Accounting for human behavior Essay Example for Free

Accounting for human behavior Essay In order to survive and interact with the other members of the society, it is crucial for us to understand what the other people are thinking about and what the underlying factors that contribute to their behavior are. In our daily life, people are continuously interpreting and explaining others behavior, sometimes even without aware of it themselves. How does this knowledge of interpreting the others come about? And is it a reliable method?Most people are using common sense explanation to interpret human behavior, while social scientists will explain our world by social science theories. What are they? And which one can give a more reliable and accurate account for human behavior?Common Sense Explanations are formed basing on individuals past experiences or were passed down from the last generations. It is the most basic and simple form of knowledge that helps us to survive. For instance, people understand that it will be hurt when a ball is throwing at them and in result, they will run away from it. We use the common sense to perceive the world we are living in. It is unimaginable if a person does not possess any common sense at all. See more: Old Age Problem essay Social Science Theories, like the theories in natural science, are derived from scientific methods. They are either induced or deduced from different task or experiment. But since the subject matter in social sciences is completely different from that of natural science, observation, survey and interview which sometimes involves a control group, are the methodology used to test the experimental hypotheses, instead of using laboratory experiments. Hence, social science theories are backed up by empirical studies and data, and therefore should be more widely applicable, objective and reliability to explain human behavior. Unlike social science theories, common sense is held by everyone. Therefore, people can draw on this knowledge immediately when they want to analysis behavior of the others and giving a faster response to the situation. However, the strength of common sense is also its greatest weakness. In many cases, common sense explanation cannot give us a satisfactory answer because it has oversimplified the circumstance. For instance, it is a general belief that the more violent movies a child watches, the more aggressive he will be. People may neglect other factors,  such as family backgrounds, in contributing to childrens aggressive behavior, which had proved to be an equally crucial by many social scientists. In addition, human behaviors are complex as well as unique to each individual. Different culture, race, living environment and family history will lead to the formation of different behaviors. Similarly, common sense explanation varies in different culture, society and individual, and therefore, actually is not the same to everyone in our society. How can a foreigner understand all the traditional attitudes and values of a Chinese? Likewise, it is not easy for us to comprehend all the behaviors of the foreigners. As a result, there will be bias if we rely on common sense explanation as it is too generalized and oversimplified without really investigating the underlying factors behind the scene. In contrast, social sciences theories can supplement the weakness of common sense explanation as each theory is based on a numbers of hypotheses which in turn will be tested, though the methodology used is somewhat different from that of natural science. In other words, social science theories are more reliable and valid than that of common sense explanations. Moreover, social science theories are more widely applicable as they are derived from a great numbers of data which are collected from different channels and people. Some people may argue that some social sciences theories are similar to our common sense explanations, for which is a coincident that we cannot deny since many hypotheses are formed with the basis of common sense assumptions. People can use common sense to explain or judge most things we encounter in our daily life. However, when we come to analyze more complicated matters, such as human behaviors, common sense explanation alone would be insufficient. In these circumstances, social science theories, which have been undergoing empirical researches and experiments, are more reliable. We cannot ignore the importance of common sense since it is a basic knowledge that people possessed, whereas social science theories may not be  known to most people. And in many cases common sense is the foundation of many hypotheses, and thus is the origin of a theory. But it is crucial to note that when people want to have an in-depth, comparatively reliable and valid explanation, social science theories should be employed. REFERENCE Roth (1990), Introduction to Psychology, United Kingdom: The Open University. Gross (1992), Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour, p.19-23, London: Hodder Stoughton

