Behavioral and Social Learning Approaches Personality Assessment Essay

Behavioral and Social Learning Approaches Personality Assessment - Essay Example In social learning, behavior is developed through the adaptation of behaviors that are mimicry of the behaviors that one is exposed to within one’s social environment. One of the more controversial, and by today’s standards, unethical experiments in behaviorism was conducted by John B. Watson on a subject he called â€Å"Little Albert†. Watson proposed that a natural and innate response that an infant would experience to loud noise was fear. Watson introduced a white rat into an area where an 11-month old infant was sitting. The child did not exhibit a natural fear of the rat and attempted to reach for it and interact with the rat. Then Watson would introduce the rat and at the same time strike an iron bar with a hammer in order to evoke a response. As predicted, when the rat would be let into the area with the child, the child would then automatically begin to cry, associating the rat with the fear he had felt at the disruptive loud noise (Slee, 2002, p. 57). very quickly, creating the association that relates to the response. The concept that an internal process does not associate with the way in which a person responds does not seem to be accurate as it discounts the importance of decision. The way in which one decides to respond may not be under full control, but that does not mean that it is not done through a series of decisions. As in the example of ’Little Albert’, his thought process could be, ’I see the rat’, I like the rat, but when the rat shows up, a loud noise that I don’t like is present’. Behaviorism suggests that the response is solely instinctual and developed as a pure response to stimulus. Gabriel Tarde developed social learning laws of imitation in order to explain behavior. The laws were: 1. Imitation occurs through proximity to others, 2. Imitation flows from the superior to the inferior, and 3. New ideas can become part of the fabric of culture as the customs become imbedded, while others

Effects of Climate Change Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Effects of Climate Change - Research Paper Example Due to global climate change, areas that used to experience huge amounts of rainfall are now experiencing minimum rainfall such that they are now becoming arid like while at other times rain is falling in excessive amounts, leading to flooding. Low rainfall means that there is not enough clean water for domestic purposes. In such a circumstance, it becomes difficult to maintain hygiene and consequently, diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid, dysentery and cholera among others become a health hazard. In addition, malnutrition as a result of withering of crops due to lack of sufficient rainfall is also a health condition, which has been noted to occur in the contemporary world. According to the World Health Organization (2008), â€Å"Malnutrition, much of it caused by periodic droughts, is already responsible for an estimated 3.5 million deaths each year.† Flooding on the other hand, is a condition, which brings as much health calamities as those caused by drought. To begin with, f looding involves having stagnant water in areas that are largely flat in nature. Human beings live in these areas and every time there are floods, they are forced to take refuge on higher grounds, where they live under poor hygienic conditions especially due to lack of facilities such as toilets and latrines to dispose off human waste. In addition, flooding contributes to the mixing of ground and surface water with dirt and other effluent from raw sewerage and this becomes a catastrophe especially in third world countries and other emerging economies, which rely mainly on surface water for drinking and other domestic purposes. This water therefore carries a lot of... This research paper is a critical evaluation of climate change, as a direct consequence of global warming, and its effects on humans and nature. Climate change, as a result of global warming, is an environmental problem, which has emerged in the last 50 years and is projected to worsen significantly in the near future. it is justifiable to imagine the level of damage, which has occurred over the last 100 years. Most notably, scientists have warned that there is a possibility that this temperature will increase by 1.1o C by the end of this century if stern measures are not taken to prevent it. Green house gas emissions such as Carbon dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide among others have been credited for the increases in global surface temperatures as a result of their capacity to trap and maintain heat from the sun. It is also mentioned in the research paper that human activities are the major contributing factors to this anthropogenic climate change, which has adverse effects on human h ealth, agriculture and biodiversity. Some of these activities are for example; deforestation, charcoal burning, pollution from industries, all of which increases the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In order to save these important facets of nature, efforts must be made to control the rate at which climate change is occurring. The researcher then concluds that otherwise, the next 100 years will record an extinction of important plant and animal species, which are the surviving blocks for humans.