Immanuel Kant Essay

A. Kant’s ethical theory Standard rationality is the major foundation of Kant’s ethical theory. Moral requirements are also associated with the standard rationality but this standard could be based on instrumental principles of rationality or based on the sui generis rational instinct. A conventional conformity could be achieved through the analysis of rationality with instrumental principles. Kant argued that conforming to instrumental and non-instrumental principles (â€Å"Categorical Imperative†) will both be justified to rationality (Kant’s Moral Philosophy 2004). Kant supported his arguments that being rational reflect free will, law of autonomous will. Each of us is accepted based on our self-governing reasons and gain equal respect from other people. According to him, the standard of rationality is the key foundation of moral requirements. Violation of such rule is thereby irrational. Kant believed that a â€Å"good will† is the highest notion of being such ‘good person’, or ‘a person of good will’ (Kant’s Moral Philosophy 2004). There are no other qualifications of being ‘good’ other than ‘good will’. Basically, the notion of ‘good will’ is the possession of a will that is consistent and on the basis with the notion of the moral law. A person of good will is the one who make decisions, do good things in such a way that he/she told to be morally and taking moral considerations According to Kant, the outcome for search for the inherent and fundamental ‘good’ was not inherently good. Happiness and pleasure could be the result from most evil acts. In fact, he use the term good to describe the ‘good will’ – the resolution in accordance with duty. He believed that reason would give individuals to work out what one’s duty was. Kant also criticized the notion that we are free. According to him, we can’t be described as free if our actions are just circling around a defined boundary. He also stressed that following the belief that god and life is existing, morality would make no sense. The principle that one should act in accordance with such truths was criticized by Kant for this principle says that we would perform these actions of which it is true that they are right and ought to be performed. Wolff’s principle tells that actions must be performed if it falls under the concept ‘to be done’. Autonomy and Heteronomy In philosophical perspective, autonomy refers when a person/individual acts by himself/herself based from his/her internal drives, needs and ideals while heteronomy is defined when an individual acts based upon outside forces and responsibilities. According to Kant, â€Å"Autonomous agents† acts to what their instinct tell them (Kant’s Moral Philosophy 2004). In addition, they act in accordance with the categorical imperative of willing what is â€Å"univerzable† to be known and consistent with moral law. â€Å"Heteronomous agents† think first to the possible consequences of their actions as affected by their environment (Kant’s Moral Philosophy 2004). They derive principles of actions from outside by putting into consideration the consequences of their action or the perception of others towards one thing or object. In a narrow perspective (person), autonomy reflects to selecting right decisions for one-self. In broader sense (political perspective), autonomy reflects the right of self-determination (Kant’s Moral Philosophy 2004). A heteronomous will lies its rules of actions that have been legislated externally to it while autonomous will is completely self-legislating. Kant’s Categorical Imperative Kant is known form his theory called the ‘categorical imperative’ rooted from the idea of duty. According to him, categorical imperative is a principle that is essentially and fundamentally legitimate; universally good to him and to others; it requires to comply with when the situation is associated with the moral law.   Ã‚  Ã‚   His theory is the fundamental foundation at the basis of all our moral values and duties. If we observe, it coined the word â€Å"imperative.† His theory is an imperative for it is a command. It informs and commands us to exercise our wills in a particular way, and not performing the opposite of the theory. Kant distinguished another form of ‘oughts’ other than our moral duties. This principle is so called â€Å"hypothetical imperative† (Kant’s Moral Philosophy 2004) which is being based on a quite different kind of principle. Like categorical imperative, hypothetical imperative is also a command that also applies to us in virtue of having a good will. However, it is not simply a virtue for we have need of to exercising our wills. Hence, this theory is a command in a conditional form. Kant listed three formulation of the categorical imperative which he believed to be   almost equivalent – Formula of Universal Law (First Formulation), Formula of the End in Itself Second Formulation), and Formula of Autonomy (Third Formulation). The Formula of Universal Law simply states that the maxim should be selected. A supreme law guides this formulation – to do deeds in harmony with that maxim. The first formulation is interpreted as â€Å"universality test† having five steps: (1) finding the agent’s maxim; (2) putting oneself in a parallel circumstance on the real world agent followed that maxim; (3) decide on contradictions; (4) if there’s contradiction, acting on that maxim is not permissible in the real world, and (5) if there’s no contradiction, acting on that maxim is allowed. The second formulation simply says to respect for humanity. Don’t put an end to a certain situation by doing bad deeds just to serve as a getaway. According to him, we must all act accordingly to every rational being and to place restrictions on the acts we adopt on the search of our ends, do not accept it. Kant enumerated two kinds of imperative – hypothetical and categorical. Hypothetical imperative requires an immediate action because it is a necessity and a requirement. In example, if I am hungry, then I must eat something. Categorical imperative refers to an unmodified, categorical prerequisite that is both a requirement and justified. In Kant’s hypothetical imperative, he believed that it would not be accepted. Hypothetical moral systems cannot be as bases for moral judgments since imperatives are subjective. What is morally accepted in an individual may not be absolutely true for others. Consequently, the categorical imperative was presented as an option to the inconsistency of hypothetical imperative (Kant’s Moral Philosophy 2004). Categorical Imperative: Autonomous Ethical Choice The foundation of Kant’s theory states that human wills are self-directed. He believed that we could understand and justify moral requirements if we could be self-governing. Freedom is not merely consisting of any law that everyone is liberated to perform a certain actions. However, freedom is consisting of a law in such a way that this law, in some sense, would allow individuals for one’s own making. The idea of freedom as autonomy is where a person has laid down laws where he has also the decisive authority. Kant explains that free will is naturally inexplicable. A rational person would base his/her decisions on reasons and justifications of his/her act. Categorical Imperative is met when a person justified his/her acts. Thus, reflecting to autonomous ethical choice of a person. With our free will and/or autonomous ethical choices, we act on it objectively. B. Kant’s Ethical Theory: An Analysis For me, I support Kant’s theory on ethical decision-making. Kant pointed-out, we cannot exceed to the limitations of our thinking. Based from our line of reasoning, we justified things objectively. We make decisions based on our understanding. I think these statements are true and absolute. Kant’s argued that categorical imperative must reflect on our free will. He argued that instrumental and non-instrumental principles are necessary to meet the categorical imperatives. General facts may or may not be true for a person who do not understand its concepts or understand it on the other perspective. Good will responds to the universal moral law and we follow these laws according to our autonomous acts. We accept humanity, rational agency as represented by our understanding.

Q: Contrast English with One Other Language with Respect to Two Particular Points of Grammar or Vocabulary. with Reference to That Point of Grammar/Vocabulary, State How Native Speakers of These Languages Would Be

Q: Contrast English with one other language with respect to TWO particular points of grammar or vocabulary. With reference to that point of grammar/vocabulary, state how native speakers of these languages would be predicted to differ in their thinking or perception if we accept the linguistic relativity hypothesis. How might you test this prediction experimentally? This essay will discuss the linguistic relativity hypothesis contrasting the English language with the most common Chinese dialect, Mandarin.The question of whether or not the language we speak shapes how we view the world has interested the fields of anthropology, psychology and linguistics for many years. Using two aspects of vocabulary, which I have chosen to be that of ‘space’ and ‘time’, I will attempt to predict how native Mandarin and English speakers may differ in their conceptions of the sequential order of time. Following these predictions I will outline a proposed method as to test the predictions experimentally. A definition and brief history of how the linguistic relativity hypothesis developed into what it is today is the necessary starting platform for this essay.Today and indeed spanning back through this century, Benjamin Lee Whorf is most commonly associated with the hypothesis of linguistic relativity. (Slobin, 1996, p. 70). However it is due to