Futility of Life in The Death of Ivan Ilyich Essay -- Tolstoy Death Iv

Futility of Life in The Death of Ivan Ilyich      Ã‚   Count Leo Tolstoy is considered Russia’s greatest novelist and one of its most influential moral philosophers. As such, he is also one of the most complex individuals for historians of literature to deal with. His early work sought to replace romanticized glory with realistic views. A good example of this is the way he often portrayed battle as an unglamorous act performed by ordinary men. After his marriage, though, Tolstoy started to reexamine his attitudes towards life, especially his moral, social, and educational beliefs (Shepherd 401). Many commentators agree that Tolstoy’s early study of the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau encouraged his rebellious attitude. This new deep-seated dissatisfaction with himself and a long frustrated search for meaning in life, however, led to the crisis Tolstoy described in his Confession and Memoirs of a Madman. In these works he formulated a doctrine to live by based on universal love, forgiveness, and simplicity (Valente 127). Simplicity and the moral importance of leading a simple life, for Tolstoy, became the only true way to live a spiritually fulfilled life. After arriving at his doctrine of universal love and simplicity, Tolstoy at first refrained from writing fiction. He even renounced much of his earlier work as too complex and not morally uplifting. Nevertheless, because of Tolstoy’s earnest commitment to the view of literary art as a means for bringing important truths to the attention of the reader, he returned to imaginative literature and wrote The Death of Ivan Ilyich to emphasize the message that simple life is best. Tolstoy’s life led him into all kinds of contradictions--sometimes he believed in fighting, s... ... (qtd, in Jahn 20). It becomes clear then that Ivan Ilyich is brought to a re-evaluation of his past life; that the ending is not just a contrived means of closure, but a miraculous conversion of the dying Ivan Ilyich and his important discovery concerning the moral consequence of living a simple and honest life.    Works Cited Gifford, Henry. Tolstoy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1982. Jahn, Gary R. The Death of Ivan Ilich: An Interpretation. New York: Twayne, 1992. Rowe, William W. Leo Tolstoy. Boston: Twayne, 1986. Shepherd, David.   "Conversion, Reversion and Subversion in Tolstoi's The Death of Ivan   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Il'ich."   Ã‚   The Slavonic and East European Review   71.3 (1993):   401-16. Valente, Luis Ferando. â€Å"Variations on the Kenotic Hero: Tolstoy’s Ivan Ilych and Guimaraes Rosa’s Augusto   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Matraga.† Symposium 45.2 (1991): 126-38.   

Literary Analysis Essay

Painting the Pages with Abstract Words: Creative writing is a tool that can effectively evoke connections with a reader and a piece of writing. Whether these connections are personal, or simply thought provoking, I believe it better helps us become immersed in such writings as â€Å"Tabula Asiae†, by Michael Ondaatje. The use of a sense of place forces one to picture themselves in the story being told. Tabula Asiae uses metaphoric phrases that makes the essay much more interesting to read. the wife of many marriages, courted by invaders who stepped ashore and claimed everything with power of their sword or bible or language† (Ondaatje 99). The sentence used here by Ondaatje creatively elaborates on the historical tale of Ceylon, which describes that â€Å"The island seduced all of Europe† (99). This is where I believe a slice of history makes an appearance in the essay. Although Ondaatje’s essay seems a bit imaginary and dreamy, it definitely does have historical references and occurrences mentioned within its body. When one compares an essay like â€Å"Tabula Asiae† with other nonfiction essays like â€Å"How I Learned to Read and Write† by Frederick Douglass, it becomes abundantly clear that Douglass’ essay is a nonfiction piece focused more on personal experiences as the primary nonfiction form of writing. Once you start reading Douglass’ essay, you instantly become impressed with his cleverness, heart, and strives to become a fluent reader and writer. An example of the personal experience form is used in most of the body of Douglass‘ essay, especially this sentence- â€Å"I was now about twelve years old, and the thought of being ~a slave for life~ began to bear heavily upon my heart. Just about this time, I got hold of a book entitled The Columbian Orator. Every opportunity I got, I used to read this book. † (Douglass 89. ) For me, Douglass immediately establishes a link, which gives me an astonishing need to cheer him on to become the man he wants to become. The two essays mentioned above, proves that different styles of nonfiction writing creates a much different experience for the reader.

Food Crisis By Edward Keller And Darcy Bender - 1903 Words

Sneha Deepika Dantuluri Edward Keller Darcy Bender Design for the Century December 17, 2015 FOOD CRISIS Food not only distinguishes and represents a culture, but can also reflect one s personality, lifestyle, and socio-economic status. It is the rudiment of mankind and people cannot survive without it. Food crisis is becoming increasingly severe in this days. Every 3.6 seconds, the time it takes you to take a bite of food, a person dies of hunger or malnourishment (Vision). Hunger is a problem that has been around since the beginning of time, but it is everything but yesterday’s issue. It is very real today and the numbers of starving people are still growing. One would think this issue is because that there is not enough food for everyone in the world, but there is more than enough to go around. The global food crisis is unacceptable because it is caused by a number of easily solvable problems. In the near future this is going to be a more dominant critical issues which needs to be addressed and resolved. Significantly, there has been nothing comparable to the 30 million or more who perished from starvation during China’s tragic â€Å"Great Leap Forward† (1958-1961). However, while India may not be a starving country, large swathes of the population, especially children, are still malnourished. India is the second largest country in the world in agricultural produce with highest percentage of arable land area. It also ranks first in the gross irrigated croplands.