Person-Centred Therapy Essay Example for Free

Person-Centred Therapy Essay The Person Centred approach is based upon the theory and philosophy of Carl Rogers. This approach in its set-up is familiar to the general public as it is depicted in the media and is often expected therefore that a counselling session would take place in this format. At first glance the counselling process which has derived from the theory of Rogers, in a real therapy situation appears simplistic. To fully answer the question whether this blueprint offers a therapist all they need to treat their clients it is important to have a sound knowledge of the theory, and identify the successes and drawbacks connected with this. In the 1950s Carl Rogers gained praise for publishing ‘Client Centred Therapy’ and for his work on the Person Centred approach. Roger’s work is still praised and forms the basis for many theoretical and practical approaches to counselling. Rogers work was classified as a Humanistic Therapy and fits within the three main forms of psychological therapies today, which are listed below; * Behavioural Therapies * Psychoanalytical and Psychodynamic Therapies * Humanistic Therapies Person Centred counselling was based around three core conditions, devised by Rogers; 1. Unconditional Positive Regard 2. Genuineness/Congruence 3. Empathy It is considered essential for all counsellors to display these attributes and to consistently provide these to each client irrespective of circumstance. The Person Centred approach views the client as their own best authority on their own experience, and it views the client as being fully capable of fulfilling their own potential for growth. It recognizes, however, that achieving potential requires favourable conditions and that under adverse conditions, individuals may well not grow and develop in the ways that they otherwise could. In particular, when individuals are denied acceptance and positive regard from others, or when that positive regard is made conditional upon the individual behaving in particular ways they may begin to lose touch with what their own experience means for them, and their innate tendency to grow in a direction consistent with that meaning may be stifled. This does offer a unique perspective for both client and therapist to allow an unlocking of the clientà ¢â‚¬â„¢s genuine self. The premise of this theory is that human beings are innately good and given free opportunity they will strive for goodness, further reaffirming the core conditions. If we believe that humans are good, we should always be able to supply unconditional positive regard, congruence and empathy. The role that theory plays in the process and outcome of counselling has been a subject of discussion, for almost as long as counselling has been a profession. While schools of therapy have argued that different theories produce differing and nonequivalent outcomes, this position has been challenged on numerous occasions. Fiedler (1951) first observed that therapists of differing orientations were very similar in their views of the ideal therapy. Then Sundland and Barker (1962) reported that more experienced therapists tended to be more similar, regardless of their theoretical orientation. In their extensive review of the subject, Gelso and Carter (1985) stated that most clients will profit about e qually (but in different ways) from the different therapies. They go on to suggest that the effect of process and relationship do differ among therapies and that some clients may do better with one approach than with another, based upon these two factors. Finally, Stiles, Shapiro and Elliott (1986) concluded that (a) common features shared by all psychotherapies underlie or override differences in therapists verbal techniques and (b) these common features are responsible for the general equivalence in effectiveness (of therapies)†. Process and relationship maybe considered as relevant as theoretical conceptualisation of a given problem. One can assume that a counselling process must be structured for each client irrespective of what theory you adhere to. The work of Rogers does do this by using the core conditions, however; arguably less so than other theories due to a lack of distinct ‘techniques’. Hough et al contribute the following for a successful counselling relationship to occur; 1.Establish a safe, trusting environme nt – as outlined by Carl Rogers creating a relationship with the client which is in line with the core conditions. 2. Clarify: Help the person put their concern into words. As the person centred approach maintains this is how a client would be assisted by being predominantly talking and the counsellor mostly listening. 3. Use Active listening: find out the clients agenda, what do they hope to achieve by coming for counselling. a) Paraphrase, summarise, reflect and interpret – To ensure that there is a greater understanding of what the client is trying to say. b) Focus on feelings, not events – counselling is dealing with emotional and mental health, so it is important to unpick the feelings rather than to skim over them, like a layperson would do. 4. Transform problem statements into goal statements – allow the client to depict a plan towards attaining their goal. 5. Explore possible approaches to goal, to narrow and deliberate their choices. 6. Help person choose one way towards their goal which is feasible. 7. Make a contract to fulfil the plan (or to take the next step). 8. Summarise what has occurred, clarify, and get verification from the client that this is still their goal. 9. Get feedback and confirmation that the goal remains as before. Ultimately as with all the Couns elling paradigms it is key to enable the client to gain control of their own life and reach their own conclusions. The main paradigms underpin the processes of counselling usually, however; the lesser known models are also used. If this can be agreed upon, this might suggest that the Person centred approach does fulfil the needs of a therapist when diagnosing a problem and creating a plan where they are guided but the content is filled by the client. The Person Centred approach also gave rise to the concept of ‘The Organismic Self’; a state which is considered to truly be intact for a short space of time, in basic terms this is a descriptor of our pure selves, being exactly as we are without external influence. This theory tracks our human experience and maintains that this soon becomes corrupted by what is called the ‘Self Concept’. Self Concept is the term given to explain outside influences on the Organismic Self. It could be said that the battle between who we authentically are as people and what the world and significant people around us feel we should be is what causes us to feel lost. If we think of the Organismic Self as being at one with ourselves and feeling that who we ar e, what we do and our general feeling of inner harmony as being comfortable, the opposite is true of the Self Concept, this is generally a feeling of awkwardness, feeling lost, unreal and can result in later life as a crisis. Humanistic approaches in general are concerned with topics which are meaningful to human beings which makes it especially good as a theory for counselling. Humanistic approaches are also considerate of subjective experience and unpredictable events which occur in human lives. Does this then suggest that the Person centred approach is flexible and allows the therapist to address all matters which may arise rather than, comparatively using a CBT(Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) approach which focusses solely on the present. As a composite of the Person centred approach and general Humanistic theories, it is important to acknowledge the concept of ‘Self Actualisation’. The phrase was first coined by Kurt Goldstein, but is perhaps better known as associated with Abraham Maslow and his Hierarchy Of Needs and is defined as below; â€Å"†¦.the desire for self-fulfillment, namely the tendency for him [the individual] to become actualised in what he is potentially. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming. In reference to his Hierarchy of Needs theory, Maslow advised that only 1% of all people are self-actualised which would infer the need for counselling assistance to be great. As mentioned above the flexibility of this approach may be deemed to allow therapists to treat a vast number of clients, as the growing need for counselling emerges. The non-intrusive nature of the therapy a the relatively comfortable set-up of the counselling sessions within the Person Centred approach highlights how easy it is to apply this approach practically. We certainly know of the efficacy of the Person Centred approach, in its comtinued use in modern day therapy, however; we must consider the strengths of other currently used approaches to illustrate where the Person Centred approach could improve. I have chosen to use the Psychodynamic approach to explore this. One of the strengths of the Psychodynamic Approach is that it provided a valuable insight into how early experiences or relationships can affect our adult personality. One of the examples of this is that fixations can be caused at the Oral Stage of psychosexual development such as being separated from the primary caregiver too early. These fixations can then lead to psychological problems. Supporting evidence for this strength was carried out by Jacobs at al (1966) using Rorschach inkblots to compare the orality of smokers and non-smokers. It was found that smokers emerged as being significantly more oral. Another strength of the Psychodynamic Approach is that it is the first approach to try and attempt to explain mental illness in psychological terms and has had an enormous influence on the understanding and treatment of mental disorders. An example of this is Psychoanalysis and Dream Therapy which aims to make the unconscious material conscious so it is easier to deal with as Freud believed that dreams showed our hidden desires. Evidence to support this was carried out by Sandell (1999) who studied the symptoms of more than 700 patients before and after three years of psychoanalysis and found that patients had significantly fewer symptoms after the therapy. The Psychodynamic Approach also displays weaknesses, in that most of Freud’s is based on findings of case studies, and anecdotal references where cases are often unique and there are problems with generalisation. Like the Psychodynamic Approach, the Person Centred approach does not dismiss the importance of historical and childhood events. This is highlignhted in their subtheory ‘Conditions of worth’ which are defined as ‘restrictions imposed on self-expression in order to earn positive regard’, which are not in and of themselves a bad thing, however; it is possible for these conditions to be overused that they can begin to be a problem. For example a child will seek to satisfy the condition of worth imposed by their parents; without realising, parents may create more complex conditions for gaining their attention. As children grow they learn a new set of rules for gaining attention, the best predictor of consequence for behavior is past experience. As such a child may learn that to receive praise from their Father is to get good results at school or join the football team. From another perspective, a child may learn that they get more attention when they fail at som ething or are feeling sad, as opposed to when they are successful and happy. They may also find that they are surrounded by more friends, more often when they behave in a particular way or indulge in particular activities that are ‘acceptable’. By the time an individual reaches their teenage years, most people have a complex system of rules to abide by if we want to receive love, praise and positive regard from others. Slowly this system of conditions of worth works its way into a person’s overall way of viewing the world they live in. They adopt these conditions as their own values, blocking out the true organismic values that comprise who they really are. As their real self is blocked out by this adopted system of values, incongruence results. The rules for love and positive regard lead them to live a different life, a life incongruent with who they really are, a life that does not satisfy all their other needs and tragically, often doesn’t even truly satisfy their need for positive regard. Due to this, people can become unhappy, anxious and depressed, but often they only try to revise and change the conditions they are using for positive regard. They may change their veneer, but not the root of the problem. They only shift the contents of their complex system of worth rather than trimming it back and exposing their real, true values. It’s this latter state that Person Centred therapy seeks to create, allowing the counsellor to simply try to remove any conditions of worth from their relationship with the client. They offer only unconditional positive regard. This creates an environment in which a small crack is placed in the person’s overarching system of conditional worth. In such an environment the person can begin to acknowledge and understand what it is they truly want and need. These values are always trying to be heard, but are blocked out by our complex set of constructs we use to try to gain conditional positive regard. Person centred therapy simply creates a place where this system is pushed back, and one’s true values can emerge. A person is then free to consider who he is and what he wants, without the threat of a loss of positive regard. No matter what is said, he can expect unconditional regard. Overall this subtheory shows a consistency throughout the Person Centred approach, tying the main premise of the core conditions to the way in which each client is treated. To conclude my assessment of the usefulness and effectiveness of the Person Centred Therapy, I hope to have demonstrated my current level of understanding regarding this subject and illustrated how it can be used practically. It is clear that the current and continuous widespread use of the Person-Centred approach attests for its effectiveness in practice. It is good and justified to always focus on the client and their journey through whatever problems they are facing and this particular approach maintains the therapist in doing so. I believe that the most effective method of treating patients is that adopted by Chrysalis, a multidiscipline approach, whereby one can amend the tool used based upon the presented problem. References Websites; http://www.bapca.org.uk/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person-centered_therapy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-actualization http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_organismic_self http://www.person-centered-therapy.com/conditions-of-worth/ Texts; Edward L. Deci, Richard M. Ryan (1985) Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behaviour; Springer Publishing.

