Justice in Greek Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Justice in Greek Philosophy - Essay Example Plato, one of the Greek's ancient philosophers, ideally believed that sense-gained knowledge remains impure and confused, and that only the soul that contemplates and turns away from thinking carnally can receive true knowledge. He also believed that only the soul can know real essences of things, acquire knowledge of forms since the world as seen by the eye is nothing short of an imperfect copy (Bakalis, 2005). The immense dialogue in the Republic is opened by questioning the nature of justice. Several definitions of justice are proposed which are found to be inadequate except that at least more emphasis is put on Sophist, Thrasymachus' definition. According to this young man, justice is anything the strongest man decides that it is. Further, he states that whatever is in the strong man's interest is just. This argument is dismissed by Socrates after proving that strong personalities rarely get to know whatever is in their best interest; this cannot be just since justice in itself is a virtuous (Griffin, Boardman & Murray, 2001). Plato had quite a different view of justice; he believed that an answer exists that derives basically from reality's nature. In his republic, justice is defined as wisdom, courage and self-control; something close to righteousness and morality. In Greek, the Republic refers to the character or order of a political society; its regime type or constitution. The republic also refers to the city-state governance in a Socratic dialogue written in 380 BC by Plato. The republic is a most influential work of political theory and philosophy, and is Plato's best work. In fictional dialogues with foreigners, Athenians and Socrates, Plato discusses the meaning of true justice (Griffin et al., 2001). He seeks to establish whether man is happier when just or unjust by imagining a society that is governed by the guardians and philosopher-kings. The dialogue also goes further to discuss the role of philosophers, the place of poetry, the Theory of Forms and the soul's immortality. Plato's Republic is to-date considered in respect of western philosophy to be one of the most influential works. The Republic essentially deals with the subject of how one can live well. This inquiry into how one can live a good life was shaped into two parallel questions: (1) what does an ideal state look like, or what is state justice (2) What makes a just person These questions naturally encompass others such as: how should the state citizen be educated, what arts need to be encouraged, what kind of government should state adopt, who should govern and what rewards should the governor receive, what is the soul's nature and what afterlife and divine sanctions exist (Griffin et al., 2001). The dialogue proceeds to cover almost all aspects of Plato's thought. Platonic thought as described by several central aspects that exist in the dialogue can be summed up into three main points; the nature of justice, the ideal republic and the allegory of the divided line and the cave (which attempt to explain the theory of forms as perceived by Plato). THE IDEAL REPUBLIC According to Socrates, if a person can define what a just state looks like then the person can apply that analogously to the just man. Plato on his part exposes in detail how a state can have wisdom, courage, justice and temperament - four great virtues. In his utopia, Plato divides men

Ethical Ways and Unethical Decisions on a Case Assignment

Ethical Ways and Unethical Decisions on a Case - Assignment Example These include Autonomy promotes choice (Patterson & Patrick, 2000). However, while allowing the woman to make her own choices, the parole officer should still tell her about the parolee’s previous charges. This is because the parole officer has been trusted to offer protection. Pollock (2007), reports that while utilitarian ethics may tolerate actions (means) that ultimately have a good end, any â€Å"bad means† (such as not letting the woman know about the previous child molestation offences of the parolee) might lead to a bad outcome. In this case, not letting the woman know of the parolee’s previous child molestation charges would be going against the code of ethics established for rehabilitation counselors. This is because the woman’s three children aged 6, 9, and 14 would be at serious risk of being harmed by the offender (John). However, in keeping with the justice requirement cited in the rehabilitation counselors’ code of ethics, the probation officer should recognize that no crime has been committed against any of the woman’s children yet (Professional Ethics for Rehabilitation Counselors, 2009). An unethical decision would be to assume that the parolee has already committed a crime by being close to â€Å"potential victims.† Other options available in this situation include informing the woman to avoid John at all costs for the safety of the three children. The argument for this is that extreme shaming should be avoided. Pollock (2007) argues that â€Å"shaming† conditions only work towards making the offender feel abandoned and cast aside by the society and may work against the rehabilitation process. Since no offence had been committed to the woman or her children, avoiding â€Å"shaming† the parolee further would still be ethical and morally acceptable. Patterson, J., & Patrick, A. (2000). Choice: Ethical and Legal Rehabilitation Challenges.Rehabilitation Counseling

Management info Systems class discussion wk9 Essay

Management info Systems class discussion wk9 - Essay Example Various organizations consider several factors before selecting the type of organization structure. Among the factors considered are; cost of using each, customer base, targeted group, the language used, technology supported among others. Companies that adopt the global organization structures are mainly financially way from the other companies. I find the global structure as it reaches a greater radius; this opens new and greater opportunities for enlarging these companies compared to the other structures. The global organization structure also presents significant obstacles among all the other GIS organizational structures as it requires; greater finances, network barriers due to technological backwardness, more significant consultations needed and language barriers, and problems of management that come up due to operating in large scale among other major challenges. The problem of a language barrier can be done by including language options in their GIS. More experienced and knowledgeable GIS experts can be employed to ensure the problem of management due to operating in large scale  gets  solved while the problem of network can be solved by using more sophisticated and advanced servers. In a nutshell, organization structures vary mainly in the coverage and the systems adopted in such organization when using the Global Information

