind that these often aren’t the sexist documents, but offer prospects an easy way to do side-by-side comparisons. Here’s an example data sheet from Netgear  showing the features of its Nighthawk router. Middle of the Funnel: What to Measure The goal of your MOFU content should be to convert website visitors captured at the top of your funnel into leads. To know if the middle of your funnel is performing, try tracking the following metrics: MQLs  - A Marketing Qualified Lead is typically a prospect that has provided some additional piece of info aside from just an email address. This data help you segment your website visitors and allow you to identify them as a good fit for your product or service. Email open and CTRs -   How your emails are performing is of the best ways to gauge the health of your middle funnel. Open Rates and CTRs are especially good indicators of how relevant the content you are sharing is to your subscribers. Middle of the Funnel: Tools Autopilot Autopilot  is a marketing automation software that helps you convert leads into paying customers. Any  marketing automation software is a vital part of your MOFU activities. What sets Autopilot apart its visual interface. Autopilot allows you to create custom email journeys for every stage of the funnel – from abandoned carts, to trade show lead follow-up and everything in between. Here’s a look at what a customer journey with Autopilot looks like. Zoom Webinars can be a content item for both TOFU and MOFU sales funnel stages, depending on the topic. Zoom  is an easy-to-use tool for hosting webinars. The software integrates with many different CRMs so you can easily follow-up with webinar guests and target them with additional content. Participants can engage in real-time with QA, discussions, polls and chat functions. You can also see engagement data to track if your audience is paying attention. Common MOFU problems and How to Troubleshoot Your Click Through Rates are Low If people are subscribing to your list, but aren’t clicking to read your content, it could be a sign that you need to optimize your email sequences. Strategize about what content a target persona needs and when they need it. Trial different email flows and the content they receive to find the right mix to improve CTRs. People Aren’t Downloading Your Content If people aren’t downloading your content, they can’t move on to further funnel stages. Naturally, one of the easiest ways to fix this is to experiment with new types of content. If your white papers aren’t converting, try a quiz, a free online tool, or something out of the box. It could also mean that your download form is too long. No one wants to submit 20 pieces of information just to get a free online resource. Take a hard look at what info is absolutely necessary and cut everything else. Bottom of Funnel a.k.a BOFU Here we are†¦ the bottom of the sales funnel. A potential customer has made it through your funnel and is on the cusp of making a purchase. Depending on the nature of your  business, this stage may not consist of any content at all. So the marketing team hands the baton off to the sales department and steps away†¦ OR The marketing team might be responsible for creating sales enablement content to help the sales department close the deal. Recommended Reading: The Best Sales Enablement Strategy for Marketers (+ 4 Free Templates) BOFU Content Examples Like mentioned above, not all businesses will need BOFU content. This funnel stage might consist of other tactics like discount codes to encourage purchases, a free trial, or one-on-one consultation. If your product is slightly more complicated, your sales team might need customized supporting content to aid in bringing the customer to the finish line. Competitor Comparisons By the time a lead reaches the bottom of the funnel, they are likely comparing a couple solutions and making a final decision. Customized competitor comparisons offer you the opportunity to outline the customer’s final options before they make a decision. This shows how your brand differentiates itself and to helps them understand why your company is the best. This example from Intercom  isn’t customized for the specific customer, but give you an idea of what your competitor comparison could look like. Presentations Marketing teams can and should be involved in the production of sales slide decks. Marketing can make sure the slide deck is on brand and looks professional, while the content can be tailored by the sales team to ensure it is relevant for the customer. Here is a sales presentation example from Zuora. Sales Scripts You don’t want your sales team to sound robotic or like they are regurgitating a canned response†¦ But you do want them to be well versed in the persona’s problems and pain points. Knowing what keeps them up at night and the challenges that brought them to your company can help close the deal. The marketing team can outline a few talking points to hit the right topics on the call without sounding like a droid. Bottom of the Funnel: What to Measure The goal of your BOFU content is to close the deal and turn leads into customers. BOFU metrics should look at indicators which signal upcoming purchases or conversions. Try   tracking metrics such as: Trial Signups - If your business has the ability to offer free trials, this is a good indication of how many people are inching closer to purchasing. Total Demo Requests  - The number of people registering for a demo signifies a healthy bottom of the funnel. More demos, means more opportunities for your sales team to engage one-on-one with prospects and a better chance of closing the deal. Demos Completed  - How many actually  show up for their demo call? People might be scheduling them, but what good is that if they don’t actually show up? Sales Conversion Rate  - This metric measures how effective your sales reps are at converting prospects into customers. You can calculate sales conversion rate like so: Bottom of the Funnel: Tools Calendly Calendly  makes scheduling demos super easy. It syncs with your preferred calendar and automatically checks availability. Potential customers can see what your real-time schedule looks like and choose a time slot for a demo or other meeting type. No more back and forth emailing. CRM A CRM is an important element of all your funnel activities – especially for the bottom of your funnel. A CRM like Salesforce can track things like demo calls scheduled,no-shows, trial sign-ups and more. It’s a super powerful tool with unlimited amounts of data you can dig into. Common BOFU problems and How to Troubleshoot Number of Trial Signups is Low If you’re struggling to increase trial signups, consider eliminating the need to enter credit card details. Studies  show that simply eliminating the need to enter credit card details to access a free trial can increase trials by 8%. Doing so decreased the trial-to-paid conversions, but in the end still resulted in a better end-to-end conversion rate. You can also make sure that the trail signup CTA is easily accessible on your website and on all relevant content items. No One is Signing Up for a Demo Call This could indicate a problem with your scheduling process. Look at the process and try to simplify it or remove steps that are causing friction. If possible, you could also try implementing live demo capabilities to catch individuals closer to the moment of purchase intent. People Aren’t Showing Up for Their Demos So people are signing up for demos, but they don’t show up. This is a common problem for many companies. One way to solve this is to create a custom reminder email flow specifically for those who have signed up for a demo. Pro tip: Have these emails come directly from the sales rep who will be holding the call. People are generally respectful of others and their time - by tying this to an actual human will help decrease the likelihood of no-shows.

