Theory Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Theory Assignment - Essay Example There will almost always be some common ground from which to work. By working from known shared meanings, it is possible to attach new meanings and new workds by comparing either similarity or difference. Using the more visual metaphor or simile can work well in these circumstances, as long as there is also a clear shared understanding of meanings carries by such imagery. For example one might explain â€Å"timidity† as being afraid of small things, such as l0ooking someone else in the eye. However, in some Eastern and Asian cultures, it is the height of rudeness and a very aggressive act to look someone else directly in the eye. The opportunities for miscommunication are many and truly competent communicators are few. II: Discussing Plans for Saturday Night with my Friend’s Mother It was early one Saturday evening, and my friends and I were going out to hang in the downtown area near places where there were always lots of girs. My two friends left for a few minutes to get something, and I waited. Carl’s mother came into the livingroom where I was waiting, and asked me about where we were going, but she started right off by asking if we were going bird watching. She had overheard a conversation earlier between Murray, who is from the UK and Carl, her son. I did not realize that she had misunderstood, so I simply chatted with her. FM: So I heard you Murray and Carl planning to go bird watching with you tonight. Where will you do that? Me: Oh right on the boardwalk. There’s flocks of them there. FM: Really? At night? Me: Oh you know they love the bright lights and the music. FM: That music? I would think it would drive them away. Me: Well I admit it is a tad loud, and keeps the same beat all night, but one little drink solves that whole problem. They start dancing and get more thirsty, drink a little more and pretty some they love everything. FM: That sounds more like you are planning to catch them. Me: Oh no, nothing quite so crude. A fter all, they can’t fly. FM: What kinds of birds are they, Penguins or Dodos? Me: Oh no, they’re just girls. I’m sorry. Murray’s a Brit. To him all birds are girls, doncha know? FM: No, I don’t. The prettiest ones are the boys. Me: I stood silent for many seconds and then started to laugh. III: Analysis of the Miscommunication in the Conversation and the Causes In the previous conversation, the two speakers did not share the same definition for several of the key words. Notably the two most important were â€Å"bird† and â€Å"fly†, which are colloquial expressions in Great Britain meaning â€Å"girl† and â€Å"run away†. Several other parts of the conversation were ambiguous when paired with the meanings of these two words. â€Å"Drink† was meant as an alcoholic beverage, but was interpreted as meaning water by the listener, because she was convinced the conversation was about the animals that have wings and fly mostly in the day time. Neither participant in this conversation were actually competent communicators, since neither one tried to establish a base of meaning before carrying on with the conversation. The use of slang

Untittled Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Untittled - Essay Example The artistic objectives intended by the artist are brought out clearly and excellently in the choice of color. Mentioning an overall black colored sculpture immediately registers in the mind that it was a dull item. The artist, however, made an overall coloring that is rich, bright, vibrant, engaging and that creates visual interest. There is a well-calculated color harmony on the sculpture accompanied by excellent color context between the black color and vivid red. The sculpture is a 3dimension figure with a height, width, and depth made from a solid to a hollow. The method used in designing the sculpture is subtractive, this is where an artist creates an item by carving and removing the extra material used to attain a desired shape. Considering that the sculptures have a small size and almost similar to a vase, implies the artist did not experience a very difficult time building most of it. The bottom part takes a cylindrical shape up to halfway up; the top has a pyramid-like shape designed with simultaneous curves and a small circular opening sinking into the interior. This sculpture is a clear indication of innovative and excellent artistic work carried out carefully. The color choice was excellent, perfect texture, a suitable size for an intimate relationship and focal areas attained their importance of bringing out areas of

