The Psychology of Dreams

Why we dream: an analysis of contemporary research and theory on the function of dreaming Krista L. Hulm Essay Topic Why do we dream? Discuss with reference to psychological theories and research. Abstract Within classical psychoanalytic psychology, Freud’s (1900) conception of dreams is the most prominent dream theory among modern Western culture (Fosshage, 1983). Freud theorised that dreams serve a dual, compromise function. He suggested that unconscious, instinctual drive energy pushes for discharge, moving toward the expression of a consciously unacceptable impulse. The reduction in conscious restraints characteristic of sleep allows a symbolic, disguised dream expression of the repressed wish. The overt (manifest) content of the dream represents a compromise between the instinctual forces (latent content) striving for expression, on one hand, and the repressive forces of consciousness on the other (Freud, 1900). Freud assumed that the energy pushing for action would awaken the sleeper if not for the dream which, through symbolic discharge, allows a return to sleep. Therefore the dream is seen as serving the biological function of preserving sleep, with the psychological function of discharging an unacceptable wish that might otherwise burst destructively into waking life (Dallet, 1973). Various aspects of Freud’s dream theory have undergone review from the point of view of contemporary dream research (Breger, 1967; Foulkes, 1964). It is generally agreed that with respect to dream function in particular, the sleep preservation view is invalid and the underlying model on which the wish-fulfilment theory rests requires extensive revision. A study on REM sleep deprivation and its effects on depression found that when dream sleep was experimentally repressed in depressed patients, they were found to be more outgoing, energetic, more likely to engage with others and generally less unhappy (Cartwright, 1993). This may be due to dreams of depressed people having the characteristic of being more self-blaming. These findings contradict with Freud’s theory: if dreams are a safe expression of infantile wishes, why does this function fail to help the depressed? Despite the many problems inherent in Freud’s theoretical formulation of dream function, his far-reaching work has provided a basis for many of the contemporary theories discussed below. Contemporary research on dreams using brain-imaging studies contradict the view that content emerges from random signals (Morewedge & Norton, 2009). The hippocampus, which is critical to the acquisition of some types of memories, and the amygdala, which is important for emotional memories, are both seen to be active during REM sleep in brain-imaging studies (Nielson & Strenstrom, 2005). This understanding of the physiological aspects of dreams supports the idea that one of the functions of sleep itself is to draw together recent experiences with one’s goals, problems and desires (Paller & Voss, 2004). Fossage’s (2007) organisational model of dreams stemmed from such understandings. The model proposes that the core process and function of dreaming is to organise data. More specifically, dream mentation, like waking mentation, develops, maintains, and restores psychological organisation and regulates affect in keeping with shifting motivational priorities. Research shows that babies spend 50% of their sleep time in REM sleep, adults 25% and older people 15% (Breger, 1977). From the idea that REM sleep quantitatively decreases throughout the lifespan, a number of theorists (Breger, 1967; Reiser, 1990) suggest that dreaming fosters structuralisation of the nervous system through the establishment of neural memory networks or maps and babies spend more time in REM in order to establish maps and corresponding categories of organisation. This suggestion supports the organisational model of dreaming. Furthermore, the organisational model of dreaming includes a revision of psychoanalytic theory to explain the content of dreams concluding, in short, that dreams more directly reveal – through affects metaphors and themes – the dreamer’s immediate concerns (Fosshage, 2007). References Bulkeley, K. (1993). Dreaming is play. Psychoanalytic Psychology 10(4), 501-514. Retrieved September 8, 2009, from PsychARTICLES database. Cartwright, R. (2000). How and why the brain makes dreams: A report card on current research on dreaming. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 23, pp. 914-916. Fosshage, J. L. (1983). The psychological function of dreams: A revised psychoanalytic perspective. Psychoanalysis and Contemporary Thought, 6, 641-669. Fosshage, J. L. (2007). The organizing functions of dreaming: Pivotal issues in understanding and working with dreams. International forum of psychoanalysis, 16, 4, 213-221. Retrieved 14 August 2009, from Academic Search Premier database. Freud, S. (1900). The interpretation of dreams. Revonsuo, A. (2000). The reinterpretation of dreams: An evolutionary hypothesis of the function of dreaming. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 23, pp. 877-901.

