Blog Archive MBA News GMAC Posts QA Relating to Scoretop Scandal

Blog Archive MBA News GMAC Posts QA Relating to Scoretop Scandal Many of you have been following the ongoing battle between GMAC and Scoretop.com, and now the potential battle between GMAC and the students who accessed the Scoretop.com website. Yesterday, BusinessWeek posted a set of questions and answers provided by GMAC. In short, GMAC wants GMAT test takers to know that: GMAC will investigate and prosecute any individual or company offering real GMAT questions to the public in order to protect the integrity of the test and defend its copyright. GMAC is now focusing its punitive actions on test takers who shared actual questions and/or paid to access a bank of such questions. It is too soon to know what punishment will be levied and when. Test takers who did not pay to access the site, but visited the sites free content have nothing to worry about. Test takers gained very little by accessing the data, as the GMAC question bank is enormous and the odds of seeing the same ones on the test were quite remote. Nonetheless, GMAC has subsequently removed the questions found on Scoretop.com’s site from the pool. We will keep readers apprised of developments. Share ThisTweet Blogroll News

The Legacy of the Qin Dynasty

The Qin Dynasty, pronounced like chin, emerged in 221 BCE. Qin Shihuang, the king of the Qin state at the time, conquered the many feudal territories vying for influence during the bloody Warring States period. He then united them all under one rule, thus putting an end to the notoriously violent chapter in Chinese history that lasted for 200 years. Qin Shihuang was only 38 years old when he came into power. He created the title Emperor (  Ã§Å¡â€¡Ã¥ ¸ ,  Ã‚  huà ¡ngdà ¬) for himself, and thus is known as  the first emperor of China. While his dynasty only lasted 15 years, the shortest dynastic rule in Chinese history, the impact of the Qin Emperor on China cannot be understated. Although highly controversial, Qin Dynasty policies were very influential in uniting China and maintaining power. The Qin Emperor was famously obsessed with immortality and even spent years trying to find an elixir to eternal life. Though he ultimately died, it would seem that Qin’s quest to live forever was ultimately granted – his practices and policies were carried into the subsequent Han Dynasty and continue to flourish in present-day China.   Here are just a few remnants of Qin’s legacy.   Central Rule The dynasty adhered to Legalist principles, which is a Chinese philosophy that followed strict compliance with  the rule of law. This belief allowed Qin to rule the population from a centralized power structure and proved to be a very effective way to govern. Such a policy, however, did not allow for dissent. Anyone who protested Qins power was quickly and brutally silenced or killed off.   Written Script   Qin instituted a uniform written language. Before then, different regions in China had different languages, dialects, and writing systems. Imposing a universal written language allowed for better communication and implementation of policies. For example, a singular script allowed scholars to share information with a greater number of people. It also led to the sharing of culture that was previously only experienced by a few. Additionally, a single language allowed later dynasties to communicate with nomadic tribes and pass along information on how to negotiate or fight with them. Roads The construction of roads allowed for greater connections between provinces and major cities. The dynasty also standardized the length of axles in carts so that they could all ride on the newly-built roads. Weights and Measures The dynasty standardized all weights and measures, which led to more efficient commerce. This conversion also allowed subsequent dynasties to develop a taxation system. Coinage In another effort to unify the empire, the Qin Dynasty standardized the Chinese currency. Doing so led to greater commerce across more regions.   The Great Wall The Qin Dynasty was responsible for the construction of the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall marked national boundaries and acted as a defensive infrastructure to protect against invading nomadic tribes from the north. However, later dynasties were more expansionist and built beyond Qin’s original wall. Today, the Great Wall of China is easily one of Chinas most iconic pieces of architecture. Terracotta Warriors   Another architectural feat that draws tourists to China is the enormous tomb in present-day Xian filled with terracotta warriors. This is also a part of Qin Shihuangs legacy. When Qin Shihuang died, he was buried in a tomb accompanied by an army of hundreds of thousands of terracotta soldiers that were supposed to protect him in his afterlife. The tomb was uncovered by farmers  digging for a well in 1974.   Strong Personality One other lasting impact of the Qin Dynasty is the influence of a leader’s personality in China. Qin Shihuang’s relied on his top-down method of ruling, and, on the whole, people conformed to his rule because of the power of his personality. Many subjects followed Qin because he showed them something larger than their local kingdoms--a visionary idea of a cohesive nation-state. While this is a very effective way to rule, once the leader dies, so can his dynasty. After Qin Shihuang’s death in 210 BCE, his son, and later his grandson, took power, but both were short-lived. The Qin Dynasty came to a close in 206 BCE, just four years after Qin Shihuang’s death. Almost immediately following his death, the same warring states that he unified sprang up again and China was again under numerous leaders until it was unified under the  Han Dynasty. The Han would last over 400 years, but much of its practices were started in the Qin Dynasty. Similarities in charismatic cult personalities can be seen in subsequent leaders in Chinese history, such as Chairman Mao Zedong. In fact, Mao actually likened himself to Emperor Qin.   Representation in Pop Culture Qin was  popularized in Eastern and Western media in Chinese Director Zhang Yimou’s 2002 film Hero. While some criticized the movie for advocating totalitarianism, movie-goers went to see it in droves. A hit in China and Hong Kong, when it opened to North American audiences in 2004, it was the number one movie and grossed $18 million in its opening weekend – a rarity for a foreign film.

