My utopian society Essay

The paper describes a utopian society that is created using Skinner’s principles of operant conditioning. The basic principles and norms of family and community relationships are discussed. The paper evaluates the basics of the community’s economic and criminal justice system. My Personal Utopian Society B. F. Skinner is fairly regarded as one of the most prominent figures in behavioral psychology. His experiments and theoretical elaborations resulted in the development of a new theory of operant conditioning – the turning point in the human understanding of psychology and human behaviors. In his writings on behaviorism and operant conditioning, B. F. Skinner openly voted against punishment: even before he became a well-known psychologist, Skinner had been opposing to punishment by all possible means (O’Donohue & Ferguson, 2001). With time, Skinner came to recognize the usefulness of punishment in particular conditions an in relation to particular subjects. In his statement on punishment, Skinner wrote that â€Å"punishment is usually used to the advantage of the punisher, but there are exceptions, and they are sometimes justified† (Griffin et al, 1988). Yet, I believe that positive reinforcement is an excellent way to encourage desired/ positive behavioral reactions. According to Skinner, positive reinforcement is a superior form of modifying human behaviors compared with punishment (O’Donohue & Ferguson, 2001). That is why my utopian society will apply to positive reinforcement to promote human behaviors that are desirable and benefit the community. A utopian society based on positive reinforcement will seek to reward its members for desirable behaviors. In positive reinforcement, the reward follows behaviors and decisions which the community considers as desirable and appropriate (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2009). Positive reinforcement will keep individuals from engaging in negative / undesirable behaviors (Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, 2009). In my society, positive reinforcement will stimulate individuals to repeat desirable behaviors. My society will have its own constitution, which will list all desirable behaviors and the ways of rewarding community members for displaying and repeating these behaviors. The society will not distinguish between different types of desirable behaviors and all rewards will be equal. Equal rewards are necessary to ensure that community members are equally committed to all types of desirable behaviors. For example, a society member who decides to work additional hours on Friday and a society member who decides to share his profits with a poor neighbor will receive equal rewards. According to the constitution, desirable behaviors will include work, participation in music and fine arts, charity and medical assistance, marriage, birth control, and collective childrearing. To avoid overpopulation, my utopian society will encourage marriages and strict birth control. Every family that manages to have no more than 2 children during the first 10 years of its marriage will receive a small material compensation. The society will not reward abortions. Families that do not have children will be able to use a surrogate mother. Surrogate mothers will serve a form of reward to families that do not have a child and desire to have one. This is the rare case where the utopian society will apply to intangible benefits to reinforce desirable behaviors in community members – surrogate mothers will be a natural reinforcement for families that do not have children but want to become parents. Children will grow in collective facilities without parents. No formal education will exist. My utopian society will make children learn from the natural environment in which they live, from their relationships with other children and the constitution. Children will return to families after they are 16 years old. By that time, they will have to learn the basic professional skills and will become the full members of the community workforce. Children who actively engage in labor activities will receive a small material compensation. The society will reward parents who send their children to the collective facilities. The society will encourage and reward human relationships and unions that are based on mutual profits and benefit community rather than promote romance or friendship. The society will organize marriages based on reason. The society will reward only reasonable marriages organized around a common professional or productive goal. Such families will receive a small material compensation. Agriculture and unskilled labor will shape the basis of the society’s economy. My society will not reward education and related activities. The society will reward only unskilled labor. Individuals will have to work 6 hours every day. Saturdays and Sundays will be free. Longer hours at work will be desirable, and the society will materially reward members’ participation in various labor activities. The society will encourage its members to participate in music and fine arts. The society will stimulate individuals to avoid unhealthy and harmful behaviors. No formal criminal justice system will exist because, due to positive reinforcement, individuals will refrain from the criminal activity. Individuals that have never committed an illegal or immoral action by the time they reach their 40th birthday will receive a small material reward. The perspective of a reward will inspire individuals to avoid behaviors that can harm the society or its members. No formal authority will exist. Because authority empowers only a small group of individuals, it may disrupt the peace and balance in the society. My utopian society will encourage self-expression and open opinions and will stimulate community members’ participation in public discussions. Participation will become a form of positive (active) reinforcement for anyone who decides to express his view. Society members will have an opportunity to test their ideas and suggestions in practice. The society will gather once a week to monitor the progress of various experiments and to judge their results. The society will reward individual participation in experiments. The society will stimulate other members to sponsor such activities. The society will refrain from applying to punishment or negative stimuli. My utopian society will promote positive reinforcement as the basic element of modifying individual behaviors. Positive reinforcement will help the members of my utopian society to refrain from harmful or undesirable behaviors. Conclusion My utopian society will utilize positive reinforcement to stimulate desirable behaviors. Positive reinforcement will ensure that community members display and repeat behaviors that benefit them and their community and, simultaneously, refrain from behaviors that can harm other society members. All rewards will be immediate and will follow the desirable behaviors. All rewards will be equal, regardless of the specific form of desirable behavior and the amount of effort put in it. In this way, the community will guarantee that residents are equally committed to all types of desirable behaviors listed in the community constitution. Positive reinforcement will help the members of my utopian society to refrain from undesirable behaviors. References Griffin, J. C. , Paisey, T. J. , Stark, M. T. & Emerson, J. H. (1988). B. F. Skinner’s position on aversive treatment. AJHR, 7, 104-105. Retrieved from http://www. judgerc. org/Griffin1988SkinnerpunishmentstatementAJMR. pdf O’Donohue, W. T. & Ferguson, K. E. (2001). The psychology of B. F. Skinner. SAGE. Zastrow, C. & Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2009). Understanding human behavior and social environment. Boston: Cengage Learning.