Market Potential Index Essay

What are the indicators used in developing this index? Market Potential Index was developed to help companies compare emerging market with each other so they can determine which market to enter and the appropriate marketing strategies for those countries. Eight dimensions were used to create the index; each measured using different indicators (Global EDGE). Market size is measured using indicators such as urban population and electricity consumption. Market growth rate is measured using Average annual growth rate of primary energy use and Real GDP growth rate. Growing markets will show increase demand for products. Market intensity is measured using GNI per capita and private consumption as a percentage of GDP. Market Consumption Capacity is measured using Percentage share of middle-class in consumption/income. Commercial Infrastructure is measured using indicators like Cellular mobile subscribers, Main Telephone lines, Number of PC’s bought, number of internet users, Paved road density, percentage of household with TV and population per retail outlet. Economic freedom relates to the degree of economic and political freedom residents enjoy. It is measured using indicators such as economic freedom index and political freedom index. Market Receptivity related to amount of imports a country consumes and the willingness to try forging products. It is measured using Per capita imports from US and Trade as a percentage of GDP from country trade data. Country risk is measured using the indicator country risk rating from country risk survey Which of the indicators, in your opinion, would have a greater impact for a company that markets laptop computers? I think the dimension of Commercial Infrastructure would have a greater impact for a company that markets laptop computer because it is measured using a very relevant indicator of number of Pcs (per 1000 habitants). This dimension also created using indicators such as number of cellular mobile subscribers, main telephone lines and number of internet users. All these indicators are very useful in determining if the market is favorable to enter because if the market has high number of internet users or telephone  and PC owners, it might show the company that the market has already been tapped by other companies and maybe prompt them to look at other markets, where commercial infrastructure is moderate or low. Using the MPI, which countries would be ideal for this company to enter? Why? I think that China would be ideal for the laptop company to enter because it has a high market size and market growth rate but a moderate to low commercial infrastructure. The way I am reading the MPI, It means that china has room to grow in the commercial infrastructure area and a laptop company could capitalize on this great opportunity. Whereas, Hong Kong, Czech Republic and South Korea are rated high for commercial infrastructure, which could means that those markets might have well established laptop companies and not worth it for this company to enter and compete. On the other hand, you also have to take into account other seven dimensions because a market might have low commercial infrastructure and potential to grow but also have very high country risk, low economic growth and market size for this laptop company to enter. Using the same logic and taking into account other seven indicators, I think some other ideal countries for this company to enter along would China would be Turkey, India, Singapore, Peru, Mexico, and Malaysia.