Workplace Motivation

Workplace Motivation There are many different techniques that can be used in order to reward employees for a job well done. It is crucial for businesses to analyze these different methods and implement the ones that work best for them. There are many practices that a company may choose to utilize in order to motivate its team. There are extrinsic and intrinsic rewards, positive and negative motivators, as well as differentiating between individual and team or group rewards. The purpose of this paper is to examine the different methods of motivation as an attempt to find the one(s) that are most appealing to employers, individuals, and/or teams.What is the most influential way to reward workers? This is a critical question that has been pondered by many companies and employers, in which there has not yet been a definitive answer. Managers evoke various processes in order to induce the most superlative results for their company's welfare.English: Motivational SayingThe manager is propagating feelings of tr ust and confidence into the individual, thus encouraging them to accomplish more in order to increase productivity. My boss has always allowed me to not only complete my tasks without hassle but has also continued to provide me with the tools to expand my career knowledge in an effort to expand my abilities. Providing an effective rewards system is important because rewards do not always serve as a positive outcome. These rewards need to possess the ability to satisfy all employees, comparable to those offered by competitive organizations, distributed fairly and equally, and a range of incentives. With the failing economy, the organization for which I work has cut down its efforts in regard...

Property Management in New Delhi-India Coursework

Property Management in New Delhi-India - Coursework Example According to the economic time's report, DFL- a real estate developer in New Delhi-India, is planning to outsource property management to third parties. It is close to coming into agreement and signing a contract with some companies to manage its commercial and retail spaces. The DFL enjoys ownership of huge commercial and retail space in the Indian capital and outside. From these properties, they earn good revenue that enables them to run its activities. Despite the huge revenues, they have accrued a debt which they have been trying to reduce by selling non-core assets (Sharma, 2013). Transfer of property management to third parties has several advantages accrued. It will facilitate the addition of value to the existing property, which can be achieved through proper maintenance of the buildings. This will, in turn, save the reputation of the property developer which is at risk (Sharma, 2013). Leasing, remittance or statutory dues and other related areas facilitate services for the property management. This will help real estate investors manage their assets without overdependence from family and/or friends. The transfer has also encouraged small parties and companies to capitalize on the opportunity to invest in specific asset category, hence thereof, earning periodical income. Above all, it will help salvage the debt shadow that they are currently being covered in (Sharma, 2013). On the coins other side, acts such as leasing or resale of buildings would sound costly to the real estate provider. For instance, an old building sold will not have the same income as when the building would have been renovated and rented to a tenant. Also leasing an apartment may end up in the hands of the wrong company. Such companies would provide fewer quality services as expected, which will, in turn, tarnish the name of the real owner. In addition, leasing or selling a property will, in the long run, result in a reduction of the company's revenues.  

Assesment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Assesment - Essay Example build relationships based on mutual trust and confidence so that problems are identified and solved efficiently and workplace conflicts, if any, are amicably resolved. The work responsibilities are shared and follow structured techniques that give each team members gets equal opportunity to exploit his potential. (134) I am well versed in using information technology to enhance the performance and keep up with the advancing technology to provide competitive edge. Use of various computer programs like spreadsheet, database and word processing packages have greatly facilitated in creating database of information for effective analysis. Indeed, raising development fund and creating investment concept that have been an integral part of my work, had become easy because of the computer technology. The financial strategy and plans have involved conducting of efficient, accurate and meaningful analysis, including Capex and Opex analysis, benchmark analysis, financial analysis and investment plans to meet the demands for the various projects and assignments. I have been involved in creating effective and innovative financial planning to manage the organization’s long term and short term financial perspectives. (129) The leadership traits have been important part of my work curricula where changing roles of leadership have become intrinsic to the organizational goals and objectives. I have had to deliver the results within the tight schedules and therefore setting priorities had become important ingredients of the work model. Realizing that the role of leaders, managers and the administrators of the organizations become more challenging when new strategy and policy decisions are introduced in the organizations, the onus had often fallen on my shoulders to ensure effective feedback through participatory approach and helps solve the problems and workplace conflicts amicably. This was a key factor for promoting better understanding among the employees for easy adaptability

African Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

African Music - Essay Example Placing African music in an historical and social context, brings to the fore the compiling of notes on the social context of African music; on African history; on the popularization of African music and on the instruments and styles of African music. The following text has been put together and a bibliography and appropriate reference is supplied at the end of the article. Africa covers about 11,714,000 square miles (30,339,000 square kilometers), more than a fifth of the earth’s total land area. The continent is an enormous plateau, most of which is covered by deserts, forests and grasslands. It is this vast mass of land that held the immense treasure of Africa called music. Music has been culturally part of and developed in Africa for thousands of years. Its wide range of styles evidently showed much of the country’s landscape. In northern Africa, music follows Arab traditions that consist mainly of chants and the use of various northern instruments but as shown but African music has also spread southward and influenced the music of peoples in parts of Chad, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan.

Provision of Non Audit Services by the Auditor to the Audit Client Is Essay

Provision of Non Audit Services by the Auditor to the Audit Client Is a Threat to Auditors' Independence - Essay Example Introduction The value of an audited financial statement depends on the auditor’s independence. Accounting scandals such as Enron of the United States as well as HIH Insurance of Australia have created doubts regarding auditor’s independence and the value of their audit. The familiarity that is developed from the long audit tenure and the economic dependence arising from the non audit services and social bond developed between the auditor and the auditor’s client through long-term association have raised questions regarding auditor independence (Carson & Simnett, 2006). Non Audit Services (NAS) are also identified as ‘management advisory services’. Regulators believe that non audit services provided to audit clients is a serious threat to the auditors’ independence. Regulators believe that conflicts of interest occur and fee dependence has a damaging affect on auditor independence. Audit firms often defend themselves by saying that fee depende nce does not influence them and audit and non audit services are performed independently by separate staff (Houghton & Ikin, 2001). It is also opined that non auditing services help in reduction of total costs, improve technical competence and intensify competition. The audit firms, the audit clients and regulatory bodies can bring about efficient services mix through market interaction (Arrunada, 1999). 2. Literature Review 2.1 Non Audit Services of Auditors The services that external auditors provide to their clients can be categorised into consulting, tax and audit. Consulting and tax are often referred as non audit services. Section 201 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act lays down the services which the external audit firm should not perform. They cannot perform bookkeeping services related to financial statements and accounting records. They cannot design or implement financial information systems. They cannot perform valuation or appraisal services, actuarial services, management funct ions, legal services, litigation or administration related expert services. The auditor is also prohibited from providing marketing and planning related non audit services to the audit client and tax services to the management team or the family members of the team (Burke & et. al., 2008). 2.2 Threat to Auditor’s Independence It is believed that NAS services of auditors change their role from that of an outsider who can take a transparent view to that of an insider who actively participates in the decision making and acts as an advisor. The economic bond that is created between the audit client and the auditor through their contract hampers the auditor’s independence. In order to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the independence of auditors, it is essential to examine the marginal fee dependence that results from the NAS services in addition to the total fee dependence. It has been stated that auditors should factually as well as in terms of appearance, be indepen dent. NAS has an impact on the perception regarding the independence of auditors and it creates doubt regarding the authenticity of the auditor’s information (Francis, 2006). Legislations have banned the provision of several NAS by auditors for preserving the auditor’s independence. Regulators believed that auditors could go to the extent of sacrificing their independence in order to retain clients who pay large non audit fees (Defond & et. al., 2002) The various threats

Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

Communication - Essay Example Interpersonal communication entails the process of using feelings, ideas, and thoughts to initiate and develop relationships with other members of the society. Initiating and developing relationships follow three systematic stages. The first stage involves understanding another person’s situation. This enables us to understand the context and perspective from which the other person is speaking. The next step involves responding to the message in an appropriate manner. This entails employing the right tone and emotional expression based on the understanding of the person communicating (Wood 72). After communicating the response in the right manner, the respondent should be able to achieve the objective of communicating. This entails the establishment of a common understanding between the subject parties. Good interpersonal communication skills help in conflict resolution contexts. Interpersonal conflicts arise when people reaches a disagreement over their convictions, beliefs, ideas and desires. Interpersonal conflict can present serious consequences to the parties involved. Therefore, the best solution on resolving a conflict is by employing effective interpersonal communication skills. In reality, conflict leads to emotional stress, hurting feelings and situational disappointments. When any conflict is handled in an unhealthy way, it might result in irreparable damages in social relationships. Therefore, the best method of resolving any conflict is applying some ethical principles while striving to reach a compromise. One of the essential ethical elements during conflict resolution is empathy. Empathy entails putting oneself into another person’s shoes. Thought empathy allows one to understand what another person is saying. Feeling empathy allows someone to acknowledge how another person feels. Therefore, empathy facilitates healthy communication when resolving a conflict. The other ethical element is exploration. Exploration allows one to enquir e thoroughly on the other person’s thoughts and feelings. Stroking is also essential during conflict cases. Stroking involves complimenting the person by making respectful and positive opinions about him/her. To resolve a conflict successfully, I align myself to these three ethical aspects, which are empathy, exploration, and stroking. The definition of gender roles and other aspects associated with gender and society depends on an individual’s social background. The beliefs and convictions held by an individual concerning the social roles expected from different genders influences social relationships to a substantial extent. On my part, I expect females to be submissive, and accommodative to different ideas and situations. The other factor that may affect my communication is ethnicity. Ethnicity brings about prejudice and discrimination within the society. Discrimination entails behaviors directed towards people from a different ethnic background while prejudice invo lves holding irrational and inflexible attitudes towards members of another ethnic group. Prejudice influences communication whereby negative prejudice results in discrimination. Therefore, ethnicity might affect my judgments and decisions during communication in a positive or a negative way. The other factor than influences communication is culture. Culture is comprised of behaviors, beliefs and other social characteristics that define a particular social group. Though people would like to define themselves individually, the society conforms an individual to some set standards of beliefs, values and behavioral norms. These inbred cultural principles in an individual influence his/her relationship with people within a culturally diverse environment. As a

Corporate Social Responsibility And Sustainable Marketing Coursework

Corporate Social Responsibility And Sustainable Marketing - Coursework Example Along the years of its entrepreneurial operations in the realm of sports equipments and merchandises the company has been able to design a large brand portfolio by taking into hold a large number of subsidiaries. The sportswear company, headquartered in Oregon operates based on its operations spread over 160 countries round the world. Working on the basis of a large value chain constituted by around 1 million people pertaining to the categories of suppliers, manufacturers and other support categories the company tends to bring about large scale innovation in the realm of sportswear (Nike Inc. 2011). The Market The global market for sportswear reflects two types of consumer trends. Consumers tend to purchase sportswear merchandise more in regards to enhancing their fashion quotients rather than using such for the sole purpose of sports. Nike is held to be the pioneer brand in holding sportswear as a contemporary fashion wear in the global market. During 2003 the total global market fo r sportswear shoes and other apparels amounts to around $58 Billion. Herein apparel tends to constitute around 71 percent while 29 percent is relegated to footwear. The same can be reflected in the form of the following graph as follows. Figure 1 (Play Fair 2004, p.6) Similarly the global market for sports and athletic wear amounts to around $41.5 billion. Herein, United States tends to contribute to around 41 percent of the global share followed by around the European Union by around 38 percent. The markets pertaining to Asia contribute to around 16 percent in the total global market for sports and athletic wear. The same can be reflected through the following diagram. Figure 2 (Play Fair 2004, p.7) In regards to positioning of the different brands in the global sportswear industry it is found that the major brands like Nike, Reebok, and Adidas constitute in around 14 percent of the total global market for such commodities. However less known brands like Fila, Umbro and again Puma tend to each gain around 1 percent market share in the total market during 2002. Other Minor brands like the Mizuno, Lotto and the Kappa tend to each contribute to around 0.5 percent of the total market share during the same period. Thus the three main brands, Nike, Adidas and the Reebok tend to dominate the marketplace pertaining to sportswear in the world (Play Fair 2004, p.6-10). The same can be reflected from the following graphs. Figure 3 (Play Fair 2004, p.8) Figure 4 (Play Fair 2004, p.8) Figure 5 (Play Fair 2004, p.10) In regards to the current scenario during 2007 the total sportswear industry is found to value to around $145 billion. Further the sector reflects an increasing trend in terms of global market growth irrespective of it being affected by economic downturns happening round the world (ITGLWF 2010). Diagnostics Communication Activities of Nike Advertising and Promotion In regards to advertising activities, Nike is held to largely depend on celebrities like Michael Jordan and Kevin Garnett along with Charles Barkley for promotion of its footwear to both developed and developing nations round the world. This advertising practice of the company through the use of celebrities has helped the company in largely

