Branding Universities Essay Example for Free

Branding Universities Essay The end of the 1990s witnessed the corporatization of public universities in Malaysia resulting in the publication of corporate literature in these universities and the type of writing Fairclough (1993) refers to as the marketization of academic discourse. Marketization is necessary in public universities due to stiff competition in attracting students among the public universities as well as from the increasing number of private universities. This article reports how Malaysian universities re-brand themselves using the results of an investigation on corporate brochures from these universities. The investigation employs a structural analysis and a textual analysis. Although informative in nature, these corporate brochures exhibit the use of promotional elements in the texts as seen in the contents and the language use. The communicative functions of university brochures are viewed to be more promotional than informative. ABSTRACT KEY WORDS: brochures, corporate culture, genre analysis, re-branding, universities Introduction Academic institutions, particularly public universities, used to be regarded as the pinnacle of learning. Most of these universities were reputed for providing the best tertiary education and the mere mention of their names lit up the faces of those who had the privilege of learning from these fountains of knowledge and those who aspired to be associated with them. There was a time when admission was ‘by invitation only’, otherwise young men and women were seen struggling to gain admission into these prestigious institutions. These public universities acquired a promotional value (Wernick, 1991) without having to promote or market themselves. In advertising terms, these universities did not go through the process of branding. Branding is a fundamental strategic process of effectively marketing a product or service which includes creating a brand name and identity, designing Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 58 Discourse Communication 2(1) the packaging and promoting the product or service (Randall, 1997). Although Randall (1997) argues that ‘brands (and therefore branding) are so fundamentally important to the survival and success of many firms’ (p.2), this was not the case in public universities in the past. This is significantly due to the fact that these academic institutions were claimed to be free from other influences as evidenced by Cardinal Newman’s view of universities cited by Wernick (1991) as: . . . the high protecting power of all knowledge and science, of fact and principle, of inquiry and discovery, of experiment and speculation; it maps out the territory of the intellect, and sees that . . . there is neither encroachment nor surrender from any side . . . (Cardinal Newman, 1847, cited in Wernick, 1991:151) That was the traditional image of public universities, independent of political or societal influence and this image was not built by advertising or branding. As centres of academe, public universities were known for their quality education based on the results of their graduates and their performance in the careers they embarked on upon graduation. As years passed, more aspiring young people would apply for admission in certain universities due to their reputation. This reputation in turn became the  image of the universities which automatically created the promotional value (Wernick, 1991) of these universities, mentioned earlier as the pinnacle of learning. Each university was identified by its name or logo and no further promotional strategies were required. By providing quality education, these universities successfully built ‘a distinct brand personality’ (Randall, 1997: 67) for themselves as the success of branding is justified when people are reminded of a particular brand just by looking at the logo or hearing its brand name. The traditional role of public universities was to manage society (Jarvis, 2001) by producing scholars in the various fields of study so that they can go out to make the world a better place to live or join the academia to continue producing scholars. However, towards the end of the 20th century, the role of universities started changing from serving the state in managing society to serving the industry and commerce in ensuring that people are employable (Jarvis, 2001). This is partly due to the demands of the contemporary knowledge-based society (Veitch, 1999) where consumers have become more knowledgeable and have started demanding for better education and improved quality of life. Changes started taking place in public universities in the West as early as the 1980s where the governments were forced to abolish academic tenure and decrease funding for these universities. This was when many traditional universities started transforming into corporate universities (Jarvis, 2001) where they have to assume a more corporate form and function more like a corporation. From being the centre of academe, universities have become business-like entities (Connell and Galasinski, 1998). In Malaysia, a number of public universities have recently been corporatized, a move taken by the Malaysian government in its effort to inculcate better and more efficient management of these institutions. As corporate culture (Treadwell and Treadwell, 2000) is a new culture in all these universities, most of them Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising have set up corporate communications departments (Hajibah Osman, 2005) to handle corporate matters. Among the functions of these departments are managing corporate information and publication and projecting a positive image of the universities which are part of corporate advertising. Corporate advertising Business corporations use corporate advertising to enhance the image of the whole organization, or of the general brand in order to influence social values or to establish a connection between the corporation/brand and an already established positive value and in this era of identity, a lot of emphasis has been put on the importance of brand and corporate identities (Richards et al. , 2000). Unlike business organizations, universities are non-profit institutions. Public universities are viewed to use corporate advertising to enhance the strong foundation and to highlight the quality of these institutions of higher education. While it is common for business corporations to publish informative or promotional literature from time to time to inform the public about new developments in the organization (monthly or yearly reports) or to introduce new products or services (product launch leaflets), the use of promotional literature in academic institutions is a recent development. Malaysian public universities have started producing informative literature in the form of university brochures and special booklets in conjunction with certain celebrations in the universities as well as promotional literature in the form of leaflets providing brief information on academic programmes offered by the universities or introducing new programmes (Hajibah Osman, 