Roots and Stems free essay sample

Roots, stems, and leaves are the three main components of a plant. They are vital to a plant’s survival, and without them, the plant would die. Each component has a different function and varying appearances. A leaf’s main function in the plant is to produce energy through photosynthesis. They absorb sunlight and create sugar. The leaf then constantly sends energy throughout the stem, roots, and other parts of the plant. Sometimes leaves are also used for protection against animals that are a threat to the plant’s health and survival. They come in different shapes and sizes. Some are smaller and rounder than others, while some are in the shape of needles like a cactus. Leaves are essential in the obtainment of energy for plants. Stems have two primary functions in the plant. We will write a custom essay sample on Roots and Stems or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They are needed to support the leaves, flowers, or fruit that the plant may produce, and they transport water and other nutrients in the plant. Other functions include storing carbohydrates, nutrients, and water. Rhizomes or underground stems, tubers, and bulbs are different types of stems. A sign of a healthy stem is when the stem is erect because this creates the most support for the plant. Roots are the most important feature for a plant’s health. Functions of the roots include providing anchorage, absorbing water and nutrients, and transporting the water and nutrients throughout the parts of the plant. They tend to grow away from sunlight and towards water in order to obtain the most water possible. Another important job is that they store starch which allows photosynthesis to occur. There are two types of roots: tap roots and fibrous roots. Tap roots are large, and they provide the most anchorage possible while fibrous roots are threadlike, and give the plant the most exposure to water and minerals. There are many different other parts of the plant, but these three are the most important. Without them there would be no plants, and without plants there would be no oxygen for us to breathe. The human race needs the roots, stems, and leaves to continue functioning because if they don’t, we may find ourselves facing extinction. Roots and Stems free essay sample Roots, stems, and leaves are the three main components of a plant. They are vital to a plant’s survival, and without them, the plant would die. Each component has a different function and varying appearances. A leaf’s main function in the plant is to produce energy through photosynthesis. They absorb sunlight and create sugar. The leaf then constantly sends energy throughout the stem, roots, and other parts of the plant. Sometimes leaves are also used for protection against animals that are a threat to the plant’s health and survival. They come in different shapes and sizes. Some are smaller and rounder than others, while some are in the shape of needles like a cactus. Leaves are essential in the obtainment of energy for plants. Stems have two primary functions in the plant. We will write a custom essay sample on Roots and Stems or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They are needed to support the leaves, flowers, or fruit that the plant may produce, and they transport water and other nutrients in the plant. Other functions include storing carbohydrates, nutrients, and water. Rhizomes or underground stems, tubers, and bulbs are different types of stems. A sign of a healthy stem is when the stem is erect because this creates the most support for the plant. Roots are the most important feature for a plant’s health. Functions of the roots include providing anchorage, absorbing water and nutrients, and transporting the water and nutrients throughout the parts of the plant. They tend to grow away from sunlight and towards water in order to obtain the most water possible. Another important job is that they store starch which allows photosynthesis to occur. There are two types of roots: tap roots and fibrous roots. Tap roots are large, and they provide the most anchorage possible while fibrous roots are threadlike, and give the plant the most exposure to water and minerals. There are many different other parts of the plant, but these three are the most important. Without them there would be no plants, and without plants there would be no oxygen for us to breathe. The human race needs the roots, stems, and leaves to continue functioning because if they don’t, we may find ourselves facing extinction.