Provision of Non Audit Services by the Auditor to the Audit Client Is Essay

Provision of Non Audit Services by the Auditor to the Audit Client Is a Threat to Auditors' Independence - Essay Example Introduction The value of an audited financial statement depends on the auditor’s independence. Accounting scandals such as Enron of the United States as well as HIH Insurance of Australia have created doubts regarding auditor’s independence and the value of their audit. The familiarity that is developed from the long audit tenure and the economic dependence arising from the non audit services and social bond developed between the auditor and the auditor’s client through long-term association have raised questions regarding auditor independence (Carson & Simnett, 2006). Non Audit Services (NAS) are also identified as ‘management advisory services’. Regulators believe that non audit services provided to audit clients is a serious threat to the auditors’ independence. Regulators believe that conflicts of interest occur and fee dependence has a damaging affect on auditor independence. Audit firms often defend themselves by saying that fee depende nce does not influence them and audit and non audit services are performed independently by separate staff (Houghton & Ikin, 2001). It is also opined that non auditing services help in reduction of total costs, improve technical competence and intensify competition. The audit firms, the audit clients and regulatory bodies can bring about efficient services mix through market interaction (Arrunada, 1999). 2. Literature Review 2.1 Non Audit Services of Auditors The services that external auditors provide to their clients can be categorised into consulting, tax and audit. Consulting and tax are often referred as non audit services. Section 201 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act lays down the services which the external audit firm should not perform. They cannot perform bookkeeping services related to financial statements and accounting records. They cannot design or implement financial information systems. They cannot perform valuation or appraisal services, actuarial services, management funct ions, legal services, litigation or administration related expert services. The auditor is also prohibited from providing marketing and planning related non audit services to the audit client and tax services to the management team or the family members of the team (Burke & et. al., 2008). 2.2 Threat to Auditor’s Independence It is believed that NAS services of auditors change their role from that of an outsider who can take a transparent view to that of an insider who actively participates in the decision making and acts as an advisor. The economic bond that is created between the audit client and the auditor through their contract hampers the auditor’s independence. In order to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the independence of auditors, it is essential to examine the marginal fee dependence that results from the NAS services in addition to the total fee dependence. It has been stated that auditors should factually as well as in terms of appearance, be indepen dent. NAS has an impact on the perception regarding the independence of auditors and it creates doubt regarding the authenticity of the auditor’s information (Francis, 2006). Legislations have banned the provision of several NAS by auditors for preserving the auditor’s independence. Regulators believed that auditors could go to the extent of sacrificing their independence in order to retain clients who pay large non audit fees (Defond & et. al., 2002) The various threats

Corporate Social Responsibility And Sustainable Marketing Coursework

Corporate Social Responsibility And Sustainable Marketing - Coursework Example Along the years of its entrepreneurial operations in the realm of sports equipments and merchandises the company has been able to design a large brand portfolio by taking into hold a large number of subsidiaries. The sportswear company, headquartered in Oregon operates based on its operations spread over 160 countries round the world. Working on the basis of a large value chain constituted by around 1 million people pertaining to the categories of suppliers, manufacturers and other support categories the company tends to bring about large scale innovation in the realm of sportswear (Nike Inc. 2011). The Market The global market for sportswear reflects two types of consumer trends. Consumers tend to purchase sportswear merchandise more in regards to enhancing their fashion quotients rather than using such for the sole purpose of sports. Nike is held to be the pioneer brand in holding sportswear as a contemporary fashion wear in the global market. During 2003 the total global market fo r sportswear shoes and other apparels amounts to around $58 Billion. Herein apparel tends to constitute around 71 percent while 29 percent is relegated to footwear. The same can be reflected in the form of the following graph as follows. Figure 1 (Play Fair 2004, p.6) Similarly the global market for sports and athletic wear amounts to around $41.5 billion. Herein, United States tends to contribute to around 41 percent of the global share followed by around the European Union by around 38 percent. The markets pertaining to Asia contribute to around 16 percent in the total global market for sports and athletic wear. The same can be reflected through the following diagram. Figure 2 (Play Fair 2004, p.7) In regards to positioning of the different brands in the global sportswear industry it is found that the major brands like Nike, Reebok, and Adidas constitute in around 14 percent of the total global market for such commodities. However less known brands like Fila, Umbro and again Puma tend to each gain around 1 percent market share in the total market during 2002. Other Minor brands like the Mizuno, Lotto and the Kappa tend to each contribute to around 0.5 percent of the total market share during the same period. Thus the three main brands, Nike, Adidas and the Reebok tend to dominate the marketplace pertaining to sportswear in the world (Play Fair 2004, p.6-10). The same can be reflected from the following graphs. Figure 3 (Play Fair 2004, p.8) Figure 4 (Play Fair 2004, p.8) Figure 5 (Play Fair 2004, p.10) In regards to the current scenario during 2007 the total sportswear industry is found to value to around $145 billion. Further the sector reflects an increasing trend in terms of global market growth irrespective of it being affected by economic downturns happening round the world (ITGLWF 2010). Diagnostics Communication Activities of Nike Advertising and Promotion In regards to advertising activities, Nike is held to largely depend on celebrities like Michael Jordan and Kevin Garnett along with Charles Barkley for promotion of its footwear to both developed and developing nations round the world. This advertising practice of the company through the use of celebrities has helped the company in largely

