Australia2 essays

Australia2 essays Australia has changed hands a lot throughout its history. From being inhabited by the aborigines, which had been there for around forty thousand years, until the British claimed it. However the British were not the first to come across this continent, they were just the first countries to see it as useful. The Dutch were seeking new land and trade in the East Indies, and found that sailing along the coasts of Africa and India too much longer than if the went due east and the cut up. However, the Dutch Vessel, Duyfken, first sighted the coast of modern day Australia in 1606 when it did not turn north in time. In 1642-43 Able Tasman was looking for new land south of Batavia, and shifted course to avoid bad weather. In doing so, he ran into the stormy west coast of Tasmania which he named VanDiemens Land. He also sailed eastward after that and discovered New Zealand. All of these discoveries revealed only desolate deserts and hostile natives. It wasnt until 1770 when James Cook discovered the long avoided east coast that it was seen as a possible resource. The British soon lost their American colony, where they had sent some of their prisoners, and now began to consider Botany Bay, Cooks first landfall, as the next penal colony (Brander, 18). The First Fleet left sail from Portsmouth, England in May 1787 heading for Australia under the command of Authur Phillip (http...ozramp). Phillip and his crew landed on January 26, 1788, which is now celebrated as Australia Day (Australia). There were prisoners that were also aboard the ship that landed in Australia. Huddled in the bowels of the ships were 772 terrified convicts- 568 men, 191 women, and 13 children (Brander, 15). Many of the crimes that they were charged with crimes that would be thought of as trivial by todays standards (Australia). They landed in Botany Bay, and approximately forty people had perished during the jo...

June 6th SAT Scores Have Been Released - How Did You Measure Up

June 6th SAT Scores Have Been Released - How Did You Measure Up SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Scores from the June 6th SAT have been released, and they have served to increase the controversy around the test. Put simply, the scores may be much less accurate than usual tests because the College Board was forced to throw out two of the sections. Read on to see how students have reacted, how the scores vary from other administrations of the exam, and what your options now are. The Confusion and the College Board’s response There was quite a lot of confusion around how, exactly, the tests were going to be scored. Students were told many different and contradictory things when they phoned up the College Board – including that only section 8 or section 9 would be dropped, that they would both be dropped, that the experimental section would be counted instead, and that the two sections would only be dropped if the individual student had been affected – implying to some that if their proctor had stuck to the normal timings, that their scores would not be affected. The College Board’s official statements, as well, furthered the confusion, at first implying that only one section would be eliminated, but they then updated it to state that two would be removed. On June 25th, when the scores were released, the College Board issued the following statement: Today, we are reporting scores for all students who took the SAT in the U.S. on June 6. As we previously communicated with students, due to a printing error in the standard test books provided by Educational Testing Service, the College Board and ETS did not score the two affected sections and are able to provide students with valid and reliable scores. To make this determination, we conducted a comprehensive review and statistical analysis with three important components: First, the scores for the shorter test were shown to be sufficiently reliable - meaning they show technical consistency over repeated testings. Second, the equating process was not affected by the error. Equating is a statistical procedure that is conducted to ensure that different versions of a test are of comparable difficulty. Finally, the scored sections had the same distribution of content and skills as the full-length test and therefore is reflective of the overall SAT content specifications. We have consistently communicated with College Board higher education members since learning of the misprint in the June 6 SAT administration book. Admission directors from across the country have told us they have full confidence in those scores and will view them just like scores from any other SAT administration. They want students to be assured of the integrity of their scores. We take our responsibility to students very seriously, and we appreciate their patience as we’ve worked to deliver to institutions scores that are valid and reliable. See the full text here. What have we learned The scoring system has been confirmed It’s official: two sections (Section 8 and Section 9) were dropped from the test, and the experimental section was not subbed in for one of them. On your score reports, you will see that your raw scores are much lower than they normally would be because of this. Universities WILL accept the June 6th results It was very good of the College Board to call around and make sure that universities across the country will not be punishing students for their mistake. It would have been even better of them to let us know this earlier, since it seems that they have had the information for a while, and it could have saved a lot of students from a lot of stress. The SAT is too long on purpose According to the same QA, the SAT that can be accurately graded from two fewer sections is intentionally built to be too long, just in case the College Board screws up and they have to drop several sections of the test. So, according to them, they have been planning for this kind of eventuality all along, even though it has never happened before. And I’m sure that all of us who have been taking the needlessly long tests are terribly grateful for their due diligence. The equating process was not affected In one of their more believable claims, the College Board has confirmed that the equating process for this exam was not affected. Equating is what the College Board calls their attempts to make sure that each SAT can be accurately compared to other SATs. Though the difficulty of each test is slightly different, they have certain â€Å"anchor† sections that they use to compare one to the other. Fortunately, these sections were not the ones that were thrown out, so the College Board has been able to determine the difficulty of the test for the curve. The College Board is still not showing proof of its claims The College Board made the interesting decision of posting a QA interview with Jack Buckley, Senior Vice President of Research, in which he is specifically asked how they determined the validity of the shortened test and he proceeds to†¦.not