Social psychology Essay Example for Free

Social psychology Essay Thesis: Stereotypes have many negative effects such as inducing a discriminative movement, having an impact on the psychological identity of a person, and leading to prejudices. I. Stereotypes may induce a discriminative movement. A. Fat persons are not hired in some companies. B. Stereotypes tend to prevent people from learning real facts about an individual. C. Generalizations can induce false accusations. II. Stereotypes may have an impact on the psychological identity of a person. A. A little boy who grows up in a minority group restrains his own achievements because of negative stereotypes about his group. B. The persons in a minority group tend to fall into an unsafe or negative behavior. C. Stereotypes can promote success in the majority of groups. D. An individual can feel lost as he or she doesn’t match the stereotype attributed to the group. III. Stereotypes lead to prejudices. A. All Arab people are considered as dangerous. B. The media provides a lot of negative images about Arab people. C. The negative images may prevent friendship. People are All the Same Soren Kierkegaard said once: â€Å"Once you label me you negate me. † Indeed, people tend to judge all the time the people that they consider different from them. Our brains are simply wired to stereotype others by some basic generalizations. People categorize the persons every day by race, gender, religion, ethnic background, and so on. However, it is when people overuse these generalizations that the danger can appear. Stereotypes have many negative effects such as inducing a discriminative movement, having an impact on the psychological identity of a person, and leading to prejudices. First, stereotypes may induce a discriminative movement. A good example is when any company wants to hire a fat person. Indeed, these companies focus only on the physique of the person who is applying for the job instead of looking at his or her real skills. The physique of the fat person acts as an obstacle to the other persons. In other words, it stops people from learning real facts about the subjected individual. People usually see the fat persons as lazy, not healthy, incompetent, or even as handicapped. This generalization allows people to believe that fat persons don’t have a legal right to be hired when in fact, they do have this right. Also, based on other negative generalizations, people may be accused for example for criminal facts without having any credible proof. As Alane Michaelson explained in his essay ‘stereotyping Consequences,’ they tend to accuse them just because of their race, their religion, or any other characteristic that make them belonging to another social group. Thus, discrimination is one of the greatest risks associated with stereotypes. Second, stereotypes may have an impact on the psychological identity of a person. When a little boy grows up in a minority group where the people are always seen as incompetent, he may start to believe on these critics and, consequently, start to restrain his own achievements unconsciously. Hearing perpetual stereotypes about a group may cause the persons belonging to this group to believe that all the stereotypes that are said out by the minority group are true. Therefore, as Julie Moore mentioned is her article ‘The Effects of Stereotyping,’ the persons in minority tend to fall into an unsafe or negative behavior. Consequently, children cannot grow up properly with all these stereotypes that surround them in their daily life. However, the impact on the identity of the individual can have an opposite effect when it comes to positives stereotypes in the majority groups. In this case, instead of limiting their achievements, people improve their skills until they reach the generalized fact. In this manner, these people will feel that they are â€Å"true† participants in the group as they fit to the stereotype. In contrast, some people may also feel not appropriate to the group that they belong as they don’t belong to the stereotype attributed tothe gr oup. Thus, generalizations made about a group can have an important impact on the identity of the persons belonging to this group. Third, stereotypes lead to prejudices. In her article ‘The Effect of Stereotyping,’ Julie Moore explains an example that is related more or less to the main idea of the first paragraph: when a white female person doesn’t approach an Arab person who is next her as she believes that all Arab persons are dangerous. Thus, the female judges before meeting or speaking with the man. Obviously, this prejudice doesn’t come from nowhere; it is actually partly the result of the media effect that tends to throw a lot of negative images about the Arabian people. They always project images of Arab with weapons in a manner to show to the world that they are dangerous. Also, because of these negative prejudices that people usually make, building relationship with new friends can often be a big obstacle. If the white woman knew that the Arab man was in fact a rich famous surgeon in America, she would directly establish a conversation with him. Thus, prejudices can often lead to surprised result. Yet another example related to prejudices is Brent Staples’ experiences. Through his essay ‘Night Walker,’ the black man explains how people, especially girls, are afraid of him when he walks behind them in a dark and empty street because of his skin color and the way he dresses. Consequently, while stereotypes appear as a natural fact and help people to understand certain groups as a whole, they don’t include and allow individual differences. By creating stereotypes, people promote more discrimination, prejudices, and a significant impact on the individual’s identity. Therefore, to prevent all these negative effect of stereotypes, people should take into consideration that even if every individual belongs to a certain group, it doesn’t mean that a person is like all the other members of the group. People should dare to approach the persons that are different than them by letting go the negative images and learning about each other as special individuals. Finally, creating relationship with people that are totally different would be like a benefit that may lead to a rich and interesting life. Works cited Aronson, Joshua, â€Å"The Impact of Stereotypes. † BU Today. Science Tech. 28 Mar. 2008. Web. 13 Apr. 2013. Michaelson, Alane, â€Å"Stereotyping Consequences. † eHow. Culture Society. 13 Jun. 2010. Web. 13 Apr. 2013. Moore, Julie, â€Å"The Effect of Stereotyping. † Mental health. Yahoo. 4 May 2007. Web. 13 Apr. 2013. Staples, Brent. â€Å"Night Walker. † The Short Prose Reader. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller and Harvey S. Wiener. 13th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill 2013. 220-23. Print.