Ransomware Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ransomware - Research Paper Example Ransomware is a threat due to inability to recover information from the infected computer. Ransomware is a hijacking threat in the computer system using encryption technology to limit or prevent the user’s access to their system. The Three types of ransomware include encrypting malware, lock-screen viruses and scareware. The ransomware make be in the form of police blocking computer access or FBI virus while others use pornographic images to embarrass the victim. The victims of this malware are usually internet users though hijacking of their user files. It often requires the user to pay ransom to the malware creator before removing the restriction. The attacker may seize the files or computer until the user pays the ransom to online currency accounts such as Webmoney or eGold. The attacks using ransomware are becoming more sophisticated and refined in algorithm posing great challenges to data protection. We will consider the history of ransomware, how ransomware functions in this article. Besides, the paper discusses the reason behind its fast growth, how to prevent it or fix the computer after infection. The increase in the use of ransomware since the formation of the first one raises the question of why they are becoming more prominent. The ransomware is likely to evolve further with the current ones having the ability to encrypt and lock the files. The latest actions of the ransomware ensure the damage they cause continues even after removal without paying the ransom money. As the technology evolves, the malware also evolves in many ways to thrive (Elisan & Hypponen, 2013). . Ransomware has changed over time since the first case in the infection methods, directives and persistence. The early cases of ransomware were benign and easy to remove. However, the new strains are more persistent and pose great threats. The first ransomware is PC Cyborg in 1989 that claimed expiry of license to a

Personality Psychology Essay Example for Free

Personality Psychology Essay Abstract:  Capturing a portrait of life reveals the keys to unlocking the potential or positive self-schema of emphasizing knowledge of your self-worth and the worth of others, utilizing your own interpretations of the world through life situations, film, spiritual enlightenment and our own perceptions. Which questions us to decipher the defense mechanisms that we to better decipher the defense mechanisms we acquire only making us handicap toward viewing and interacting with society. Introduction-That’s the Glory of, that’s the Story of Life Secretly we all want to be beautiful or handsome, equally talented, the center of attention just for once in our lives. The extravagantly creative are loners, the amazingly attractive are too conceited, and the king or queen of our dreams are nowhere in sight. But what makes us that social butterfly, that person who creates connections all across the world as their smile lights up the room, does this person reveal their true selves in society or is it just an illusion? The hard work and efforts we make to gain respect, insight and a positive imagine in our life might take more than just a decent gesture or a firm handshake, we sometimes have to be untruthful about who and what we are and simply what we do. Within our own crowded closets we hide our skeletons so perfectly that no one is aware of all those deadly fears, baggage, and overall unappealing factors that might make society feel like we are the unwanted or unnoticed. Whether we know it or not it is our self-sabotaging state of mind that leads us to the helplessness of being important and the desire to be socially acceptable; as we hold importance on self-image or self-schema we are sometimes left with our thoughts within our intriguing minds wondering how to get there and what we must become. We then began to shield our true emotions and feelings with defense mechanisms that stand as our guard facing the factors that we are only human and have faults. Looking At the Man in the Mirror –Finding Me, My Own Self-image Within The steps toward grasping our self-image must come from within as we look in the mirror,† we ask ourselves who are we to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? † Meanwhile the question answers itself saying â€Å"who are we not to be as a Child of God our playing small does not served the world, as we come to the realization that there is nothing enlightening about downplaying our own personalities so that other people won’t feel insecure around us. In life upon society we are meant to shine as we are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within, as everyone has that chance to shine but if we let our lights shine we give others the ability to unconsciously to do the same. Finally we are liberated from the fears that had us bound as we break those chains of negativity just simply by our presence we free others. (Williamson, 2013) This factor is known as cognitive schema or cognitive psychology; we define self-schema or self-image as the mental process with the efficiently processing and organization of incoming information. We find that our knowledge, beliefs, and past experience are stored into our long-term without intervening with our conscious thoughts. Although we equally process information about ourselves schematically this happens when our brains store memory feedbacks that we receive from the sources from our peers, senses and bodies which also interlinks with â€Å"our emotions and physiology in a complex way that