Coca Colas Strategic Choices

Coca Colas Strategic Choices Strategic choices are concerned with decisions about an organisations future and the way in which it has to respond to the myriad of pressures and influences as a result of its immediate and macro environment. To this end there are three basic choices to be made as shown below. Methods for pursuing strategies The choices about how strategies are to be pursued Strategy directions The choices of products and markets available to an organisation Bases of competitive Strategy The choices as to how an organisation positions itself in relation to competitors Bases of competitive Strategy directions Methods for pursuing Strategy strategies Source: Adapted from Johnson, Scholes and Whittington; exploring corporate strategy 2008: pp217. Bases of competitive strategy This area has to do with how Coca-Cola has positioned itself in relation to its competitors. The Coca-Cola Company competes in the non-alcoholic beverages segment of the commercial beverages industry. The non-alcoholic beverages segment of the commercial beverages industry is highly competitive, consisting of numerous firms. These include firms that, like Coca-Cola, compete in multiple geographic areas, as well as firms that are primarily regional or local in operation. Competitive products include numerous non-alcoholic sparkling beverages; various water products, including packaged, flavoured and enhanced waters; juices and nectars; fruit drinks and dilutables (including syrups and powdered drinks); coffees and teas; energy and sports and other performance-enhancing drinks; dairy-based drinks; functional beverages; and various other non-alcoholic beverages. These competitive beverages are sold to consumers in both ready-to-drink and other than ready-to-drink form. In many of the co untries in which Coca-Cola does business, including the United States, PepsiCo. Inc. is one of its primary competitors. Other significant competitors include, Nestl ´e, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc., Groupe Danone, Kraft Foods Inc, and Unilever etc. In certain markets, its competition includes beer companies. Coca-Cola also competes against numerous regional and local firms and, in some markets, against retailers that have developed their own store or private label beverage brands. The strategy clock: competitive strategy options High Differentiation 2 4 Hybrid 5 Focussed differentiation 3 Perceived Product/ Service 2 Low price 6 7 1 No frills Strategies destined for failure 8 Low High Low Price Source: Adapted from Johnson, Scholes and Wittington; exploring corporate strategy. 2008; pp 225 The strategy clock above represents different positions in a market where customers or potential customers have different requirement in terms of value for money. Coca-Cola has therefore taken the strategy option of hybrid, in which case it maintains its price but tries to differentiate itself from competitors. The Company has had a mix of pricing, advertising, sales promotion programs, product innovation, increased efficiency in production techniques, the introduction of new packaging, new vending and dispensing equipment, and brand and trademark development and protection. In this regard Coca-Cola has increased its annual marketing budget substantially, launched many new products, and developed a model to help its retail customers maximize their sales while it continue to plan for the future. The risk of this choice is that one could lose market share due to its low prices but then it can be tackled through economies of scale where the company produces in large quantities to cover cost and tries to penetrate different geographies as is the case of Coca-Cola. This choice has actually proved beneficial to Coca-Cola even though its market share has not grown tremendously as one would think over the last ten years but it definitely has a much higher market share than its competitors, especially Pepsi Co. This has been possible for Coca-Cola due to its recognised brand name and strong presence in so many geographies including Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and the Pacific spanning across 200 countries. Strategy direction This has to do with the scope of a company in terms of its products. Over the last few years Coca-Cola has introduced a lot of products to its portfolio, including the recent Coca-Cola zero, which sold more than 600 million cases globally. Today Coca-Cola does not only deal in non-alcoholic soft drinks, but it also makes a lot of juices and juice drinks, still and carbonated products. As a matter of fact Coca-Cola has more than 3,300 products in more than 200 countries. In general one can rightly say that Coca-Cola has gone into diversification since it has not only shifted from soft drink to juices and even energy drinks but has also ventured and penetrated larger market over the years. Diversification is simply a strategy that takes the organisation away from both its existing market and its existing products. We have therefore used the Ansoff matrix below to identify the strategy direction which Coca-Cola is taking Box D, which is diversification. The Ansoff matrix provides a simp lified way of generating four basic alternative directions for strategic development. Strategic directions (Ansoff matrix) Products Existing New A B Market penetration Product development Consolidation C D Market development Diversification Existing Markets New Source: Adapted from Johnson, Scholes and Wittington; exploring corporate strategy. 2008; pp258 Diversification happened to be a good strategic option for Coca-Cola as it helped the Company to break new grounds in business. For instance a new product like the Coca-Cola zero did so well in terms of sales. This therefore impacted positively on the companys market share. Again shifting from soft drinks to energy and sports drinks also gave Coca-Cola an opportunity of a larger market share. However diversification can be capital intensive as not all organisations will be able to cope with the finances involved since a lot of finances will be needed to go into research and development for the new product. For instance Pepsi-cola once came up with a new product called Meca cola but it wasnsuccessful and the product was withdrawn later on. Surely there will be a lot of laboratory works and feasibility studies to go with a new product and this will equally require skilled people getting involved and consequently hiring more employees so if the organisation does not have enough finances it may not be able to cope. Again the organisation which decides to diversify will put in place an adequate amount of public awareness in terms of advertisements and trainings. This may involve using news papers, television, internet etc. All these can be very enormous so diversification requires careful planning. Methods for pursuing strategies Most of Coca-Cola products are manufactured and sold by its bottling partners. The Company typically sell concentrates and syrups to its bottling partners, who convert them into finished packaged products which they sell to distributors and other customers. Separate contracts (Bottlers Agreements) exist between the Company and each of its bottling partners regarding the manufacture and sale of Company products. Subject to specified terms and conditions and certain variations, the Bottlers Agreements generally authorize the bottlers to prepare specified Company Trademark Beverages, to package the same in authorized containers, and to distribute and sell the same in (but, subject to applicable local law, generally only in) an identified territory. The bottler is obligated to purchase its entire requirementof concentrates or syrups for the designated Company Trademark Beverages from the Company or Company-authorized suppliers. Coca-Cola agrees to refrain from selling or distributing, or from authorizing third parties to sell or distribute, the designated Company Trademark Beverages throughout the identified territory in the particular authorized containers. The Coca-Cola Company has created and achieved a strategic lock-in such that it has achieved dominance in the industry. For instance many people will think of Coke once they think of using or taking a soft drink.