Burning Chrome An Analysis

Burning Chrome An Analysis The story is about Bobby, Jack and Rikki. Bobby is an expert hacker specializing in software while Jack is the same but specializes in hardware. The story begins in Bobby’s loft, the two men huddling together in an attempt to hack into a system that will make them rich beyond their wildest dreams.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Burning Chrome: An Analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More At the end of their struggle they were triumphant in the biggest score of their young lives but they paid a terrible price for it. Interestingly, they were regular hackers who were content in making money but not more than enough that they will get caught, at the end they wanted to get rich quick because they know that they are getting older and slower but more importantly because they are in-love with the same woman but only Jack knows about it. Character and Commentary The main characters: Bobby, Jack and Rikki went through a major change in their personality and in their worldview and how they tried to deal with the sudden transformation of their individual lives. Although they have different backgrounds, Bobby seemed a true-blooded nerd who always loved computers while Jack seems the more adventurous type who happens to also like computers and its ability to make money without going through the rigors of the rat race. Rikki on the other hand can be compared to a girl who came from the boondocks and content to enjoy life and focused not in the more serious side of life but in how she can buy the things that she believes are important to her. All came from different starting points but they are converging into one goal and one place – they are willing to go deep into cyberspace to make a great deal of money doing something very risky because they believe that striking it rich is the only way that they can be happy. In their intertwined lives of Bobby, Jack, and Rikki, the author – Willia m Gibson – was given a platform to talk about the problems faced by young men and women who had to deal with the same anxieties and desires as the people of an earlier generation but this time around they had to do it with the advent of new technology that is both difficult and scary to deal with. This is also a reflection of the impact of modern technology to the lives of the young as they grapple with new ways to survive and thrive in a world controlled by things that are very powerful and yet unseen and misunderstood.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The characters in the story depicted the kind of lifestyle evident in the post-modern world. Bobby is someone who has great talent and he is able to bend the rules because of that talent and yet he is lost. In the past, society was predictable. Parents would aspire their children to be physicians, lawyers, eng ineers, accountants, etc. and the moment this decision was made the children will conform to the dictates of society, partially because they also have the same values and they have the same goals and also partially because they are also afraid of the backlash of rebelling against these norms. In the post-modern world however there are alternative ways to make a great deal of money and there area also alternative ways to gain the respect of people. Bobby, Jack and Rikki may not possess the credentials and the pedigree that would have given them access to Wall Street or some glitzy establishment that will ensure them not only of a fat paycheck but the adoration of the crowd, and yet they have the power to experience the lifestyle of the rich and famous even if they technically do not posses the means. This is their dilemma; they live in the grey area of society. They are not criminals based on the ancient way of interpreting what a crime is and what is the typical profile of a law bre aker. This is because they commit crimes without even leaving their homes and without serious physical exertion except the slight movement of the hands and the fingers to type certain key phrases, keywords and passwords. In the beginning Bobby was the picture of confidence and skill but at the end he was reduced to someone who cannot function without the things that he can use either it is liquor or women. In the beginning Jack was seen as an able partner, an equally talented intrusion specialist like Bobby but as the story progresses the reader sees more and more of his stump, his hand was cut-off some time ago and this has given him an insecurity that is hard to explain but painful nonetheless especially when it comes to his love for Rikki. At the end of the story the reader witnessed a complete transformation in their lives. Bobby who was supposed to be always in control was revealed to be a person controlled by lust. Jack who at first was seen as a very capable man was slowly se en as a man struggling with a handicap. He was a one-armed man who felt that there are so many things that he cannot do.