Are Serial Killers Born or Created

We have been looking at the Nature vs Nurture debate in psychology and how it can be applied to Serial Killers. In class we also looked at the ways nature and nurture effected how Colin Jackson and found that it was a combination of the two arguments. I believe that it may be similarly a combination of both sides of the argument that lead a person to becoming a serial killer. The nature argument towards people’s behaviour is that traits such as intelligence, personality, aggression and sexual orientation are encoded in a persons DNA.This would suggest that Identical twins would have the exact same levels of intelligence, personality and aggression. It also suggests that identical twins would both have the same sexual orientation but as we saw in a psychology lesson there were two identical twins where one showed very masculine traits for a male such as playing with toy guns and cars and the other showed very feminine traits like playing with barbies even though they were ident ical twins which suggests that not everything can be only down to your genetic makeup.The nurture argument is that even though they do believe genetic tendencies exist they do not actually matter in terms of a persons personality etc. This is because they believe that behavioural aspects originate from environmental aspects such as a persons upbringing. Studies done on this have been supportive as they have found cases where identical twins were separated at birth and grew up in different environments and developed very different personalities, intelligence and aggression. At the same time this also goes against the nature theory because it means that they haven’t been affected by only genetics.The opposite end of this argument would suggest that Fraternal Twins would act in exactly the same way and have exactly the same attributes as they will have both been raised in exactly the same environment under the same conditions. In this piece I aim to discuss whether a serial kill er becomes a serial killer due to Nature or Nurture or due to a combination of the two. 1. Power & Control This type of serial killer experiences complete sexual gratification from the domination and humiliation of the victim. This killer is a true sociopath and lives by his own personal set of rules and guidelines.Many of the famous serial killers we have seen in history would fall under his type of serial killer. 2. Visionary This type of serial killer is compelled by voices or visions they experience and are considered psychotic. These voices and visions compel them to kill certain kinds of people. 3. Mission This type of serial killer feels a â€Å"need† or duty to kill certain types of people or â€Å"class† of people such as religious or racial groups or prostitutes. This type of serial killer is not considered psychotic. 4. HedonisticThis type of serial killer makes a strong connection between personal violence and sexual gratification. This type of killer can a lso be described as a â€Å"lust† or â€Å"thrill† killer. This killer receives pleasure from the act and has eroticized the experience. They generally take the time to torture or mutilate their victims. I found this whilst I was doing some research about the serial killers that I have chosen and have tried to use reports of serial killers from a range of these 4 classifications of serial killers in order to make a wider and better rounded summation.I used Crime Library to do my research as I believe it is a reliable source of information on the serial killers and found four case studies that I can use; Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Ed Gein and Charles Whitman. Firstly I read Ted Bundy’s page and found that in the early years he was brought up by his grandparents who he was told were his actual parents and his natural mother was his older sister so that it would protect her from being judged as having a child before she was married.For the first 3 years of Bundy's life he lived with his grandparents who raised him as their son, this means that he will have formed an attachment to them both and seem them as his mother and father figure throughout the critical period of his life in terms of Bowlbys theory of Maternal Deprivation. This would then have been disrupted when he was told that it was all a lie and that the woman he thought was his sister was actually his mother. This may have caused Ted Bundy to change his cognition about how lying is acceptable within society as he has been lied to throughout his whole life.This may have led to him being unable to form secure attachments with anybody again and it was later reported that he became a petty thief which may have been a direct consequence of him being lied to about his parents. It was reported that soon after this he began to develop psychopathic tendencies and changed from being a shy person to someone that was very driven and dominant. This is a suggestion that Ted felt he had been bet rayed by his family and those around him leading him to have a warped perception of loving which may have influenced the way that he acted.I did some research and found a website that actually had reports of old x-ray’s and other tests on his brain which found there were no abnormalities which suggests that everything causing him to become a serial killer came from the nurture side. Bundy's favoured method was to first lure victims to his car by pretending he had a broken arm and needed someone to take his books to his car then gain control usually by bludgeoning with a crowbar he kept in his infamous Volkswagen Bug. The murders he committed at the sorority house in Florida he used a piece of wood he had found right outside the house.After being hit over the head the victims were strangled as they were raped by Bundy. Teddy also had the peculiar fetish of necrophilia, returning sometimes weeks after dumping a body to have sex with it over and over again. (‘Crime Library ’) This may have had a direct link with what