answer the question. Instead, Buckley tells that the criteria for determining the validity of the test were: whether scores could be "reliable" without two sections if the tests could be equated if the remaining sections had the same skill content and distribution He does not, however, go on to explain how these tests were actually carried out. One of the main requests from students and parents across the country has been that the College Board show proof that the tests are as â€Å"reliable† as they claim they are. There have been a few suggestions for how to do this, including Releasing Sections 8 and 9 so that students can see how they would have done with those sections added in, compared to how they have done without them. Showing an anonymous test from a previous year, scored at both the full length and with two sections missing. After all, if the test is so bulletproof, and if the College Board is so certain that the two missing sections are not going to significantly affect scores, then why won’t they show us the proof? What problems we still have â€Å"Sufficiently reliable† and â€Å"valid† do not mean the same thing as â€Å"accurate† This is more like an ACT question than an SAT one, so maybe they are hoping that students won’t notice that there is quite a difference in meaning between â€Å"reliable†, â€Å"valid†, and â€Å"accurate†. The College Board has now issued several statements saying that the test has been proven to be sufficiently reliable. However, it now seems that their criteria for this is almost entirely based on the structure of the test, as opposed to the scores. By â€Å"reliable† they mean that the two remaining math and critical reading sections had questions on similar concepts and of similar difficulty levels as the sections that were thrown out. If this were only a knowledge-based test, this might be more significant. Unfortunately, the SAT is notorious for testing simple concepts in ways that are difficult to understand. So, it’s not altogether reassuring that the subject matter on the thrown out sections was not too different. A student could easily, for example, know exactly how to attack one question about absolute value, but be unsure about a second question on the same concept, just because of how it is worded. â€Å"Valid† doesn’t really mean anything at all Similarly, saying the scores are valid simply means that the College Board is happy to stand behind them. Considering that this is the most cost-effective option for them, it’s hardly surprising that they are willing (and glad) to do so. Why aren’t the scores accurate? The College Board has run statistical analyses of the scores on this test and compared it to other tests. They are calling the scores valid because there is a similar distribution of scores. However, statistics always works best on a large scale, and that doesn’t mean that they can say how accurate their scores on a case-by-case basis. For example, if you were to flip a coin 1,000 times, you could be pretty certain that you would get heads about 50% of the time and tails about 50% of the time. But it would be really difficult to predict the outcome of just a single toss. Similarly, though the overall scores fall into an appropriate SAT pattern, it’s impossible for the SAT to guarantee that individual students have not been affected by the dropped sections. Some students will have received lower scores than they otherwise would have, and others will receive higher scores. Students who are mid-range scorers are least likely to be affected by the missing sections. The curves on the SAT are always more generous for mid-range scores, and if you are the type of student who could have expected to miss 15-20% of the questions on each section, then your scores are fairly predictable. High scoring students are most likely to be affected. The curves are always harshest at the top, and on this test it is even more noticeable. If you missed just one question in math or critical reading, for example, your score will be lower than it would have been on almost any other SAT. For more on this, see the scoring charts below. How have students been responding? Understandably, students and parents across the country have been none too pleased with the College Board and their results. Here are a few reactions from College Confidential: I have just received my scores this morning and I am outraged. I have performed the worst I have ever done. I know for a fact this is due to the College Board's mistake because I have scored completely out of my score range for each section. I vividly remember feeling the most confident about the last two sections for critical reading and math, so I knew that those 2 sections would boost my grade, or at least balance out some mistakes I made on the previous two sections. So, of course it makes sense that my scores would suffer due to the removal of these sections and it is so frustrating knowing that I could have been done with the standardized testing process had the College Board properly administered the June SAT. Now I have to take the test in October, which will delay my early action application process. College Board, I am extremely disappointed in your lack of professionalism. My son's scores were significantly lower. This was his 3rd time to take it. The first two times he scored 750 in CR (both times). This time†¦ 680. His Math score was 10 points lower than what he scored in March however he had been working with a math tutor and had improved his math score on his last three practice tests (official CB practice tests) to numbers that should have been 30-40 points higher. This is just so frustrating. Without letting students and parents see what the scores would have been with the 2 omitted sections, there is no way to prove that these scores are "reliable" as the CB keeps touting. I know there are people who are going to say "you can't prove that your son didn't just happen to do significantly worse this time" but frankly to get 750 twice in a row on a section that w as only scored with 2 instead of 3 sets of scores is proof to me that these scores are not accurate. I want ACCURATE scores, not "reliable". My sons went down, after having progressive improvement with previous two tests by 100+ pts ea time.... And he'd taken a month long prep course prior to this test. Math, down 70pts. Critical Reading down 60 pts. Writing down 30. Thanks SAT for wasting our time- was to be his final SAT prior to applying Aug 1st to college. We were disappointed, but knew we would be. On every SAT (practice and actual yes, we got the booklet and answers from college board to confirm it) my kid had trouble with the first 2 sections. It takes her that long to settle in. This test was no different. Her math and reading scores went down over 100 points each and (the unaffected) writing stayed exactly the same as it had on the last 2 tests. We are definitely out of the norm for the stats. This test may be statistically similar for the general population, but certainly not equivalent for our