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Burning Chrome: An Analysis specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More His love for Rikki was the ultimate proof that he could not live life without Bobby for he will only love the things and the people that Bobby loves. He ended being with him, used like a crutch, instead of being with the person that he loves and the things that he really wanted to do and accomplish in life. Human Problem and Human Solution According to Theodore Sturgeon a science fiction story is built around human beings and therefore the fictionalized narrative with futuristic setting and mind-boggling technology are just there as a backdrop for something that is more important than the material realm; it is just the foundation used to build up a story about a human problem and a human solution. The stor y â€Å"Burning Chrome† is replete with gadgets and technology but these were all just smokescreens because at the heart of the story was the struggle of two men. They knew that they are not going anywhere socially and economically speaking. It is a struggle faced by many people. There are just so many people out there who cannot move forward and feels like they have no choice but to simply stagnate. There is also the all too familiar conflict between two friends, they complement each other like cookies and cream, like coffee and sugar but they are also so much different. They use different methods on how to accomplishing things and yet they are also so like-minded that they can finish each others sentences. And finally they are so close that they even ended up loving the same woman. This is the conflict of the story, two people who are inseparable because they create perfect music together and yet circumstances in their lives dictate that they had to part ways. Gibson create d a story that is similar to those found in Greek tragedy. Two people, that the audience can consider to be brothers had to destroy each other to realize their dreams and to fulfill their desires, but the woman of their dreams are not even interested in them, she is only there because of the action, the thrill and the things that she can get from them. Dealing with the Alien Another facet of a good fiction story is the element that deals with the alien. It could be an alien planet, an alien being or alien surroundings. It has been also said that the authors did not really mean to talk specifically about aliens but simply using a metaphor to talk about life. And indeed it is true that in the quest for life, in the journey that everyone has to take he or she will inevitably experience an encounter with the alien.Advertising Looking for essay on american literature? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the case of Bobby and Jack they needed to confront an idea that is very foreign to them and it is the fact that they needed to find another job, to find another source of income. But they are hackers for as long as they can remember and they cannot imagine doing anything different. Nevertheless, the day was fast approaching that they really need to abandon their pirate ways and that fact alone has brought them intense anxiety and foreboding because they could not imagine how to find meaning outside their current world. Conclusion It was supposed to be fiction and it was supposed to be about gadgets, technology and the future but it was so much more. The author was simply using everything, the language used, the computers, and the various activities that the characters engaged in to illustrate the complexities of life. The characters represented humanity and the challenges and pressures that mankind had to deal with in the past decades. The world was radically changed by technolog y that it now dictates man’s way of life. Bobby, Jack, and Rikki also illustrated real life problems that include money, love, friendship, boredom, lust, and everything else related to it. Gibson, William. â€Å"Burning Chrome.† Web.

The Impact of Apple's Branding Strategies on Customer Satisfaction and Essay

The Impact of Apple's Branding Strategies on Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty - Essay Example The paper analyzed the concept of branding by examining its models and the impact of branding strategies on customer satisfaction. Primary data was collected by conducting questionnaire research with Apple's customers. A total of 100 questionnaires were carried out with Apple's customers. The conclusions of this study are that Apple's brandings strategies play an important role in customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Apple's branding strategies have a positive impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. It is Apple's branding strategies that have contributed to generating value for customers, generating trust amongst customers and developing strong relationships between Apple and its customers. Apple's branding strategies have narrowed the gap between Apple and its customers. They have helped in improving the performance of the company. They have helped in generating positive attitudes about Apple's products amongst its customers. This study seeks to critically analy ze the branding strategies of the company Apple. Apple has been selected as it is a leading global telecommunications company whose branding strategies have been successful in getting the right message across to customers. Apple designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and sells a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. In 2014, Apple's market share was 20.4% in the global smartphone market. Apple was the market leader. It left behind its competitors, Samsung who had a market share of 19.9%, Lenovo whose market share was 6.6%. Apples competitors are Dell Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Hewlett-Packard Company, International Business Machines Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation, Toshiba Corporation, Research In Motion Limited, Microsoft Corporation, Acer Inc, LG Electronics, Inc., Google Inc, Merch ant Customer Exchange LLC, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd, Xiaomi Inc.