Research in Genetic Engineering Should Be Halted :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

"The tools of molecular biology have enormous potential for both good and evil. Lurking behind every genetic dream come true is a possible Brave New World nightmare" (Dudley 13). Although we all might not acknowledge it, these words hold the key to the future of mankind. The science of genetic engineering, also referred to as biotechnology, first came into the scientific realm in the 1970s. This recent technology offered a new way to manipulate an organism or a population of organisms. Researchers and scientists from around the world were thrilled at the upcoming knowledge that could answer many of their questions dealing with all aspects of genetics. The new genetic engineering technology was never meant to hurt individuals. On the contrary, it offered promises of manipulating the molecules that make up the genetics of living matter in order to benefit, even save, an individual's life. Although genetic engineering promises good fortune for the human race, many questions have been raised pertaining to issues concerning safety, necessity, and, most of all, morality of the entire enterprise. It has been shown through the years, that genetic engineering not only provides great risks to men, women, and children but also presents potential dangers to the environment. True, genetic engineering can have numerous medical advantages, but overall, it is a detrimental procedure to the advancement of humanity. The subject of genetic engineering performed on humans has achieved great acclaim as well as great opposition. Some people say that genetic engineering is beneficial to society while others argue that it should be halted. In order to fully understand this issue, it is important to look at both views in this controversy. One must believe that those who do not know their opponent's arguments do not completely understand their own. When the opinion of others is known one can then become a more "intelligent and discriminating consumer of information in our media-centered culture" (Dudley 9). What are the benefits of genetic engineering? For one thing, chronic and fatal diseases can be avoided before they strike. Many lives, as well as medical dollars, could be saved if doctors could identify individuals that have a likelihood of developing heart disease, cancer, and other fatal diseases. If genetic engineering is allowed to continue, there might even someday be a cure for heart disease, arthritis, Alzheimer's, cancer, and even AIDS. Genetic engineering might also be used to correct genetic disorders.