interconnects with self-systems that triggers automated scripts or actions that respond well to the situation. It is the cues of the environment that prompt a schema that sets into motion an automated sequence of cognitive, emotional and physiological responses. Are we really the product of our own environment? Looking within our own past we find that our own self-schema is developed in our childhood, the thoughts of feeling unwanted, loved, unlovable, unattractive, unintelligent and other factors increasingly set into this motion that become negative and harmful in a person’ s life. With no reassurance from our peers, family or partners the emotions and behaviors that seem to deeply affect us makes it hard to conceal those wounds which prompt us to make additional self-schemas that seem to be more destructive than others. When we create the perfect self-schemas we initiate some matters more than others igniting a chain reaction of thoughts, feelings, perceptions and actions that are dangerous to us. It seems to me that we justify what’s harmful to us but not what’s harmful to others as we view other people and categorize them in ways that are negative which being stereotypical, prejudice or even discrimination about ones creed or color seem to reveal the way we truly feel about people different than us. Although our own self-schemas we have about ourselves can cause suffering there nothing less than cognitive constructs within our minds especially when thinking, feeling and behaving in a certain way. However, self-schemas are useful to us in our daily lives forcing us to be consciously being aware of important decisions and guide us on the right path so that we can behave appropriately in different situations and among people. Also they help us understand and interpret the way we use the information for example as we receive facts it activates specific cognitive, verbal and behavioral action sequences which are called scripts and action plans which makes it possible for us to meet goals more efficiently. The Spiritual Self-Schema, 2013) The Battle within Ourselves In place within ourselves, we fight the good fight but it seems like we are our own worst enemy but what truly lies within our own unique battles is the willingness to change. But does that underlying promise go unheard? For our interpretive frameworks for understanding our own are the schema that is related to the behaviors of others; could it be the self-relevant experiences, situations and events that are relevant to a person’s self-definition that gains our focus or our attention? Although we are only human our minds seem to always be consumed by the future, transformation and fears thereof. In reference to self-schema a film like Bicentennial Man portrays the story of the battle within us paint an intricate picture of how a blank canvas can turn into a magnificent masterpiece, whereas the story of Andrew Martin, expressed his endeavors in his transformation from robot to human and all the emotions and feelings involved. Andrew Martin played by Robin Williams reveals how people understand the behaviors of others in certain situations, experiences and events. (imdb. om, 2013) As he learned more and more about the human experience and behaviors and why we do the things we do he gained insight that maybe the image he saw of him was merely human. Martin, an android who was glad to be of service saw that life was more than being a mere machine but the utmost feeling of being a human was satisfying in ways beyond measure. As years and years progressed his family life throughout serving as a butler, a teacher, a maid, a cook and an instructor made him yearn for something more and more each day as he soon found his talent with wood and creating clocks, whatnots and other masterpieces. Could this be the element he was looking for something more that proved to him not only to be an android but a person full of talent, dreams and aspirations that no upgrade within his system could create? Time took a toll at the Martin’s residence whereas everyone was getting older and Andrew was no longer needed in the household but his bond with Sir Richard Martin and Little Miss provoked an idea to explore other remarkable experiences as he did with the Martin family. His journey did not stop there; his search drove him to find another android like him with more drive, passion and personality than he ever known. After years and years of searching for answers it took years for him to understand to be human was to live, to love, to cry, to laugh and utmost experience of fulfilling one’s life dream which was to look back at the moments of life and have no regrets dying peaceful as a human. Even though Andrew Martin was just a robot his future of being something specular was obviously his fate as he altered himself becoming, enjoying the human experience to its fullness this exposed the true meaning of self-knowledge with knowing his past selves, possible selves, aging and his outlooks toward the future. This is also the conflict we constantly have in life as we have trouble with seeing the our actual selves but yearn for the day of becoming something more sufficient than we see upon life’s mirror, it is very crucial that we accept things that we cannot change but have the willingness and drive to not be afraid to change the things that are changeable which start with loving ourselves as we would love our neighbor. Self-Schema, 2013) Healing Wounds, Love Thy Self as Thy Neighbor Have you ever noticed it is just the norm people to criticize others who are different than them, but if it’s inside there typical safe zone then they figure it not as much as a taboo? Within transforming ourselves we try to fix things that we do not like about ourselves as far as self-image, personality, self-schema but not our own interpretation of how we view the world. The paragraph stated before, but I must reiterate that our knowledge, beliefs, and past experience are stored into our long-term without intervening with our conscious thoughts; but isn’t it our own self-schemas we have about ourselves or others that can cause suffering there nothing less the cognitive constructs within our minds especially when thinking, feeling and behaving in a certain way. Another film that coincides