situation. Others are writing to the College Board directly, demanding an earlier retest: October is too late to retest for those interested in early decision deadlines of November 2015. You should provide a new test date much earlier. Please consider the amount of extra time students study for the SAT in addition to regular school classes and extracurricular activities including community service activities. Again you should provide an optional testing day well before October 2015 specifically for those affected by your clerical mistake of June 6, 2015. I am sure your mistakes were not intentional but you did make a mistake. With this in mind the best course of action will be to benefit those affected by taking action above and beyond what you are proposing. Please schedule a new test before October 2015 because this date is not conducive to those who were affected by your mistakes of June 6, 2015 and create additional expenses, stress and anxieties for those who were affected by your mistakes. ...The College Board should set a good example for these students and provide an exam in late July so that the students can have their scores before they spend countless hours preparing college applications, researching schools, etc. October 3 is far too late for many students who intend to have their applications completed prior to that date. Many schools have strict deadlines when it comes to providing merit scholarships, and by not retaking the exam until October 3 thousands and thousands of students will not know truly where they stand in relation to acceptance and scholarships. Not to mention that any of the study skills, etc. that the students used for the June exam will be ancient history by October. This means many more study hours for the students plus the potential for a lot of money to be paid to tutors as there will be a lot of stress for this final opportunity to take the exam for the class of 2016. SHAME ON YOU COLLEGE BOARD!!! DO THE RIGHT THING AND PROVIDE AN EXAM WIT HIN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS. This is way too important to ignore or to hide behind the desire for more financial profit.... How do your scores measure up? The best way to see how accurate your scores are is to compare them to the grading systems on previous administrations of the SAT. The College Board has officially released several tests, along with the curves used to grade them. Will this give me my â€Å"real† score? No. As you can see, each test has a different grading scale. This is because of the â€Å"equating† system that the College Board uses, so that more difficult tests can be compared to easier ones. As you can see in the following images, one question wrong on different tests means different grades. There are too many unknown factors to know what your â€Å"real† score would have been with the two sections added in. First of all, you don’t know how you did on those sections. While many people are claiming that they think they didn’t miss any, there’s obviously a very real chance that you did. Also, we don’t know how the difficulty of the June 6th SAT measures up to the difficulty of the tests below. It could have been much more difficult, or much easier. Without knowing that, it’s impossible to tell what the actual grading scale would have looked like. How should I use this information, then? Use the information below to compare your results with what you would have gotten on other tests. This can give you an idea of how you might have done, but it's not exact. For example, here are screen shots of my results. In Reading Comprehension, I missed 4 questions. That would normally come out to a raw score of 62. In looking at the below charts, I can see that a raw score of 62 is usually in the range of 740-760. Instead, I scored a 710. This is quite a bit lower than what I â€Å"should have† scored. I, too, remember Section 8 being quite easy and I was confident in my answers. But everyone makes mistakes, and it’s impossible to say with certainty that I would not have missed more questions. If I had missed another 2 questions, which was my average wrong on the previous two reading sections, my raw score would have been a 60. On the tests below, you can see that would have been equivalent to a score of 720-730. This is still higher than what I got on the June 6th test, but only marginally so. In math, I only missed one question. If I assume that I wouldn’t have missed any others (after all, I did have one error free section), then my raw score would have been 53. As you can see below, 760 is a fair bit harsher than you normally see on math for missing one question, which would have given a score of 790-800 on the below tests. What is the score range? It’s also important to keep in mind that the College Board always recommends thinking of your score as a range instead of a number. This is what your â€Å"score range† is all about. The College Board has always given a score range because they know that one test cannot perfectly measure your abilities. They know there are a lot of factors on test day, like being overly tired, that may affect your score, or that anxiety may make you get stumped on a certain question that normally you would get with no problem at all. Your score range is usually around 30 points below your score, to around 30 points above your score. The idea is that if you were to take the SAT with no additional prep, you should expect your score to be in that range. So, if the differences that you are noticing between your actual score and either your previous scores or the range of scores you can see below is greater than 30 points, there’s more cause for you to be concerned about the accuracy of your scores. On the flip side, if your score was 20 points lower than the last time you took the test, and you didn’t do a significant amount of extra prep, you should know that those scores are probably pretty accurate. Here are the scoring guides – how do you compare? Where do you go from here? Unfortunately, the College Board is still unwilling to give students a summer makeup test. You can, however, register for free for the October test if you are not satisfied with your scores. If you would like to re-take the test, start studying now. You are at a great advantage because you have all summer, without the stress of schoolwork, to master the tricky concepts. Check out our guides for improving low scores or getting a perfect score for October, and if you remember any concepts you thought were particularly difficult, review them in our free online guides. Keep in mind that colleges understand the score range ¸ and that they are also happy to accept the June 6th scores. If for some reason you cannot or do not want to make up the test, try not to stress out if your scores were only marginally worse than the last time you took the SAT. All students should keep an eye on the FAQ on the College Board web site for the June 6th test in case there are updates. Also, if you have questions or complaints and want a response from the College Board, call their customer service line at 866-756-7346. They are asking people to email them customer service problems, but this is because it makes it easier for them to issue stock responses. Finally, if you feel cheated by the College Board’s mistake, don’t forget about the pending lawsuit against them. If the College Board loses, you may be due some compensation. How did you do? How do your scores compare to what you would have gotten on a previous test? Tell us below in the comments or tweet us @prepscholar. Disappointed with your scores? Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Comparing the Qualities of Jacob and Joseph in the Bible Essay