Definition and Examples of Informal Logic

Informal logic is a broad term for any of the various methods of analyzing and evaluating arguments used in everyday life. Informal logic is commonly regarded as an alternative to formal or mathematical logic. Also known as  non-formal logic  or  critical thinking. In his book  The Rise of Informal Logic (1996/2014), Ralph H. Johnson defines informal logic as a branch of logic whose task it is to develop non-formal standards, criteria, procedures for the analysis, interpretation, evaluation, criticism, and construction of argumentation in everyday discourse. Observations Don S. Levi: Many informal logicians have adopted an approach that does seem to be a response to the need to acknowledge a rhetorical dimension to argumentation. This dialogical approach, which was initiated by C.A. Hamblins (1970) writings on fallacy, is a hybrid of logic and rhetoric  and has adherents in both fields. The approach acknowledges that argumentation does not occur in a rhetorical vacuum, but should be understood as a series of dialectical responses that take a question-and-answer form. Rhetorical Argumentation Christopher W. Tindale: A more recent model of argument that looks to wed the logical with the dialectical is that of [Ralph H.] Johnson (2000). Along with his colleague [Anthony J.] Blair, Johnson is one of the originators of what is called informal logic, developing it on both the pedagogical and theoretical levels. Informal logic, as here conceived, attempts to bring the principles of logic into accord with the practice of everyday reasoning. At first this was done through an analysis of the traditional fallacies, but more recently informal logicians have been looking to develop it as a theory of argument. Johnsons book Manifest Rationality  [2000] is a major contribution to that project. In that work, argument is defined as a type of discourse or text—the distillate of the practice of argumentation—in which the arguer seeks to persuade the Other(s) of the truth of a thesis by producing the reasons that support it (168). Formal Logic and Informal Logic Douglas Walton: Formal logic has to do with the forms of argument  (syntax) and truth values (semantics). . . . Informal logic (or more broadly argumentation)), as a field, has to do with the uses of argumentation in a context of dialogue, an essentially pragmatic undertaking. Hence the strongly opposed current distinction between informal and formal  logic is really an illusion, to a great extent. It is better to distinguish between the syntactic/semantic study of reasoning, on the one hand, and the pragmatic study of reasoning in arguments on the other hand. The two studies, if they are to be useful to serve the primary goal of logic, should be regarded as inherently interdependent, and not opposed, as the current conventional wisdom seems to have it.Dale Jacquette: Formal logicians of a radical stripe often dismiss informal logical techniques as insufficiently rigorous, precise, or general in scope, while their equally vehement counterparts in the informal logic camp typically regard algebraic logic and set theoretical semantics as nothing more than an empty formalism lacking both theoretical significance and practical application when not informed by the informal logical content that formal logicians pretend to despise.