with the known factor of not understanding the unknown, it is the film entitled, â€Å"Powder† where Sean Patrick Flanery portrays a young boy named Powder; who is an albino with a unique powers but as the more attention that receives the more he shakes up the rural community he lives in. (imdb. com, 2013) The looks, the stares and the comments reminds me of how people act when they see someone with deformities or let alone someone who is considered not normal in society. The story holds many different meanings and concepts just as the story of Jesus does when God brought him down to earth to die for our sins to save humanity. Although these too stories are quite different you cannot help but to see how this film and the life of Jesus simply coincide with each other, both being spiritual in nature but still different nonetheless. Powder was born with a gift, his unique talent of telekinesis, odd attraction to electricity, and knowing things about people with simply a touch, shows exactly how different he was from most of the people that were in town. It became a proven fact that he was the center of attention but it was unwanted for people like himself do not want to be mocked, criticized or ridiculed, as the movie progresses we find that although Powder is seen as a person of rare intelligence no one fully understands him. For he views his self-schema or self-image in a negative way, for he sees himself as unattractive, odd and is an individual who is deeply wounded with doubts, regrets and feeling of being unwanted his whole life. How can someone so passionate about life and its surroundings be deeply wounded inside, does his factors of his childhood impact his self-schema as he was told he was different not unique, disfigured not handsome, or even strange but not extraordinary? The day by day taunting of others and the cruelness seemed to take a toll on what Powder thought life would be like from living in a small basement as his only friends where his grandparents and his books, it became obvious that this young, ingenious soul could not cope. Deeply saddened by society and the people in it he chose to leave the world as much as Jesus did but only difference was he (Jesus) left on a cross and Powder upon the electrocution from a thunderstorm. Whether we know it or not the keys to unlocking the age old question to humanity is written deep within our hearts in souls, which it is to love thy neighbor like we love ourselves. If we took a closer look at the people as we go about the our daily hustle and bustle of our lives it seems that we are not truly focused on the importance or purpose of our own life which is to help our fellow man. When we look in the mirror do we see ourselves as a normal person with normal lives and ordinary dreams and goals but does the question ever come up in our minds about who did we have to step over to get on the climb on that ladder of success? Was it the people that we see every day that make an effort to become an impact in ones lives, someone will morals, a upbeat personality along with a sound mind and character? How do we love our neighbors like we love ourselves when we are so consumed by money, power, greed and success? What drives the engine inside us that we could be so cruel, closed-minded and let alone numb to the world. In society there must be something inside us that stops us and reminds us that it is those cognitive constructs within our minds and our self-schema that make it useful to live our daily lives as we are forced to be aware of the important decisions that we choose. This guides us on the right path so in every situation with each person we meet no matter what race, creed, color, orientation or abnormalities to behave the way we should, as we love our neighbor like we love ourselves. The factor of our own desires to have a close connection with our spiritual side interprets who and what we are. The Spiritual Self-Schema, 2003) Spiritual Self-Schema- What Would Jesus Do? Our own interpretation of life is immensely influenced by our culture, religion, environment and overall self-schema is basically how you are impacted by life or society. In a sense we all claim to be the seekers of our own destinies, as we search for our truest, strongest and deepest self we earn our stake to redeem ourselves. Otherwise in this fast-paced society it behooves us to analyze the construction of our patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving which occupies our unique characteristics as individuals. When life brings us misfortune we totally focus vastly on religion because it makes the path smoother which lifts our spirits, although our spiritual self-schema is known as a â€Å"cognitive structure† that can construct and maintain an ultimate experience full of qualities and characteristics that are attributed to it. As these things interconnect with all living things or Supreme Being or a higher power this position propose individuals who solely seek the will of spiritual nature in the total aspect of being compassionate, and peaceful in nature. During the route to spiritual self-scheme we discover our own spiritual path that relieves us from suffering and give us the ability to cope with adversity and the ability to change behaviors that harm ourselves or others. At that swift moment of instability we find courage, inspiration, and enlightenment through our spiritual self-schema as it molds us to become who and what we are; we face another factor in our lives which is our defense mechanisms that we thrive on to hide our true selves from the world concealing the hurt that we’ve experienced along with the pain. Spiritual Self-Schema, 2003) Dealing With Life, I Have a Big Ego Sigmund Freud described a number of ego defenses in his written works; he once said that â€Å"Life is not easy! The ego—the â€Å"I† –sits at the center of some pretty powerful forces: reality; society, as represented by the superego; biological, as represented by the Id. As the conflicting demands of society upon the poor ego seem to be understandable if you are threatened, overwhelmed or have that feeling of anxiety. It is that proof that only explains ego as one thing â€Å"survival† which might cause something else to be in danger. The way we deal with life, conflict and problems