The Merchant Of Venice By William Shakespeare

The Merchant Of Venice By William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare is a comic, revengeful and tragic play which is set in Venice and the nearby country estates of Belmont. Shakespeare wrote the play during times when England like much of the Europe had restricted the rights of the Jews and even escalated to extremes of banishing them from England in 1290 by King Edward I and were not officially allowed to return until1655 when Oliver Cromwell allowed them. This exile of Jews was still in effect when Shakespeare wrote this play and many scholars believe that some Jews still lived in England at the time of the Christian guise. At the time renaissance Christians disliked the Jews because they believed that their behaviour of charging interest on money they lend (usury) was against the societal morals. During the time of renaissance Christians had become heavily indebted to the Jews who had loaned money to them with interests rates hence their increased hatred for the Jewish counterparts who started terming them as inhuman by demanding usury on the monies they lend. This was a selfish and unfair reaction from the Christian community in Venice because they started treating Jews harshly by imposing hefty taxes on them failure from which their land was confiscated and defaulters imprisoned. Such heavy taxing was intended to boost the financial status of the government especially during adverse economic times (Mahon, 345). Merchant of Venice is a revenge tragedy play which its plot revolves around the quest of its main character shylock a Jew who is bitter on the way his neighbors supposedly Christians treat him and he is on a mission to avenge for such in human treatment. He plans and implements his revenge by engaging in money lending which offers him chance to avenge when a Christian defaults him after he lend the money. In Venice Bassanio borrows money from his merchant friend Antonio to help him woo a wealth noble woman Portia. Antonio does not have ready cash to lend to his friend but he gives him a permission or guarantee to borrow the money he needs on his credit. Antonio is expecting his ships to arrive at the harbor with a lot of merchandise that will enable him to settle the loan. Bassanio is given loan of 3000 ducats by the Jewish moneylender Shylock that is not in good terms with Antonio. Their dispute is a racial and religious one and shylock seizes the opportunity to offer a bizarre alternative to Antonio if he defaults and for sure Antonio chances of defaulting hits peak as the news that his ships had been wrecked. Shylock then takes the case to court demanding that he be given permission to cut one pound of flesh from the defaulters chest as agreed upon earlier. The case is solved amicably by the judge and the play ends in a good way when the main characters Bassanio and Portia marry ea ch other and the ships of the Antonio are found and arrives at the harbor. Shylock is a Jewish money lender who lives in Venice and he has been bittered for many years by the way Venetian Christians have been mistreating him especially by the merchant Antonio. The mistreatments by the Christians have shaped the religions and racial identity of shylock. The character of Shylock in the play merchant of Venice is portrayed as devilish and murderer whose dear intentions is to take away the life of the Christian Antonio believed by his fellow Christian to be the most kind mind to have ever lived in Venice. Shylock wants revenge on the Christian Antonio because he wants to avenge his revenge on the Christians who even call him a villain because nothing seems to stop him at getting the pound of flesh from Antonios chest even after Bassanio offers to pay him twice the agreed upon debt of six thousand ducats. He adamantly refuses to accept the money and demand for the pound of flesh which he claims he bought it hence he must have it because its legally his. Jews like shylock hate Christians at the time so dearly because Christians themselves had no liking for Jews because they believed they killed crucified Jesus Christ hence were on the side of the devil. Christian also hated Jews because they believed they were not human by charging usury on money they lend to Christians but the truth is that Christians had become heavily indebted to Jews who had lend money to them hence their intentional unfair reaction by being anti-Semitic. So the murderous character of Shylock is as result of the hatred and bitterness his arbors against Christians who constantly show hatred towards him and other Jews. He claims for what he believes is his rightfully and seizes the opportunity of Antonios defaulting to make himself to be recognized a as a just man by the Christians who always sees him as an unjust man. This newly earned character of shylock can mainly be attributed to Christians who forced him to hate them and even have a conspiration to kill Anton io, hence offering yet evidence why Christians are portrayed to have contributed to the construction of Shylocks character in the play. Shylock is forced to charges some interest on the money he lends and this becomes his obsession as he wants to acquire lot money to ensure his own security from the ungrateful Christians. With is addiction to getting more money he becomes a greedy person who is not his true self he only need the money as a reaction to the treatment he receives from the Christian community. Shylock sees that getting financial security is the only way to proof to the Christians like Antonio that he is also somebody worth respect and human dignity and not the way they always see him. He thinks that being wealth will make the Christian treat him well but that ends up not the truth as everything he has worked for ends up in the possession of his enemies when the court fines him for conspiring to kill Antonio and that costs half of his property and he later becomes broke and desolate forcing him to become a Christian hence making him loose his identity. Shylocks fate of losing his identity as a Jew is attr ibuted to his past greedy behavior of charging usury on the money he lends to Christians to get as much wealth as he could just to get at his Christian enemies hence it can be successfully argued that Christians can be held responsible for the final man that Shylock becomes as its their hatred and ill treatment that forced him to charge usury which converted him to a greedy person. Through out the play merchant of Venice Christians in Shylocks neighborhood show a consistent hatred and dislike for the Jewish shylock and even fail to call him by his given name but prefers calling him detestable alienating names like the Jew, cruel devil, harsh Jew, currish Jew, infidel, impenetrable cur, the villain and even the devil in the likenesses of the his Jewish identity. Such name calling alienated shylock from the Venetian Christians and make him diabolically foul which gradually constructs shylocks identity and makes him a bitter man who focuses in taking revenge against the Christian community who he beliefs are treating him in humanly. Shylock notices the habit of Christians to assess the worth of them and others according to faulty standards like using money value or grade ones status and value in the community. Christians belief is that the more money one has the greater value and status one belongs to and Shylock in his conspiration to unleash his monomaniacal lus t for revenge against his Christian enemies forced him into money lending ventures which he earns a living from the usury. Shylock sees this means as the only way for him as a Jew to compete with his fellow Venetian Christians. Shylock exhibits a monstrous behaviour especially against his Christian defaulters like Antonio as he sees it as the only achievable and fulfilling way of unleashing his revenge. This change in shylocks behaviour is as a result of the constant cold treatment he receive from his Christian neighbors and this has made him a different person which is not characteristic of the Jew he was at first hence an evident that Christians in Merchant of Venice greatly contributes to the construction of Shylocks racial and religious identity. Shylock in the play admits that he hates Antonio and even declines his invitation to dinner on the grounds that he is a Christian. Shylock hates Antonio even more because he himself is a usurer who lends money with high interest rates that has enabled him to acquire immense wealth. He accuses Antonio of lending money to people in distress without demanding for any interest charge and this escalates his hatred for Antonio because he sees him as a person