Bundy’s childhood and the way that he was nurtured when growing up. For example when his parents lied to him for large periods of his life it may have led him into believing that it was acceptable for you to lie to people in order to benefit him which is exactly what he was doing when leading women back to his car before beating them.The fact that Bundy also returned to have sex with his victims bodies after weeks after dumping the body means that he was in control of his actions and reinforces the fact the there was no nature argument towards him being that way. However I am unsure what in his upbringing would have led him to act in this way as there were never any reports of any sexual abuse towards him that would have led him to maybe finding it to be acceptable.I believe that in Ted Bundy’s case he would have been a Power and Control type of serial killer because it is almost a direct description of the way that h e acted, he could have also been some aspects of a mission type serial killers as he only killed young women generally in university which may have a direct connection with an event that happened in his life. In the crime library report it said about how the â€Å"love of his life† had broken up with him and he did not know what to do with himself for the rest of his time at university and could not concentrate on anything.This happened whilst he was in university which may have led him to believe that it was down to him in order to kill university girls as he felt they were evil. So Ted Bundy is a serial killer that I believe was created from the Nurture side of things because it was not reported that he had anything wrong with his nature to cause him to act the way in which he did although I couldn’t find any records of brain scans or information about it to suggest that he had actually been properly tested for it.The next serial killer that I researched on was Charl es Whitman, who is not as infamous as Ted Bundy even though he killed a far higher number of people. Charles Whitman was brought up in a wealthy family with his dad being a self employed man that was at the top of his profession so there was no form of poverty in his life. There are a few things from his childhood and teenage years that may have affected the way that he grew up, one being that his father would regularly hit his wife.This may have led to Charles beating his wife as well which he reportedly did, he may have learnt to do this via social learning theory. This would have meant that because he had seen it done from a man that he saw as respectable and holding power that it was acceptable for him to do it as well. When Charles was aged 18 he came home drunk one night and his father punished him by beating him and throwing him into the swimming pool where he almost drowned. This would have a major impact on his life as he had almost been killed by his father.After that he j oined the Marine Corps and it was taught to Charlie from an early age that it was necessary for him to be the best that he could be at whatever he did because he was desperate to prove himself as a man after his father had belittled him for many years. Charlie joined university and was finally free from the regimented life that he had led due to his strict upbringing from his father and the strict training in the Marines which is when he began to get into trouble and found himself getting lots of debts and his grades going down.Charlie was considered to be a genius at a young age so this upset him greatly and when he returned to the Marines he found the military life to be oppressive and lonely. He began to hate the marines and this led to him being Court martialled for his gambling and unauthorized possession of guns. Charlie was embarrassed by his self failure during the marines and at school and was determined to redeem himself.He became obsessed with self improvement and many sc hemes were found where he had written down ways for him to improve himself and the way that he was acting. Someone described him as â€Å"Like a computer. He would install his own values like a machine, then program the things he had to do, and out would come the results†. This image that he desperately tried to uphold crumbled on occasion where he had bouts of temper and frustration which further damaged the self respect that he had for himself.He continued to receive money and expensive gifts from his father. Charlie hated freeloaders, yet that was how he saw himself. He hated failure, yet he had failed to accomplish anything he had set out to do since he left home at 18. He saw being overweight as a sign of weakness, yet he was unable to keep himself as trim as he had been in the Marines. Outwardly, Charlie was diligent and conscientious, a devoted husband and a hard worker; inwardly, he seethed with self-hatred.  (‘Crime Library’)I believe that this came fr om a mixture of both Nature and Nurture in that his father had taught him that failure was unacceptable but it was also found that Charlie had a tumour on his brain that was the size of a peanut that was never dealt with and only found after his death that changed his cognition to make him hate himself and see himself as a failure because in reality he had not actually failed he just didn’t achieve grades or ranks in the marines that he felt he should have meaning that it was mainly himself believing he had not achieved enough whereas those around him actually thought he was doing well enough for himself. â€Å"I don't quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter,† he wrote.