Should private schools be banned Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Should private schools be banned - Essay Example It therefore seems so from these arguments that in today’s world, education has been used to perpetrate inequality and division of social classes based on economic status because of the existence of higher education meant for the rich and wealthy in the society. Those calling for the closure of private schools believe in the fact that the current education systems institutionalises inequality and unfair treatment of education seekers just because they can’t afford the high cost of private institutions. It is interesting to note that out of the total number of school going children about 90% attend public schools while 10% attend private schools (Caldwell, 2008). Those who attend public schools have the potential of better performance as compared to their public counterparts contributing a larger percentage of students who qualify for university education in leading universities such as Cambridge and oxford. This is the highest degree of inequality as it implies that tho se who will eventually qualify for top positions in industry are those who hail from wealthy families who parents were able to sponsor their education on very expensive private institutions. In addition to this fact, the current society is typical of what can be termed as cultural capitalism and social shutting where the wealthy and privileged give their children gigantic advantages whereas the poor ones struggle in poorly managed and funded systems where only the lucky ones strive for excellence. The survival is typically of the law of the jungle where the fit survive and the weak succumb to academic death. It is vital to stress the need for all to give every child... Thi essay approves that it is in the view of this discussion that private schools tends to widen the gap between the haves and the not haves. This is because private schools exist and continues to provide better education than public schools owing to the fact those who educate children in the schools pay huge amounts of money as fees. This may not be possible for middle and low income earners as a result natural selection occurs where rich families get the opportunity to educate their young ones in private schools while the poor do not. In addition, such schools would present conditions for better performance against the state owned schools owing to their ability to employ and motivate qualified teachers, provide basic facilities and sizable classes. This report makes a conclusion that if all private schools were banned, it would give the rich an incentive to fund state owned ones since their children will to be attending alongside children from poor backgrounds. This will be a fairer way to deal with the rising difference between the rich and the poor. On the contrary, some argue that private schools offers impeccable education which may not be possible to access in state owned schools where there is limited access to resources, support persons and facilities. This is a fact that is discredited by failure by the government to fund state owned schools to the level of private schools. Therefore, it is justifiable to say that private schools should be banned. This is because private school is a major impediment to equity and valuable education for all.

Akira Kurosawa An Auteur Film Studies Essay

Akira Kurosawa An Auteur Film Studies Essay Since the term auteur was applied to film directors by the cahiers du cinema magazine in the 1950s,there has been much debate by film-makers and critics as to what makes an auteur and how accurate the term is when applied to some directors. Federico Fellini, in a 1966 interview, said that Akira Kurosawa was the greatest living example of what an author of cinema should be'(Cardullo,2006,p.49) and in this essay I would like to explore the accuracy of this statement based on Kurosawas period films and how meaningful the term auteur is. In his article, Notes On The Auteur Theory In 1962, Andrew Sarris (interpreting the Cahiers various articles on what became known as auteurism)describes the auteur as a director who is technically proficient, whose personal style is clear in the way a film looks and moves and who creates an interior meaning from the tension between a directors personality and his material. This last statement, Sarris admits, is ambiguous. Susan Hayward in her book Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts (1996) sheds more light on what the cahiers meant by auteur by defining the interior meaning as the mise en scene and the personality of the director. She also describes the total author'(p.33), a director who writes their screenplays. Because of the sheer amount of debate surrounding what an auteur is I will base my argument on both Sarris and to a lesser extent Haywards explanation of the term auteur. A large part of being an auteur, based on what Sarris defines as an auteur, is the ability of a director t o imprint their mark onto a film in spite of the limitations brought on by studio control. This would have had great meaning in Hollywood at the time the article was written but not necessarily in the film industries of the wider world, particularly Japan. For Kurosawa in there far fewer limitations in how he made films in comparison to his Hollywood counterparts. Kurosawa was the principle writer on the majority of his films and those which were based on other stories would be adapted by him for the screen. He would often quote his mentor, Kajiro Yamamoto, in