the arguments and advancing hypotheses of Hamann, Herder, Humboldt, Boas and Sapir that brought about today’s view of linguistic relativism (Gumperz & Levinson, 1996, p. 2). Hamann was the first German philosopher to bring light and discussion to the relationship of language and cognitive thinking. In 1762 Hamann recorded many ideas with attribute to linguistic relativism in his work ‘Kreuzzuge des Philologen’.Here Hamann states how â€Å"Language did not originate from thought, but its origin had been prior to thought, for thought presupposes a language in which it might manifest itself† (Beek, 2005, p. 7). Herder was Hamann’s student and it is visible in his work that he was influenced by the teachings of Hamann. The progression of this discussion began as Herder believed that language was a result of psychological, historical and natural forces, (McAfee, 2004, p. 28), and had no divine origin as thought by Hamann. Whorf also shared this belief among others with Herder. Whorf put such eliefs into his studies, the prevalent shared theory being that â€Å"external features of a particular language could provide clues to its inner character† (McAfee, 2004, p. 28). The 19th century paved way for the German philosopher and language theorist, Humboldt. Whorf drew many of his theories from those of Humboldt’s. Humboldt strongly believed that language and thought were one and that with the absence of language, cognition could not be articulated clearly, (McAfee 2004, p. 28). Humboldt is the first mentioned in this essay to seek a substantial amount of evidence in order to prove or further predict his thoughts on linguistic relativity.Due to lack of concrete information present in the linguistic comparative research field, Humboldt backed up his claims by using evidence from non-western languages (Beek 2005, p. 8). One of his studies examined the different amount of words for the animal ‘elephant’, in the English and Sanskrit languages. He found that in comparison to the English word ‘elephant’ which carries only one meaning, there were several words for elephant in the Sanskrit language denoting many meanings. His concluding thoughts on this were that because of the differences in their vocabulary, the English and the Sanskrit would perceive the animal differently.This led Humboldt to further believe that each culture had its own world view, a theory known and adapted by Whorf as ‘Weltanschauung’ (McAfee, 2004, p. 29) Humboldt’s theory ‘Weltanschauung’ was brought to Ame rica by the founder of the American School of Anthropology, Boas. This was due to the fact that Boas shared Humboldt’s view that each culture had a distinct identity and could only be fully understood through the study of its history, society, traditions and of course language (McAfee, 2004, p. 9). Boas, teacher of Sapir (Sapir, teacher of Whorf), was credited by Whorf with his theory that different exotic cultures exemplify different methods of thinking. It was Sapir that introduced Whorf to the claims made by his teacher, Boas. Whorf took this theory and altered it, stating that unlike Boas, he felt that it was linguistic structures rather than conceptual differences that led to different world views of different cultures (McAfee 2004, p. 29).Sapir argues that through his article entitled â€Å"The status of linguistics as a science† it is the language of a society that shapes the world we live in. Sapir blatantly states that human beings are â€Å"at the mercy† of the language they speak. Whorf, learning and drawing from each of his predecessors gave meaning to his hypothesis of linguistic relativity where he believes that it is the different grammars of languages that lead to different types of observations and evaluations of â€Å"externally different facts of observation† (Gumperz & Levinson, 1996, p. 6).Therefor it can clearly be seen that although the linguistic relativity hypothesis has come to being more commonly known as the ‘Whorfian Hypothesis’, it is not only Whorf who should be accredited with the hypothesis, but all minds that lead to the final wordings of Whorf. However, in today’s society and with the advancement of cognitive science, Whorf’s claims cannot stand alone. His view has been dissipated. Now leading the research are Lera Boroditsky, John A. Lucy and Stephen C. Levinson. These linguists are concerned with answering the question â€Å"Does language shape thought? , and relying m ore on evidence than thoughts and theories. This essay will conform to the modern resurgence of the question â€Å"Does language shape thought? † Different languages have different vocabularies. Do people of different languages view the world differently because of their respective vocabularies? More specifically, does the differing vocabulary associated with space and time associated with different languages affect the speaker’s cognitive conceptions of the sequential order of time? Of course, many