Comparing the Qualities of Jacob and Joseph in the Bible - Essay Example diplomatically, either. When he had a series of dreams that showed in symbols his brothers and parents bowing down to him, he hastened to let them know about it. This arrogance inflamed his brothers further (The old testament). Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah. For twenty years they lived happily together. But like Abraham and Sarah, they had no children. Isaac pleaded with the Lord that he would bless them. So God gave them twins. Finally the big day came when the twins were born. The first came out red, and all hairy like an animal skin. They named him Esau. As Esau was born they noticed that the next child was being born holding onto Esau's heal. They named this son Jacob. As the boys grew up, Isaac seems to love Esau more than Jacob. One day Jacob was cooking up a nice lentil stew and some bread. But, before he ate it Esau came by on his way home from a hunting trip. Esau was very hungry and very tired. He had been hunting for a long time and caught nothing. Esau was starving so he begged Jacob to let him eat his nice stew. Jacob thought for a moment, and then said he would sell it to Esau for the birthright. The birthright was all the major possessions that a man owned that was always given to the oldest son. Esau was so hungry he thought that if he did not get something to eat right now he would die, so what difference would it make if he agreed to give Jacob the birthright. So Esau agreed to sell his birthright to Jacob for some bread and lentil stew. Jacob made Esau swear an oath on this agreement, and he did (Jacob and Isaac). Isaac was growing old, and he could not see well. He thought he was going to die soon, so he called Esau to him to give him the birthright blessing. While Esau was away to seek a deer, Jacod pretended to be Esau in front of his dying father and was able to get his father birthright blessings (Jacob tricks Isaac). Jacod not only took his brother's birthright, but also their father's birthright blessing as well, in those days, birthright blessing can only be given once. Even though Isaac realized later on that he gave the birthright blessing to the wrong son, he can no longer get it back. Jacob was a dishonest man due to his longing for earthly things. He tricked both his brother and father. He's actions where always governed by the flesh and its carnal desires. Jacod made two great mistakes: Firstly, he convinced his brother Esau to renounce his birthright. He has done this when Esau was so hungry and begging for food. Esau had no choice then but to submit to Jacob's condition in order not to die from hunger. Secondly, Jacob tricked his father Isaac. In order to get the birthright blessing from his father rather than to his brother, who is the oldest son. This made Esau very angry and planned to kill Jacob. The story of Joseph is what seems to be the other side of the coin. Joseph was the 11th son Jacob whom he loved the most. This made Joseph's brothers jealous and cruel with him. One day when they were all away from home, the bad brothers threw Joseph into an empty well after tearing off his coat which his father had given him. While Joseph was in the empty well, a caravan of merchants passed by. They picked him up and took him with them to Egypt as a prisoner

Japan U.S. relation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Japan U.S. relation - Essay Example In 1639, the shogunate commenced the isolationist sakoku ("closed country") policy spanning two and a half centuries of feeble political unity known as the Edo period. (Frost, 25-7) Late in the nineteenth century, abundance of the prerogative and the resignation of the shogunate led to the founding of a centralized state integrated under the name of the Emperor. Influenced by Western political, judicial and military institutions, the Cabinet prepared the Privy Council, brought in the Meiji Constitution, and assembled the Imperial Diet. This transformed the Empire of Japan into an industrialized world power that got into a number of military conflicts to increase the empire's sphere of authority. Today, Japan is a constitutional monarchy, with the powers of the Emperor being very limited. Seen as a ceremonial figurehead, the constitution defines him as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people". (NDL, 1) Power is chiefly vested in the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected members of the Diet, while Japanese people are the root of the sovereignty. The relationships between U.S and Japan date back to the 1850's when Commodore Matthew Perry with his "Black Ships" sailed to Japan and signed the Convention of Kanagawa in order to initiate trade between Japan and U.S. This ended the sakoku policy of Japan and 300 year seclusion from the outside world. A few years later, the first Japanese embassy to the United States ever, was sent to ratify the new Treaty of Friendship, Commerce, and Navigation among the two regimes. Subsequent to the Meiji Restoration of 1867, the United States aided Japan in its modernization of its economy and of its military. This resulted in the new constitution of Japan being partly influenced by the United States Constitution. (Hay, 1) Diplomatic relations ended with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, drawing the United States into World War II. The war ended after the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. After the end of the Second World War, Japan was taken under control by the Allied Powers, led by the United States. The San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed on September 8, 1951, manifested the end of the Allied occupation, and Japan regained its independence on April 28, 1952. The early post-occupation period Japan needed direct United States economic assistance. The general Japanese public feeling of dependence decreased gradually as the devastating results of World War II faded into the background and commercial activities with the United States saw a significant growth. (Huntington, 3-17) Self-confidence increased as the country applied its assets and organizational skill to retrieve economic health. This led to a general want for greater autonomy from United States influence. Bilateral talks on improving the 1952 security pact started in 1959, and the new Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security was signed in Washington on January 19, 1960. The pact, when presented to the Diet for approval, stirred a bitter argument over the Japan-United States relationship and a violent all-out effort was made by the leftist opposition to thwart its passage. Under this treaty, both U.S and Japan assumed an obligation to aid each other in case of an armed attack on provinces under Japanese supervision. (LaFeber, 165) It was however implicit, that Japan could not come to