To Kill A Mockingbird Political Theme Essay - 1097 Words

Political Themes Movie Review In the American classic 1962 movie, â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird,† which is based on the Harper Lee novel by the same title, the movie explores and condemns the controversial political theme, especially controversial at the time of the movie, racism. Racism is defined as Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that ones own race is superior, according to the Oxford Dictionary. Even though racism is the political focus of the movie, it also touches on class inequality, which is the division of groups based on wealth and power, and justice or injustice within America’s system. Although the main plot follows Scout Finch and her growing up in the†¦show more content†¦The moment where Tom Robinson is found guilty, is not only heartbreaking for Scout and Atticus who believed in his innocence, but it is also heartbreaking for the audience who wants the best for our protagon ist. The filmmakers beautifully manipulate the audience’s emotions, we feel anger at the white jury who cannot see pass their prejudices and Bob Ewell the one who should be convicted, but we also feel sympathy and pity for Tom Robinson and for Scout who experiences the real world for what it was at the time. These emotions are crucial to the representation of the theme of racism. Due to the historical feelings of America in the 1960s, the film needed to show the cruelty and use strong emotions, but also logic in order to reach the hearts of those who encouraged segregation. Even the title itself lends to the theme of racism. The title â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird† is explained in the movie, that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird because they only do good. This translates not only to Boo Radley, who is apart of the main plot, but also to poor Tom Robinson. He is like the mockingbird because he has done nothing wrong, he did not rape Mayella. 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Job Satisfaction and Emotion in Workplace

Question: Discuss about the Job Satisfaction and Emotion in Workplace. Answer: Discussion on the Purpose of the Article This article Workplace Emotions: The Role of Supervision and Leadership by Bono et al. (2007), addressed the role of business managers and leaders on emotional experience of their employees. Topic addressed by authors was, ways of association of the supervisors and way of transformation of employees emotions in different situations (with coworkers and colleagues). Moreover, emotional links between organizational leadership and their followers has also been discussed in the report. In addition to this, effect of the leadership that buffers its employees from the regulation of negative emotions is also contained in it. Even though it is believed that, supervisors are responsible for its employees bad moods and their mood swings at work place, but according to the authors of chosen article, primarily there are two reasons for this. The purpose of the chosen article review is to check whether there is any effect of leaders and supervisors on emotions and stress of employees at workplace. Chosen article also tried to determine the effect of employees emotional regulation and stress on their job satisfaction (Bono et al. 2007). Since performances of employees are evaluated by supervisors therefore it can be considered as a cause that increases the level of anxiety of employees at workplace. On the other hand it is observed that need for autonomy at workplace by individual employees is also a reason for their stress. Due to different constraints of leadership this need is not fulfilled. The authors reviewed Gross, Richards John (2006) and derived the following hypotheses. 1. For each and every individual, emotional regulation is negatively associated with job satisfaction. 2. Moreover, regulation of emotion is positively associated with experienced stress at work place. Again by reviewing the John and Gross (2004), Fitness (2000), authors assessed two theories. This two theories are self determination theory and goal self concordance model. These theories states, when an employee regulates their feeling, then it are possible that they have feeling of depersonalization and separation from themselves. Authors also suggested that, managers in transformational leadership can provide much more social support to their employees. Identification and Brief Description on the Research Methods In order to support their theories, authors collected data from the workers of a health care facility. Data is collected using experience sampling method and paper survey method. In this method two types of data were collected, one is survey data and other is experience sampling data. Paper Survey was done to collect two types of data in a two week time period. One is survey data and another is experience sampling data (Miner, Glomb and Hulin 2005). In this process 79% of employees affirmed to attend an information session related to this topic. The employees were given a