aspects of time are common to all languages and therefor cultures.For example, yesterday is in the past and tomorrow is in the future. Indeed these concepts are universal across all languages. However, what is not universally accepted by all languages regarding the above statement is the sequential order of yesterday and tomorrow. For native English speakers, tomorrow would be thought to be in front of you, forward. Yesterday would be thought to be behind you, backwards. Th is is due to the use of the English language’s spatial terms representing time. ‘In front’ and ‘behind’ are spatial terms that shape the thoughts of English people’s perception of time.This statement is meaningless without the comparison of another language with different conceptions of special awareness involving time. Mandarin. Mandarin also uses the spatial terms ‘in front’ (‘qian’) and ‘behind’ (‘Beihou’) when talking about time. However, unlike the English language, Mandarin uses vertical spatial morphemes to talk about the order of events, for example, tomorrow, yesterday, next month, last year etc. Boroditsky (2011, p. 1305-1328) Events that are yet to happen i. e. in the future are thought to be ‘up’ (‘shang’) and events in that have already happened i. . past events are thought to be ‘down’ (‘xia’) (Boroditsky et al, 2010, p. 1). Th ere are some minor cases where English speakers do refer to time using vertical spatial terms, e. g. â€Å"Things will be better down the line. † However it has been proven that Mandarin speakers think about time vertically more frequently than English speakers do (Boroditsky et al, 2010, p. 2). An experiment to verify this can be seen through Chan and Bergen’s workings, â€Å"Writing direction in? uences spatial cognition. Where a group of native English and Mandarin speakers were asked to spatially arrange temporal sequences shown to them in pictures, 30% of the time Mandarin speakers arranged the pictures vertically as opposed to the English speakers who didn’t arrange them vertically once. There are in fact many experiments to test the linguistic relativity hypotheses, regarding whether English and Mandarin speakers differ in their thinking and perception of time using spatial metaphors. The leader in this current field of research is the aforementioned Ler a Boroditsky. Boroditsky has carried out many studies on this specific topic. Does Language Shape Thought? : Mandarin and English Speakers’ Conceptions of Time† published in 2001, Boroditsky deliberates the question, ‘Is processing altered in the long term by the use of metaphors†. In 2008, Boroditsky revisited the topic, carrying out further experiments concluding the Mandarin speakers are more inclined to arrange time vertically. The paper was titled â€Å"Do English and Mandarin speakers think differently about time? † Boroditsky’s latest research and publishing’s, entitled â€Å"Do English and Mandarin speakers think about time differently? has concluding experiments that claim to the affirmative of the relative linguistic hypothesis. Boroditsky’s previous workings did not consider the importance of the pairing of primes and targets. In her most recent studies it shows that disregarding these aspects will lead to further inte rference and instability. There are numerous methods of predicting if English and Mandarin speakers conceive different conceptions of the sequential order of time. Firstly, each race must be tested in their own language. Testing Mandarin speakers through English or vice versa introduces unnecessary variables into the experiment.If Mandarin speakers were to be tested through English it would inevitably test if Mandarin speakers think differently when they speak English. The question of whether they think differently to English speakers would not be properly examined and answered, as they would be thinking habitually but rather how their newly acquired language has influenced them to speak (assuming the legitimacy of the Relative Linguistic Hypothesis. ) The test would separate a group of native English and Mandarin speakers into their native languages. Each participant is given 3 magnets with pictures on them.One magnet depicts a picture of a sitting high up on a tree. The next pictu re sees the boy falling off of the tree. The final picture comprises of the boy on the ground crying. Each participant is then asked in their native language to stick their magnets, in order of events onto a magnetic board secured onto a wall. Presumably, assuming that Mandarin speakers construct time on a vertical axis, their pictures would be placed vertically. With the first picture placed at the bottom of the vertical line and the final picture at the top of the vertical line.In comparison it would be assumed that English speakers would place the pictures horizontally from left to right in starting order. The evidence from this experiment, would suggest that due to the different