totally depends on our ego which engages the defense mechanisms we have on an unconscious level which helps us ward off anxiety and brings peace back to our situation or circumstance. â€Å"The ego, driven by the id, confined by the superego could be disgusted by reality and fights to control the tasks of displaying peace among the forces and influences that might be working in and upon it. Otherwise the ego must admit its weakness in order to break those â€Å"chains of anxiety regarding the outside world, as moral anxiety regarding the superego and neurotic anxiety regarding the strength of the passions in the id. † When our memories of the unconscious along with drives or urges still are existent, they continually apply to the â€Å"powerful influence on behavior, as the forces itself fight to keep painful or socially undesirable thoughts and memoires out of the conscious mind which are known as defense mechanisms. This â€Å"battle between the wish, repressed into the id and the so called defense mechanisms†; although we use defense mechanisms to â€Å"protect ourselves from feelings of anxiety or guilt that arises because an individual might feel vulnerable because our id or superego becomes too demanding, seem like they are not under our conscious control, and are very non-voluntaristic. The â€Å" ego† within our â€Å"unconscious will use several different methods to protect us when we come up against the stressors in our lives. † If we know or not our â€Å"ego-defense mechanisms that are natural and normal but soon as they get out of hand our neuroses develop for example anxiety states, phobias, obsessions or hysteria. †

Parenting Skills Essay Example for Free

Parenting Skills Essay 1. What role do you think discipline plays in developing a child’s self-esteem? What forms of discipline best serve the self-esteem of the child or adolescent? 2. List and discuss how activities, clubs, or sports, impact the self-esteem of children and parents. Provide at least two activities, clubs, or sports in your answer. Discussion Answers 1. I think that discipline done correctly could help in a child’s self-esteem. When you discipline a child make sure that they understand WHY and it makes them feel trustworthy, and included. If you treat discipline like a dictatorship the child feels like you’re abusive and they are stupid and untrustworthy. people with low self-esteem generally Fail to achieve their goals, Are not able to pursue accomplishments in a responsible and disciplined manner, Have poor communication skills, Have a pessimistic view on life, Are prone to anxiety, depression, hostility, loneliness, shame, and guilt, Form unhealthy, destructive relationships with others, and Make decisions in life more to please others than to adhere to their own interests and value systems. I think that discipline done correctly could help in a child’s self-esteem. When you discipline a child make sure that they need to understand what is happening and they need to feel included. If you treat discipline like a dictatorship the child feels like you’re abusive. people with low self-esteem generally fail to achieve their goals, have poor communication skills, have a negative view on life and are prone to anxiety, depression, loneliness, and guilt. Also, form unhealthy, destructive relationships with others, and make decisions in life more to please others. 2. Parents should encourage children to participate in sports and clubs that are productive and give a feeling of accomplishment. However, it is not always advantageous for a parent to push a child toward a particular sport or activity because sometimes the parents will push their children towards their dream sports or activities they wanted to do as a child. 3. parents should encourage children to participate in sports and clubs that are productive and give their children a feeling of accomplishment. However, it is not always advantageous for a parent to push a child toward a particular sport or activi ty.

The Decrease Leg Shaking Psychology Essay

The Decrease Leg Shaking Psychology Essay Anxiety is a normal emotion, and we all encounter anxiety in certain situations that causes us be anxious. When we are anxious, we would experience physical symptoms arising in response to anxiety ( Ginsburg, Riddle, Davies, 2006; Roth, Antony, Swinson, 1999), such as muscle tension and stomachache which affect our everyday lives, known as somatic symptoms (Ginsburg et al., 2006). Social anxiety is a disorder that happens when a person faces a social situation and reacts in response to fear or distress due to feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth (Bà ¶gels, 2006; Hofmann, 2007; Purdon, Antony, Monterio, Swinson, 2001). This happens to me when I am in certain social situation, I get social anxiety that I tend to shake my legs. For this behaviour modification program, I have chosen to decrease and control my leg-shaking behaviour. It has been bothering me and it has been causing irritation to certain people who were and are in my presence. The operational definition of leg-shaking is that for this program, I tested the effect of leg-shaking on my performance during the times when I was sitting down (which was when the leg-shaking behaviour almost always occurred). I needed to know exactly what sort of leg-shaking behaviour I was performing and how I should measure it. I needed to know what type of performance I am suggesting that leg-shaking behaviour affected, and how I should measure that. Furthermore, I needed to know the underlying causes and triggers of my leg-shaking behaviour, which I believe is triggered by anxiety that I usually experience, but not as much as before, in social situations. First and foremost, behaviour modification is defined as a technique of behaviour change that is based on the procedures of the principles of learning psychology to evaluate and determine a persons or any other organisms private and public actions and reactions in order to assist in improving ones everyday lifestyle (Martin Pear, 2011). Basically, behaviour modification is founded on the concepts of operant conditioning. It is a technique to improve an individuals behavior by changing the way a person acts to a particular situation or stimuli using positive and negative