PDA in which they have to respond twice in a day in the week days for ten days. Each time they have to respond according to their level of stress and job satisfaction at work place. The leadership behaviours of supervisors are measured by using a 20 item multifactor leadership questionnaire. The results of this survey mainly addressed points like job satisfaction, work status and interactions, affective emotional experience and stress. Moreover, it is argued by Glas and Einarsen (2006) that, the leadership has an ongoing influence on enthusiasm and optimism of employees. At the end authors discussed different limitation. Such as, they do not have a proper sample size in order to divide them in subgroups for detailed research. Moreover the authors assumed the work environment as standard. Therefore the results of the survey may vary if the environment is supportive or abusive (Fitness 2000). Key theme addressed by authors in the chosen journal Author in the chosen article tried to check whether the emotional regulation co varies with the level of stress of employees (Gross, Richards and John 2006). Authors presented a table based on the result of the survey. After analyzing results of the survey, authors found that, leadership, managers and supervisors has a powerful role controlling the emotions of employees of an organization (Brief and Weiss 2002). In the journal authors examined the link between employees affective experience, direct effect transformational leadership behaviour on employees. Moreover, the association between emotional regulation and stress at workplace are also argued in the journal. The authors had addressed in the article are such as emotional regulation of individual has link with the job satisfaction in negative way (Sy, Ct and Saavedra 2005). The second issue that the author tried to put in front of readers is if the supervisor is engaged with the transformational leadership behavior weakly then the relationship between the job satisfaction and the emotional regulation is weaker. Discussion on the Practical implication of the journal Transformational leadership challenge devotees with an alluring vision and attach that vision to a methodology for its accomplishment. The practical implications of this journal article can be stated as, if all the conditions like positive influence of leaders, supervisors on employees, standard and positive work environment at the work place then employees of an organization can work efficiently and without stress (Brief and Weiss 2002). This will help any organization to achieve its desired efficiency in its business processes. They draw in and spur adherents to relate to the association's objectives and qualities. John and Gross (2004), presented the definition of the transformational leadership as a particular style of leadership in which the leader work along with the employees for recognizing the required change as well as creating vision for guiding the change. The main drawback of the article that the author failed to analyze the information accurately as the information gath ering was done from only one organization (Glas and Einarsen 2006). The article has strongly presented the information of the emotional regulation and transformational leadership (Bono et al. 2007). The selection of the participants was bad as the chosen participants were from only one organization. The selection of data to be gathered was good. Both the data survey and experience sampling assisted the author to identify the required stress and job satisfaction data along with memory stress and affective experience. The article successfully described the role of the managers in establishing the employee mood. References Bono, J.E., Foldes, H.J., Vinson, G. and Muros, J.P., 2007. Workplace emotions: the role of supervision and leadership.Journal of Applied Psychology,92(5), p.1357. Brief, A.P. and Weiss, H.M., 2002. Organizational behavior: Affect in the workplace.Annual review of psychology,53(1), pp.279-307. Fitness, J., 2000. Anger in the workplace: An emotion script approach to anger episodes between workers and their superiors, co-workers and subordinates.Journal of organizational behavior,21(2), pp.147-162. Glas, L. and Einarsen, S., 2006. Experienced affects in leadersubordinate relationships.Scandinavian Journal of Management,22(1), pp.49-73. Gross, J.J., Richards, J.M. and John, O.P., 2006. Emotion regulation in everyday life.Emotion regulation in couples and families: Pathways to dysfunction and health,2006, pp.13-35. John, O.P. and Gross, J.J., 2004. Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: Personality processes, individual differences, and life span development.Journal of personality,72(6), pp.1301-1334. Miner, A., Glomb, T. and Hulin, C., 2005. Experience sampling mood and its correlates at work.Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology,78(2), pp.171-193. Sy, T., Ct, S. and Saavedra, R., 2005. The contagious leader: impact of the leader's mood on the mood of group members, group affective tone, and group processes.Journal of applied psychology,90(2), p.295.