interviews saying if you want to become a film director, first write scripts (Kurosawa, 2008, p.10). In this respect Kurosawa was quite literally the author/auteur and originator of his films and so would appear to fit into the total author mould. Where the gray area exists as far as being an auteur is in Kurosawas use of collaborators in the screenwriting process such as Shinobu Hashimoto who was involved in the writing of Seven Samurai (1954), Throne Of Blood(1957) and The Hidden Fortress (1958) to name but a few. This would arguably prevent him from being considered a total author. Another area where Kurosawa has total control is editing. In the introduction to the book Akira Kurosawa: Interviews , Bert Cardullo calls Kurosawa an auteur because he edited or closely supervised the editing of all his films (p.10). I am inclined to agree with Cardullo that this would add to the degree of authorship on a film as Kurosawa will have the final decision on exactly what the cinemagoer will see. This could be seen as technical proficiency however Sarris article bases technical proficiency on directing skills, editing skills are not even considered. Overall it seems that the level of control Kurosawa had over non-directorial aspects of his films would remove the impact of his autuerism because so much of what makes an auteur is the ability to push through industrial control to have your own voice heard. With Kurosawa it was his own voice from the beginning in the writers room and it would end as his voice in the editing room with no real struggle involved. Because Kurosawa wrote the script it was all uniquely personal to him which is one of the key elements of auteurism. In Notes On The Auteur Theory In 1962 Andrew Sarris had said that a director spends most of his life on one film. For Kurosawa that one film could be the period film, something he worked on time and time again. The backdrop of medieval Japan was the preferred setting for Kurosawa and something which was very personal to him: Kurosawas intense feelings for pre-modern Japan, his perceptions of himself and his family in these terms, disclose a view of the past as a living sensuous reality (Prince,1999,p.203) His father was of samurai descent and Kurosawa himself romanticised the past in many ways, finding solace in it where there was none in the present. The early samurai films show his youthful exuberance with films such as Seven Samurai and Yojimbo(1961)showing a positive vision of the past heroism has been transformed into acts of everyday charity (Prince,1999,p.241). In stark contrast to the positive nature of these films the later samurai films are significantly more bleak in nature. These films followed years of depression, attempted suicide and struggles to find finance. For example Ran(1985) Kurosawas last samurai epic, the title of which translates as turmoil or chaos, is a downward spiral of misery from start to finish with almost all characters having distinctly negative traits. Prince describes the period of both ran and the earlier Kagemusha(1980) as defining a period of melancholy and bitterness and a questioning of youthful idealism (p.293). Further examples of Kurosawas o wn beliefs and personality lie in the themes of the films. When asked what he felt were the common themes in his films Kurosawa replied the only theme I can think of is really a question: why cant people be happier together'(Kurosawa, 2008, p.162). In many ways the real recurring theme of Kurosawas films is humanism, he regularly explores human nature whether its an individual taking up arms against the corrupt (Yojimbo), people working together for the greater good (Seven Samurai) or the hopelessness of war (Ran). All suggest that the world would be a better place if we all got along. These films show the personality, thoughts and feelings of the director during their production which I would argue is a prime example of what an auteur is, someone whos films reflect them. Kurosawa was a highly visual film-maker. In his youth he had wanted to be an artist and its clear from the composition of many of his shots that he retained the sensibilities of an artist. From the interviews conducted over the years in Kurosawa: The Interviews it is clear that Kurosawa maintains as much control over every shot as possible from composition to choice of camera. Stephen Prince describes the technical knowledge of Kurosawa and his reliance upon telephoto lens and techniques of multi-camera filming'(p.18) as well as his use of anamorphic frame in later films such as Kagemusha. Kurosawa knew how to get the best images out of every scene even if it meant using unconventional techniques and new technology. He lives up to the level of technical expertise Sarris had believed was vital for a true auteur. This did not however mean that Kurosawa was his own camera operator, indeed he couldnt be because from Seven Samurai onwards he stuck to using multi-cameras no matter what kin d of scene was being filmed. He believed this meant that actors would be less conscious of acting to a camera and instead would have to put on a good performance that could be seen at all angles. Kurosawa did his utmost to ensure that his vision was achieved and would regularly take control of his own camera however he described the process of getting others to achieve shots: I explain the desired image in detail not only to the cameraman but also every member of staff and have them do their utmost to produce the best possible likeness to it (Kurosawa,2008,p. 27) So even with his knowledge