reinforcement. In result, it replaces an undesirable behavior to a more desirable behavior. There are rules to follow and that are critical when planning and engaging in a behaviour modification program. These includes rules of such as positive and negative reinforcement, ratio schedule, extinction, shaping, and schedules of reinforcement (Martin Pear, 2011). The following are brief definitions of some of the terms mentioned above: Positive reinforcement means that a particular stimulus that is given on the spot increases the likelihood of a particular response to occur another time (Martin Pear, 2011). Negative reinforcement means that a particular stimulus is being removed to increase a particular response or to keep a particular response in a current desired state (Martin Pear, 2011). Extinction is applied in operant conditioning, and it refers to the process of changing the state of a learned response by ensuring to no longer reinforcing that particular response (Martin Pear, 2011). There are pitfalls that occurs in the process of extinction which I discussed later in this paper. The process of shaping is the reinforcement of altering and controlling a learned response through the process of changing that response much closer to desired response, but not exactly (Martin Pear, 2011). In this program, I would be shaping my behaviour by alternating my leg-shaking behaviour to a more desired behaviour, which is sitting down with my feet firmly on the ground without shaking my legs. A schedule of reinforcement is a program that determines how and when the frequency of a response happening will be followed by a reinforcer (Martin Pear, 2011). The delivery of a reinforcer could depend on the frequency of a certain number of responses, the passage of time, the presence of certain stimuli, the occurrence of other responses of the animal, or any number of other things occurring (Martin Pear, 2011). There are different schedules of reinforcement, I will discuss very briefly about the important ones that I implemented in this behaviour modification program. One of the different schedules of reinforcement are the schedules of intermittent reinforcement. There are four different schedules of intermittent reinforcement which are differential reinforcement of low rates (abbreviated as DRL), differential reinforcement of zero responding (abbreviated as DRO), differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviour (abbreviated as DRI), and differential reinforcement of alternative behaviour (abbreviated as DRA) (Martin Pear, 2011). In this program, I used the DRO intervention. DRO means that reinforcement only occurs when a particular response does not happen at a time (Martin Pear, 2011). This particular response is being modified to another behaviour, and that behaviour would be reinforced instead (Martin Pear, 2011). Another schedule of reinforcement is ratio schedule which is defined as that reinforcement depends only on the number of responses a person or any other living thing has performed (Martin Pear, 2011). Reinforcement that depends on only some of the time are said to involve partial or intermittent reinforcement (Martin Pear, 2011). In interval schedules, responses are reinforced only if the responses occur after a certain amount of time has passed (Martin Pear, 2011). In fixed interval schedule (abbreviated FI), the set time is constant from one occasion to the next (Martin Pear, 2011). With a variable interval schedule (abbreviated VI), responses are reinforced if they occur after a variable interval since the beginning of the schedule cycle (Martin Pear, 2011).These are the rules of psychology of behaviour modification that I employed in the program. Since I applied the intermittent schedule, I did not use the continuous schedule as this involves reinforcing a response or a beha viour every time it happens (Martin Pear, 2011). Not many research have been done on the effects of leg-shaking behaviour on an individuals well-being and/or on the effects it may have on other individuals surrounding a person with leg-shaking behaviour. Not only the literature on leg-shaking behaviour is very limited, but case studies centering on the effects of this behaviour and on controlling or modifying the behaviour are limited as well. The following research can be used to identify early emotional and behavioural development, providing an opportunity for treatments for not only individuals my age, but for younger age groups as well- particularly in the early stage of emotional and behavioural development that are disruptive such as the leg-shaking behaviour. Bà ¶gels (2006) stated that individuals with social phobia (also known as social anxiety disorder) tend to have distressing feelings of not being accepted by others who are aware of the physical symptoms these individuals have. These physical symptoms, such as trembling, which closely relates to my leg-shaking behaviour, that these individuals present on account of distressing and unpleasant thoughts about themselves are causing difficulties for them and to others around them (Bà ¶gels, 2006). In Bà ¶gelss (2006) research, participants with social phobia, and who were within the age group of 17 to 65 were tested for their ability to decrease their tendency of attentive to their physical symptoms of anxiety. The purpose of this research was to determine whether if participants turn their attention to a task-oriented activity called task concentration training, would lessen their anxiety and diminish their physical symptoms of anxiety (Bà ¶gels, 2006). The results showed that the e xperiment was successful as participants diverted attention from their physical symptoms of anxiety to a task-oriented activity. The study of participants who were afraid of exhibiting the physical symptoms of anxiety support the notion that individuals from a wide range of age group, can modify these types of behaviour by focusing on work. However, it did not show whether individuals under the age of 17 can. In another study, a male participant who was 26 years at that time, and who suffered from mental developmental disability was studied (LeBlanc, Hagopian, Maglieri, 2000). It was made clear that even though this is a person with a mental developmental disability at adult