who threatens his job since he causes his business to lose money as a result of reduced business. Shylock is therefore made to act harshly towards Christians because he accuses them of stealing his business and his run away daughter. This illustrates that the behaviour of Christians like Antonio being kind makes Shylock to change his character and become more harsh and unkind towards his perceived enemies Christians hence the construction of his character in the play. In the play Shylock has been portrayed an isolated, greedy, unreasonable and self-thinking individual who doesnt think of the needs of other people. He even loves money more than his daughter and doesnt want to eat, drink or even pray with anyone and he avoids making friendship making him cranky and steadfast and even rigid in his beliefs. He does a stereo-typical profession as a money-grabbing money lender; a job which makes him hard to let go off his greedy tendencies as he doesnt see any reason why he should do so event at the point where it warrants mercy and pity. He describes the idea of getting a pound of flesh from Antonios chest as a merry sport and finds it very pleasing when flesh is cut out of someones body and this is evident when he insist only for the pound of flesh even after being offered double the priced he is owed. Such unreasonable and weird secluded behaviour portrayed by Shylock is attributed to the racist treatment he receives from the Christians who have neve r seen anything in him other than his Jewishness. Shylock wonders why he is being treated that way by Christians yet he has eyes, has hands, and has organs, dimensions, feelings, senses and even passions just like them. The unreasonable and rigid character of shylock is as a result of the racial discrimination that he has received from the Christians hence the argument that Christians are the ones responsible for construction of his character. Christians are seen as the main modes through which the character of Shylock is shaped through out the play as Shylock constantly claims that he has done no wrong by treating Christians badly because he is simply following what his Christian neighbors has taught him which it eventually becomes an integral part of his character later in the play. His conspiracy to kill Antonio is borne of the insults and injuries which Antonio had inflicted upon him in their previous encounters. This means that by planning to kill Antonio he is does not consider himself as a murderer but rather as a mechanism of applying what his past relationship with Antonio has taught him. For instance Shylock when responding to Salarinos query on what good thing that having the pound of flesh will benefit him, he answers that it will offer him a chance to execute the villainy that Christians has taught him. This means that almost every action that Shylock does is attributed to some past experience that Christians have done to him hence the evidence of the role that Christians play in construction of Shylocks character in Shakespeares play the Merchant of Venice (Bradbrook, 126). During the court session, Shylocks proofs that he is a smart character who can defend himself in every adversary despite the great opposition from his Christian enemies who want to stop him from succeeding in demanding for the pound of flesh from his defaulter Antonio. Shylock guided by his keenness for revenge uses any wit within his disposal to ensure that he is granted the permission to finalize his revenge of killing Antonio. He has nobody on his side but he shows no sign of giving up until he satisfies his yearning for revenge; he argues to the judge that Christians refuses to set free their assess, dogs and mules simply because they bought them thus they own them and they are their slaves then why should he be denied the pound of flesh which he bought in accordance to the law and that why he beliefs that he is acting as per the law hence granting him the right to have the pound of flesh from Antonio as per the agreement they signed. This portrays that Shylock is stopping at not hing to ensuring that he succeeds in vending his hatred for Christians until he kills Antonio. Such courage enamates from his dearly anticipated revenge which he attributes to the cruelty he has gone through in the hands of the Christians hence its the way Christians treated him earlier that becomes the driving forms that makes Shylock a master of his own destiny. This shows that Christians therefore contributed o the construction of his Character in the play merchant of Venice. Christian merchant Antonio resulted to his own destruction when things fail to work according to his will. Shylock suffers a spiritual ruin when the clever Portia helps Antonio in solving the case in the court. Portia disguised as Bellario and Nerissa as a law clerk articulately influence the outcome of the court especially when Shylock adamantly refuses to show mercy for Antonio. Portia then allows him to get the pound of flesh as stipulated by the signed agreement and that was to be done without spilling of even a dot of blood. Shylock gives up and thus losing the case resulting to being fined for conspiring to murder Antonio and this forces him to lose have of his property and in addition is forced to convert to Christianity (Barton, 252).After Portia striping Shylock off his property he becomes broke and loses his Jewish religion and this is as result of the combined forces from the Christian community both outside and in the court. This twist of events therefore changed Shylocks religious identity for the rest of his life. During the time of Shakespeare Jews were treated harshly by the Venice Christians and nobody really cared whether they lived or died. As a way of showing their uncaring behaviour Christians became anti-Semitic and the government of the day taxed them heavily and striped off their money during times that the governments money became low or just for government financial boost. If Jews failed to pay the money taxed on them individually or collectively, then their property especially land was confiscated and defaulters imprisoned. Therefore the Jews population was treated harshly and with a lot of disrespect by Christians who lived in Venice during the renaissance period. This prompted Shakespeare to develop the character of Shylock in Merchant of Venice as to portray the bitterness that Jews felt as a reaction to the harsh treatment they were accorded to by the Christian community. During the time of renaissance Jews had to be portrayed and villain ands people never expected anyone of them to show any drop of compassion for his enemy because the Christians were the ones expected to show compassion towards others especially the Jews who were stereotypically viewed as the murderers of Jesus Christ thus forcing Shylock who is a Jew to behave like the devil. This construction of Shylocks character give Christians like Portia the chance to show their mercy when he corners him using the law which was his only weapon and strips him his property only to give half of it back after he loses his religion to become Christian. The behavior of Shylock charging usury gives Antonio the Christian another chance to show him mercy by refusing to collect part of his goods as a compensation for his conspiration to eliminate him. The outcome of the court forces Shylock to kneel and beg for mercy from the Christians judges which served the interests of the renaissance Christian popul ation in Venice (Shakespeare et al, 145). In conclusion, the discussions and argument made in the essay goes beyond any reasonable doubt that the character of the Shylock who is one of the main characters in the play Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare is heavily constructed by the presence, interactions ad behaviors of the Christian community who happened to be the neighbors of the character. Shylock undergoes a lot of transformations in his character throughout the play and almost everything he does claims that he was thought by his Christians neighbors and in fact he shows no remorse or mercy or even take responsibility for the outcome of his actions since her doesnt even see anything wrong with his weird character. Shylock becomes greedy, alienated, villain, infidel, unreasonable, rigid and even a murderer which all are linked to his dear intentions in trying to avenge for himself and the rest of the Jews for what he terms as inhuman, intolerable and ill treatment by the Christians in Venice and the neighborhood. He belief s that by taking a revenge by killing Antonio he will have succeeded in making the Christians pay for the past unacceptable behaviors against Jews.