2005). By employing new strategies to market their traditional image, from the advertising perspective, these universities are re-branding their products and services. Re-branding is the process of marketing an existing product or service of one brand with a different identity involving radical changes to the brand name, logo, image, marketing strategy and advertising themes (Wikipedia, 2006). In the advertising industry, re-branding is often referred to as re-positioning, that is, re-positioning a product or service in order to improve sales. Although there was no actual initial branding taking place in universities, being non-profit making institutions, the term ‘re-branding’ is used in this article to illustrate the change in the image of these universities particularly since the late 20th century. Significantly, this change has been effected without compromising the traditional characteristics and values of these institutions as the pinnacle of higher learning. The process of re-branding is aimed at improving the image of the universities by focusing on the facilities and highlighting the quality of the academic programmes. This article attempts to investigate the process of re-branding in public universities in Malaysia by conducting a genre analysis on university brochures, one type of print materials published by the institutions that represent corporate advertising. Analysing genres can lead to a ‘thick description’ (Bhatia, 1993) Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 59 60 Discourse Communication 2(1) of the texts contained in these genres, explaining why certain texts have been constructed the way they are. The specific objective of this article is to identify and discuss the strategies used in the re-branding process based on the structural organization of university brochures and the communicative functions of this type of brochure. Previous investigations of advertising genres mostly focused on straightsell advertisements of products or services. Bruthiaux (2000), for instance, investigated how advertisers make use of a limited space available to them to create successful advertising copies by examining the syntactic features in an undisclosed number of display and classified advertisements. His results show that the degree of syntactic elaboration ‘varies substantially even when content of equal simplicity/complexity or familiarity to readers is being presented. This variation appears to correlate with perceptions of status on the parts of both writers and readers’ (p. 298) and the persuasive elements lie in the vacuous displays of linguistic sophistication designed to create a largely artificial sense of exclusiveness among status-conscious readers (p. 369). Investigations have also been conducted on the language of advertising in Asia, for instance, Tej Bhatia’s (2000) investigation of language of advertising in Rural India and Henry and Roseberry’s (1998) investigation of the linguistic features in tourist information brochures from Brunei. Thus far, there have been very few linguistic analyses conducted on the genre of corporate advertising. Therefore, the genre selected for analysis in this article is brochure, specifically corporate brochure from academic institutions. A brochure is a printed document of six or more pages, used to introduce an organization, published only once and distributed to special publics for a single purpose (Newsom and Carrell, 2001). The discourse community of Public Relations (PR) specifies five characteristics of brochures, three of which are related to the present article: always having a singular message statement; having a purpose – to persuade or to inform and educate; and attracting and holding the attention of the audience. Brochure genre makes an interesting study because, first, this genre is viewed as a ‘blurred genre’ (a term borrowed from Scollon et al. , 1999) in that the term ‘brochure’ has been used to refer to other forms of publications including booklet, flyer, leaflet and pamphlet (Newsom and Carrell, 2001). Second, a brochure is a genre of persuasive discourse shaping the thoughts, feelings and lives of the public (Dyer, 1993) placing it under the field of advertising. However, according to Newsom and Carrell (2001), brochures are produced by PR practitioners rather than advertising practitioners. This is probably due to the fact that PR, among other things, incorporates looking after the reputation of an organization ‘with the aim of earning understanding and support, and influencing opinion and behaviour’ (Beard, 2001: 7). The question of ownership arises placing brochures in an even more ‘blurred’ state as the communicative functions of brochures have been set by the discourse community to which the genre belongs. In the context of this article, brochures are categorized as a corporate genre (basically PR) involving the principles of corporate writing (Treadwell Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising and Treadwell, 2000). Brochures are readily available, particularly in print version, and are easily accessible electronically. Finally, brochure genre needs to be investigated because brochure format is one of the most frequently used information formats in advertising and PR but is ironically the least written-about (Bivins and Ryan, 1991). Corporate genre in academic institutions This article establishes that any publications from universities, particularly those produced by the Corporate or Public Relations Office, are referred to as corporate genre. Corporate brochures are usually categorized as informative brochures (Richards et al. , 2000) providing all the necessary information about the organizations they represent. There are certain corporate elements present to qualify them as corporate brochures, but mostly these brochures are informative. However, an analysis of corporate brochures from multinational corporations by Askehave and Swales (2001) prove that these brochures also function to promote the organization. This is evident in the presence of promotional elements selected as syntactic choices in these brochures. Corporate brochures also function to establish long-lasting trading relationships which are in fact paramount in today’s industrial market. Hajibah Osman (2005) also notes that corporate brochures from academic institutions are promotional in nature with the use of promotional strategies apart from corporate and informative strategies. Another corporate genre in academic institutions, the university prospectus, started changing in form in the 1990s (Fairclough, 1993) where apart from providing information on the core business of the university, that is, the academic programmes, the prospectus has also included information on other aspects of the universities. Based on a critical discourse analysis of prospectuses from a number of British universities, Fairclough notes that these universities started promoting their programmes because they have come increasingly under (mostly government’s) pressure to operate like other types of businesses competing to sell their products to consumers. The university prospectus has become a ‘genre of consumer advertising colonising professional and public service orders of discourse on a massive scale, generating many new hybrid partly promotional genres’ (Fairclough, 1993: 139). Academic institutions in Malaysia have also published promotional leaflets (Hajibah Osman, 2005) to advertise their academic programmes and these are circulated to potential students particularly before a new academic year begins. These leaflets are no longer the plain, boring information sheets but colourful and interesting ones. This article concurs with Askehave and Swales (2001) that corporate brochures function as promotional brochures more than projecting the corporate image and providing information. Thus, the investigation in this article attempts to identify and discuss the strategies that realize the promotional functions in this type of brochure as part of the re-branding process in public universities. Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 61 62 Discourse Communication 2(1) Methodology In 2005, there were 11 public universities in Malaysia (currently, there are 20). Brochures were obtained from the 11 universities and were initially analysed to identify the possible structural organization. Based on the organization, the communicative functions of these brochures were determined. The 11 public universities included in this investigation are: International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM/UIA); Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM); Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM); Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS); Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS); Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM); Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris (UPSI); Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM); Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM); Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM); University of Malaya (UM). A textual analysis was conducted to examine the strategies used in the rebranding process. The strategies in the context of this article are tactical choices (Bhatia, 1993) which are cognitive processes ‘exploited by the writer to make writing more effective keeping in mind any special reader requirements, considerations arising from the use of medium or constraints imposed by organizational and other factors’ (p. 20). The strategies used by universities in re-branding the institutions are discussed within the framework of the sociolinguistic theory which considers writing as ‘part of the overall activities of a group and organization’ (Gunnarsson, 1997: 140) and in relation to the corporate culture (Hagberg and Heifetz, 2000) practised by the universities. As a genre is a typical form of utterances, it should be studied in its social contexts of use (Berkenkotter and Huckin, 1993). Sociolinguistics does not only describe linguistic variation and the social context in which such a variation occurs, but also shows how linguistic differentiation reflects social structure (Coupland, 2001). The sociolinguistic perspective in this article considers the existence of factors underpinning the construction of university brochures and the concept of promotional culture (Wernick, 1991). Re-branding academic institutions It has been established that university brochures form part of the corporate advertising strategies in Malaysian universities which in turn are part of the rebranding process in these traditional institutions. The structural organization in these brochures consists of 10 sections identified as moves (Table 1). Some of the moves are exemplified with extracts from the university brochures in Figure 1 (see Appendix). In identifying the moves, the term ‘service’ is used to refer to the educational services and the support services offered by the universities. All the brochures from the 11 universities include Moves I, C, L, D, J and S, indicating that these six moves are obligatory. Ninety-one percent of the brochures include Moves A, T and E, while 81 percent include Move V, making them optional moves. The 10 moves have been used to realize three communicative functions of the university brochures which are: †¢ To inform the public about the academic programmes offered in the university and the facilities and other services available to support the academic programmes; Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising †¢ †¢ To portray a corporate image of the university; and To promote the university as an academic institution based on the quality and the variety of academic programmes offered as well as the facilities available. These communicative functions of university brochures correspond with the general functions of brochures (Newsom and Carrell, 2001) set by the discourse community of PR. Re-branding strategies The 10 sections in university brochures have been identified as moves and these moves are realized with the use of strategies, and for the purpose of discussion in this article, re-branding strategies. The article discusses how the strategies contribute to the re-branding process and what their communicative functions are. NAME AND LOGO The first move in university brochures is called identifying the service which presents the name and the logo of the university. Although the brochures are in English language, the names of the universities are in Malay, the national language of Malaysia except two universities, International Islamic University Malaysia and University of Malaya. The names of the public universities were officially changed to Malay when the national language was made the medium of instruction in the mid-1970s. In the case of IIUM, however, the acronym by which it is commonly referred to by Malaysians is the Malay version, UIA. Similarly, University of Malaya is now popularly known as Universiti Malaya (UM). Interestingly, alumni up to the early 1980s still refer to this oldest university in the country as MU (Malaya University). TA B L E 1. Structural organization of university brochures Section Move identification Name of the university University slogan or motto Vision/Mission statement Profile or background of the university Location and size of the university Academic programmes offered at the university Facilities available to support the academic programmes Entry requirements, fees charged and duration of the programmes Career opportunities and recognition received by the university Contact addresses and telephone numbers Identifying the service (I) Attracting reader attention (A) Targeting the market (T) Establishing credentials (C) Locating the service (L) Describing the service (D) Justifying the service (J) Indicating the value of service (V) Endorsing the value of service (E) Soliciting response (S) Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 63 64 Discourse Communication 2(1) In the past, universities were identified by their crests but now these crests have been generally referred to as logos. Although it cannot be ascertained when the change exactly took place, this is the first re-branding strategy. However, this