alignments of the pictures, Mandarin speakers do think differently to English speakers regarding the sequential order of time. With the available evidence from Lera Boroditsky’s 2010 publication, â€Å"Do English and Mandarin speakers think about time differently? † There proves to be many plausible, evidence based methods for testing the question do English and Mandarin speakers think differently?Boroditsky’s most recent experiments takes 181 people, 118 were native English speakers and 63 were native Mandarin speakers whom also spoke English. The procedure involved projections of Woodey Allen’s face on a screen. There were two pictures, the first was shown on a fixed point on the screen for 2 seconds and the second was then shown in the same position. The second picture stayed there until the participants answered the question. The question posed to them was whether the second picture of Woody Allen was taken at an earlier or later stage in his life than the first.To answer the question the participants had to press a key on a keyboard, one labelled earlier and one labelled later. The position of the keys were arranged into four groups. The first group, tested on 51 native English speakers and 26 Mandarin speakers, had their keyboards lying flat on the table top. The keys were on the horizontal axis, the left key labelled earlier and the right key labelled later in the first group. The left key labelled later and the right key labelled earlier in the second group.For the remainder of participants, 67 native English speakers and 37 Mandarin speakers, their keyboards were positioned vertically to the table top. The keys were respectively arranged in a vertical order. The bottom key labelled earlier and the top key labelled later in the first group. The bottom key labelled later and the top key labelled earlier in the second group. The reasoning behind this experiment was that assuming people habitually represent time on a horizontal or vertical axis, asking them to view the axis in an incongruent order to their automatic reasoning, should cause an interference.The results coincided with this reasoning. As discussed previously, both Mandarin and English speakers use horizontal spatial terms to represent time and both groups showed a canonicality effect on the horizontal axis. However as proven, Mandarin speakers think of time more frequently on the vertical axis than English speakers do. Only Mandarin speakers responded faster when the earlier key was placed on top in the vertical axis on the keyboard. This study clearly suggests that Mandarin speakers do think about the sequential order of time differently to English speakers.Mandarin speakers make explicit use of the vertical axis regarding time more often than English speakers. With reference to the question posed by the linguistic relativity hypothesis, â€Å"Does language shape thought? † the prediction of whether English and Mandarin speakers view the sequence of time differently was affirmed. Through the discussion of the Linguistic Relativity Hypothesis it became clear that the origins and developments of the hypothesis were needed in order to establish the exact question that was being asked in this essay.The question was then specified to refe r to two different languages, which were as mentioned, Mandarin and English. The thought questioned was that of time. The vocabulary dealt with was ‘space’ and ‘time’ and how they combine to comprise of different thoughts to the speakers of the languages. The conclusion and answer to the central question of this essay was yes, English speakers and Mandarin speakers do think differently. Mandarin speakers are much more likely to think about time on a vertical axis while English speakers think about time on a horizontal plane.The question â€Å"Does language shape thought? † has been a topic that has spanned the centuries and perplexed anthropologists, linguists and psychologists. It seems this question has enlightened people over the centuries too, and the thought of language affecting cognition has been a desired theory. Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne is known to have said â€Å"to have a second language, is to have a second soul. † Reference s Beek, W. 2005. Linguistic Relativism, Variants and Misconceptions. Boroditsky, L. & Fuhrman, O. et al. 2010.Do English and Mandarin Speakers think about time differently? CA: Elsevier B. V. Boroditsky, l. & Chen, E. 2011. How Linguistic and Cultural Forces Shape Conceptions of Time: English and Mandarin Time in 3D. Cognitive Science Society, Inc. Gumperz, J. J. & Levinson, C. S. 1996. Rethinking Linguistic Relativity. New York: Cambridge University Press. McAfee, C. 2004. The Linguistic Relativity Theory and Benjamin Lee Whorf. The McMaster Journal of Communication. Volume 1, Issue 1. Slobin, I. D. 1996. From â€Å"Thought and Language† to â€Å"Thinking for Speaking†. Cambridge University Press.

The Marketing principles

The Marketing principles I will present are; Understanding the customer's needs: ‘if you can speak the customers language you can understand their needs better† Book: Marketing plans 1996, (Angela Wheaton) It is very important that companies have the knowledge of customer's needs, as it is a key to a company. Markets are always changing; therefore companies needs to keep reducing new fashionable products. Companies need to know what their customers, wants and prepared to produce the right product. Such as new clothing, accessories, etc.One of the examples where customers satisfaction has been achieved is whereby online customers has received the packaged in order and in great shape. The Company has made sure the prices are affordable for their customers of all preference and (income) by being a high street shop which means it is affordable to people of all ages and class. Example if it is too high your customers will not buy. This means if the prices in H are too expensiv e their 10 company loses customers, less customers result in H losing sales. And if it is too low your cost will not be covered. And if prices in H are too low profits will not be made.H has a great customer service and customers can call for any questions they have, they are always willing to help with wide open arms, they are always willing to offer help and make them aware of the latest offers that they have for the customers. Secondly, the quality of the goods should also be considered, it should be at a satisfactory state and good condition Understand and keep ahead of the competition: Businesses have to make sure they keep up with competition, by having an eye on their competitors. Good competition is healthy for businesses as it will push the company to work harder and to be more successfully.They keep up with competition by being up to date with technology. H is leading the way in following a strategy of vertical integration with distribution network. This strategy has allow ed the company to directly collect and fully search information market. (www. Businesswoman. Org. 2004) Who are their competitors? They clearly do have competition. Which are Top shop, River Island, Berserk, Ezra, etc, Ezra is defiantly known for H biggest Competition cause of the similar fashion sense, which are Men's wear, woman's wear, accessories etc, not only do they use technology which the company H also uses .However for the company to be ahead of their competition; is by promoting their brand and teaming up with the famous Karl Laagered, designer for Channel, to create a high-end line that was also reasonable priced for the younger customers that H caters to. The results were extraordinary, as many items sold out within an hour. Recognizing this idea as an clear success, the company then went on to team up with other famous designers and celebrities such as: Stella McCarty, Victor & Roll, Madonna, Roberto Cavil Jimmy Coho, Sonic Riskily, and Lanolin†.This shows that H &M is always ahead of the competition by bringing new designs to the table (Marketing week October 2013) Furthermore H&M offer two man collections each year on spring and one in fall. Within each season, this allows H&M to continually refresh its inventory (Forbes, 2012) H? COLD Communicate effectively with its customers to satisfy customer's expectations: For genuineness to become successful, the ability to communicate well should be the aim of every business.Companies are willing to try their best to communicate with their customers/clients. This is important for all types of advertisement. Clients want to feel that they are the company's priority and a way to ensure this is by giving them exemplary customer service. Good communication is effective for meeting customer needs and an example of where this is demonstrated, is where the employer can quickly address any problems the customer may have with the new product.

Psychology and common sense Essay

Psychology is a scientific and research based study of human mind-set and behaviours. The field of study focuses on emotions, characteristics and behaviours of individuals in their daily lives and their behaviours when interacting with other people. Wilhelm Wundt is the father of psychology, whom set up his first laboratory in Leipzig, Germany in 1879. His main contribution to the field of psychology was his idea of structuralism; the use of introspection to study individual’s experiences comprising of sensations, images and feelings. Throughout his course of research, he insisted on using systematic observation and measurement, which serve as a strong foundation for psychology studies in the future. Whereas, common sense basically refers to the common knowledge shared by the majority human population. Such knowledge usually arise from daily observation and interaction one another, past experiences, beliefs that are being passed down for generations and scenarios commonly port rayed in television shows. Much of psychology is not based on common sense, but on research, testing, and applications of theory. As such, psychologists are heavily trained in research methods and statistics. Psychology is a real science as It uses scientific methods such as the experimental research and analysis to support a hypothesis and that psychology is not just things we see everyday. Psychology has a wide variety of aspects; from the social side of understanding why people behave in a specific way, to the neuroscience side of understanding what goes wrong in the brain of people with mental health disorders. As psychologists attempt to explain the mind and brain in the context of real life, it is definitely not common sense. One common sense belief states that if someone recalls something vividly and confidently, that memory is true and accurate. In another words, an individual will not false memories. Even if there is, the individual will have the ability to differentiate real from false memories. However, psychological research have proven this common sense belief to be wrong. False memories, also known as pseudomemories, can usually be formed when individual try to fill up the gaps in their memory by logic guesses combining with their actual memory (Koutstaal, Norman & Schacter, 1998, p. 289-318). This action is otherwise called constructive processing. A study by Braun, Ellis and Loftus (2002) shows that sixteen percent of the people who were shown with a fake advertisement of Bugs Bunny in Disney resort actually insisted that they met  Bugs in Disney. However, it was not possible since Bugs is a character from Warner Brothers and not Disney (p. 1-23). This study reflected that some subjects experience constructive processing after seeing the fake advertisement. Hence, the false memory formed seems rather logical to them. In another research carried out by Loftus (1997), together with her research associate, Jacqueline Pickrell, they told a group of subjects, ranging from 18 to 53 years old, a series of their childhood incidents recounted by their fami ly members or close relatives. Out of all the incidents told, they included one whereby the subjects had been lost in a shopping mall when they were still children. In the next two interview sessions, the subjects were asked to recall the incident of being lost in the mall. Surprising, about a quarter of them said they could remember it and even supplied extra details about what happened even though the incident was actually made up. This shows a way of inducing a completely false memory into someone simply by providing external evidence that prompt the happening of such incident (p.71). Similar situation of implanting false memories into someone would be under therapy or hypnosis. The ‘misinformation effect’ is also theory accounted for the formation of pseudomemories. This refers to the distortion of memory as a result of the presence of misleading and suggestive information as well as source confusion (Porter et. Al., 2010, p. 55-61). The above mentioned studies and psychological theories such as constructive processing, hypnosis, misinformation effect, memory construction and schemas, have proven the common sense belief to be wrong. It is possible for an individual to take pseudomemories as their true and accurate memories. In conclusion, common sense beliefs are knowledge that everybody are exposed to whereas psychology comprises of careful and scientific researches and analysis. Though common sense beliefs may be widely used and agreed to, that do not necessary mean that they are correct. In fact, they are generally false explanations of thought process and behaviour. Psychologists are hence able to come up with psychological explanation to prove the direct opposite of the common sense. Nonetheless, psychological explanation can also be used to prove certain common sense beliefs which are true. As such, people can view psychology as a tool employed to prove the credibility of common sense. Therefore, psychology is not just common sense.

Hong Kong Conflict of Laws Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Hong Kong Conflict of Laws - Term Paper Example This principle was also applied by Bingham J in the case of The Iran Vojdan, where a clause for dispute settlement provided for (a) Iranian law in Iran (b) German law in Hamburg and (c) English law in London. But applying the principle of the closest and most real connection, Lord Bingham held that the proper law to apply would be German law with the proper jurisdiction being the English Courts. Various factors are taken into consideration by the Courts in arriving at a determination of the proper law on the basis of the closest and most real connection, including the place of contracting, the place where the contractual obligations were performed and the principal places of business of the parties4. The application of the closest and most real principle is found under Hong Kong’s choice of law rules with respect to contractual obligations and has also been recommended as a guiding principle when courts experience characterization problems. This principle has also been applied in non-contractual issues, for instance in matters involving capacity, matrimonial issues, including divorce and division of matrimonial assets, trusts and property cases5. One example, is the case of Hayim v Citibank6 which was an appeal from Hong Kong involving issues of trust with Plaintiff’s will having been made in Hong Kong. But the matter was decided under English law, which was held to satisfy the closest and most real principle because no evidence was led as to Hong Kong or American law. There is provision for application of this principle in the law of mainland China as well, under Article 126 of contract law provisions, which states; â€Å"Where parties to the foreign related contract failed to select the applicable law, the contract shall be governed by the law of the country with the closest connection thereto†7. When no

Target Markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Target Markets - Essay Example Therefore, even though it is impossible for sellers to have a perfect knowledge of a buyers decision process, at least because it is never completely rational (Drucker et al., 2001, pp.143-160), the more they approach this ultimate goal, the better prepared they become to offer exactly the type of a product or service that people demand. To see how buyers decision processes operate in real life, we may investigate two cases of purchases of the same product, a feature-rich Samsung mobile phone, by two different people, 27-year-old Greg and 22-year-old Kelly. To clarify the roots of their decisions, a series of interview questions were created which helped analyze the buying behavior of each person. Let us see what those questions were and which answers were given to them by Greg and Kelly. The interview questions were grouped according to the logic of the AIUAPR model of buyer decision making (Mercer, 