The psychological explanation of terrorism

Introduction Terrorism can be defined as an act of violence, terror, or aggression whose objective is to achieve coercion and fear in non-violent individuals. However, there is no generally accepted definition of terrorism because of its broad and extensive application in different circumstances and behaviors.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The psychological explanation of terrorism specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Therefore, according to the constitutional meaning given in the Terrorism Act of 2000 in the United Kingdom, terrorism entails those actions carried out by non-state individuals with the aim of influencing the government’s policies and decisions besides intimidating the general public (Randy 2004, p. 9). These terrorist actions include violence against individuals, damage to property, engaging in activities that endanger or threaten the security of other people, and the use of firearms to threa ten the State or its citizens. On the other hand, terrorism can be sub-divided into several categories, which include terrorist activities carried out by regimes and governments; non-state terrorism, national terrorism, and international terrorism (Moghadam 2006, p. 18). Moreover, terrorism as a whole can be categorized into corrigible and incorrigible terrorist acts. Under corrigible terrorism, there is always a way of reaching a compromise between the two conflicting parties, thus ending violence and aggression. However, under incorrigible terrorism, the terrorist group employs maximalist approaches in attacking their target and the only solution to stopping their activities is to use force in containing violence and aggression (Schmid Jongman 2005, p. 33). Therefore, terrorism is a broad phenomenon that is driven by ideological (Political and religious), social, and economic factors. Furthermore, there are different types of violent and aggressive behaviors associated with terro rism. Thus, it is not possible to indeed underpin the underlying motivations and determinants of terrorist activities. Furthermore, there is no generally accepted theoretical and conceptual explanation of the motivations and determinants of terrorist activities. Consequently, many nations in the world are forced to employ a large amount of national resources in trying to eradicate or prevent terrorism but with little success (Randy 2004, p. 12). However, many psychologists argue that terrorism has a psychological basis as envisioned in the psychoanalytic and the non-psychoanalytic theories of terrorism. On the other hand, the opponents of the psychological claims identify several pitfalls of the psychology of terrorism. This paper examines the advantages and limitations of the psychology of terrorism with the aim of showing that psychology can actually explain why a normal person perpetrates terrorist activities against others.Advertising Looking for essay on political sciences ? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The advantages of the psychology of terrorism Being a social science that studies human behavior, psychology has a lot to offer in terms of examining the motivations and causes of terrorist activities. Early studies in the field of psychology of terrorism identify narcissism as a possible approach towards explaining the origin of terrorism. Here, the proponents of the psychoanalytic theories of terrorism argue that there is the need to develop strong attachments and relationships with infants during the early stages of their life-span development. This ensures that the infants undertake all the normal stages of development besides sharing the feeling of parental love (Crenshaw 2001, p. 21). This is the basis of the narcissism theory, which holds that an infant who is deprived of parental or societal love develops an altered self-image, hostility, and an abnormal self-identity that culminates into n arcissistic injuries. These injuries create feelings of anger, violence, and aggression in the affected individuals who tend to spend most of their time trying to eliminate what they perceive to be the cause of their inner pain and injuries. Despite that the narcissistic theory offers a possible cause of violence and hostility characteristic of many terrorists, it fails in capturing the possible motivation of all types of violence associated with terrorism. Therefore, current psychoanalytic studies use different approaches to explain the causes of terrorism. Besides, most psychoanalytic studies indicate that terrorists opt to engage in terrorist activities because of different reasons. Also, normal persons become terrorists in different ways and with different motivations. Therefore, most psychologists argue that in the quest to underpin the possible causes of terrorist activities, there is the need to discriminate between the motivations for joining, being retained, and disserting terrorist factions (Schmid Jongman 2005, p. 61). As a result, current psychoanalytic studies propose the identity theory as one of the psychoanalytic theories of terrorism. These theories were put forward by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) who in agreement with other neo-Freudian psychologists argue that the human mind and its associated mental processes are unconscious. Therefore, the psychological process of life-span development follows a distinct and highly organized procedure involving several stages that depend on one’s childhood desires (Crenshaw 2001, p. 405). In case any one of these stages is omitted, or an individual’s childhood fantasies are unresolved, the affected person becomes psychologically distressed.