is not an obvious re-branding element because some of the established traditional universities in the world still use the term crest, for example, Oxford University (http://www. ox. ac. uk/web/crest.shtml). As far as Malaysian universities are concerned, both terms are similar and a recent survey of the university websites shows that most of the public universities in Malaysia refer to the crest as the logo while two universities (UKM and USM) refer to them as emblems. Most of the websites also provide the rationale for the design of the logo (e. g. UiTM, UPM). Whether used as crest, logo or emblem, interestingly, there are two common shapes observed: the shape of a shield (six universities) and a round shape (five universities) (Figure 2, see Appendix). The shape of USM’s emblem differs significantly from other logos in that it resembles a state emblem. This qualifies for the use of the term ‘emblem’ (a heraldic device or symbolic object as a distinctive badge of a nation, organization or family – Oxford Dictionary and Thesaurus, 2001) by the university. Although the current shape of UPSI’s logo is round, it once had the shape of a shield (Figure 3, see Appendix). Compared with the logos of established universities which include traditional designs representing the academe, the current logos of Malaysian public universities include elements of modern designs. In fact, some of these logos have gone through some kind of ‘evolution’ as in the case of UiTM, UPM and UPSI. UPM ‘evolved’ from a training school to a college to a university focusing on agriculture. Later, the university started including more disciplines and the name was changed from Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (Malaysia University of Agriculture) to Universiti Putra Malaysia (Putra University of Malaysia) in 1997, taking after the name of the first prime minister at the same time keeping the same acronym. UPSI and UiTM underwent almost similar ‘evolution’; from a centre to a college to an institute and finally to a university. Throughout the ‘evolution’, the logos have also gone through many changes where the concept incorporated in the logos mainly represents the focus of the university. While UPSI’s logo changed in shape but not in concept, UiTM’s and UPM’s logos underwent a total facelift (Figure 3, see Appendix). This is probably due to the fact that UPSI’s focus of training teachers remains throughout. MOTTO AND SLOGAN A motto is a short sentence or phrase that expresses a rule for sensible behaviour, especially a way of behaving in a particular situation (Collins Cobuild Dictionary, 2001). Most of the university logos have the motto inscribed on them as the motto represents the culture or the way of life in the university. Once again, all the mottos of the public universities are in Malay. The more established universities still retain this culture inscribed in the logo as seen in UM’s motto (translated as) ‘Knowledge, the Source of Development’, UPSI’s ‘Knowledge, the Beacon of Pure Character’, UTM’s ‘By the Name of God for Mankind’ and UUM’s ‘Scholarship, Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising Virtue, Service’. UPSI keeps the same motto inscribed on the logo throughout its ‘evolution’ but UiTM left out its motto of 39 years from its new logo. The newly established universities (UMS and UNIMAS) do not have a motto inscribed in their logos. While a motto is a traditional feature of a public university, having a slogan is a new phenomenon. A slogan is a distinctive catchphrase that serves as a motto for a promotion campaign (Wells et al., 2003) used to sum up a theme for the benefit of the product or the service in order to deliver a message in a few words which are easily remembered. There are two types of slogans (Russell and Lane, 1990): hard-sell slogans are strongly competitive, epitomizing the special significant features of the product or service being advertised. Institutional slogans establish a prestigious image for companies which they need in order to enhance their products or services. Slogans in university brochures fall under the category of institutional slogans. Again, it cannot be ascertained when universities started creating slogans but there is a strong probability that they started at the same time when Malaysian public universities were undergoing corporatization in the late 20th century. Slogans started appearing on brochures and prospectuses of these public universities. The use of slogans has been viewed as a significant re-branding strategy as slogans represent the most promotional element in advertising. The purpose of having a slogan is to attract the reader’s attention and to let it linger on the reader’s mind. According to Russell and Lane (1990), the memorability of slogans can be enhanced by making use of literary techniques. These techniques consist of certain types of words including: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Boldness – use of strong powerful words, and startling or unexpected phrases; Parallelism – use of a repeated structure of a sentence or phrase; Rhyme, rhythm, alliteration – use of repeated sounds; Aptness – use of appropriate, direct words (Russell and Lane, 1990). Slogans in university brochures have been created based on good advertising principles as they have been observed to make use of the literary techniques, for example: †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ boldness: Garden of Knowledge and Virtue (IIUM) parallelism: The National University with an International Reach (UKM) aptness: Your Inspiration parallelism: Contemporary and Forward Looking (UNIMAS) boldness: Towards a World-Class University (UPM) boldness: Towards Excellence and Supremacy (UPSI) Boldness is exemplified with words such as ‘virtue’, ‘world-class’ and ‘supremacy’ where the universities are bold enough to associate themselves with such high stature. Traditionally, public universities are centres of academe which do not portray an image of flaunting. Slogans using parallelism aim for jingle-like sounds so that readers can remember them easily while aptness acts like punchlines, strong and effective to be easily remembered. The bottom line is that a slogan is an Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 65 66 Discourse Communication 2(1) advertising concept and a marketing tool. The fact that public universities as nonprofit making academic institutions use slogans place them in a different light. They are currently functioning more like business entities. MISSION STATEMENT This move is identified as targeting the market based on the communicative functions of the mission statements. A mission statement provides information about what type of organization it is and what it does (Falsey, 1989) at the same time highlighting the positive factors in the organization. Stating the mission of the university is viewed as one of the two crucial strategies (the other being using slogans) in re-branding academic institutions as this move never appeared in academic genres before. This move has placed public universities in the same league as other successful corporations. Mission