Arthur Millers Essay Example for Free

Arthur Millers Essay The first point I noted was when Alfieri said: A lawyer means the law, and in Sicily, from where their fathers came, the law has not been a friendly idea since the Greeks were beaten This suggests that before Christ and Christianity, the law was quite sloppy, and people could get away with crimes, but since the spread of Catholicism and An eye for an eye , people have been scared to cross the law since people have the right to exact revenge, without scorn from the community, and it worked because people knew that felonies could result in death, they stop committing them. A very important point is where Alfieri is talking about men in the Mafia who were shot by thugs from other families, and refers to those men as justly shot by unjust men which means that those men deserved to die, yet they shouldnt, in the eyes of the American Judicial System, be killed without trial, that being one of the Amendments of The Constitution. Perhaps the most important occurrence when dealing with this category is the prefiguration about Vinnie Bolzano (which has been previously mentioned), because it serves as a prefiguration about what happens when someone breaks the Code of Conduct, with regards to immigrants. The next type of tension is about Eddie as a sympathetic character. Miller wanted the audience to feel sympathetic for Eddie and does this by creating a sense of emotional involvement with Eddie, which forms a certain sense of empathy with Eddie, and a sorrow which implants a sorrow due to Eddies fate. This type of tension is similar to climatic tension except it creates an apprehensive mood in the audiences mind. Because this is in place early on, it is easier for the reader to justify Eddies actions and then empathise with him. In Arthur Millers view, Eddie posses or exemplifies the wondrous and human fact that he too can be driven to what in the last analysis is a sacrifice of himself for his conception, however misguided or right, dignity and justice. This to me provokes real empathy because it is very difficult to sacrifice for your beliefs, and for what behaviour he displays, he deserves so much more respect that he is given. Alfieri, upon meeting Eddie, described Eddie as having eyes like tunnels which suggests that he is in a trance like state, and he has probably given way to his emotions, which is not necessarily his fault, it may be that he is emotionally unstable, and insecure, it may be that he is suffering from stress, which makes him less mentally adept, but whatever he is, he should not, in this situation, be held accountable for his actions. Early on in the play, with Eddies conversation between Catherine Beatrice, a lot of Eddies gentle and more compassionate side is exposed when Catherine wants to work, Eddie wants her to stay in school, but she protests: Eddie: You wanna go to work, heh, Madonna? Catherine: Yeah Eddie: Alright, go to work. This shows Eddies compassionate side, because he gives in to Catherines demands, even though it is against his will, he does it because it is in Catherines interest. Another moment where Miller shows Eddies consideration for Catherine is the moment where she lights the cigar, and almost burns herself: Catherine: Here! Ill light it for you! Dont worry about me Eddie, heh? Eddie: Dont burn yourself. (Just in time she blows out match) This shows Catherines naivety, and perhaps her inability to function independently without Eddie, and how much he cares for her. She soon forgets this when she encounters Rodolfo, and Eddie feels displaced by him, like he is no longer needed, and for this reason, I think his goal becomes to have Rodolfo deported. But only because Catherine completely ignores him, and feels she is independent, when clearly, she is not. The last kind of tension is emotional tension. This is the disarray that begins due to the introduction of a stranger into this family, and continues due to Rodolfos unusual behaviour, Eddies emotional insecurities, Catherines naivety and Beatrices selfishness plunge them into. Due to analysis, I have come to realise that there is a vicious emotional cycle in place that erodes the already fragile relationship these characters share. Here is a diagram and an explanation: Catherine and Rodolfo take Beatrices advice. They become closer, get more intimate. They start to ignore Eddies opinion more. Catherine starts to become less nai ve, more aware, much to Eddies disapproval. Next Catherine and Rodolfos actions make Eddie more irate. He becomes more hypnotised by rage. He is more desperate to separate Catherine and Rodolfo. He feels displaced, like Catherine is bestowing all her affection on Rodolfo. He starts to ignore Beatrice and begins to focus solely on Rodolfos expulsion. Then Beatrice is annoyed by Eddie. She feels he is not attentive enough. She feels displace by Catherine and becomes even more jealous of the attention she receives. She encourages Catherine to become more independent and intimate with Rodolfo in the hope that she, with Rodolfo, moves out leaving Eddie to pay Beatrice more attention. This continues to occur, and destabilises this very dysfunctional family, with each party becoming more bitter and resentful to the others. It changes slightly so that Beatrice almost sides with Catherine and Rodolfo, I think purely for selfish reasons, as she has the most to gain from Catherines absence. In the end, I think is no one persons fault. I think it is the fault of all three parties. Catherine, because she is to nai ve to know what she is doing, and cannot see through Beatrices advice, Eddie for being too overprotective and getting too involved, and Beatrice, for wanting Catherine gone for all the wrong reasons. With all this, I think it is all the deceit and selfish motivation that accompanies a dysfunctional family that sees the Carbone family on their knees. In conclusion, Arthur Miller uses many types of tension in his play A View From The Bridge: climatic tension, dedicated to keeping the middle unknown; tension of discovery, to keep the play fresh with plenty of plot twists, and to keep the characters personas mysterious, the Sicilian Code of Conduct to keep the play within the same era, and to put his knowledge to good use, Eddie as a sympathetic character to keep the audience engrossed and to exploit one of the most fascinating human traits, and the triangular relationship between Eddie, Catherine and Rodolfo and Beatrice to show how easily a nuclear family can be dissolved by the introduction of a stranger who is welcomed with mixed opinions, much like a specie from a different ecosystem being introduced to a new one. Interestingly, with regard to the opinions, each member of the family represents a different opinion; Eddie represents the negative extremity (by wanting Rodolfo gone), Catherine the positive extremity (wanting to marry Rodolfo), and Beatrice who is neutral (doesnt mind, just wants Catherine gone). All these kinds of tension help to portray what happens when strangers enter a close-knit family which has mixed opinions, and that when pushed hard enough, people will forgo almost anything to protect their loved ones; their beliefs, their life, even if it really is all for the sake of self justified pride and dignity. To summarise it in one sentence, it basically says, Welcome to the human condition. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