The Powerful Settings of Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown Essay

The Powerful Settings of Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown Setting can be a powerful literary device, and Nathaniel Hawthorne wields it to great effect. There are four major settings in Hawthorne’s â€Å"Young Goodman Brown,† and they all take place in Salem. This essay is an examination of those settings and their effects. The tale opens in a doorway as the reader is presented with two lovers saying goodbye. The two lovers are Goodman Brown, who is eager to leave for his adventure; and his wife Faith Brown, who is desperately trying to dissuade him from leaving the house tonight. In this setting, the main elements induce feelings that are positive, bright, and hopeful – a sunset, a familiar street and home, and the pink ribbons in Faith’s cap. Goodman’s positive setting doesn’t last very long, however. As he walks down the street past the meeting house, his surroundings undergo a drastic change. Goodman’s path takes him onto a "dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind."†His new se... ...ne Review 19 (Spring 1993): 18-21. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Complete Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Doubleday and Co., Inc.,1959. The Holy Bible, King James Version-Old and New Testaments, with the Apocrypha   http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/kjv.browse.html James, Henry. Hawthorne. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997. Martin, Terence. Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: Twayne Publishers Inc., 1965. Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.

The Unresolved Bridge Problem Essay -- Philosopher Karl Popper

Philosopher Karl Popper, an inductive skeptic, is criticized by his objection to confirmation. Rather than using the term confirmation to describe a theory that has continued to be proven correctly, Popper created his own term. Popper says that corroboration is a term used to describe theories that have been tested and not yet falsified. According to Peter Godfrey-Smith (G-S), â€Å"Popper can say why we should prefer to use a theory that has not been falsified over a theory that has been falsified† (Smith 68). The problem with Popper lies when he is presented with two theories, neither of which has been falsified. This is when Popper has difficulty choosing one theory over another. This situation can be better understood by looking at the bridge problem. I will argue that Popper is unable to solve the bridge problem using corroboration because the term is synonymous with confirmation. There are two theories (T1: Theory One) and (T2: Theory Two) that have different implications for how to build a bridge. These two theories are similar because they both have not been falsified however they differ because one has been tested and the other has not. The theories are stated explicitly below. T1: Theory that has been tested many times and has never been falsified T2: Theory that has never been tested and has never been falsified Next we can formally reconstruct the argument in modus ponens form as follows: (P1) If T1 is corroborated, then T1 is rational (P2) T1 is corroborated (C) T1 is rational Before I say what is wrong with the argument, I want to explain the bridge objection. In â€Å"Theory and Reality,† G-S presents the bridge problem, which is a response to Popper made by inductivist’s. I chose to explain this... ...t his term corroboration is synonymous to confirmation. In conclusion, I have argued that Popper is unable to solve the volleyball problem using corroboration because the term is synonymous with corroboration and Popper denies confirmation. Granted, there must be more to what Popper thinks of corroboration, we have no reason from the readings to see why the two terms corroboration and confirmation differ. Until Popper says more about corroboration we are entitled to treat the term as equivalent in meaning to confirmation Work Cited Blackmon, James. â€Å"Lecture #13: â€Å"Confirmation.† Philosophy 30. UC DAVIS. Davis, 5 Nov 2013. Blackmon, James. â€Å"Lecture #17: â€Å"Popper’s Bridge.† Philosophy 30. UC DAVIS. Davis, 26 Nov 2013. Godfrey-Smith, Peter. Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2003. Print.