statements of public universities in Malaysia are observed to provide information as to what and how they can contribute to the public in terms of tertiary education as highlighted (underlined) in the following examples: (10) To become a distinguished university, aspiring to promote academic excellence in higher education and professional training necessary for the country’s socio-economic development (UiTM). (11) To be a premier university seeking excellence in the advancement of knowledge to meet the aspirations of the nation (UM) (12) To become an exemplary university of internationally acknowledged stature and as a scholarly institution of preference and choice for students and academics through the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research and scholarship (UNIMAS) (13) To lead in the development of creative human resource and technology in line with the aspirations of the nation (UTM). The words ‘distinguished’, ‘premier’, and ‘exemplary’ are used to emphasize the quality of the universities. Other words like ‘excellence’, ‘advancement’ and ‘stature’ as well as ‘to lead’ are all bold words of promise by the universities. PROFILE OF THE UNIVERSITY This section is identified as the move to establish the credentials of the university as it provides information on the background and/or the current status of the university. The background information includes the date of establishment and the reason for the establishment while information on the current status of the university usually includes the achievements of the university in terms of academic programmes and physical development as well as the quality of the programmes offered. This move is supposed to be informational but there are a number of instances where the brochures provide the information on the current status of the university using ‘promotional’ words and phrases. For example: (14) UNIMAS is an ISO-certified university . . . Its undergraduate programmes have been designed to suit the needs of society and industry. Downloaded from http://dcm. sagepub. com by Heemal Kasseean on October 9, 2009 Osman: Re-branding academic institutions with corporate advertising An ISO certification for an organization confirms the quality of that organization and it is now a common practice among public universities to obtain such certification to convince the public about the quality of the university, particularly the academic programmes on offer. Universities with ISO certification usually highlight it in their brochures as a strategy to promote the institutions. Other instances of promotional words can be observed in the following examples: (15) The university is the catalyst for regional growth in the northern region of Peninsula Malaysia (UUM) (16) From these humble beginnings, UM grew hand-in-hand with the young nation to become the nucleus for producing graduates of the highest quality and calibre. The word ‘catalyst’ denotes the importance of the university in the regional growth of the northern region of the country, without which there would not have been much growth in that region, thus promoting the significance of the university. Similarly, the word ‘nucleus’ conveys the significance of UM to the developing nation. Another instance is when a university states the commitment of the university to the public or the nation. UPM boldly states its commitment to become a worldclass university to convince the public to come and enrol in this university. (17) Named Universiti Putra Malaysia in honour of the pioneering Prime Minister of Malaysia, . . . has adopted this pioneering spirit and is committed to become the world class Univers.

The History And Current Applications Of Behaviorist Theory

The History And Current Applications Of Behaviorist Theory Behaviorism is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Behaviorism is the idea that behavior can be studied in a systematic and observable manner and according to John B. Watson; it should have nothing to do with introspection because introspection is too subjective (Goodwin, 2008). Besides John B. Watson there were others also interested in the study of behavior, specifically, Ivan Pavlov and Burrhus F Skinner. Behaviorism was a major change from earlier views because it discarded the importance of the conscious and unconscious mind and instead it attempted to make psychology a more scientific field, by focusing just on the observable behavior. Behaviorism had its earliest start with the work of Ivan Pavlovs and his research on the digestive systems of dogs that led him to the discovery of classical conditioning process, which demonstrated that behaviors could be learned through conditioned associations (Goodwin, 2008). This pap er will discuss the work of Pavlov, Watson and Skinner and how they contributed to todays behaviorist theories like cognitive behavioral therapy. It will also discuss how these early behaviorists theories are the same as todays behaviorist theories and how they are different. The History and Current applications of Behaviorist Theory Behavioral psychology, also known as behaviorism, is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. Conditioning occurs through our interactions with our surroundings. Behaviorism proposes that behavior can be studied in an organized and observable way without consideration or thought of inner psychological conditions (Goodwin, 2008). There are two major types of conditioning in behaviorism, classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning is a technique used in behavioral training in which a naturally occurring stimulus is paired with a response. It involves taking a neutral stimulus (i.e. the ringing of a bell) and then pairing it with a naturally occurring stimulus (i.e. dogs salivate when presented with food). Continuing this pairing will eventually cause the previously neutral stimulus to induce the response without the presence of the naturally occurring stimulus (i.e. the dog will salivate with the ringing of the bell even when food is not immediately presented). The two components are then called the conditioned stimulus (the ring of the bell) and the conditioned response (the dog salivating) (Todes, 2002). Operant conditioning is a process of learning that uses rewards and punishments for behavior. With operant conditioning, a relationship is created linking a behavior and a consequence for that behavior (Skinner, 1954). Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson and Burrhus F. Skinner all developed significant contributions to the advancement of behaviorism. While Pavlov, Watson and Skinner paved the way for behaviorist thinking, what is left of their findings? If we take a critical look at cognitive behavioral therapy we can see how the early behaviorists ideas are still alive today and how these ideas have changed with time. In the late 1800s, Pavlov was studying the gastric function of dogs. Pavlov inadvertently discovered that dogs would salivate prior to the food being presented to them, and decided that his discovery of dogs salivating prior to the actual food arriving was more interesting than gastric functions, and changed the focus of his research (Goodwin, 2008). Pavlov began to experiment with the dogs using a tone to signal for food. Pavlov found that the dogs had begun to salivate with the tone without the presentation of food (Schwartz Lacy, 1982). Pavlov realized that this response is not a natural response and was a learned response, and he consequently called this response a conditioned response and the neutral stimulus became a conditioned stimulus. In Pavlovs experiment the tone was the neutral stimulus that became paired with the unconditioned stimulus which was the food. The unconditioned response of the dog salivating became a conditioned response to the conditioned stimulus of the t one (Beecroft, 1966). Pavlovs work became known in the West, mainly due to the writings of John B. Watson. Pavlov thus coined what we now know today as classical conditioning. Pavlovs research also had a direct affect on bringing behaviorism to the attention of the American public in the 1930s. John B. Watson is known as the founder of behaviorism however Watsons Behaviorism did not catch on immediately and in 1913 when he publicized his Behaviorist Manifesto, he was initially met with a lot of criticism and doubt (Goodwin, 2008). It was not until the early 1930s when behaviorism began to catch the attention of America, in part due to Watsons continued push on the public to recognize it as a valid theory in psychology. Finally after several articles were published citing the use of behaviorism as a way to improve lives, the public began to recognize behaviorism as a positive, meaning it could help to raise children more efficiently, improve marriages, improve business and overall help people to lead more productive lives (Goodwin, 2008). With Watsons book, Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It, behaviorism for the first time was given well defined goals, methods and thought (Goodwin, 2008). Watson made behaviorism a discipline that created a structure based heavily on the principle that learning is the key to development and behavior (Rilling, 2000). Watson and Rayner, in 1927, conducted a study that produced an intense fear of rats in a 9 month old boy they called little Albert. When little Albert reached for a white rat, Watson would make a loud noise that scared little Albert. Using classical conditioning, little Albert associated rats with the loud noise and shifted his fear with the noise to a fear of rats. Little Albert then associated rats, which have fur, to all things with fur (this is known as second order conditioning). With second order conditioning, little Albert formed an irrational fear of all objects that had fur (Mischel, 1993). Although Watson was asked to leave John Hopkins and essentially could no longer work in academia he continued to promote his belief in behaviorism until it finally caught the attention of the American public. The impact of behaviorism was huge, and was a school of thought that continued to dominate psychology for the next fifty years. Psychologist B.F Skinner advanced the behaviorist perspective with his theory of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning verified the effect of punishment and positive reinforcement on behavior. Operant conditioning consisted of two important factors, the response and the consequence (Skinner, 1954). If the consequence is positively reinforcing, then there is the likelihood of getting a similar response. If the consequence is punishing the likelihood of repeating the response is not probable (Mischel, 1993). Skinner conducted an experiment known as the skinner- box (Goodwin, 2008). In Skinners experiment a rat was put into a box with a lever. Each time the lever was pressed, food was released. The rat learned to press the lever to receive the positive reinforcement, food. When the food was replaced with shocks, the lever pressing stopped almost immediately due to the consequences of receiving a shock (Skinner, 1954). Similar results were produced by stopping the positive reinforce ment of food altogether in a process called extinction, but the operant conditioned response decreased at a much slower rate than when punishment was used (Goodwin, 2008). This kind of operant conditioning will also occur in the rewarding or punishing action when utilizing this same technique to elicit certain behaviors from a child (Schwartz, 1982). During 1950 to 1970 cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) became widely utilized and was inspired by the behaviorist learning theories of Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson and Clark L. Hull (Rachman, 1997). In the United States, psychologists were using B.F. Skinners behaviorism and applying it to clinical work and much of this work was focused towards severe, chronic psychiatric disorders such as psychotic behavior and autism (Rachman, 1997). The therapeutic approaches of Albert Ellis and Aaron T. Beck gained popularity among behavior therapists. These systems included behavioral elements and interventions that focused primarily on problems in the present. Elliss system began in the early 1950s and was called rational therapy and is one of the first forms of CBT. (Ellis, 1975). Aaron T. Beck developed cognitive therapy in 1960 after being inspired by Elliss work and Becks cognitive therapy became a favorite intervention technique to study in the psychotherapy research in academic settings. I nitial research focused on comparing this cognitive therapy with behavioral therapys to see which was more effective (Beck, 1975). During the 1980s and 1990s cognitive and behavioral therapys were officially merged into what we now know as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) (Rachman, 1997). Samuel Yochelson and Stanton Samenow introduced the idea that CBT approaches can be used successfully with the criminal population (Yochelson and Samenow, 1976). In conclusion, behaviorism is based upon observable behaviors, so it is easier to measure and collect data and information when performing research. Effective therapeutic techniques such as intensive behavioral intervention, rational therapy and CBT are all rooted in behaviorism. These approaches are often very useful in changing maladaptive or harmful behaviors in both children and adults. Some differences between todays CBT and behaviorism is that behaviorism is a one-dimensional approach to behavior and that it does not account for free will and internal stimulus such as moods, thoughts, and feelings. Behaviorism also does not account for other types of learning, especially learning that occurs without the use of reinforcements or punishments. Behaviorism does not take into account that people are able to adapt behavior when new information is present, even if a prior behavior was established through reinforcement. Behaviorism without the addition of cognitive influences is not en ough. When we can get an understanding of the thinking behind the behavior we have a better chance at changing it. In the words of Stan Samenow change the errors in thinking and we can change the behavior (Yochelson and Samenow, 1976).