of camera lenses there was still a collaborative issue as far as using a cinematographer and indeed Kurosawa had several regular cinematographers such as Asakazu Nakai who worked on films such as Seven Samurai and Ran. Kurosawas technical proficiency is also very clear in his framing decisions. For example in Seven Samurai Kikuchiyo is clearly the outsider of the group which Kurosawa emphasizes by how the framing consistently isolates him from the rest of the samurai who are clustered together as a group'(prince,1999,p.214). The way battle scenes are shot in Kagemusha with huge amounts of troops at either end of the screen is a sight to behold, all the more so in the way Kurosawa manages to retain a sense of beauty in the battle. Francis Ford Coppola on the making of Kagemusha described the way Kurosawa presented fight scenes and violence as almost poeticstunning and dramatic and embodying the moment that was supposed to be expressed. The stylistic nature of the battle scenes became a trademark for the director from Seven Samurai onwards. His ability to use camera and edit techniques to portray violence in a thrilling, heroic way were part of the style and something that could be recognised as part of a distinctly Kurosawa film. Not only that but the introduction of colour only to improve his vision of battle with Kurasawa frequently choosing drab backgrounds'(Ebert,online) to show of the colourful costumes which effectively stand out from the background and clash together in battle. Another noticeable K urosawa technique is the use of cutting between similar shots to emphasize drama,Kurosawa loved to intercut two or three shots whose compositions were exactly aligned with the axis of view established in the initial camera position (Prince,1999,p.299). Examples of this exist in various Kurosawa films. In Seven Samurai it is used on the flame engulfed house following the initial bandit attack and the broken lock in Yojimbo which is used by Sanjuro to avoid the kidnappers. This technique focuses the viewer on the dramatic or emotional element and creates a tension. With so many more stylistic calling cards than could possibly be named in a single essay, Kurosawa has a clear style and so fits into the auteur theory. The auteur theory however clearly has many failings even when applied to someone who appears to cover all the bases (writing, directing, editing) of what makes a film-maker an auteur. Many of these failings have already been discussed but in essence they all come down to one thing, film is a collaborative work. Would Kurosawa be able to achieve the shots he did without the work of some of the worlds best cinematographers? Its highly unlikely. Did he write all of his screenplays alone? Certainly not. Would many of his films have been as enjoyable without some great acting from the cast, particularly frequent collaborator Toshiro Mifune? No. In an interview Kurosawa discusses the collaborative nature of his work with Mifune, particularly the distinct walk Mifune has in Yojimbo,Mifunes walk is his own invention. In order to stress it, I carefully selected camera framings and lenses. This seemingly insignificant example is a snapshot of all that is wrong with the auteur theory. The secon d a director claims a film is all theirs they are disrespecting the great people they have worked with. As for Kurosawa being an auteur,even ignoring the flaws in that theory, Mutsuhiro Yoshimoto in his book Kurosawa: Film Studies and Japanese Cinema says: Kurosawas films are too worldly and historical to be approached as mere aesthetic objects where his personal vision is inscribed or as a structure or textual system that reveals his unconscious desire (p.239)

Gendered Societal Expectations of Appearance and Their Effects Upon the Individual Essay

It has long been generally accepted that we as humans are influenced greatly by the things that surround our everyday lives. These things can include friends, family, co-workers, the media and even society as a whole. The society in which people live can play a huge role in how they view themselves and how they view others. Over the years researchers have come up with many theories as to how and why society has such a large influence on people. Now-a-days there are appearance prescriptions for everything in our society. It is not good to be too fat, but it is not good to be too skinny either. The way a person looks, dresses and acts is a large factor in how other people will think about, talk about and respond to them. These societal prescriptions also differentiate between other factors such as gender, race, level of education and more. Interestingly most of these prescriptions for appearance in society today are relatively unspoken until someone violates them. This paper will attempt to shed some light on the complex societal prescriptions regarding personal appearance and body imaging; more specifically it will delve into how those prescriptions are gendered within society and how people respond both positively and negatively to those prescriptions. As previously stated appearance prescriptions are very strong in our society especially when it comes to societal expectations regarding gender. These gendered expectations cause people to do all types of things for the sole purpose of fitting in to societal norms. Some women exercise religiously to maintain a good looking body, other women go tanning regularly because they think it is embarrassing, or even unacceptable, to be pale; there are also many men who do the same things for the same reasons. While