The bottled water industry and its effects Essay

The bottled water industry and its effects - Essay Example Another is by strengthening the practices of water conservation. By the year 2012, consumption of bottled water in the United States had risen to almost ten billion gallons representing 5.3% per capita consumption. It was estimated that every individual drank about thirty gallons yearly. Packaged water saw an upsurge in real volume more than any other category of beverage in the country. Sales had increased by 6.7 per cent totaling about eleven billion dollars (Eshleman, 7). The reasons provided for the monumental consumption of this water are that most consumers pay close attention to healthy choices for themselves as well as their families and are assured that a refreshing, safe and convenient bottle of water contains no calories, making it the most suitable choice on the menu. Many also appreciate the reliability and consistency of its quality. Both federal and state governments comprehensively regulate bottled water. The FDA (Food & Drug Administration) regulates it in the food product category, with guidelines that govern its quality as well as its safety, which are as rigorous as those of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) of tap water (Andrews et al., 174). In spite of this, the bottled water industry has been facing a few challenges with regard to the field of sustainability. In the recent past, colossal opposition against bottled water has developed among an eclectic assortment of such advocates as restaurateurs, activists and even religious leaders. The propositions of the sector’s operations have evoked vocal protestation from local communities. Their rationale is that the production of bottled water requires a lot of energy and generates large amounts of waste that could have long-term environmental effects. Various cities like Chicago have begun taking up action in this respect by taxing bottled water. Others, such as San Francisco have completely banned bottled water from official functions. Toronto has not only banned the

Can the physical attractiveness of a defendant lead to differing sentences

Can the physical attractiveness of a defendant lead to differing sentences Abstract The purpose of the investigation was to see if the physical attractiveness of a defendant has an influence of the severity of prison sentences given for a crime of fraud. An opportunity sample consisting of 10 males and 10 females taken from sixth form students at school aged 16-18 was used. A crime vignette was given to participants with a photo of the physically attractive defendant or physically un attractive defendant attached. Participants had to state whether they thought the defendant was guilty or not guilty. Participants were then told that the defendants were found guilty and were asked to assign a prison term that they felt the defendant deserved. The Chi-Square and T-Test were used to analyse the results. Observed Value of T= 30.88: Critical value at p Project Brief PB1: The aim is to see if Sigall Ostroves (1975) findings that the physical attractiveness of a defendant and the nature of the crime can lead to differing sentences are applicable to this current time period. Alternative hypothesis: The more attractive defendant will receive a lower sentence for burglary than the less attractive defendant. Null Hypothesis: There will be no difference in length of sentences given to the attractive defendant and the non attractive defendant. PB2: A directional hypothesis is being used as past research by Sigall Ostroves (1975) has shown that physical attractiveness does have an effect on the length of a sentence giving to the defendant. PB3: The chosen research method will be experimental using an independent measures design. So each group will be tested in a different condition one group will be shown a picture with a physically attractive defendant and the other group will see a picture with a non attractive defendant. PB4: Advantages Confounding variables minimised Study is in a controlled environment so the variables can be manipulated Disadvantages No control of participant variables as due to individuals differences the participants may not find the pictures attractive. There maybe a social desirability bias as participants may put what they think is the norm or socially desirable rather than what they actually think. There maybe investigator and participant effects. PB5: Demand Characteristics Participants may respond in accordance to experimenters desired response i.e. the experimenter may influence the participant in the way in which he states the scenario of the crime or by subconscious gestures. Age Group Bias All participants are between the age of 16-18 so results may not be external valid as other age groups may have different results and respond differently. Participant Bias Participants may give into social norms and may no give there true opinion when rating. They may rate pictures higher or lower than they really feel. PB6: Single Blind The participants and the experimenter will be told that the study is on studying something other than what there doing so the participants and the experimenter wont be able to guess the aim of the study. Standardise Instructions All conditions of the study are given the same standardised instructions so investigator bias is eliminated. Social Desirability Bias The results will be anonymous and confidential, giving the chance for the participants a option to withdraw at any time so the participants may not feel the need to put what the experimenter may see as the norm. PB7: 5% level of significance PB8: Deception Not telling the participants the true nature of the study by using a single blind technique. This will be overcome by debriefing the participants at the end of the study to ensure that the participants are happy. Privacy The pictures will be taking from websites which are on public domains so anyone can access them. Informed Consent Participants will be asked if they want to participate and told the basic procedures as well i.e. giving the right to withdraw etc. Withdrawal Participants will be able to withdraw at any time during the study and will be told this throughout the study. Debrief The participants will be fully debriefed as to the true aims of the study has been completed after the study. Observation The participants will not be observed. Confidentially None of the participants names will be taken and they will not be observed during the study