I Can Change the World One Tooth at a Time! :: Dentistry Admissions Essays

I Can Change the World One Tooth at a Time! Â   Ever since childhood I have enjoyed working with my hands. Whether as an eight year- old gluing together a model car or an adolescent assembling a bookshelf in woodworking class, I thrived on the challenges of precise and meticulous tasks. Throughout high school I have been intrigued by the sciences, but it was not until I read about late-breaking discoveries and research in the field of genetics that my interests in science intensified. When I entered the University of British Columbia (UBC), I naturally chose to specialize in Cell Biology and Genetics. Â   In my sophomore year at UBC, I first began to seriously consider dentistry as a career. At that time, I began to appreciate the important role that dentistry played in my life. Four years earlier, I began an orthodontic treatment program with Dr. Junni Wang to correct a severe crowding problem with my teeth. Both before and during the treatment, I was a most reluctant participant; not many teenagers look forward to braces filling their mouth during their last two years of high school, and I was no different. Â   However, at every monthly check-up for three-and-a-half years the office staff had nothing but kind words of encouragement and optimism. Now after the completion of the treatment I had reason to smile. Dr. Wang helped turn me from a shy adolescent who feared smiling into a confident, outgoing young man. His skills not only brought back my smile, but also my sense of confidence in all aspects of my life. Whereas once I feared drawing attention to myself and thus shied away from leadership posts and debates, now I am a completely different person. Hoping to feel as satisfied and gratified as Dr. Wang must have felt in improving not only my smile but my entire way of life, I look forward to improving the oral health of patients on a daily basis and participating in dentistry' s friendly, team-oriented work environment. Â   After this preliminary ' patient-doctor' exposure to dentistry, I substantially increased my involvement in the field to determine if dentistry really was for me. My participation with the UBC Pre-Dental Society allowed me to communicate with various professionals in the field. I also investigated opportunities to volunteer in the University Dental Clinic or participate in research work.

General Information about Anthrax :: Anthrax

The disease Anthrax derives its name from the Greek word anthracis, which means â€Å"coal†. This name is in response to the â€Å"characteristic black, coal-like central regions located on the anthrax skin lesions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  that appear in the cutaneous (tissue) form of the disease (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)). Although the 2001 letter attacks brought it widespread attention, anthrax has been around throughout history in many different areas. For example, the fifth and/or sixth plagues of Egypt that occurred during the time of Moses (1250 B.C.) are thought to represent the â€Å"earliest historical reports of the disease, due to the systemic and cutaneous forms of the disease†(Turnbull). In addition, its appearance has been noted in areas such as Asia Minor during the siege of Troy and its description has been found in the works of many famous authors such as Homer, Hippocrates, Varro, Virgil, and Galen. This leads to the idea that â€Å"â₠¬ ¦the Greeks and Romans were well acquainted with it† (Turnbull). From then on its appearance may have occurred in France, England, Germany, Hungary and Poland. It wasn’t until the 1700’s when its appearance was reported in America in animals. And within the next 100 years or so, Anthrax was being used by biologists to help with the progression of science. Robert Koch, in 1876, established Bacillus anthracis as the first proven bacterial cause of a human disease. His work led to the â€Å"†¦development of Koch’s Postulates, a set of diagnostic criteria still used by microbiologists today† (Nester). Also, the vaccine for anthrax, developed by Louis Pasteur in 1881, was the first effective live vaccine for a bacterial disease. All of these reported accounts, as well as other scientist journals in the late 1700’s and 1800’s, show that this disease is not new to the human race. Anthrax is a highly infectious disease caused by Bacillus anthracis that infects animals including humans. The disease is more common in large herbivores but can also infect humans who are exposed to diseased animal tissue or bacterial spores of the disease. These herbivores include cattle, sheep, horses, goats, and pigs as well as wild populations of deer, elephants, buffalo, and others. â€Å"Incidents of anthrax among animals have been reported by 82 countries†, however, these countries are limited to those with weak public veterinary health programs (Friedlander). Therefore, humans who live in these countries are of high-risk of acquiring the disease through different means of transmission.