Overview Of Reality Television Programming

Overview Of Reality Television Programming Reality television programming has been around since the first broadcast of Candid Camera in the late 1940s, but this type of programming became more popular in recent years as a result of different factors. Rowen, (2000) attributed the debut of the Survivor in the year 2000 as the beginning of the infiltration of reality programming in todays television landscape. This type of television programming has now becoming popular among different television audience globally and has also gained recognition of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences who in 2003 added Best Reality Show as an Emmy category. While studies in reality television are relatively limited despite the recent surge in its programming, efforts is hereby made in this study to review or summarize previous research on reality television programming. The increase in reality television programming may undoubtedly be related to with the increasing number of cable channels, which allows advertisers to reach smaller markets (Hiebert and Gibbons, 2000) with the majority of reality television programming is geared towards the individuals under twenty five years old (Frank, 2003). MTV has been presenting the Real World to this target younger demographic for more than ten years. Frank (2003) suggests that younger viewers are attracted to reality television programmes because the programmes show individuals and situations which relates to what they are used to on daily basis. According to Rowen (2000), the popularity of reality television began with the debut of Survivor which was first aired in 2000. From thence, this genre of television programming started gaining attraction and attention on network primetime television. This was when reality programmes started to target an older demographic. There is a variety of programmes that still target the younger demographic, but now there are more programmes that target a much wider demographic. For example, network primetime programmes such as The Apprentice target the 18 49 demographic (Rowen, 2000). Because of this age range, it is most likely that a greater percentage of individuals now watch reality television today than in the time past. Nabi, Biely, Morgan, and Stitt, (2003) examined the genre of reality television programming itself. It was observed that a multidimensional space analysis of all television programmes indicates that reality television is a genre that is distinct from all of the other pre-existing genres. However, not all reality programmes can be considered as one cohesive genre. There are two dimensions with the first one is presented as a continuum due to its suitability for primetime programming. The second dimension is fiction-real, this is a continuum based on whether the programmes were portrayed as fictional or realistic based programmes. Some reality programmes have been listed as fictional because for some reasons, audience members do not perceive them as realistic (Nabi et al, 2003). Interestingly, not all reality programmes were classified as reality, and not all fictional programmes were classified as fictional. In another study, Nabi, Stitt, Halford and Finnerty, (2006) used multidimensional scaling to understand the subgroups of reality television programming. There were two dimensions along which viewers thought about reality television romance and competitiveness. Dating programmes were found to be a unique type of programming with no relationship with other programme types. The other subgroups of reality television programming were found to be fluid and difficult for viewers to separate one from another because of the overlap among the categories. As a way of creating better understanding, Nabi et al (2006) encourages reality television researchers to focus on the qualities of the programmes and not the categories. Some research has sought to discover why people watch reality television programmes. Reiss and Wiltz (2004) in a study, asked individuals to rate themselves on Reisss 16 basic life motives and also to report how much they viewed reality programmes and how much they enjoyed these programmes. Results indicated that the appeal to reality television programmes was dependent on the amount of reality television programmes watched by the individuals. The more reality programmes an individual reported liking, the more status oriented the individual is likely to be. Individuals found to place a higher value on vengeance were found to be more motivated by social life, less motivated by honour, more focused on order, and more concerned with romance. Reiss and Wiltz (2004) found that the reality television programmes that people prefer to watch are those that stimulate their motives and fundamental values the most. For example, people who place premium on romance in relationships are very much l ikely to watch The Bachelor, but if they value work or entrepreneurship, then they may prefer to go for The Apprentice reality programme. Therefore, it can be concluded that the motif for watching reality television programmes is based on their individual values and desires. Many individuals would easily indicate that they enjoy watching other people on reality television programmes, but this is not to say that the competitors are not aware that they are being watched. Nabi et al (2003) in their study concludes that people watch reality programmes because they enjoy watching real people instead of actors and that the uses and gratifications sought by reality television audiences is the reason why regular viewers watch the programmes because they find it entertaining, for the enjoyment of watching other peoples life, and the self-awareness they receive from these programmes. Cognitive and emotional predictors of reality television were examined by Nabi et al (2006) and found that happiness, para-social relationships, dramatic challenge social self-awareness, comparison and negative outcomes are factors which affect the enjoyment of reality television programmes. It was also found that reality television programmes did not appeal much to the audience when compared to other genres of television programming. However, this was attributed to the limited ability of the programmes to evoke positive emotions rather than the negative emotions which the programmes provoked. They also determined that perceived reality was not related to enjoyment from viewing reality television programming and that various dimensions of perceived reality were related, but not as a whole. Hall (2006) conducted focus groups to understand why participants enjoy watching reality television programming. It was found that participants enjoyed reality programmes most because of their humour and suspense as well as the fulfilment of social functions which participants get from watching the programmes. The participants noted that they have watched reality programmes with friends, and also discussed about the reality programmes they watched with their friends too. The study revealed that the participants view of reality television programming as realistic was just weak as the criteria for judging (realness) were different from show to show and changed as new programmes were broadcast. This therefore, makes perceived reality to be a difficult concept to measure. Papacharissi and Mendelson (2007) examines the gratifications sought from reality television and their findings indicates that respondents reported watching reality television programmes mainly to pass the time or for e ntertainment purposes. They noted that the respondents who reported watching for entertainment reasons were most likely to perceive the programmes as being real. Barton (2006) examined reality television programming and gratifications obtained by audience members. Findings from the study indicated that the content of the reality show influenced the gratifications obtained by the viewers. A new gratification known as personal utility which has not been studied was identified in the study. Personal utility was identified as one of the strongest predictors of overall gratifications obtained by reality television viewers. Personal utility refers to the viewer gaining something personally useful from the programme. It is therefore important to understand that viewers watch for different reasons. These reasons may lead to differing perceptions by viewers and thus differing effects. Therefore, individual difference variables have also been found to moderate why people watch reality television programmes (Barton 2006). Nabi et al (2003) while examining the gratifications received from reality television programming, discovered sex as a significant distinguishing factor. For instance, men were noted to be more entertained by reality programmes and as such, formed para-social relationships more often than women do. Reiss and Wiltz (2004) in their study examined how sex moderates the effects of reality television programming on their respondents and reported that they did not find sex as a significant influence on reality television outcomes. Rather, age was found to be a significant influence on reality television outcomes. Younger viewers reported becoming more self-aware and entertained from watching reality programmes, while older viewers reported engaging in social comparisons from viewing reality television. Race was also found to have an impact on media use outcomes. For instance, whites were found to identify with the characters, while non-whites were found to learn more information from reali ty television programming (Nabi et al, 2003). 