so the results will remain anonymous. Introduction The Halo effect (Dion Walster, 1972) is the tendency of a characteristic such as physical attractiveness to influence an individuals perception of persons qualities such as intelligence, social status and personal traits. Research has found that attractive people are attributed with more positive characteristics due to the Halo Effect. Dion Walster (1972) conducted an experiment called What is Beautiful is Good and found that individuals who are seen as physically attractive are assumed by particpants to have more socially desirable personalities than those who are less attractive, and it is also assumed that attractive individuals lives will be more successful and enjoyable than individuals who are less attractive. So attractive individuals are assumed to be more sociably desired. Dion et als (1972) findings indicate that stereotyping due to individuals physical attractiveness does occur as physical attractive individuals were regarded to have more socially desired qualities and p ersonalities, and were expected to have greater personal success in there life. These results have also been supported by Griddin Langlois (2006) and Feingold (1992) who found that unattractive people are perceived to hold more negative attributes. The Halo effect has been applied in research into other areas of society. For example in school or workplaces. As a study on attractiveness in school found by Clifford Walster (1973) and Landy Sigall (1974) found that two essays which had exactly the same content were marked differently. This was belived to be due to them having pictures of the students on the essays and the more attractive person received a higher grade even though the essays were the same. This shows that physical attractiveness does affect peoples way of thinking in real life settings. Another study has shown that the halo effect has an effect in job interviews as it has been found by Dipboye, Arvey, Terpstra, (1977) and Landy Sigall, (1974) that the more attractive individuals where more likely to get the jobs offered than the unattractive individuals even though they did the same on the tasks to get the interviews. Baron and Byrne (1997) found that attractive defendants are more likely to receive lighter sentences and gain the sympathy of the jurors rather than unattractive individuals. This is believed to be due to the Halo Effect What is beautiful is good. Sigall Ostrove (1975) also found that participants who were shown an attractive photo of a defendant charged with burglary recommend almost half the average sentence of those show no photo or an unattractive photo. Stewart (1980) also found that attractive defendants tended to receive lighter sentences and were less likely to receive prison sentences than unattractive individuals. These results were further supported by Efrans (1974) study as Efran (1974) found that juries were not as certain about the guilt of attractive defendants, and therefore gave them lighter sentences/ punishments. However it has been found that there were different factors which influence the sentence giving to an attractive individual. For example the attractivene ss of an individual didnt have much of an effect on sentences when the crime was seen as very serious. Sigall Ostrove (1975) also found that attractive defendants were charged with a higher average sentences when fraud was the crime rather than the unattractive individuals or defendant with no photo. Their results showed that when the crime committed wasnt related to physical attractiveness (e.g. burglary) the participants would give lighter sentences to the attractive defendant rather than to the unattractive defendant. In contrast when the crime was related to attractiveness (e.g. swindle), the physically attractive defendant would receive a worse sentence. The Halo Effect explains these findings in that when crimes are not related to attractiveness, the attractive participants may be seen as good due to the Halo Effect and positive stereotyping. For the physically attractive crimes the juror may feel that the attractive individuals used there attractiveness as a natural advantag e to further promote themselves in society. Fraud is regarded as deceitful and is related to attractiveness thus more attractive defendants would be punished more severely. Aim: This study will replicate Sigall Ostroves (1975) study to provide further support for previous findings see if the physical attractiveness of a defendant and the nature of the crime can lead to differing sentences in this current time period. Alternative hypothesis: The more attractive defendant will receive a lower sentence for burglary than the less attractive defendant. Null Hypothesis: There will be no difference in length of sentences given to the attractive defendant and the non attractive defendant. Method: Method and design In the experiment the IV is the physical attractiveness of the defendants and the DV was the judgement that the participants gave the photos of the physically attractive defendant and unattractive defendant i.e. guilty or not guilty. An independent group design is being used so one group of participants will be tested with the physically attractive photo of the defendant and the other group will be tested with the unattractive photo of the defendant. A questionnaire was given to the male participants so ratings of the photographs of the females could be collected and so the best voted picture would be used as the physically attractive defendant and the worse would be used for the unattractive defendant. Researchers One A level student collected data. Target population and sample An opportunity sample consisting of 10 males and 10 females taken from sixth form students at school. The students who were available at the time were asked to participate in the study. All participants took part in the study and none of them declined. Apparatus/materials Pilot Study Ten photographs were selected from the websites Hot or Not and RatePeople.com labelling them 1 10. All photographs were put on to A4 pieces of paper (one per page of paper). All photos were of passport shots so the defendants were looking straight at the camera and the defendants were between the ages of 20-40. This was controlled so the participants view of the defendants didnt change due to the pose the defendant was doing or because they thought the defendant was to old and frail to go to jail or to young etc. There was as little jewellery or clothing in the pictures as possible so it wouldnt distort the participants view on the pictures as it may make the participant think the defendants were more or less attractive in the photos creating extraneous variable so this was done so it was only the defendants attractiveness being taken into account. Main Study In the main study a scenario was given to participants (see Appendix 1) and the participants had to state whether they thought the defendant was guilty or not on the participant response sheet (see Appendix 