Westernization in Present Day: Globalisation in Singapore

Westernization in Present Day: Globalisation in Singapore Globalization can be described as an ongoing process where resources, believes, ideas and technology from different cultures are integrated to each other and promote new ways of thinking and practices among the society. As a continuing progression, globalization aroused from the influences of other cultures, which has been adapted with the local cultural conditions and modified to fit in the context of social behaviour. The external influences will directly override some local particularities, and the culture itself will be altered, or maybe damaged, or even enhanced, according to the perspective of society life. Therefore, the expression of culture itself will be interpreted and analysed in different way which encouraged the people to think, act, and learn the new disciplines in every aspect of life. These processes, hence, have an outcome of a cultural diversity, in which introducing the local values in global culture. In other words, it offered a global and local linkage of social changes that happened in the nation. Looking through the contemporary social life, globalization has become a major issue all over the world. Many countries have developed new approaches in most of the living aspects, and transformed peoples lifestyle in order to follow the major flow that happened globally. In todays modern days, globalization can act as a tool to open the opportunities of influence by other countries, and expand the cross-cultural interaction that may build up the cohesion among the nation. Globalization, however, implies to westernization in present days. The nature of western countries seems to appear as a science based tradition and the world is highly developed towards that tradition, as a sense of control. These global forces appear to superficially standardized and homogenized cultures, and equivalent to westernization. Majority of cultures are converging to the western standards, local identities have been replaced with global culture, and western values have become significant trends in this modern world.   Looking at Singapore, a cosmopolitan city, where variety of cultures merges together, is one of a good example of a country that embraces globalization. Besides accepting the westernization, Singapore has been spanning borders through other cultures, such as Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Caucasian. These four interwoven cultures has created a genuine blending of traditions, believes, and ideas. A fusion of cultures in which Singapore brought in, has created a multi-disciplinary notions and practices, rooted in many cultural traditions. This synthesis has altered and transforms the peoples way of life according to the local context. On the other hand, not only western value that the world, including Singapore, has been developing on, but also majority of the countries have welcoming influences from Asian culture. Japan has brought a significant shift in the worlds globalization. Beside westernization, it has been become a popular culture among the world. Japanese culture has generated a different approach in global trends. Its tradition does not rest on science based technology and for them technology is a choice, not a necessity. Japan has greatly developed their long standing traditions towards something that instinctive rather than rationalistic way of thinking, like what the western do. Japan has its own original characteristic, which has a capacity to adapt and integrate new forms and function. Hence, there is no doubt that Japanese influence has an impact on the worlds culture, such as, in space, design, architecture, style, and even food culture. There is no large city in the world in which a Japanese restaurant cannot be found. Far from being a passing fad, Japanese cuisine is an establishment item in restaurants all over the world. The popularity of Japanese food is in part due to its reputation as a healthy alternative and also the curiosity and willingness to constantly introducing new tastes in their daily meals. Japanese way of dining, since the olden days, has put emphasized on food arrangement as a piece of art. For the Japanese, food must be enjoyed visually and pleasing to the eyes. They have developed the aesthetic sense to design exquisite harmony between colours, texture and shape throughout the food arrangement. This visual pleasure is an essential prelude and accompaniment to the savoury pleasure that follow. The influence of Japanese cuisine has been successfully creating a new atmosphere in Singapore food culture. It is proven that Singapore people accepted the taste and ambience of Japanese food by looking to the increasing number of sushi chain restaurant, such as Sushi Tei, Sakae Sushi; numerous traditional and contemporary Japanese restaurant, and also Japanese themed food court such as Ishimura and Manpuku. The diversity of food which has been influenced by Japanese cuisine, has become an inspiration for the designers to introduce innovative and exciting solutions to design dining spaces, through the essential aspect of Japanese dining and design in new ways that suit todays restaurant-goers. Recognizing the context of social behaviour in Singapore, innovation is the key elements for Singaporean. In terms of food culture, people like an excitement and it is a challenge for them to try something fresh and different, both in food and also ambience of dining space. Experience is another strong point, another extra ordinary atmosphere can attract people to get in and try a new restaurant. Besides the tendency to look for new things, the image of Singapore as a fast paced country gave an impact to the society. The time-oriented and multi-tasking people have built a busy working environment and hectic lifestyle in this metropolis city. Consequently, they are likely dont have time to have the luxury of enjoying social fellowship during the weekdays. This could be why it seems that forms of entertainment in Singapore tend to be designed to fit peoples activity on weekends. The big leisure activity that Singapore offers is shopping. There are numerous numbers of malls and shopping centres have been build or even renovated to drag people in the shopping as an attraction. Other than shopping; casinos, theme parks, nature reserves, are the other forms of leisure that Singapore provided. Despite the fact that all those type of facilities can serve as a very relaxing and stress relieving activity, people need to spend their time on weekend to do these activities.