Costs and Contract Terms Essay

Executive Summary Over the span of 168 simulated days, team Honeybadgers managed the Littlefield Technologies job shop. The team’s objective was to maximize the firm’s cash position relative to the rest of the class. Using 50 days of historical data, the team reviewed re-order points, re-order quantity, capacity, lead times, and therefore contract terms. The team also weighed the cost of new machines against capital for inventory and interest rates, evaluating the return on investment and the impact a new machine had on lead times. Using this consideration set, team Honeybadgers purchased one tuning machine, one stuffing machine, and changed the contract terms on ten occasions. Ultimately, the team placed 5th. Actions & Analysis Changing Contract Terms: A 7 day lead time generated higher revenue than the other contract terms during the first 50 days. However, we observed that there was a stretch of 5-8 days when the lead time was below a 1 day lead time during the first 50 days. Evaluating the first 50 days more closely revealed that approximately every 15-20 days, the lead time dropped substantially. Noticing a pattern, and aware that a different contract time could generate more revenue, we decided to micromanage the contracts to optimize revenue. For the duration of simulation, we adjusted contract according to the trending lead time. In times of high demand, when a lead time was more than 18 hours, we opted not to use contract #3 because of the cost of each order (avg. job cost+ordering cost = $608.33) Micromanaging the contracts according to lead times was a temporary solution. This strategy allowed us to optimize revenue when we did not have the capital to purchase a machine. Purchasing Tuning and Stuffing Machines: We originally wanted to purchase both a tuning and stuffing machine because both stations had long stretches when capacity was maxed out. However, without sufficient capital, we had to ration purchases. The tuning machine was at capacity more often. At one point the machine was at capacity for 18 days in a row. Purchasing the tuning machine eliminated a bottleneck at that station, which allowed us to produce more DSS products. Although the Tuning machine was prioritized, the bottleneck at the Stuffing machine was nearly as problematic as the Tuning station’s. The Stuffing machine was at capacity for 15 days in a row. After purchasing the Stuffing machine, bottleneck shifted again, and we were able to produce more DSS products. We did not purchase a third machine because it was unclear whether the revenue earned would offset the cost of the machine. The lead time was hovering around  ½ a day when we had the capital to make the purchase, and we did not believe the additional machine would improve our lead time enough to justify a purchase. In retrospect both machines should have been purchased earlier. We will evaluate the benefits of this approach in the â€Å"Risks and Evaluations† section. Choosing Not to Borrow: When we became eligible to take out a loan, we decided to forego the option because we did not need to borrow. Our cash standing was relatively high throughout the simulation because micromanaging contract terms proved fairly effective. Another deterrent was the grossly high interest rate. A 20% interest rate mitigated any added benefit gained from taking out a loan. Choosing Not to change re-order point: Re-ordering kits was a sizeable fixed cost, but we did not adjust the re-order point / order quantity because demand variability was fairly high. We were aware there was an opportunity cost associated with holding too much inventory because we could have earned interest revenue from the cash spent on inventory. However, we kept the order amounts Q high because (1)we want to save ordering cost and (2) we were not concerned with having too much inventory on hand when there was no direct cost (such as warehousing) associated with holding inventory. Inventory Strategy Final Hours: During the last 12 simulation days we considered developing a plan to minimize our inventory at the end of the simulation. However, we were not sure how to calculate this, and the costs associated with running of inventory was too high to risk making a mistake. Results The Honeybadgers team finished the Littlefield simulation in fifth place, posting $1,511,424 in cash. The team’s final cash position was $104,192 below the first place team, earning 93.5% of their total revenue. Risks and Evaluations At the beginning of the simulation, we wanted to maintain a high R and Q because we wanted to avoid high ordering costs. While we considered keeping inventory low to save money for a new machine, we were not sure the improved lead time could offset the cost of machines. However, in hindsight we realized that we could have managed R and Q better early in the simulation, so as to minimize the amount of excess raw inventory. We now know that we could have adjusted R according to the variability of demand, holding that the more demand fluctuates; the higher R is and vice versa. We believe that this tactic could have allowed us to accumulate enough cash to purchase machines earlier, possibly as early as day 80 or 90. Purchasing a machine earlier could have improved lead times, allowing us to switch to contract #3 earlier so as to generate more revenue. We should have balanced between ordering costs during the last 100 days and the cost of having excessive or unnecessary inventory after last day. In the last day we still had approximately $80k of inventory, which held no value after demand ceased. Managing inventory better would have given more cash on hand.

Repairing a MySQL Database With phpMyAdmin

Using MySQL with PHP expands and enhances the features you can offer on your website. One of the most popular methods of managing a MySQL database is through phpMyAdmin, which is already on most web servers. Occasionally, database tables become corrupt and you are no longer able to access them or they dont respond as quickly as youd like. In phpMyAdmin, the process of checking the table and repairing it  so you can access the data again is fairly simple. Before you begin, make a backup of the database in case phpMyAdmin cant repair it. Checking Your Database in phpMyAdmin Log in to your web host.Click the phpMyAdmin icon. If your host uses  cPanel, look there.Choose the affected database. If you only have one database, it should  be chosen  by default so you dont need to do anything.In the main panel, you should see a list of your database tables.  Click  Check All  to select all of them.At the bottom of the window just below the list of tables, there is a drop-down menu. Choose  Check Table  from the menu. When the page refreshes, you will see a summary of any table that may be corrupted. If you receive any errors, repair the table. phpMyAdmin Repair Steps Log in to your web host.Click the phpMyAdmin icon.  Choose the affected database.  In the main panel, you should see a list of your database tables. Click Check All to select all of them.Choose Repair Table  from the drop-down menu at the bottom of the screen. When the page refreshes, you should see a summary of any tables that were repaired. This should fix your database and let you access it again. Now that it is fixed, its a good idea to make that database backup.