2). Two photos were used in the main study from the pilot study (the best rated photo and the worst rated photo) which were used as defendants. The best voted picture was used as the physically attractive defendant and the worse was used for the unattractive defendant. An example of one of the photographs use is shown in Appendix 3. Standardised procedures Pilot Study The participants were taken into different rooms when completing the task so they werent distracted from other students. The standardised instructions (see Appendix 4) were read to participants and consent was given. Male participants were shown the photographs of the females, and the females were shown the photographs of the men. The participants were asked to rate each of the photographs on a scale of 1 10, with 10 being most attractive and 1 being not very attractive. The participants wrote their ratings on some paper with spaces for the ratings for the 10 photographs No names were asked for. An example of a participant response is shown in Appendix 5. Main Study The best rated photo and the worst rated photo were than used as defendants. The best voted picture was used as the physically attractive defendant and the worse was used for the unattractive defendant. A different set of participants where given scenarios and asked if they would give a sentence to the defendant given to them and told to right down there answer on the participant response sheet. One group was given the physically attractive photo whereas the other group was given the unattractive photo. Participants after the task were thanked and debriefed (see Appendix 6). Controls Investigator bias was minimised by using standardised instructions. The Single blind technique was used so researcher bias, participant bias and demand characteristic were avoided by asking someone else to observe the participants during the task and telling the observer not to look at the participants while theyre doing the task to avoid participant reactivity. Participant bias was avoided by telling the participants to rate members of a opposite sex because the males may find it more difficult men in terms of physical attractiveness. Ethics Informed consent was gained as participants were given standardised instructions and told that they had the right to withdraw at any time and that their answers would remain anonymous. There was minor deception as the participants werent told the aim of the study but this was dealt with as the participants were debriefed at the end of the study. The ethical issue of using photos of people without there consent was dealt with as the photos used were put on websites where the people want there photos to be rated thus are available to the public. Results: Descriptive Statistics Summary table of the data to show the total number of guilty verdicts given to physically attractive and physically non-attractive defendants. Participants had to state whether they found the defendant given to them guilty or not guilty. A bar chart was drawn to display the results visually. The raw data given is in Appendix 7. The Sentences Given To The Defendants Physically Attractive Physically Non-Attractive Guilty 7 8 Not Guilty 3 2 Bar chart to show the difference between the number of guilty verdicts given to attractive and non-attractive defendants in getting sentences or not. Summary table of the data to show mean prison sentences in months awarded to the attractive and non-attractive defendants by the participants. A bar chart was drawn to display the results visually. The raw data given is in Appendix 7. The Mean Length Of The Sentences Given To The Defendants Physically Attractive Physically Non-Attractive Average 21.9 Months = 1.8 Years 63.6 Months = 5.3 Years Bar chart to show the difference in the length of sentences given to the attractive and physically non-attractive defendants. Results: Inferential Statistics The Chi-Square Test and T-Test were used to analyse the results. The Chi-Square Test was appropriate for the data at a nominal level of measurement in a from of categories and the data collected from independent measures. Chi Square = 0.26 Degrees of freedom = 1 Critical value at p As the observed value of chi-square was smaller than the critical value at a 5% level of significance, we cannot reject the null hypothesis and so it must be retained. The T-Test was appropriate for the data that was at a interval level of measurement in the form of numerical data as the data collected was from independent measures. Observed value of T = 30.88 Degrees of freedom = 1 Critical value at p As the observed value of T is higher than the critical value of T at a 5% level of significance the null hypothesis can be rejected. Discussion Explanation of findings The findings of this investigation found that the physical attractiveness of a defendant can lead to differing sentences. Overall the physically attractive defendant received a lighter sentence than the physically unattractive defendant. The T-Test was significant at the 0.05 level of significance supporting the assumption that the Halo effect will effect peoples views on whether a defendant is guilty or innocent. Relationship to background research There has been lots of research into whether the physical attractiveness can influence an individuals perception of persons qualities. Early research such as Stewart (1980) found that attractive defendants tended to receive lighter sentences and were less likely to receive prison sentences than unattractive individuals. Baron and Byrne (1997) also found that attractive defendants are more likely to receive lighter sentences and gain the sympathy of the jurors rather than unattractive individuals. This study supports these earlier findings and in addition shows that this bias can lead to differing prison sentences being awarded to defendants even when the crime committed is the same. This could be due to the halo effect which gives the tendency of a characteristic such as physical attractiveness to influence an individuals perception of persons qualities such as intelligence, social status and personal traits. This creates beautiful stereotypes which doesnt fit with the criminal stereotype such as scars, looking dirty etc. Although the results could be because the participants generally believed that the physically attractive defendant was guilty and the physically unattractive defendant wasnt. Limitations and modifications The study lacks ecological validity as in real life the participants would be in a jury and so there would be a discussion between 12 people of varying ages on what the punishment the defendant should receive. In this experiment 6th form students were used aged between 16-18 and they made the decisions on there own rather than discussing the defendants punishment. To improve this a simulated jury could be used where the experimenter asks 12 participants to act as a jury and discuss the sentence. Due to the participant sample used there was an sample bias as the study was on an opportunity sample