1996, pp.51-55) that emphasizes the succession of mental states of a buyer through which he or she must progress to make single or repeated decisions to buy something. In this connection, as the first such state is awareness that a certain product or service exists, the first question to Greg and Kelly was how did they learn about that particular model of the phone. Greg answered that he learned about it from the commercial by Verizon mobile service provider who promoted this model along with value-added content services, while Kelly actually saw this phone already owned by her friend. Thus, Greg can be said to have been correctly targeted by the advertising campaign, and Kelly represents an instance when an experience of others instigates us to repeat it. After awareness, the next crucial step in buyers decision process is the emergence of the interest in a product or service. Surely, if this step does not occur, then buyers awareness would be useless for sellers. And of course, the real interest can emerge not just after the brief attention to catchy ads, but if the message persuades people that a product or service suits their needs. In our case, the attempt was made to reflect this stage of the decision-making process by the question about why did Greg and Kelly assume that the phone would satisfy their needs. In this respect, Greg informed that he was interested in the prospect of having a single device that would combine in it not only the functions of a phone, but music-playing capabilities as well, thus sparing him from the need to have separate units that would be inconvenient to carry along. For Kelly as the main eye-catcher served the fashionable look of the phone, and the possibility to have it in bright red color, the one she has an affection to. From this aspect of the decision-making process we can see that these were actually two different qualities of the product that interested Greg and Kelly in the first place. The third step in the account of decision-making processes within the AIUAPR model is the understanding as the level of appreciation of the degree to which the qualities of the actual product can bolster the interest that has previously emerged. To uncover how our interviewees passed this stage they were asked how, and if at all, they collected additional information needed for the complete understanding that the decision to purchase this phone would be justified.

Flip the Funnel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Flip the Funnel - Essay Example The majority of companies are hard pressed to find new ways of bringing their products or services to a highly-competitive marketplace that is also becoming global. Technology has made the world â€Å"flatter† as barriers to entry are lowered and competition could be just around the corner or it can be halfway around the world. Technology has bridged both distance and time much shorter. Ironically, technology has also made the world more impersonal, because people want to deal with technology instead of dealing with each other directly and personally. It has become a convenient shield to hide behind actual human interactions, although technology has its merits. The rise of computer technology, and especially the Internet, has made the world much smaller. A good number of people put too much reliance on technology, forgetting that it is only a tool to an end, and not an end in itself. This subtly askew mentality pervades the world today. This paper discusses the merits of a new mentality in the world of marketing, a game-changer of sorts, or what management and business experts term as the new paradigm. This shift has been long in coming, because most so-called marketing experts are themselves so enamored with their own ideas, views, and perspectives it made it hard for them to see the light of the day, so to speak. The entire marketing process has been likened by the author of the book to a funnel which focused on acquisition instead of retention; this is the basis for â€Å"flipping† the funnel. Discussion The marketing function has been taken for granted for so long that people have a hard time trying to think up new things, or whether what they are doing is actually right or not. It is a primary aim of the author, Mr. Joseph Jaffe, to demonstrate how many time-honored traditions in the art of marketing had been wrong in the first place, by destroying most of the assumptions or accepted wisdom in this vital part of a business entity. People had always assumed marketing is a frenetic effort to always attract new customers, that this always-new incoming horde of buyers, consumers, or customers will save a company in the long run. The assumption can only be partly right, because at some point, the point of saturation will reached and no new buyers will come in. The economic recession certainly brought to the fore the many defects of previous thinking. It is a good idea to always challenge the reasoning, assumptions, or justifications in any practice, whether in business or not. This is particularly true in the area of marketing, because so much time, money, and effort are expended on the acquisition of new customers, but as the good author had pointed out, many of these newly-acquired customers get neglected once they made a purchase and taken for granted by the company. These disgruntled customers will soon leave if ever there is another offer by the competition, displaying their lack of loyalty because they were not treated right by the previous firm. It is only right that they leave, because no one should be in the bad position of being a good customer and not given enough importance by a firm. In a good example or metaphor, the recession is like a low tide, in which rocks previously unseen are now exposed for everyone to see. During high tide (or in good economic conditions), mistakes, errors, or wrong practices are not very material but a recession forces firms to re-examine everything. The author certainly did a good