Kid kustomers summery essay

That was until the â€Å"Decade of the Child consumer† as many marketing experts call it, where marketing agencies legalized that working parents are more willing to spend money on materialistic items for their kids t o keep them happy. Most all big marketing agencies around that time realized the potential opportunity they had to create a olfactory fan to their brand, so in turn most every ad agency created a child en division to their company.The children divisions of the companies were completely focused o n how to market their brand to stick in young kids minds. The best example of this that Closer BRI nags up in the article is he old Camel Cigarettes mascot, â€Å"Joe Camel†. Joe Camel was a cartoon chart term that the camel cigarettes brand invented to help market their product to a younger crowd an d it worked perfectly.A study done in 1991 showed that almost all American kids age six, could recon nice Joe Camel just as easily as the famous Mackey mouse. Then ano ther very shocking study came shortly after that found that % of all cigarettes illegally sold to minors were Camel cigarettes. Closer goes on to explain that marketing agencies have a goal of getting chi lilied to have pacific reasons for their parents why they need the advertised product.They don't just want kids to whine and beg for their product because they want it, the agencies want child Rene to feel certain reasons why they actually need the product. In order to know what kids need to see to get infatuated with a product, market researchers hold staged sleepovers, focus groups and play d dates for kids as young as two or three to study what they talk about, play with, and even what they drag w in their pictures. The ad agencies also used the internet as a huge marketing tool to children.In 1 998 a federal investigation of the internet found that 89% of children aimed sites were requesting personal information from children without a parents consent which now is illegal due t o the Children's Online Pri vacancy Protection Act, which took effect in the year 2000. The biggest tool that marketing agencies still have to hook our children on the IR product is the television. Despite the efforts of the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) to ban al I television ads directed at children under seven, the television still remains the number one place for racketing agencies to spread their message subliminally to children's minds.With TV channels like N clonked, the Disney Channel, the Cartoon Network and all the other child networks, the television is broadcasting children based advertisements tenderfoot hours a day. Before 1 980, or the â€Å"Decade of the child consumer† none of these television networks even existed. Now the typical American chill d is watching television at an average of twenty hours a week and almost one and a half months o UT of a year, watching more than thirty thousand TV commercials.

Recent Trends Of Staycation In Europe Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

Recent Trends Of Staycation In Europe - Essay Example The understanding of vacation is to rest or have a break from our daily routines. It is usually that we opt for going to someplace which is relaxing, which makes us stress-free, which regenerates energy in us so that we can resume working enthusiastically with no obstacles after we are back. It actually means to rest, keeping aside all tensions. This is what we think when going for a vacation but in a staycation, we opt for staying back home and spend time at home. It means that we are trying to find out some ways to spend the vacation at home as we could do if we were to go out somewhere. Here it means people find out ways of relieving stress being at home and make different arrangements for spending their holidays (About.com). People here have rather found out many new, different, innovative ideas about spending their holidays and having good leisure time. Some put off their mobile phones, some keep their computers shut, some opt for gaming, some party around, and many more things. People arrange friendly meetings, plan for dinner every weekend and some relax by reading books or listening to music at home. People also do creative works like painting, crafting etc. People in the UK are more influenced with a staycation. Many cities here started realizing that there can be a number of things done to spend the holidays whilst staying back home. People came up with many ideas and literally enjoyed them. It was not only people but also different clubs and restaurants that came up with many ideas to relax and amuse people. So there was a study done which showed amazing results that people were responding well to these ideas (Carey 2008). One thing that is a plus point here, that staying back at home for holidays reduces one’s workload of planning which we would have done if we're to go out for holidays. This not only reduces tension but is also a good money-saving policy.

Climate change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Climate change - Essay Example Climate change The claim that global warming is real centers primarily on speculative theories rather than facts. This is primarily because perpetuators of the global warming hoax base their theories on contrived data, as well as unconfirmed predictions. The evidence provided to prove the reality of global warming is, however, discovered and presented through politically corrupted processes, as well as report conclusions that are driven by corrupted agenda rendered by alleged authoritative institutions such as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The originator of the global warming hoax was James Hansen who was the director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and a member of NASA (Inhofe 154). Hansen presented his testimony on global warming to the US Senate in 1988, thereby starting a series of false testimonies regarding global warming. The hoax was later exaggerated by mainstream media and reports released by organizations such as IPCC in 1990, 1996 and th e year 2001. Both environmentalists and weathermen increasingly make claims regarding global warming and climate change, for which they do not provide any evidence, and in some instances, such evidence is, without a doubt, fabricated. For instance, in 1996, the IPCC released a report that used selective data and manufactured graphs to enhance the view that climate change was a reality. The report also encompassed textual alterations made after scientists approved the final report before it was printed. Another prominent instance of fraud regarding the issue of global warming was the evidence provided in the publication of e-mail files recovered from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in Britain (Sussman 195). Reprehensible exchanges among leading researchers who stirred up the hysteria surrounding global warming also confirm ancient and largely suspected manipulations of data relating to climate. These exchanges also prove conspiracies aimed at falsifying and withholding information and suppressing conflicting findings in scholarly and peer-reviewed articles. They also provide evidence regarding the exaggeration of the presence of threats of man-made actions that cause climatic changes. A vast majority of these individuals exert immense influence over report findings issued by institutions such as the IPCC. The hoax regarding global warming is perpetuated by the attempts by progressive persons to exert control over the world’s energy industry. The reality is that nothing has changed in the global climate, which can be attributed to human activities that cause carbon dioxide emissions. The hoax continues to threaten the economy while also advancing the agenda of institutions such as the UN in many ways. The reality is that carbon dioxide is quite beneficial as a trace gas, which exists in such minute amounts within the atmosphere, that the notion that it plays a substantive role in influencing the climate is highly nonfactual. Car bon dioxide makes up less than 0.1 percent of the atmosphere. On the other hand, only 4 percent of carbon dioxide emanates from human

Satelite Distribuidora de Petroleo Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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WRITTING CONVENTIONS ON A ACADEMIC FIELD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

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When is it important for innovators to protect their intellectual Essay

When is it important for innovators to protect their intellectual property Compare and contrast three different approaches to the protection of intellectual pr - Essay Example Protection for intellectual property leads to a healthy competition and enhances value and quality of products, thereby promoting economic growth by means of technological development and enriched cultural advancement. It opens fresh trade avenues and enhance standard of living. The governments have to act and ensure implementation of intellectual property system to sustain businesses in a theft free environment to enable steady growth (Sebban, Guy 2005). Intellectual property is the name given to any new product or design or process and creative work of art or literature. Any invention or innovation involves dedicated effort on the part of an inventor who spends long hours in research and development. In addition, a significant amount of expenditure is also incurred towards development of new and innovative products or designs. If not protected and free copying is allowed, the inventor or innovator would soon get de-motivated, bringing stagnation to further development. Thus, protection of intellectual property assumes paramount importance. Intellectual property protection is essential to all businesses to exploit their new ideas and articles in the market and prevent piracy and theft by others. All art works also need to be credited for their creativity to enhance cultural growth (Sebban, Guy 2005). The protection methods can be broadly classified as ‘formal or institutional’ and ‘strategic’. Formal protection methods include patent, trade secret, trade mark, and copyright, while strategic methods cover agreements of confidentiality, secrecy, lead and complexity (Iandiorio, Joseph S 1995). In the subsequent paragraphs, we would discuss, in detail, two formal methods, namely, patent and copyright, and one strategic method, namely, confidentiality agreement, bringing out differences, merits and demerits of each. A ‘patent’ is a grant from a country’s government that provides security or protection to a new invention or innovation by an