of 6th form students. So the results can not be generalised to the whole population. There may have also been a problem due to demand characteristics as participants may have guessed the aims of the study and may have known what results were expected and answered accordingly. Another limitation of the study was that the experimenter knew the participants, so this may have lead the participants to write down what they thought the normal answer would be and not what they actually thought. So there may have been an social desirability bias. This could be dealt with by using a different target population and sample. Another limitation of this study is that some participants didnt find the unattractive defendant guilty as they didnt believe that she would be able to get people into bed and so voted her not guilty. Some participants also stated that they didnt believe that there as enough evidence to charge the defendants. Another limitation of the study was individual differences as the study used independent measure design and some participants said they found the unattractive defendant guilty as they didnt like her whereas some participants said they found the attractive defendant guilty as she was attractive whereas some said it was because she looked more promiscuous. Another way to make future results more reliable is to do the study again but make the participants be in groups of 12 like a real jury and see if the same results are found. This will be more reliable as in a real life juries would discuss the punishment before given defendants sentences. Implications and ideas for future research To make the results more reliable a larger sample size could be used as this would mean that more data could be analysed and this may leads to different results. Also a different age range may also lead to different results as the older people may take it more seriously. The important implications of this research shows that there is a bias in sentences given to defendants and to get rid of this bias juries may have to make there decisions by just looking at the research and maybe not be able to see the defendant in court as theres a screen in front of them and there voice is changed.

Go Ask Alice Essay -- essays research papers

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William James. American psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

William James. American psychology - Essay Example By profession he was a doctor, but his greatest contributions came in the field of psychology and philosophy. He wrote several books on science of psychology, educational psychology, psychology of religion and mysticism. Moreover he was also an advocate of pragmatic philosophy and wrote many books on pragmatism. His brothers and sisters were also famous in America as literature writers. Even though the contributions of William James are multifaceted, this paper focuses mainly on his contributions to psychology in general and to the development of theory of functionalism relating to the history of psych systems, in particular. Theory of functionalism, developed by William James, caused major changes in the history of American psychology. Theory of functionalism is derived from Darwin’s evolutionary theory. It focuses mainly on the examination of the function and purpose of mind and behavior. â€Å"Rather than the structures of the mind, functionalism was interested in mental p rocesses and their relation to behavior†(Functionalism). ... In Principles of Psychology he presented illuminating ideas concerning consciousness, attention, memory, habits, and emotions† (William James and Functionalism). William James was more interested in studying how mind functions and he used the method of introspection for that. He argued that different people may behave differently to a particular stimulus because of individual differences. In other words, the mental processes are different for different people and hence the human behavior may also vary with respect to a particular stimulus. For example, two persons may have different perceptions when they see a girl dating with a boy. The first person may take it lightly whereas the second person may take it seriously. This is because of the different perceptions or consciousness of the people. The first person could be more liberal in his approach and attitude whereas the second person could be more traditional or fundamental in his approaches. These differences in perceptions or consciousness forced these two people to respond differently to a particular incident. Here the structure of the mind has nothing to do with the behavior of these people. Functionalist opposes the search for the elements of consciousness as futile. They believed that the mind has the function of helping us to adapt to the environment. They want to understand the function of the mind, the way it helps us to adapt. They want psychology to be practical, not pure science. They believed that the needs and motivations of the organism should be understood if someone wants to understand behavior. Functionalist are more interested in what makes people different from each other than in what makes them similar (Magazine) William James was more

International criminal court Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

International criminal court - Essay Example There are several reasons for this inability of national institutions, such as, first, the absence of political will to prosecute their own citizens or high ranking officials. This situation was witnessed in the former Yugoslavia. Second, these national institutions could have been destroyed, as was the situation in Rwanda. In the absence of justice there cannot be peace, without law no justice, and when there is no court to decide what is just and lawful there can be no meaningful law (United Nations, 1999). An international criminal court achieves justice for all, ends impunity, helps in ending conflicts, remedies the defects in ad hoc tribunals, provides an alternative to national criminal justice institutions that are unable or unwilling to act, and to acts as a deterrent for future war criminals. In reality, the ICC has not achieved greater success than the ad hoc tribunals that it supplants. Akin to the tribunals of Rwanda and Yugoslavia, the ICC does not act swiftly. Moreover, it is devoid of a system for enforcing its decisions. This makes it dependent upon governments to arrest and present perpetrators before it. Albeit, the ad hoc tribunals had this defect, they were able to rely on a UN Security Council resolution requiring international cooperation in executing the arrest warrants. In addition, the ICC is devoid of forceful checks on its authority (Schafer & Groves, 2009). Theoretically, the nations that had ratified the Rome Statute were to control the ICC; however, this has not been realized in practice. Schafer, B. D., & Groves, S. (2009, August 18). The U.S. Should Not Join the International Criminal Court. Retrieved May 17, 2015, from The Heritage Foundation: