Terrorism

Criminal and violent acts committed by a section of the people against the Society, Humanity and the Government to get their demands accepted is known as Terrorism. In other words, terrorism takes place when some section the people adopts violent means to change the democratic set up or to get their demands fulfilled.

Among many faces of the terrorism, following are the few to be named:- Sabotage, Assassinations, Hijacking of planes, Kidnappings and Exploding Bombs etc. The purpose is to create panic in the minds of the people.

Causes of Terrorism are dissatisfaction over certain issues:- There may always be some difference of disagreement between persons, societies, regions, different parts of the world which plays vital role in promoting terrorism. Sometimes terrorism takes birth due to religious. Technological Development: - development in science and technology has given us several destructive and improved arms and ammunitions, for example, atomic bomb. Injustice and Exploitation motive:- The poor and less developed are still being exploited by the so called advanced sectors. Many think that the system can be set right by means of terrorism and muscle power.

Basic features of terrorism are that it is always undemocratic, unlawful, barbaric and unethical. Besides it is an unacceptable measure to create a psychological impact in the minds of society. Main aim is to do things by hook.
What is more, it has a great impact in the society, in the economy, in the ethnic values.

Ways and means to control the terrorism:- First to inculcate strong public opinion, the problem like this should be made familiar to everyone. There should not be any compromise. Exemplary punishment must be awarded to them. Armed forces and the organizations engaged in preventing this type of activity should be equipped with modern and improved version of weapons. Those countries that are assisting such barbaric acts should be isolated. Communal harmony is another essential requirement to counter the terrorism.

Can psychology, the study of the mind, tell us what motivates terrorists and how they differ from you and me? Scientifically, it's a serious task, since terrorists don't volunteer for psychological studies.
Anger without guilt.
For 30 years, Rona Fields, has been psychologically testing terrorists. She thinks "Their definition of right and wrong is very black-and-white. "There's a total limitation to think for themselves."
A terrorist develops gradually from a young age. The boys (typically aged 10 to 16).
These true believers, she adds, "are angry, but they don't feel guilty about their anger."
Highly rational?
"They are rational, they are not insane," "they have goals and they are moving towards those goals," says another psychologist.
Not only terrorists are not crazy, but they don't share a personality type. "No work on terrorist psychology has ever succeeded in revealing a particular psychological type or uniform terrorist mindset." Still, terrorists tend to have low self-esteem, are attracted to groups with charismatic leaders, and enjoy risk.

An example of terrorism could be the unneccesary bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 1945, came the American plane in the sky over Hiroshima, dropping the first atomic bomb, leaving perhaps 100,000 Japanese dead, and tens of thousands more slowly dying from radiation poisoning. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, with perhaps 50,000 killed. The justification for these cruelties was that this would end the war quickly, making unnecessary an invasion of Japan. Such an invasion would cost a huge number of lives, but these estimates of invasion losses were not realistic.

Listening task 2

The second podcast I have listened was named "#153 Weekend in Las Vegas". It ws taken from the same website as the first one - http://a4esl.org/podcasts. Besides, this text was not as long as "A suspicious Neighbor". It lasted only 12 minutes.
I have listened this podcast for two times, since the rate of speaking was not slow, but normal. I guess that level of english was intermediate. Besides, the speaker's accent in this podcast was American again. We can think like this even because of the podcast title: action was in Las Vegas. Of course, there were some wordsI did not know the meaning, but after listening twice, I have looked up the meaning of unknown words in dictionary. So, the reading of a transcript helped me with unfamiliar words for me.
Despite listening this podcast for several times, I believe that my ability to understand authentic speech is good. What is more, even I do not understand some words, I always understand the main point of the subject.

Listening task 1

Our teacher told us to do the listening practise at home and speak about our responses to it. My first listening task was named "A suspicious neighbor". You can find it in http://a4esl.org.
As you could see, it is the website to improve English, as second language, skills. the podcast lasted about 17 minutes. It was quite difficult to keep attention for the listening text for such minutes. Exactly, I did not find any difficulties in listening that text. In my opinion, the speaker was American, as it was said in the podcast. What is more, level of English I guess, was intermediate since the rate of speaking was quite slow and almost all the words which where told by the speaker were known to me, so it was easy to understand the text. Therefore, I have listened to it only once. Despite of understanding almost everything, there were some words I did not know at first. So that, after listening practice I have read a transcript and it really helped me with unknown words. I checked them in a dictionary.
Podcasts is really a good way to improve English knowledge. It would be efficient to listen to them as often as possible.

Sexism in Society

It’s about time to make women equally to men. Women are treated unjustly all over the world. The constitution states that all people are treated equal and it is against the law to be discriminative. Even so, women in many countries are looked upon as inferior to men. Everyone has heard million of times that women are equal to men and sexism isn’t a part of our society anymore, but it is. Women are discriminated everyday and we just deal with it. Isn’t it time for women to demand the same respect and opportunities as men?

Sexism is everywhere, but the most common place is at work. Have you ever noticed that women don’t have as high job positions that men do? We aren’t given as many chances in jobs, raises, and wages like men are. An example of this is our government. There aren’t half as many female representatives as there are males. Even if a woman is as able or skilled as a man is, chances are the man will get picked and paid better. Wages and job positions aren’t the only acts of sexism and discrimination committed in the workplace, harassment is also a problem. Females are verbally and sexually harassed by fellow male workers and rarely is anything done about it.

School is another place where sexism and discrimination is an issue. The administration usually isn’t very sexist, but the males attending that school are. There is verbal abuse and sexual harassment, but everyone thinks it’s all in fun. Most teenagers go along with it, without even knowing its discrimination. Even if anything is reported to the administration, nothing is done about it. Whoever did it might get yelled at, but most of the time that is the worst that will be done to discipline them.

Other than school and the workplace, sexism even occurs in the media, it is on television, movies, and music. Rap music is mainly focused on sex, drugs, and has many vulgar names referring to women. Since all age groups listen to this freely, they think it’s acceptable to do and see things talked about in the music without thinking its wrong.

Sexism also occurs in family and marriage situations. In most families, the males are allowed to do more and better things than the females in the family. They get to go out more and at an earlier age, because they’re males and parents don’t have to be as concerned with them as they do with the females. Marriage is almost the same way. Women are seen as housewives and need to stay home to take care of the children and house chores. To this day, this is still done in many households.

Since females are exposed to sexism at an early age, it doesn’t bother them anymore, because they think it isn’t seriously being committed. Without anyone knowing, how is it ever going to end? Both men and women should put an end to sexism, so future generations can live lives without the discrimination that we have right now.

CONFLICT

Conflict is a state of opposition, disagreement or incompatibility between two or more people or groups of people, which is sometimes characterized by physical violence Psychologically, a conflict exists when the reduction of one motivating involves an increase in another, so that a new adjustment is demanded. The word means that the clash occurs. Even when we say that there is a potential conflict we are implying that there is already a conflict of direction even though a clash may not yet have occurred.
A conceptual conflict can transformate into a verbal exchange or result in fighting. Conflict can exist at a variety of levels of analysis:
Emotional conflict, group conflict, community, intrapersonal, interpersonal conflict. For example, aproach-avoidance conflict is an example of intrapersonal conflict.
The way how the conflict will be solved depends on these factors: skills and abilities, conflict management type, personalities, ethics, emotions

There are many components to the emotions that are connected with conflicts. these are behavioral, physiological, cognitive components.

Behavioral- The way emotional experience gets expressed which can be verbal or non-verba
Physiological- The bodily experience of emotion.
Cognitive- The idea that we evaluate an event to reveal itsimportance to ourselves.

Online Conflicts

There are a number of reasons to explain why conflict may be heightened online. One is the absence of visual and auditory cues. When we talk to someone in person, we see their facial expressions, their body language, and hear their tone of voice. Someone can say the exact same thing in a number of different ways, and that usually effects how we respond. For example, someone could shout and shake their finger at you. They could stand up and tower over you, or they could sit down beside you. How you feel, interpret, and respond to someone’s message often depends on how they speak to you, even when it?s a difficult message to hear.
Conflict can be heightened online by what is known as the disinhibition effect. It is well known that people say and do things in cyberspace that they wouldn't ordinarily say or do in the face-to-face world. They express themselves more openly. Researchers call this the "disinhibition effect”.

There are some tips for resolving conflict online. For example, do not respond right away or read the post later, it can bring a new perspective. Besides, you can discuss the situation with someone who knows you. Ask them what they think about the post and the response you plan to send. Also you could clarify what was meant
We all misinterpret what we hear and read, particularly when we feel hurt or upset. It is a good idea to check out that you understood them correctly. Also you can must choose your words carefully and thoughtfully, particularly when you are upset and place yourself in the other person’s shoes. The other good way that helps to avoid unnecessary conflict is using emotions to express the tone. Additionally, if you like the person, tell them! Having a conflict or misunderstanding does not mean you do not like the person any more, but people often forget that reality. End on a positive note as well.

So a person who often conflicts should take some efforts and steps how to avoid conflicts. It is not so difficult as it may seem at first sight. Every conversation, also a conflict, has it beginning, culmination and ending. We must know the rules which helps to communicate better. That is a good beginning!