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The psychological explanation of terrorism specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More According to the identity theory, individuals who are bound to perpetrate terr orist activities are usually young and energetic persons suffering from low self-esteem, which subsequently alters their way of thinking in that they are willing to do anything which makes them honored. Therefore, the search for self-identity can make a normal person vulnerable to becoming a potential terrorist. Furthermore, psychoanalytic studies show that there is no one personality that can be used to identify potential terrorists. However, most terrorists share common biographies characterized by cases of humiliation, childhood abuses, and social injustices. These histories may be the possible causes of violence and aggression perpetrated by most terrorists against their victims. Additionally, the paranoia theory holds that individuals with paranoid personality challenges develop feelings of distrust and suspicion towards other individuals and they are bound to develop ill motives towards these people (Schmid Jongman 2005, p. 61). Therefore, according to most psychologists, the se individuals also have specific personality attributes such as excitement-seekers; action-oriented personalities; violent and aggressive personalities; and social failures. These characteristics are associated with the increased probability of these individuals organizing themselves in terrorist groups to achieve their malevolent motives. Furthermore, the paranoia theory agrees with other observational studies conducted by psychologists on terrorists suffering from narcissistic personality challenges, which shows that terrorists must have encountered splitting experiences before they decided to engage in terrorist activities (Moghadam 2006, p. 20). Here, splitting experiences entails the pain and narcissistic injuries that individuals are exposed to earlier in life. Therefore, these persons suffer from a damaged image of their personal identities and inner pain. Inside of these individuals, the conflict between what is good and bad is unresolved and thus, one forms wounds that are externalized through blaming others for one’s pain, weaknesses, financial problems, and low self-esteem. Also, terrorists tend to compare their inner weaknesses against the perceived strength and power of their enemies and thus they will spend most of their life-time trying to destroy the inner weaknesses through aggression and violence (Crenshaw 2001, p. 410). Most importantly, the discussions above show that terrorists are normal, intelligent, and critical planners of their activities. This refutes any possibilities of terrorists being mentally ill (Hoffman 1999, p. 337; Hoffman 2006, p. 409). Therefore, there must be a driving force that keeps terrorists together in promoting their course while destroying their perceived enemies.Advertising Looking for essay on political sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More One of the possible drives for terrorist activities is their political and religious ideologies. In most terrorist factions, there are religious ideologies providing the moral justification of terrorist activities. Here, psychologists claim that in normal societies, there are rules and sanctions that prevent individuals from acting maliciously (Wilkinson 1997, p. 415). However, under certain circumstances, violence and aggression can be justified in the society relative to its moral objective as observable in the histories of the Islamic religion, Christianity, and Judaism. Moreover, the extremist ideologies keep the terrorists together in groups and any misunderstanding, mistrust, or violation of the factions’ rules can threaten the group’s existence. Limitations of the psychology of terrorism From the discussions above, it is worth noting that the psychology of terrorism studies the behavior of terrorists that can be attributed to their acts of violence and aggressio n. Relative to studies conducted on the behavior of terrorists, it is evident that there are different types of violent and aggressive behaviors. Also, the studies show that not all violent behaviors can lead to terrorist activities. Therefore, psychology fails to draw a clear link between violence and terrorist activities. Furthermore, most the psychoanalytic studies claim that most terrorists use certain ideological beliefs to perpetrate violence against their enemies. However, it is possible for someone to show that not all extremist political and religious ideologies are based on violence. Besides, it is not logical to claim that all extremists are violent. In some cases, some extremist ideologies are in place to drive economic and cultural agendas. Therefore, there is the need to show the ultimate purpose of the extremist ideologies in terrorism, which psychology fails to provide (Abrahams, 2008, pp. 86-89). Besides, psychology attempts to show how normal persons end up becomin g terrorists but fails in terms of providing a clear explanation of how terrorist factions identify and recruit their members. Historical studies of terrorism show that most terrorist factions are largely found in regions where the greatest number of people are deprived of national resources or in areas where the people are dissatisfied with the activities of the national or international governments. Here, the psychological theories may fail to show how a whole population turns violent and decides to engage in terrorist activities (Wilkinson 2006, p. 23). Relative to the psychoanalytic and non-psychoanalytic theories of terrorism, most psychologists point a finger at the childhood histories, life experiences, and biographies of terrorists as the possible determinants of an individual’s behavioral changes as one develops. Thus, psychology claims that any possible injustices along the developmental line of an individual can make one to revenge against the perceived sources of the injustices. Here, psychology does not indicate that a person can do harm oneself in the process of seeking justice. Therefore, it is not possible to explain the motivations behind suicide bombing through psychology (Randy 2004, p. 35). Generally, the psychological studies of terrorism are wanting in terms of providing one possible definition of terrorism. Studies show that in their quest to provide a clear meaning of terrorism, most psychologists have come up with more than 100 definitions (Randy 2004, p. 47). This makes it impossible for anyone individual to collect a single coherent body of knowledge concerning terrorism. Besides, the current psychoanalytic studies in terrorism are not based on any data and thus, they cannot be reproduced. Lastly, most psychoanalysts do not provide any practical implications or applicability of their studies because most terrorists cannot be contacted in case other researchers wish to verify the claims made (Silke, 2001, p. 14). However, it is worth noting that most psychoanalytic studies are practical and that there is a high possibility of operationalizing them in future studies. Besides, the advantages of using psychology in explaining the motivations and determinants behind terrorist activities outweigh its limitations. It then follows that psychology is a possible starting point in the quest to underpin the possible causes of terrorist activities. Conclusions The paper examines the possibility of using psychology in the quest to explain the possible causes and motivations of terrorist activities by considering the advantages and limitations of the psychology of terrorism. From the discussions above, terrorism is defined as the act of violence perpetrated against other innocent and non-violent individuals. Furthermore, it is notable that psychology offers several avenues upon which the motivations and determinants of terrorism can be examined. For instance, through the psychoanalytic and non-psychoanalytic theories, it is possible to show the link between the process of life-span development and the probability that an individual will become a potential terrorist. The theories that attempt to explain the origins of terrorism include the identity theory, the narcissism theory, the paranoia theory, and the humiliation-revenge theory. However, basing scientific studies on theories has proven inapplicable in some circumstances where violent behaviors translate to terrorist activities. Furthermore, many psychologists have failed in agreeing upon one universally accepted definition of terrorism that can guide the collection of a body of knowledge, which explains the possible causes and motivations of terrorism. In addition, most psychoanalytic studies are not based on statistical data and thus, it is not possible to reproduce them to determine their applicability and practical implications. In spite of these limitations, psychology is a possible line of investigation for researchers wishing to explor e the possible determinants and causes of terrorist activities. Reference List Abrahms, M 2008, ‘What terrorists really want: terrorist motives and counterterrorism strategy’ International Security, vol.32, no. 4, pp. 86–89. Crenshaw, M 2001, ‘The psychology of terrorism: An agenda for the 21st century’,  Political Psychology, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 405-420. Hoffman, B 1999, ‘The mind of the terrorist: Perspectives from social psychology’,  Psychiatric Annals, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 337-340. Hoffman, B 2006, Inside Terrorism (2nd ed.), Columbia University Press, New York. Moghadam, A 2006, The roots of terrorism, Infobase Publishing Ltd., New York. Randy, B 2004, Psychology of terrorism, University of Florida, Tampa, Florida. Schmid, PA Jongman, AJ 2005, Political terrorism, Routledge, New York. Silke, A 2001, ‘The devil you know: Continuing problems with research on terrorism’,  Terrorism and Political Violence, vol. 13, n o. 4, pp. 1-14. Wilkinson, P 1997, ‘The Media and Terrorism: a Reassessment’, Terrorism and Political  Violence, Vol.9, no.2, pp.51–64. Wilkinson, P 2006, Terrorism vs. democracy: the liberal State response (2nd ed.), Routledge, New York. This essay on The psychological explanation of terrorism was written and submitted by user Billy A. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Un dia asul essays

Un dia asul essays Computers have been around for a long time. They have evolved thrugh the years, but two major companies are at the top of the hill. These two computers companies are Macs and Pcs ,but eventhough both of them are personal and businnes computers, they differ in hardware, software, and compability. Mac computers were the first ones to come out to the market. Their hardware is still compact like the first one 20 years ago; their monitor is ensamble together with the CPU, making the computers one big box. Their softwares and programs are too complicated for the average person; it is need it to type keyboards comands for the computer to work. To top it all of, the Macs are not compatible with almost any of the products that are sell in stores, or neither with on-line downloads. On the other hand, PCs came out a couple of years after Macs. As soon as people started to try them, they got very popular. Their hardware comes ceparlly, and one can chosse between any CPU or monitor that one want. PC's softwares are so eassy that even a 6 years old child can learn to use it. Not like Macs, PCs can use any of the programs that are in stores. PCs are very compatible with others equipments, and with any online programs. I personally like PCs more that Macs; I love the way PCs are structure in their programs. If PCs make life eassier, Macs will make it more complicated. One good example of this can be found in any office. Because Macs are more complicated, any work that people save or do, can be easily lose. To conclude, I can say that eventhough Macs and PCs are personal and businnes computers, they differ in hardware, software, and compability. To solve this problem both computers companies should work together, and maybe that way their softwares,hardwares, and compability would be the same. ...