2.1.2 Perceived Reality and Reality Television Programming Before the development of reality television programmes, perceived reality has been generating much interest among media researchers. Potters (1988) conceptual definition of perceived reality is a construct composed of three dimensions, with the first being defined as the belief in the literal reality of television messages (p.31). This component, known also as the magic window deals with how much the viewer believes that the mediated message from television reflects the outside world. Secondly, utility is defined as the practicality of the viewer applying what is viewed on television in his/her daily living. It also denotes the importance and extent to which people can relate the information they get from television into their own lives. Thirdly, identity refers to relating with a character or personality television programmes and this is also seen as the extent to which the viewer thinks a character plays a part in the viewers actual life (Potter, 1988). Magic window, utility, and identity are central to the understanding of a viewers perception of reality because each of these components will affect how a viewer perceives reality in a television programme. In examining perceived reality, Cavender and BondMaupin (1993) examined crime reality television programming, looking at programmes like Americas Most Wanted. This was done based on story selection, the techniques of cinematographic as well as the producers claims. Crime based reality television programmes were found to depict a very real sense of danger to the audience as they were found to be high in the identity component. Because of the images presented in crime reality programme programmes, it was easy for the viewers to identify with the characters that were presented as victims. Cavender and BondMaupin (1993) notes that participating in reality programmes means that the viewers are now part of the reality. This obviously makes it difficult to distinguish the reality in the programme from any other aspect of life. Their study suggests that reality programming has a unique form because of the presentation of realistic characters, settings, and plot. Another study which examined the perceived reality of reality television programmes is Meng and Lugalambi (2003). The study found that respondents did not view reality programmes as real. Perceived believability of the program mediated the relationship between the type of programme viewed and the perceived utility. The researchers argue that the best manner to examine perceived reality is by the degree of personal utility that the viewer receives from the reality programmes. 2.1.3 Defining reality television programming Reality television programmes are gradually becoming the toast of television stations and networks in recent times (Hall, 2006 and Stern, 2007). Since the success of the genres first big network hit, the Survivor (CBS), the number of reality programmes on television has multiplied, both on broadcast and cable networks. To Seibel and Kerschbaumer, (2004), Reality television programmes were first recognized as an official genre of television in 2004 even though it has become immensely popular in the years prior. Reality programmes or, as they are alternatively known, unscripted dramas have been somewhat difficult to define, due to the rapid growth which has caused the genre to expand into various forms (Hall, 2006; Nabi et al., 2003). While they are all considerably different, programmes like the Big Brother Show, Biggest Looser, The Apprentice, Gulder Ultimate Search, Survivor, Fear Factor, etc. have all been considered to be reality programmes, although each is structured in a slightly different form. There must be caution in describing reality television as simply programming that represents reality because this would force the inclusion of news programmes and talk programmes, which, are generally not considered as part of the genre. Nabi et al (2003, p. 304) while attempting to situate the precincts of reality television programming described them as programmes that film real people as they live out events (contrived or otherwise) in their lives, as these events occur. This description b ecomes Important as it assumes that the events on the television screen are chronological, and that the participants are not working from a script, the show is filmed in a non-studio environment and that the purpose of the programme must be entertainment. While it leaves room for a wide range of programming, this definition excludes talk programmes which, in some ways, draw upon some of the same appeals and strategies to attract viewers, and have been considered as forerunners of reality television (Reality Television, 2004). However, Hall, (2004) notes that the popular press has considered programmes, such as American Idol and Shocking Behaviour Caught on Tape, to be reality fare, even though they do not meet these criteria. Deery (2004) notes that reality television does not necessarily have to be realistic, nor does it have to depict common or everyday experiences. Deery further notes that the reality of reality television programmes is usually translated as the experience of rea l or ordinary people (i.e., unknown non-actors) in an actual and unscripted environment. It does not require that the situation must be ordinary, but that there should be a particular kind of viewer access. The definition of reality television to audiences seems to be as inconsistent as it is in academia, though slightly more inclusive. In a study of the public perception of reality programmes, Hall (2006) notes that some programmes such as Real World and Cops were unanimously considered by most respondents to be of the reality genre. Most of the respondents in the study believe that the presence of non-actors behaving independently from any sort of script was a mandatory criterion for reality television. Additionally, for some, a competition element helped define a show in the reality category. Hall noted that this was not necessarily a criterion because the competition was realistic, but rather that it seemed to be a central element for a large number of programmes that have been labelled as reality. The most defining characteristic for these research participants was the realism factor. Perhaps the most central element in determining the strength of a particular programmes membership in the programming category, however, was the nature of the show when compared to real life situations. Hall (2006, p. 198) notes that the understanding that the programme was non-scripted, which carries the implication that the behaviour of the cast members is self-determined and a true expression of their own personalities and wills, was repeatedly implied to be a determining factor of whether a show should be considered a reality programme. It seems, however, that a viewers task of determining whether or not the content of a programme is real may not be a simple task. Stern (2007) points out that the reality element of reality television is, at best, only a claim. The desire of producers to create an entertaining programme often leads them to distort events to make them more dramatic. The result is a programme that dances on the line between truth and fiction, often leaving the viewers confused about what is real and what is not. Stern notes further that manipulation of reality can manifest as producers interference with the cast, in addition to creative editing techniques. 2.2 Features of reality television (Characteristics) Within the confines of reality television programming exists two sub-genres: voyeur-based programmes and competition-based programmes with the emphasis within each being on the different dramatic aspects of the reality being captured. The first sub-genre, voyeur-based programmes, can most closely be compared to a documentary-style production. Programmes in this category are sometimes referred to as docu-dramas or docu-soaps (Jones, 2003). The component of producer involvement which is generally lacking in documentaries is accentuated in the voyeur-based programmes. However, this is a major area of differences between voyeur-based programming and actual documentaries. That is to say, voyeur-based reality programmes highlight the fact that the participants are incorporating the production units into their daily routines. The second sub-genre of reality-based television is competition-based programmes. These programmes tend to bear a resemblance with traditional game shows, with the distinguishing factor being that game shows typically do not offer comprehensive surveillance of the contestants. The competition-based programmes focus on how human interaction is affected when contestants are forced to interact with each other while trying to succeed against each other in various events. The following are the qualities that make a programme reality based. Reality-based programming is not scripted The most fundamental criterion for a television show to fall within the reality genre is that is must not have a script for the participants or contestants. This means that their actions and spoken words must be spontaneous. In its place, reality-based programming relies on established rules that govern the way the contestants interact with each other and their environment. These rules in essence act as a substitute for scripted materials in that they provide the contestants with a framework that dictates how their exchanges will be enacted. The idea behind this is that it offers an alternative to the predictability of fictional programming (Andrejevic, 2003). Reality-based programming involves ordinary people instead of actors It is argued that one thing that makes reality programming appealing is that it draws its contestants directly from the audience. Dovey (2000, p. 86) notes that ordinary people and their dramatic experiences are the staple of Reality television Syvertsen (2001 p. 319) describes ordinary people as, those people who are not known in the media, they are not experts, celebrities or newsworthy for any other reason people who are, in principle, interchangeable with one another. Andrejevic (2003, p.4).) notes that part of what makes reality-based programming appealing is its lottery-like ability to make a star out of nobodys'(sic) Reality-based programming is characterised by spontaneous actions The freedom for contestants to act on instinct or to adapt as they deem fit to any situation is a key element in what makes reality programming entertaining and unique. In most ways, the contestants are in control of the programme. There are rules governing the conduct of the contestants and operating within those set rules is an attribute possessed by reality programming alone. Andrejevic, (2003, p. 103) quoting The Real World and Road Rules producer, Jon Murray, said that we dont have a lot of control during the production process, what we have is the control to make choices during editing. The naturalness and ingenuity displayed by the contestants is what makes reality-based programmes unique from other forms of unscripted programming such as traditional game shows. Ultimately, with reality programming, viewers get what really happens first hand since there are no re-takes or re-shoots as only that which is natural and uncontrived will be captured and ultimately aired. When looked at in terms of the benefits of spontaneity compared to traditional scripted programming, Andrejevic makes the case that the free-will of the contestants can prove to be one of the most powerful tools reality television possesses. Andrejevic, (2003) concludes that in reality programming, content becomes detached