Advertising Strategies in Sri Lankan Market

FMCG Product – Panadol Advertisement Most of Panadol advertisements are really consistent with Brand Identity . This advertisement also carries the brand identity well. When we analysis this advertisement, it is a reinforcement advertisement while educating customers how to use the product. Panadol is mass product but different advertising campaigns run to attract each segment such as middle class customers, upper class customers, children, elders and some sickness and general brand building advertisements. Each campaign is not badly affected on the other segment .If we compare this advertisement with Three wheeler driver and the self-employed mother advertisement we can understand the difference well. But all campaigns carry the Brand identity well. This advertisement was targeted upper middle and upper level customers who are educated enough to decide their OTC drugs without getting doctor’s recommendation. Non educated mother never do it without asking doctor. Brand is more prominent throughout the advertisement. Brand positioning is also well establish in this advertisement. Panadol is trust painkiller for many years in Sri Lanka and people believe it is best solution for small sickness.This advertisement also show the trustiness of happy mother with three children Consumer Insight Consumer insight of this panadol advertisement is that the mother is a family knows about her children well than any other person and mother’s caring is not compare with anybody else. Our mother knows how much we eat, how much we drink, what we need, what we like and dislike and children are so bonded with mother than father. Mother’s primary responsibility to care all her children. She is the family member who decide what and how much for each person.This insight is true in majority of Sri Lankan families. Even elder children are depend on their mother. Sometime, even father is depending on mothers opinion for this kind of situation. Advertising Idea Panadol wanted to use this insight and educate customer to use Panadol as OTC drug for their children without doctors’ prescription. But due to it is drug, they should use the perfect dosage. Therefore , the person who gives medicine for children should be well aware about this. And Mother is the perfect person for this. However, she should follow the age and weight of child to decide the dosage.With panadol box images advertisement well explain the dosage and benefits of the product.. Relevance to Brand and the Consumer It is relevance to brand and consumer both. By educating target customers how to use it as OTC drug, they can achieve the brand targets . it is the perfect way to use the panadol for children. We know for sure, for elders, two panadol is enough. But for children, the ml dosage is varying with the age and weight. Some mothers just do it as doctor prescribe only. But if you know the age and weight we can do it ourselves. This advertisement carry this message to consumer.Every mother knows the age of her children and weight with immunization record book. Further weight measurement for toddler and kids are primary responsibility of mothers. Therefore it is difficult to convince the message and consumer or parents are more confidence about what they give to her child. Use of Symbols and Colors Panadol is a mass product and their advertising campaigns are targeted for each segment. This advertisement was for middle, upper level customers , specially educated mothers to reinforce the brand. They are more forward to take own decision. The mother of the advertisement shows the target market well.Environment of the advertisement school children’s water bottle, and the house environment shows the target market precisely. Orange, red and mixed yellow has used to keep the brand constancy of brand colors. And blue, pink and green used to highlight the children for water bottles. Kitchen, and rack of medicine also indicate the middle and upper level consumers Product and brand is well established in the advertisement. Mother ( model ) is giving high attention to bottle of Panadol and box of panadol is highly emphasizing with the brand. That means brand and the product is the hero of the advertisement.Consumer Learning and Involvement It is a cognitive learning for consumers. They have to understand how to use the product. Before give panadol for little children ( specially infants and kids) mother or parents should know about exact dosage for their child. With the growth of child, dosage is changing. The chart of the box of Panadol well explain it and advertisement also try to get attention to that by high lighting three age limits with different dosage. This product is low involvement product. Customer do not need or research extensively before buying panadol. It is OTC drug more similar to FMCG products.However this advertisement is not fully emotional ad to create emotional feeling of customers.. It is educating custom er to think before use Panadol for children by showing how to use panadol for different age. Customer insight is used to bring the emotional feeling with showing mothers’ day today life extend to caring her children. Suggestions to Improve Overall this Panadol advertisement is good enough to educate target customers to use the correct dosage for children and it is mx of rational and emotional advertisement. However there are some improvements can be suggested as well.The model they use for mother is not preciously matching to target audience. If a mother has three children, she should be 30 plus ( average). And this model is too young for the real mother position. They have not use three children there. But use three water bottles and some cartoon dolls to explain about three children. They could use three children from different age limit with situation where they can use Panadol before going to doctor consultation. Such as small increase in temperature etc. Durable Product – Singer Washing Machine Buying a Washing Machine is a high involvement decision and Singer has done it is other way around.By using customer insight, they have convert this high involvement rational decision to low involvement and more convenience product similar to FMCG product as a gift giving with a surprise to wife. This advertisement is encourage the middle level consumers to buy a washing machine with easy payment option. Consumer Insight In Asian culture including Sri Lanka , middle class house wives are more indirect demanders. They never asking what they need from husband but to expect husband to understand all her needs and fulfill. House wife do all the home work and husband take the responsibility for earning and spending too.Sometimes Spending will do together. But due to wife is not earning, she is more towards to other way. However, every women love to have many electronic items at her home even though it is necessary or not. If we look at middle income level houses, ladies are more towards collecting those durable items. Advertising Idea This advertisement has used this insight of women and the culture to encourage men to think about their wives and fulfill their needs to have better family life. Advertisement shows the difficulty of women face at home which is not always visible to husbands due to they are away from home day time.But wife do great job with caring the come. However, middle income level people do not have the affordability for a washing machine. That is the main reason that wife also not demanding such expensive item, even though she love to have one. Advertisement offer the solution by offering easy payment option. Relevance to Brand and the Consumer Signer is not a premium brand but offer durable products. Therefore depending only on high income earners will not enough and all companies and brands who are in the industry is expending the target market with different approaches.Easy payment option is the best method to encourage this segment. It clearly explained the relevance of product and brand showing the requirement of the product for clothes cleaning. From the point of customer also, it is highly relevant. We all need to clean our clothes and when the number of family members is increasing, this is a major task of house wife’s everyday life. Use of Symbols and Colors This advertisement try to use symbols and colors to convey the message well keeping the brand identity too. To demonstrate the middle income level family they have use the urban flat house. The seriousness of washing