Pumping Iron: Women and Sports :: Movies Television Film Females Essays

Pumping Iron: Women and Sports Ever since sports has been introduced into our society it has always been gender specific. Today, sports are still gender specific but not as much as before due to the change in social norms. Many people enjoy playing sports. For some it may be the competition, for others it may be for the love of the game. It has been difficult for individuals who enter non-traditional sports for their gender. Women have especially struggled with this matter until the Title 9 was issued. Before Title 9, many women were not allowed to participate in track and other sports that were not considered feminine. During the Victorian Times, women were only allowed to play sports that didn't make them look sweaty, tired or just messy. They had to stick to the norm of being conservative and looking proper. Can you imagine, they had to even wear skirts for baseball and other sports? How can you be comfortable and play well in that kind of an outfit? When it came to tennis, they had to look graceful like a ball erina. The main concern in playing a sport is enjoying it and playing it well. It never had to do anything with being part of a beauty contest. Women were given limitations into what sports they could participate in. However, realistically women were just as good as their counterpart when it came to playing sports in which they were not allowed to play. Being a female and seriously competing in a non-traditional sport is an arduous task. Many individuals question your sexuality, race and class just because you have decided to participate in a non-traditional sport. However, the main fact that is being disregarded here is that everyone has the capability of playing any sport that they want to play. There should not be any boundaries to anything because of gender. It is unfair because there are certain things that are acceptable and unacceptable in society which puts a lot of pressure on people that are into non-traditional sports. The question is, why does being accepted matter so much in society? Why is it so hard to be accepted for something that you want to do? I mean you are not hurting anybody yet you are made to feel guilty for trying to be good in a non-traditional sport. For this essay, I would like to use the movie "Pumping

Acct553 Homework Es

1. (TCO A) A taxpayer may litigate a tax dispute without first paying the tax in the:  (Points : 5)|   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  U. S. District Court. U. S. Tax Court. U. S. Court of Federal Claims. All of the above | 2. (TCO F) A business bad debt is deductible for tax purposes as a(n):  (Points : 5)|   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ordinary business deduction. short-term capital loss. long-term capital loss. miscellaneous itemized deduction. | 3. (TCO I) Under the cash method of tax accounting, tax deductions are generally taken when:  (Points : 5)|   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  payment is made. the liability arises. there is net income to absorb the expense.None of the above | 4. (TCO A) Which of the following constitutes tax evasion? (Points : 5)|   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Arranging your affairs to keep your tax liability as low as possible under the tax law   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Failing to disclose a tax liability from a completed transaction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Trying to maximize profits Trying to minimize your tax liability. | 5. (TCO C) Which of the following items is subject to federal income tax? (Points : 5)|   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Interest on U. S. Treasury bonds Gambling winnings Interest on loans made in the ordinary course of business   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All of the above | 6. (TCO B) Sam owes Bob $8,000.Bob cancels (forgives) the debt. The cancellation is not a gift, but Sam is insolvent. Which of the following statements is correct concerning the impact of this transaction? (Points : 5)|   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Both Bob and Sam recognize $8,000 of taxable income. Bob recognizes $8,000 of taxable income. Sam recognizes $8,000 of taxable income. Neither Bob nor Sam has any taxable income from this transaction. | 7. (TCO I) David, a cash basis taxpayer, owns two rental properties. Based on the following information, compute the amount that he must include in his 2012 gross rental income.Property #1, security deposit on one-year lease received 2/1/12 All of deposit returned at lease end: $1,000 Property #1, payment received 2/1/12 for last month of lease(1/13): $900 Property #1, rental income received in 2012 2/12-12/12: $8,000   Property #2, rental income received in 2012 1/12-12/12: $9,600 Property #2, security deposit received 1/1/12 to be used for last month's rent: $800 Property #2, rent 1/13 received 12/28/12: $800  (Points : 5)|   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  $21,100 $19,300 $18,500 $20,100 | 8. (TCO F) Section 197's intangible assets, such as patents and trademarks, are amortized for tax purposes over:   (Points : 5)| years. 15 years. 10 years. 20 years. | 9. (TCO E) Explain the constructive receipt doctrine. (Points : 17)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  | 10. (TCO G) Answer the following questions concerning tax laws. a. What roles do the U. S. Constitution and U. S. Congress play in creating the tax law? b. What does the common body of tax law (CBOTL) consist of? Br iefly explain how a tax bill becomes a tax law. c. What role does the Internal Revenue Service play in interpreting, and providing guidance on, the tax law? What types of tax law guidance are published by the IRS? (Points : 18)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  |

Economic Analysis Presentation Essay

Prepare a 15- to 20-minute oral presentation accompanied by 10 to 15 Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® slides. (Online Campus students must submit a 10 to 15 slide Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® presentation with detailed speaker’s notes). Include the following:  · Importance of economic analysis  · Description (general overview) of the assigned environmental issue  · Economic analysis of the environmental issue   Costs   Benefits   Risks   Limitations   Problems  · How economic analysis can be used to determine the most effective and economical regulations or policies (see Ch. 28 of the text) to help solve the environmental concern Include two other resources aside from the textbook. **Instructor will choose environmental issue for each team. You are responsible for cooking and cleaning. Choose healthy foods, get eight hours of sleep every night, and study as much as possible. Take care of yourself well, study appropriately, attend all your classes and follow a regular schedule. You can become ill as a result of stress and poor nutrition. This pack of SCI 256 Week 5 Economic Analysis Presentation includes: Impact of Water Pollution: The Economy Report General Questions – General General Questions Perform an economic analysis on an assigned environmental issue in the world today. Prepare a 15- to 20-minute oral presentation accompanied by 10 to 15 Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® slides. (Online Campus students must submit a 10 to 15 slide Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® presentation with detailed speaker’s notes). Inc†¦ Get complete A+ tutorial here – https://bitly.com/1oJKDLU You are responsible for cooking and cleaning. Choose healthy foods, get eight hours of sleep every night, and study as much as possible. Take care of yourself well, study appropriately, attend all your classes and follow a regular schedule. You can become ill as a result of stress and poor nutrition. General Questions – General General Questions Perform an economic analysis on an assigned environmental issue in the world today. Prepare a 15- to 20-minute oral presentation accompanied by 10 to 15  Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® slides. (Online Campus students must submit a 10 to 15 slide Microsoft ® PowerPoint ® presentation with detailed speaker’s notes). Include the following:  · Importance of economic analysis  · Description (general overview) of the assigned environmental issue  · Economic analysis of the environmental issue   Costs   Benefits   Risks   Limitations   Problems  · How economic analysis can be used to determine the most effective and economical regulations or policies (see Ch. 28 of the text) to help solve the environmental concern Include two other resources aside from the textbook.