from the normal concept of scriptwriters and directors, which is now replaced by the spontaneous rhythms of real conflict and real romance. Some element of producer involvement exists in Reality-based programming Reality-based programming can be seen as a contrived reality where the producers create the reality in which the contestants live in. This could mean the establishment of rules for how they will get food as on Gulder Ultimate Search, Survivor and Big Brother, or requiring that they regularly update the audience through confessionals or video diary entries as on Big Brother, Gulder Ultimate Search, and The Real World Show. This is one of the key distinctions that have been made between reality-based programming and documentaries. Dovey (2000) clearly notes that interviewing participants, involving directors, producers, or cameramen in the production or in any way interacting with the subject of a documentary is considered interference and is a serious taboo in documentary filmmaking. These techniques, however, have all been used extensively in reality-based programming. There is a comprehensive surveillance of subjects in Reality-based programmes The primary component that distinguishes reality-based programmes from similar forms of entertainment including traditional game shows and programmes is that it provides the viewer with a perspective of how the participants are feeling and behaving outside the confines of a limited event. For example, viewers are not given the opportunity to see how contestants interact with each other after the final round has been played. This is exactly what separates reality-based programming from traditional game shows (Andrejevic 2003). According to Andrejevic (2003, p. 102), the difference between reality-based programming and traditional game shows lies in the fact that they (reality television programmes) are based not on the documentation of exceptional moments but on the surveillance of the rhythm of day-to-day life. This last criterion shows programmes such as The Debators, Maltina Family Dance All, and NBCs Fear Factor cannot be considered as reality-based programmes. This is because, the producers of these programmes shows film exceptional moments and do not offer comprehensive surveillance of the contestants behaviours and interactions with others. 2.3 Reality television programmes and young audience Reality programmes has generally been thought to appeal to a lower-income demographic (Nabi et al., 2003). The reality genre in general has been criticized as being exploitive of some of the worst characteristics, behaviours and ranks of the human race, and was long considered by the television industry to be low-brow entertainment (Freeman, 2001). Even as reality television programmes began to be accepted by the networks, advertisers were still sceptical about investing in them, primarily discouraged by audience demographic and possibly questionable materials in the programmes. Supporting Freemans view, Atkinson and Fine (2004, p. 1) averred that Advertisers once didnt like the thought of associating with what they regarded as often sleazy down-market fare A study in 2001 confirmed advertisers suspicions when it found that 58% of regular reality audiences were in the middle to low income bracket, with annual incomes falling below $50,000 (Gardyn, 2001, p. 1). Carter (2003) notes that reality television appeals to a younger group of viewers between the age ranges of 18 49 years, or even narrower, between 18 30 years. This demographic profiles of the audience he notes, represents a coveted demographic for advertisers. 2.3.1 The appeal in reality television The appeal of reality television ranges from mere voyeurism to a hope that it offers insights into the human condition. Nabi et al. (2003) found that the initial draw for casual viewers is generally related to boredom, while regular viewers of reality television tune in to be entertained. Some of the appeal may be the lure of watching real people on television. A study in 2001 revealed that 37% of the Americans polled preferred to watch real people on television, as opposed to scripted actors (Gardyn, 2001). However, Nabi, Finnerty, Halford and Stitt (2006) suggests that some of the appeal of reality television may not reside in the quality of the reality, but rather in the drama and suspense, elements of good storytelling, that are often found in reality programmes. Voyeurism has also been cited as a gratification of watching reality television (Hall, 2004). Although Nabi et al. (2003) questions whether or not voyeurism is an appropriate term to describe audiences motivations for viewing because cast members are aware that they are being watched and network constraints assure that explicit material does not make it on the air. Rather than the desire to view forbidden or immoral contents, the audience simply sit and enjoy watching other peoples lives and interpersonal relationships. There is also the notion that reality television fulfils the ever growing American obsession with celebrity and stardom. Conlin, (2003, p. 1) avers that by making perceived nobodies into overnight superstars, reality programme seem to appeal highly to a set of American audience who are obsessed with stardom and those who crave for something different from Hollywoods celebrity system. Andrejevic (2005) also notes that part of the appeal of reality programming is the viewers sense of access, or the thinking that the participants in the programmes could just be them. On a more basic level, reality programmes require minimum commitment from its audience. 2.4 Criticisms of reality television programmes The actual realism of reality television (or lack thereof) and its presentation as real has been a subject of criticism. Nabi et al. (2003) found that while viewers perceived the casts of reality programmes to be real, they did not however see events in the programmes to be sufficiently real. Bagley (2001) says that much of what may be marketed to the public as real may actually be a creatively manipulated or faked reality brought about by the process of production and editing. In his criticism of the Real World, Bagley discusses the potentially misleading production practices that attempt to give reality programmes the appearance of being real by borrowing from the documentary style. Real World, one of the first and most taunted prime examples of the reality programming, hold its authenticity to both its means of presentation and by direct statements. Every reality programme begins with the same claim of being original and authentic. In fact, Bagley (2001, p. 62) notes that this is a true story of seven people, picked to work together, have their lives taped and find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real Deery (2004) describes the reality genre as postdocumentary. This implies that the genre has been transformed from its parent genre, documentary, but still retains some of its original elements, which are mainly in the form of its production. This semblance to documentary production is what Bagley (2001) refers to as deceivi ng. Real Worlds manner of presentation critically determines its acceptance as faithful documentation of material existenceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ with aspirations perfectly coinciding with other forms of nonfiction productionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Being patterned after the television journalistic style, Real World borrows on the confidence that genre provokes in its audience, and manages in the process to evoke its own mystique of authenticity that, in the final analysis, furnishes viewers with the rationale to successfully negotiate the shows authorial ambiguity (Bagley, 2004, p. 61-62). Other scholars (Murray, 2006; Bagley, 2001) have argued that the Shaky, camera being moved about, the normal day light, natural environmental sounds, the cheap production values, the surveillance as well as the interview sections by way of confessions help to further boost the claim that Real World reality programme actually depict reality. Some or all of these presentation tactics can be seen in various other reality television programmes such as Big Brother (CBS) and The Bachelor (ABC). At best, reality television, according to Bagley (2004) is a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. Bagley (ibid) notes specifically that most people, when placed before a camera, perform in one way or another, rather than behaving as they would in their natural settings. Again, the long period of editing which is required to reduce long hours of daily footage down into a 30 minute storyline is done with little objectivity in the mind of the produce. The production process is not influenced by the desire to accurately present situations as they are in their traditional forms of non-fiction media, but rather by a desire to entertain and sell. Bagley (2001) notes that this fact alone discredits the genre as a subjective representation of reality because its purpose goes beyond capturing unmediated human relations and events but has veered i nto the commercial realm. 2.4.1 Third person-perception Other criticisms of reality television have emerged indirectly from studies of third-person perception, and have indicated that reality programmes may be socially undesirable in the minds of audience members. Materials that are not socially desirable have been the focus of some studies conducted on third-person perception (Paul, Salwen, and Dupagne, 2000). As noted by Bissell, Peek, and Leone (2006), numerous studies have supported the idea that people perceive others to be more affected by media messages than themselves, particularly the negative contents. The phenomenon of negative contents has been shown in studies of political campaign messages, political advertising, commercials, rap music, and public service announcements, among other types of media (Bissell et al., 2006). In their 2006 study, Bissell, Peek, and Leone (2006),in a study which examined the perceptions of 640 college students concerning reality television (Real World, Fear Factor and Joe Millionaire) found that the students believed that reality programmes negatively impacted others more than themselves, which the researchers suggested indicated their perceptions of reality television as socially undesirable. 2.4.2 Drama Although it has not been extensively documented, the content of reality television tends to be hyper-dramatized turning seeming unimportant events into crises. This is not surprising, given that its purpose is to entertain audiences. Real World producers carefully select cast members to produc