looking good is not a bad thing sometimes these societal prescriptions, or expectations, can cause people to go too far. When people are not satisfied with themselves and their appearance they can become desperate and have feelings of inadequacy about their physical appearance. These feelings of inadequacy can lead to depression or making destructive decisions which can include but are not limited to over-eating or even eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia. There have been numerous studies done on the relationships between societal pressures to be thin and body dissatisfaction among both men and women. One such study, from the University of Texas at Austin that studied the effects of social pressure to be thin on women said that â€Å"These same pernicious messages (that one is not thin enough) are thought to foster negative affect, because appearance is a central evaluative dimension for women in Western culture† (Stice, 2003). This study tested what sources most influence societal expectations of appearance and the different ways those expectations can negatively affect women (Stice, 2003). It concluded that some of the biggest social pressures to be thin come from the mass media, family members and peers (Stice, 2003). It also concluded that the negative effects of these social pressures can go in two different directions, this is not to say that women negatively affected cannot fall victim to both types of effects (Stice, 2003). A synopsis of this study could say that societal expectations to be thin often create body dissatisfaction within women (Stice, 2003). This body dissatisfaction, which can often lead to depression, frequently leads to either restrictive dieting or binge eating. Restrictive dieting, while not bad in itself, can lead to unhealthy eating habits such as eating disorders, laxative abuse or other methods of losing weight that can be extremely harmful to the person practicing them, and binge eating â€Å"because it is commonly believed that eating provides comfort and distraction from negative emotions† (Stice, 2003). A similar experiment, coming from the University of Toronto, studied the relationship between body image and depression among adolescents regarding adiposity (Chaiton, 2009). This study suggests â€Å"that body dissatisfaction may mediate the relationship between overweight and depression† (Chaiton, 2009). It goes on to suggest that the relationship found between obesity and depression is differentiated by gender because of the difference in societal expectations placed on women and men (Chaiton, 2009). The study concluded that females experience body dissatisfaction almost solely when they believe they are overweight, whereas both males who believe that they are under or overweight experience body dissatisfaction which can in all cases lead to some level of depression (Chaiton, 2009). As the aforementioned study showed societal expectations concerning appearance can, and often do, affect men just as much as they do women (Chaiton, 2009). Our society pushes men to be big, muscular and manly. To certain degree the more muscular a man is the more attractive he generally is within society. A study from an international journal regarding social behavior and personality concluded that the attractiveness of a man is more important in determining social desirability than the age of the man in question (Perlini, 2001). Comparatively the results of these two studies add up to say that the attractiveness of a man is one of the main factors in determining societal desirability and one of the biggest factors in being attractive is being muscular or strong. This puts a lot of pressure on males to be concerned with how they look in comparison to society’s expectations of how they should look. There are numerous different theories as to why societal expectations differ between genders, but none that can definitively explain why prescriptions concerning appearance are the way they are (i. e. women should be skinny and men should be muscular). Some theorists take a biological approach saying that something within the genetic makeup of human beings causes men to be larger and more muscular and likewise causes women to be smaller and skinnier; therefore it is innate within human beings to prefer women to be skinnier and men to be more muscular. Other theories use a combination of nature, a biological approach, and nurture, an approach that says how and where people are raised effects how they view the world, to explain why there is such a gendered difference in societal expectations. While still others use strictly nurture based theories to explain these differences. An experiment from Colby College testing the awareness of preschoolers to societal expectations of gender showed that by the age of five or six humans can easily differentiate between what society expects differently of men than of women (Raag, 1998). Granted this study tested the societal expectations of gender based on toys (tools and dishes) and how the children themselves reacted to the toys as well as how the children thought others (parents, babysitters, friends, etc. ) would react to them playing with the aforementioned toys (Raag, 1998). On the whole the children were able to identify that the tools were for boys to play with and the dishes were for girls; the children also, with no hesitation, said that boys playing with dishes or girls playing with tools would often be responded to negatively by parents or babysitters or the like. That means that while this study cannot shed