and leaning is showing with extended family, wife, husband, one child and grand father too. House wife is well demonstrate, she is cleaning clothes alone and preparing meals and serving to family members. All others are waiting on dining table. Color usage of the advertisement is not very much effective. Blue, yellow and red used for clothes, but it is not consisted with the Singer Brand. To demonstrate the c onsumer insight, they have used the grandfather to create the credibility of the insight ( Ganu Kawada da hitha Kiwwe) Brand and the product is well established. The need of product is highly emphasizing.Showing the actual product and the brand, advertisement try to get the attention from viewers for the brand and product Consumer Learning and Involvement This area is debatable in this advertisement. Normally durable products are high involvement decision making and consumer learning also high. It should be cognitive learning of how to use, benefits, features etc. However , this advertisement is created based on totally consumer insight mention above arose the emotional feeling of consumers to think about house wife. Cognitive learning on this advertisement is to think about, how women think and their expectations.It is persuade to buy the product with easy payment system Suggestions to Improve As explained above , even though this is durable product, it has gone as low involvement product and use the consumer insight of surprising wife with gift giving. It is no argue, this insight is great to influence consumers. However, due to this is not a product which is just use and remove, it should be selected carefully. That message is not deliver through this advertisement. If it can explain the features of benefits, it will be more benefits for their buying decisions. It just say about easy payment method, but customer has to research about it.In that case it is high involvement decision. Further , they should use color in theme to distinguish the brand from other competitor brands. Because easy payment method is not a unique method for them, it is common to all other competitors too. They could use some nice song or music to remind the brand. Service Advertisement – Janashakthi Full Option Janashakthi full Option advertising campaign is encouraging customers to use the full option insurance which bundle some additional services. This campaign is integrated marketing communication campaign and Press advertisement is one medium which is extending from TV commercials.They have taken one last part of the TV commercial and emphasis the services they offer. Consumer Insight This entire campaign has built based on some unexpected difficulties in real life such as days without having daily income is more difficult, unexpected happing at special movement is really embarrassing our lives etc. Advertising Idea This entire advertising campaign based on this insight, when we have difficulties and missing something, our lives are not complete and we are not comfortable as well. Unexpected situations in life may not be avoided.We should have backup plans to make it easy when we face such a situation and insurance is one way to do it. Janashakthi full option offers some benefits to make customers life easy and great. Relevance to Brand and the Consumer Getting customer attention is very important for Brand and the product, motor insurance is highly competitive and need to keep consumers top of awareness is really value. This advertisement is reminding target customers having Full Option policy will make their life easy and great. Consumer also understand the need of insurance policy other than legal requirement. Happiness due to easy life is matter for everyone.Use of Symbols and Colors Usage of symbols to demonstrate the idea is great. They have taken the car rental driver went for wedding hire which is really important. Typical driverhas taken and insurance agents friendly service is well demonstrate with gentleman having hands on driver’s shoulders. Wedding car demonstrate the importance of the service. Color usage is really good by associating brand colors which is Yellow and Black. Logo and brand name is well establish, brand is hero not the models on ad. Services are well noted and contact number given for more information gathering. Consumer learning and involvementConsumer learning is just to get the fear of fac ing bit embarrassing situations and having the service remove their fears with happy face. Getting a motor insurance policy is little high involvement decision and they need to look at the core benefits and additional benefits they gain before take the policy. However, advertisement is not rational cognitive learning encouragement. It is feel advertisement with emotion and rational combination. Suggestions to Improve Due to Press advertisement, they could give more information to evaluate the service. Press is not like TV commercials creating great emotional feeling.Press is great to educate customers. When we look at this press advertisements, they just mention the services they offer and no much information given. Customer learning is less and if they need, they have to call and get the information. It is better to list the services with some good information to encourage customer to think and evaluate the service. Further this explain only one situation to make the fear on target customers, however, by using graphics , they could create different situations where we face difficult in real life. Combination of TV commercials. If they want to make only emotional appeal. It is the best way.

Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Movie Review Essay

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, written by John Boyle is a fictional novel of the unlikeiest of friendships, the son of a Nazi commandant and a Jew suffering in the largest concentration camp. I believe innocence that is created by a sheltered and caring family is an important theme of the novel. Bruno was unaware that his father was a Nazi commander or that he is living right next door to Auschwitz concentration camp. His parents were trying to protect him from hearing the truth or understanding the reality of what was happening outside his window. Bruno’s innocence and vulnerability caused him to misunderstand the situation around him. He hears â€Å"Auschwitz† as â€Å"Out-with† and also incorrectly hears â€Å"the Fuhrer† as â€Å"the Fury. † Athough he was best friends with Shmuel, he was completely oblivious to the situation Shmuel was in. â€Å"No one’s ever given me an arm band,’ said Bruno. ‘But I never asked to wear one,’ said Shmuel. ‘All the same,’ said Bruno, ‘I think I’d quite like one. I don’t know which one I’d prefer though, your one or Father’s. † This shows that the innocence of a protected childhood results in a misunderstood reality. When looking back at my childhood, I can see how my parents protected me from some harsh realities that other children face. I had no idea what a broken family was since I had a stable and caring family. I would hear stories on the news of child abuse and violence but never really understood how that would feel. It was not until I was older and I realised issues like this are actually out there and it is the enviroment many children grow up in. I believe another important theme in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, is bullying. Throughout the novel the Nazis demonstrated their hatred for the Jews. The Nazis believed they were much more important than the Jews and they deserved to die. Lieutenant Kurt Kotler was one example of a bully in the novel. He abused and hated the family’s Jewish servant, Pavel. â€Å"Pavel held his cap before him in his hands and nodded, which made his head bow even lower than it already was. ‘Yes, sir,’ he said in a quiet voice, so quiet that he may not even have said it at all. ‘And afterwards, when you return to the kitchen, make sure you wash your hands before touching any of the food, you filthy-‘ Lieutenant Kotler repeated the word he had used twice already and he spat a little as he spoke. This was how he spoke to Pavel. Lieutenant Kurt’s rank put him in a position of power over the Jews. I see a similarity of this in high school. Some older students believe they are much more important than the younger students just because they have been there longer. Some act like they are better than everyone else. Younger people then go through the younger high school years feeling terrible and miserable about themselves.