LAUGH

Humor is one of the pleasures of life. To dispense laughter will directly enhance the quality of life and perhaps the will to live - this may be the most important result of all.
First of all, humans were designed to laugh. Laughter is nature's stressbuster. It lifts our spirits with a happy high that makes us feel good and improves our behavior towards others. A regular 20 minute laughter session can have a profound impact on our health and wellbeing. Laughter is gentle exercise. It fill your lungs and body with oxygen, deep-clears your breathing passages and exercises your lungs. Stress is reduced, blood pressure drops, depression is lifted, your immune system is boosted & more. It is recommended to laugh 20 minutes a day. Laughter exercises almost always lead to real laughter.
It is not known yet why laughing protects the heart, but it is known that mental stress is associated with impairment of the endothelium, the protective barrier lining our blood vessels. People with heart disease are less likely to laugh in uncomfortable situations and are overall less likely to recognize humor. Overall the participants with heart disease laughed less than the healthy participants, even in positive situations.
In psychology, there is a theory entitled the "facial feedback" hypothesis. This hypothesis states that "involuntary facial movements provide sufficient peripheral information to drive emotional experience, feedback from facial expression affects emotional expression and behavior". In other words, you may actually be able to improve your mood by simply smiling! Laughter can be a powerful therapy for the patient. The ability to laugh at a situation or problem gives us a feeling of superiority and power. Humor and laughter can foster a positive and hopeful attitude. Humor gives us a sense of perspective on our problems. Our ability to see the humor in a situation and to laugh freely with our coworkers can be an effective way to take care of our own body, mind and spirit.For thousands of years, the human race has extolled the health-enhancing benefits of laughter.
What is more, it is shown that negative emotions could create chemical changes which would eventually lead to adrenal exhaustion. Therefore the positive emotions such as faith, hope, confidence and joy might create changes within the body which would enhance his recovery process. Since the behavior of laughing tends to open one to these positive emotions. For example, after each laughing episode the patients could sleep comfortably without the need for analgesia or sedation. Laughter does effect the body, mind and spirit.
Besides, humor is a perceptual process while laughter is a behavioral response. This behavior creates predictable physiological changes within the body. As with other exercise, we see two stages of the body's response, the arousal phase when the physiological parameters increase, and the resolution phase when they return to resting rate or lower. With vigorous sustained laughter, the heart rate is stimulated. Conditions such as asthma or bronchitis may be irritated by vigorous laughter. A variety of muscle groups become active during laugh.
Humor and laughter effect how we perceive and respond to change. Humor gives us a change of perspective on our problems and with an attitude of detachment, we feel a sense of self-protection and control in our environment. Freud noted the powerful psychological influence of humor stating.
The next time you are down - the next time you are feeling blue or just plain old blah - SMILE!! An action as simple as that just may improve your spirits.

Summary

There is no man in the world who does not use thinking to solve problems and make decisions, does not confront with any problems, have no imagery. There is no child in the world who would have learned to speak his language without bubbling at first. There is no language in the world, which would not have its own grammar. All these things are interlaced and are parts of each other.

Thinking and reasoning

There are many species in the world: amphibian, brutes, birds, but people are the only one, which contemplates, analyzes, recollects and plans. Thinking is the manipulation of mental representation of information. It transforms a particular representation of information into new forms in order to answer questions, reach goals and solve problems. The field of psychology that considers processes of thinking is cognitive psychology. When we solve problems, we often use syllogistic reasoning, which means that we derive implications from a set of assumptions that we know to be true. What is more, our decisions sometimes may be improved through the use of algorithms and heuristics. Both of them lead to solution.

Problem solving

It is necessary for people to know how to solve real-life problems. Problem solving involves three steps: preparing to create solutions, producing solutions, and evaluating the solutions that have been generated. Problems which people confronts, vary from well defined, which means that information is available, to ill defined, when nature of the problem is not clear. There are three kinds of problems: arrangement, inducing structure and transformation. Of course, we can come closer to the goal, while using the heuristic of a means-ends analysis - repeated testing for differences between the desired outcome and what currently exists. In our world exist some obstacles to problem solving, for example, functional fixedness, which is the tendency to think of an object only in terms of its typical use, or mental set - the tendency for old patterns of problem solving to persist. We could solve problems easier by using our creativity or become better thinkers by redefining problems, using fractionation, considering the opposite, thinking divergently and using other creative methods.

Language

Language is the communication of information through symbols arranged according to systematic rules. To understand how language develops we first need to know that the basic structure of language rests on the system of rules that determine how our thoughts can be expressed - it is grammar, that deals with three major components of language: phonology, syntax and semantics. It takes five years when acquisition of language rules is relatively complete. The child goes through stages of bubbling, two-word combinations and then reaches the final stage when he understands the way how to talk. Theorists suggest that language is acquired through reinforcement and conditioning. Although language does not determine thought, it does affect the way people store information in memory. Nowadays almost all of us know more than two languages. If you know two - you are a bilingual speaker. With a bilingual approach, students learn some subjects in their native language while learning English. Sometimes these people are biculturists - they belong to two cultures. People who speak more than one language may have more advantages than those who speak only one. For instance, they can get a job easier, work as guides, translators, they are interested in two cultures and not in one only.

In my opinion, people, that means Us, should enjoy themselves that we are such clever creatures, that we use articulate language to communicate, solve problems not rudely but by using more difficult techniques. Communication between people developed through ages while it has reached the perfection as we can see nowadays.