age, (a person) can adapt ones behaviour by using or participating in a token economy (LeBlanc et al., 2000). The researchers employed the DRO intervals and schedule to reduce this mans socially unacceptable and undesirable behaviours (LeBlanc et al., 2006). The results showed that the treatment was effective as it decreased the occurrence of the participants socially unacceptable behaviour. The problems with LeBlanc et al.s (2000) research were not only there was one participant recruited for this study and that he had developmental disabilities; but the behaviour that has been modified had to do with his inappropriate social interactions. Even though this may not precisely relates to my topic, I chose for my literature review in research because my leg-shaking behaviour has been affecting the way I interact with others who has been noticing this. This may continue to affect me and others if I did not attempt to change this. Thus, this leg-shaking behaviour is considered socially inappropriate. In addition to this note, I also used the same reinforcement in my program. The first purpose of this research was to investigate whether when a persons leg-shaking behaviour caused by anxiety creates difficulties in ones lifestyle and/or get in the way of others around this person. The second purpose was to investigate whether if and when a person learns how to control and decrease the occurrence of this leg-shaking behaviour by alleviating and improving the internalizing and externalizing state of a person aids in overall well-being and aids in not causing disturbance to others. How I Selected My Target Behaviour and Why its Appropriate for this Assignment Two other behaviours I was considering working on, but decided to work on my leg-shaking behavior instead were to increase my piano playing practice, and to exercise more. They were appropriate for the assignment, but they were not realistic for me to work on this semester. I am rarely home, therefore the probability of cooking and healthier food was very slim during the time. However, the probability of exercising during the time was moderately likely to occur, but I did not perceive this behaviour to be as vital to change as my leg-shaking behavior. I wanted to work to change a behaviour that is not only affecting me and others, but that it is also more simple and more doable to work on during the past months. Moreover, these other two behaviors are both common behaviour that I believe most people use for a project similar to this behaviour modification program. Controlling Antecedents of Pre-Program Behaviour The root of my habit most likely started and had to do with a social situation I was facing when I was very young. I was extremely shy. I had social anxiety. My fear of being in any social situations or interactions made me so nervous that it could be the main trigger of my shaking legs. Pre-Program Behaviour Level In this section, I will describe how I observed my behaviour. During the process of this observation, I found that I had habitual thoughts that momentarily flash through my mind. Here my task was to replace these habitual thoughts or bad thinking habits with good thinking habits. By doing so, I would create new thoughts that became my new habitual thoughts. These thoughts came from my feelings of anxiety, particularly in social situation or stressed situation. I counted to keep anxiety in check so that it would not encourage my old habitual negative thoughts. The reason is that my habitual thoughts affected the way I saw myself in a significant way in situation, and still do a little. If I did not change my thinking, my old habitual thoughts will continue to perpetuate my leg-shaking behaviour. Controlling Consequences of Pre-Program Behaviour Not controlling my leg- shaking behaviour is rewarded with being able to only concentrate while studying or listening to lectures or doing other things when sitting down. This allows me to not think about monitoring my leg-shaking constantly and to freely express my inner feelings of anxiety by letting my subconscious behaviour takes over. By detaching myself from observing and being mindless of my leg-shaking behaviour elicited by feelings of anxiety and overgeneralizing. In psychological terms this process is called positive reinforcement for a behaviour such as leg-shaking. I shake my leg and in return get rewarded by getting away with behaving any way I want when I am feeling anxious, stressed, or nervous. The way positive reinforcement works is that once I get rewarded for my leg-shaking behaviour I am more likely to do it again. My Self-Modification Program For my self-modification program, since I planned on changing my thinking patterns in order to prevent me at least from shaking my legs too often, then I rewarded myself with a sensible reward. The sensible reward was that once I have controlled my leg-shaking behavior, I could listen to music. I had to earn a privilege to be able to listen to a song or songs longer as listening to music is very rewarding for me. This applied to the token economy as I was using minutes of listening to music as a reward for not shaking my legs when I am anxious in a social situation. I kept track of minutes on a sheet. I started with two hours of listening to music per day. I normally did not listen to 2 hours of music straight, but this was doable. I cannot really hear the music without headphone so I asked one of my family members to take away my headphone from me for the day and then give it back to me sometime after 10 at night. I lost a minute of listening to music when I failed to control my leg-shaking behaviour. At the end of the day, I listened to the amount of time I have earned to listen to music provided that I have any minutes left. Whenever I got sidetracked by my work and other distractions, then for every leg-shaking behaviour I do, I subtracted one minute of listening to music. In addition to this note, l laid out a plan, including making notes of the crucial moments that I was less likely and most likely to shake my legs unconsciously on account of feeling anxious, stressed, or nervous. I prepared for my crucial moments by turning to helpful sources of influence, a friend and a family member. Then I planned on beginning deliberate practice