The Storm Essay -- essays research papers

The Storm The title of this story suggests a metaphorical connection between the storm outside and the storm of emotions going on in the individuals Calixta and Alcee. The intensity of their sexual act inside the house follows the pattern of the storm outside. Their passion climaxes and diminishes with the storm. They are left replenished and fresh just like nature. The storm outside had been brewing for some time, just as it had been brewing between Calixta and Alcee. They tried to deter the storm by staying away from each other, but it was inevitable just like the storm itself. They had set up barriers between themselves by not being alone together but those barriers could be and were broken. Just like the storm beating down the barriers of the house trying to expose them to the outside elements, the barriers between Calixta and Alcee were diminishing with first contact as shown in this excerpt. â€Å"The rain beat upon the low, shingled roof with a force and clatter that threatened to break an entrance and deluge them there.† This refers to the storm outside and their emotional state. They were feeling this need and desire for each other and it was beating down all the barriers they had set up within themselves to resist this temptation. Their feelings were so dangerously close to the surface that they could hardly hide them any longer. The storm was raging on and the drama of the lightning was very shocking to them. They could almost feel its electricity. â€Å"The playing of ...

American Colonies in Early 1600 and 1700.

America’s colonial history can be described in terms of the economic, political and social events of the early sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The two centuries came with two sets of societies altogether. No historian will contest the fact that the start of the 1600 and its formative years marks the starting point of the American colonies’ history of existence. The American native society had a tight hold of their territories albeit without any form of a structured government but had a well organized defense outfit to check  intruders (Adams, 1921).The invasion by the English and other European giants and subsequent formation of the thirteen colonies was characterized by tribal and cross culture fights pitting mainly the native tribes against the colonizing English between 1600-1650. This points to an era of cultural disorientation and societal instability. Disease, poor weather and tribal warfare made it impossible for meaningful political, social and economic e ndeavors to materialize. Small-scale farming was the main economic activity in this era. The introductionof tea and tobacco in early 1600 gave the American colonies the opportunity of agriculture for trade and subsistence. The 1700 came with a different social, economic and political arrangement (Adams, 1921). The thirteen colonies each had an elaborate governance structure. The American colony of Pennsylvania had its first constitution in1701, no doubt then that the society already had a sense of respect for human rights and freedoms as they would call it ‘the Charter of Privileges’. This new set of laws guided governance and people’s conduct within and without the society (Schlesinger & Arthur, 1993).AMERICAN COLONIES IN EARLY 1600-1700Agriculture took a new angle during this era. Large scale farming replaced the old fashioned small scale and subsistence farming of the early 1600. Big plantations were put up by wealthy landowners of the southern colonies who al so engaged in hunting. This agrarian culture effectively put to an end the perennial hunger of the previous decade. There is a marked difference in the educational setup of the two eras. The early sixteenth century saw nothing much of formal education.Public schools were established and grammar schools became common place between 1700 and 1750. College education gained value and in effect Yale College was founded in 1701. Later, a pioneer journal was published and the freedom of the press and liberties was enacted (Schlesinger, 1993). The era of 1600-1650 had witnessed a culture of ignorance and disenfranchisement coupled with religious and cultural intolerance. Impunity went unpunished resulting in many killings and murders with anti-establishment figures being banished or executed.The society of the 1700-1750 era led a different lifestyle compared to that of 1600-1650. These people were a lot more economically stable (Gipson, 1936-1970). A pointer to this is their love for fashion and big life contrary to their early sixteenth century counterparts where starvation and hard labor punctuated their lives. The former had enough to spend and spare and even dress well owing to a healthy economy while the latter barely managed to scrape through life. The Great Awakening movement by Jonathan Edwards in the 1730s and 1740sdemonstrates a great difference in religious faiths of the two eras as he calls his group ‘new lights’ and the previous religions ‘old lights’. With this evangelistic movement, the religious and social orientation changes and differs greatly from that of the 1600 – 1650 era.REFERENCESAdams, Truslow. J [1921]. The Founding of New England. Atlantic Monthly Press. New York.Gipson, L [1936-1970] The British Empire Before the American Revolution (15 volumes) Pulitzer Prize.Schlesinger, Jr. , Arthur M. [1993] The Almanac of American History. Nobles Books, Greenwich, CT.

Describe and Evaluate Two Theories for the Maintenance of Relationships Essay

Social exchange theories exist in various forms but the underlying theme is that people may be selfish. Social exchange theories argue people may view relationships in a â€Å"profit† or â€Å"loss† way. Thibaut & Kelley believed people will look to see how rewarding a relationship is and then how much it costs to be in the relationship. If there is a profit left over (rewards – costs = profit) then that may encourage them to continue the relationship where as if there is a loss – this may motivate them to end the relationship. Blau argued that interactions are â€Å"expensive†, as they take time, energy and commitment and may involve unpleasant emotions and experiences. Therefore what we get out of a relationship must exceed what goes in. Walster et al believed that social interactions involve an exchange of rewards, like affection, information, status. The degree of attraction or liking reflects how people evaluate the rewards they receive in relative to those given. SET is therefore an economic theory explaining relationships in terms of maximising benefits and minimising costs. The â€Å"Social exchange† is the mutual exchange of rewards between partners; like friendship, sex and the costs of being in the relationship may be freedoms given up, time, effort. A person may make their assessment of their rewards by using two comparisons: The comparison level (CL) – where rewards are compared to costs to judge profits. This may be based on past experiences and relationships as well as what we expect to get from a relationship. The comparison level for alternative relationships (CLalt) – Where rewards and costs are compared against perceived alternative relationships and how they compare. A relationship is maintained if profit is perceived in both these two comparisons. Thibaut & Kelley proposed a four-stage model setting how relationships could be maintained, predicting that over time people develop a predictable and mutually beneficial pattern of exchanges assisting the maintenance of relationships; Sampling – Rewards and costs are assessed in a number of relationships Bargaining – A relationship is â€Å"costed out† and sources of profit and loss are identified Commitment – Relationship is established and maintained by predictable exchange of rewards Institutionalisation – Interactions are established and the couple â€Å"settle down†. Mills et al identified two kinds of intimate relationships; (a) The communal couple where each partner gives out of concern for the other and (b) The Exchange couple who keep mental records of who is ahead and who is behind. This indicates that there are different types of relationships and SET may apply to some of them but not universally to all. Rusbult asked participants to complete questionnaires over a 7-month period concerning rewards and costs and found that SET did not explain the early â€Å"honeymoon† phase of the relationship when balance of exchanges was ignored. However later on relationship costs were compared with degree of satisfaction which suggests that the theory is best applied to the maintenance of relationships. Rusbult found that costs and rewards from a relationship were weighed up in comparison to possible alternative relationships when deciding whether they should be maintained which supports that social exchange models idea that people assess rewards by making comparisons. However a third element of investment (Commitment) was also a factor in this in which people compared how much they had invested into the relationship and what they stood to lose – which SET does not fully recognise suggesting it does not explain such things. Rusbults Investment model looks at this however and better explains this. Hatfield looked at people who felt over or under-benefited. The under-benefitted felt angry and deprived while the over-benefited felt guilty and uncomfortable. This supports SET theory by suggesting that regardless of whether individuals benefitted, they do not wish to maintain a relationship which is unfair. Equity Theory may better explain this however and how it may that that theory is better suited to explain such as if, as SET proposes, it is all about profit – then surely when people feel they are over-benefiting they are more inclined to maintain the relationship. Rubin believed that although people are not fundamentally selfish – attitudes towards others are determined to a large extent by how rewarding we think they are for us supporting the theory. Argyle criticised methodologies that evaluate SET as being contrived and artificial with little relevance to real life relationships. Sedikides claimed that people are capable of being completely unselfish in relationships and do things for others without expecting anything in return – which is most evident in relationships with those emotionally close to us. Sedikides believed that individuals could bolster their partners self-esteem when faced with failures or stress and therefore SET’s theory of humans being out for what they can get is simplistic and inaccurate. Fromm argued against the theory also arguing that true â€Å"love† was about giving as opposed to false love where people expect to have favours returned. Most research has tended to concentrate on short-term consequences of relationships rather than the long-term maintenance and what drives them. This theory may apply to those that keep â€Å"score†. Mustein et al devised the exchange orientation tool, identifying such scorekeepers; who are suspicious and insecure suggesting that the theory only suits relationships lacking confidence and mutual trust. Equity Theory Equity does not mean equality; instead it perceives individuals as motivated to achieve fairness in relationships and to feel dissatisfied with inequity (unfairness). Definitions of equity within a relationship can differ between individuals. Maintenance of relationships occurs through balance and stability. Relationships where individuals put in more than they receive or receive more than they put in are inequitable, leading to dissatisfaction and possible dissolution. The recognition of inequity within a relationship presents a chance for a relationship to be saved – that is, maintained further by making adjustments so that there is a return to equity. Relationships may alternate between periods of perceived balance and imbalance, with individuals being motivated to return to a state of equity. The greater the perceived imbalance, the greater the efforts to realign the relationship, so long as a chance of doing so is perceived to be viable.