light on the societal expectations of strength versus thinness it does give some credence to the nurture side of the theories mentioned earlier (Raag, 1998). In summation the societal expectations of appearance can have both positive and negative effects upon people. Society pushes for women to be thin, but not too thin and for men to be muscular, but not too muscular. Society pushing people to be in shape is not a bad thing; studies have shown that being physically fit is not only good for people physically, but also mentally. When people feel attractive it boosts their confidence and self-esteem which has been proven to increase mental health. It just happens to be that some of the anxiety or stress put upon people to look good to others can cause them to do harmful things to themselves and others. For instance constant pressure from the media and other outside influences to be skinny and tan has led countless females to have eating disorders and go artificial tanning all the time, neither of which are conducive to being physically healthy. Those same influences have led to countless males developing eating disorders as well to lose weight or even start using all types of drugs, that harm themselves and can harm, or cause them to harm, others, such as anabolic steroids or pro-hormonal supplements simply to gain muscle mass at unnatural and unhealthy rates. The best thing anyone can do to help society as a whole to resist unhealthy expectations regarding appearance is to spread awareness. It may sounds overplayed but awareness about a problem and the education necessary to fix or even just alleviate that problem is always to first step to solving that problem. At the end of every abovementioned study the researchers conducting the study talked about the significance, or importance of that study, and every single researcher included somewhere in that section that raising awareness about the issue at hand was one of the most significant aspects to their respective studies. This is because being aware and educated about a problem is one of the most important and fundamental ways to confront a problem; especially one of this magnitude. This problem will never be solved if society as a whole does not become aware of, and change, how it effects people’s everyday lives regarding physical appearance.

Aaron Beck †The father of cognitive therapy Essay

Aaron T. Beck is considered the father of cognitive therapy was born on July 18, 1921 in Providence Rhode Island. His mother, Elizabeth Temkin, married his father, Harry Beck, in 1909. He is the youngest of five children. Aaron Beck notes that his mother was quite depressed prior to his birth due to the loss of two of her children. Beck was born two years after his only sister died of influenza. He believed himself to be a replacement child for his sister. Beck says he takes joy in the idea that, even at a young age, he was able to cure his mother’s depression. Beck attended Brown University and received many awards and honors in academic excellence. He graduated magna cum laude. After graduating from Brown University he went on to receive his medical degree and then his PH.D from Yale. During his internship, Aaron Beck met Phyllis Whitman. She was a student at the Hillel Foundation, the girls’ school at Brown University. The couple married on June 4, 1950, in Providence. She completed a law degree while raising their four children. She served as a superior court judge in Pennsylvania. Beck became interested in psychoanalysis while doing his internship at Rhode Island Hospital. Although Beck spent most of his career studying psychoanalysis, in the 1960’s Beck’s research deviated significantly from traditional psychoanalytic methods, focusing instead on distorted thoughts that led to problematic behaviors. He struggled to find a way to help his depressed client’s better capture their emotions. He realized that many of his depressed clients experienced recurring negative thought and that as long as they believed these thoughts to be true, they would continue to have symptoms of depression. He theorized that in order to change the symptoms, he much change their distorted thinking. This belief led to the development of cognitive behavioral therapy. (Famous psychologist) Beck took a position at the University of Pennsylvania in 1954 in the psychiatry department, which is where he developed the depression research clinic. Beck began to work more intensely on his cognitive approach to depression, In1952, he published his first psychiatric article, a case study about treatment of schizophrenic delusion. It was the first of numerous publications he made that were later on recognized as significant precursor to the development of cognitive therapy. In 1961, he developed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The BDI is one of the most widely used and referenced scales of depression. It is a 21 item scale that uses a Likert scale to determine the  severity of depression symptoms. Even though the scale is now revered as one of the well-constructed scales and useful, those in the psychiatric department at Penn did not receive the idea so well. In 1967, Beck became an associate professor; however, he only received a one year extension on his depression grant. Beck stared working from home, and this turned out to be just what he needed, and he produced his first book, Depression: Clinical Experimental and Theoretical Aspects. From here his work at the University of Pennsylvania began to pick up, and in 1971 he was awarded full professor status.