by placing myself to a tempting situation. In short, my goal was to experience the desire but not to give in shaking my leg to express my feelings of anxiety outwardly. My Program in Action This was the part when I employed deliberate practice especially practice for crucial moments. I broke the steps into small pieces, and practice each step in short intervals. I also got immediate feedback at times against a clear standard, and evaluated my progress. I learned to be prepare for setbacks and I was also prepared for them some of the times. As mentioned earlier, the specific and measurable behaviour I have been monitoring was to attempt to eliminate my leg-shaking behaviour. From the start of the program, I measured the occurrence to anxiety, as well as the intensity and frequency of anxiety as my anxiety have been triggering my leg-shaking behaviour to be present. Moreover, I have been observing and keeping track of my thinking errors that normally preceded my leg-shaking behaviour. I also have been monitoring my improvement in controlling and diminishing my leg-shaking behaviour by engaging in how often I subconsciously performed leg-shaking behaviour and by decreasing the frequency and intensity of my anxiety so that my leg-shaking behaviour will dissolve after the program ends. I have been employing intermittent reinforcement in my program. Continuous reinforcement would not work as I found that I had not always been aware of when I shook my legs in certain situations. The unexpected surprise I learned was that I even shook my legs when I was not in social situation. I shook my legs when I worked on my school assignments. Because of this, I started to encounter pitfalls. The pitfalls I have encountered throughout this program were that I frequently thought of excuses to avoid treating my leg-shaking behaviour. At times in class or in any social situation, I fell into my thinking traps and engaged in these thinking patterns which resulted in my habitual leg-shaking behaviour. Evaluation of My Program Referring to the level of the behaviour pre-program and during the program (see Figure 1 in the Appendix), my attempt to decrease my tendency to shake my leg did not work in the beginning of the program due to the effects of delay of reward. But it did worked later on after the first month I started the program. When it came to the use of reward in the program, the important component in the reward is the interval between the behaviour and the reward. I found that when the delay of receiving reward increased, it did not reward the desired behaviour as much as I wanted it to. Therefore, such delays in receiving rewards was not effective in altering a behaviour. This kind of applied to the use of punishment to decrease a behaviour. If the interval between the undesirable behaviour and punishment is delayed, then the punishment would not be effective in suppressing such behaviour (Martin Pear). Therefore, I should make notes that in the future my desired behaviour should be rewarded immediately. If this does not work, then another change I might make is to use punishment instead when I shake my legs. Ending the Program; Future Plans Although I am done with the behaviour modification program, I plan on continuing to manage my leg-shaking behaviour, which, again, happens when I get anxious. I will try to slowly stop myself from depending on the program to keep my leg-shaking behaviour under control. I will keep a long-term perspective to improve my behaviour and to improve myself. I plan on practising not only self control, but self-care as I tend to encounter stress or period of anxiety in the face of difficult situations such as speaking up in class as I am shy. I will help myself feel at ease during periods of stress by attempting to use what I learned from the behaviour techniques and exercises this semester. Even though I will not depend on the exercises and techniques I have applied in my program, I believe I still need regular exposure to anxiety-provoking situations in order to stay in condition. I believe this will help me over the long term to keep myself habituated to the experiences that I learned from in situations I found were and still are a little anxiety-provoking. Discussion and Conclusion What I learned from this experience was that my obsessive thoughts and compulsive leg-shaking behaviour did not make sense. These thinking patterns that I fell into when I am nervous, stressed, sad, or depressed were generally believable, and negative, and they made my life more challenging than they needed to be. Even though I did not fully believe my obsessive thoughts, I found that I frequently engaged in my leg-shaking behaviour to get the obsessive thoughts to stop. I overestimated the probability of risk that if something could go wrong, it will go wrong. I am guilty of overgeneralizing things. So I held back many times from putting myself in certain situation that meant no harm to me or anyone, and naturally I slipped into my leg-shaking behaviour. When I triggered one of my old habitual thoughts, I corrected it with the positive one so that these positive thoughts became my new habitual thoughts. Even though I am done with this behavioural modification program for the course, I still need to thoroughly weave this fact into my memory whenever my leg-shaking behaviour strikes. This way, I will be able to weave this fact into my conscious control to pull the plug on my tendency to worry and to overgeneralize which triggers leg-shaking behaviour. I know that the more I practice this new behaviour, the more likely I will do it in the future so that I do not return to my former state of leg-shaking behaviour. A higher decrease in behaviour level as shown in the appendix results when I held back from overgeneralizing or from inviting pessimistic thoughts that triggered my leg-shaking in social situation. My new behaviour improved significantly after I was concentrating on changing thought patterns. This supports the notion that focusing on another activity (such as partaking in token economy or that is task-oriented) can aid in decreasing a behaviour that is bothersome (Bà ¶gels, 2006; LeBlanc et al., 2000). References Bà ¶gels, S. M. (2006). 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