â€Å"Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. † He went on to say he'd increasingly been a victim of â€Å"many unusual and irrational thoughts† and that his attempt to get help with his problems (the visit to Dr. Heatly) h ad failed. He expressed a wish that his body be autopsied after his death to see if there was a physical cause for his mental anguish. As he continued, he outlined his plan for the coming 24 hours. â€Å"It was after much thought that I decided to kill my wife, Kathy, tonight after I pick her up from work at the telephone company,† he revealed. â€Å"The prominent reason in my mind is that I truly do not consider this world worth living in, and am prepared to die,  and I do not want to leave her to suffer alone in it. â€Å"He continued, â€Å"similar reasons provoked me to take my mother's life also. â€Å"(‘Crime Library’) This quote from Crime Library is very interesting as it suggests that Charlie himself had known that there was something wrong with the way that he was thinking and felt that there was something wrong with his brain making him think the way that he was. I believe that Charlie wanting to kill his wife and mother because he did not consid er the world worth living in suggests that he is a Mission type serial killer as he wanted to kill people to remove them from a world that he didn’t see as being good enough for the people he killed.Later in the report it says that Charlie climbed to the top of a Texas bell tower with 4 guns where he barricaded himself and began taking shots at people below killing 17 people in total and wounding a further 35 before he was killed by police that made their way up to him and killed him with multiple shotgun shots to the head. In his suicide notes Charles had left a final request to have an autopsy done on his brain where the pecan sized tumour was found. It was found that Charles had a build up of Necrosis surrounding the area of the tumour and the neuro-scientists studying his brain believed that it may have gone from being dormant to suddenly active which may have caused him to have done what he did as his natural ways of thinking were going wrong.The nature argument is prese nt with this Serial Killer but it isn’t solely Nature as it is near impossible to completely rule out any form of Nurture in a child’s upbringing but I originally felt that a combination of the two is what caused people to become serial killers in the first place so this goes very well with that opinion as I believe the combination of both his father telling him that he was a failure led him to being angered easily by those around him and may be what caused him to have the thoughts about killing people but I also believe that the tumour and his brain chemistry that changed when the Necrosis surrounding the tumour became active.It is well documented that he had thoughts about killing people long before he actually did it and it was found that the psychiatrist that was trying to help him through it ignored his sayings about killing people as nonsense even though if he was taught ways to change his cognition on this matter then it may have a actually allowed him to have a higher level of control over the brain tumour allowing him to use techniques taught to him to stop killing those people. The psychiatrist that ignored these facts was given no punishment even though I believe it was down to him to report this to somebody as it endangered the lives of innocent people regardless of ethical issues that may become present for breaking confidentiality. The next serial killer that I found on Crime Library was Ed Gein.This man is one of the better known serial killers with lots of films being done about his life and his killings. Ed Gein was another serial killer that I looked at because I felt that he also had a mixture of both the Nature and Nurture sides of things affecting him and causing him to become what he was; A very notorious serial killer with many films based around his life. Ed’s family appeared to be completely normal when being viewed from the outside as he had a mother, father and also an elder brother. The problems with his life fr om the nurture side all stemmed and revolved largely around his mother who was fanatically religious with very strict morals and taught her sons that women had â€Å"Immorality and looseness†.This constant teaching about how evil the outside world was is one thing that could have caused Ed to be the way he was as his victims were mostly women including the bones that he dug up from graves. Ed saw his mother as the â€Å"epitome of goodness and followed her every order† so much so that when she died â€Å"Ed lost his only friend and his one true love – and was absolutely alone in the world† from Freuds work on the psychosexual stages of development I believe that Ed Gein was stuck in the Oedipus complex which caused him to be in love with his mother. I think due to the way he was brought up by his mother he was never given an opportunity to escape this complex as he was so sheltered from the outside world that it was never possible for him to form real att achments with anybody else.Even when Ed went to a school it was difficult for him to hold relationships with other people of his age because he would be beaten by his mother if she ever found out so he lived in constant fear of displeasing his mother. Eds father was the complete opposite to his mother in that he was a weak man who his mother despised and was an alcoholic therefore as the two boys were growing up it was evident that they would develop a poor perception of how a male should act which I believe may have been the cause for his victims being predominantly female and why he created a suit out of womens skin because his perception had taught him that women were strong and the â€Å"epitome of goodness† whilst men were feeble and couldn’t support their family.Something particularly interesting about the Ed Gein case is that he had a brother that was older than him and although from the videos we have watched in class we know that the nature of a child does not predetermine them having the same personalities it is also evident from this case that siblings do not share similar personalities due to their nurture as well. It was never documented throughout his brother’s life of him ever doing anything similar to that of his brother although it is not entirely possible to disprove it using this case because Ed’s brother was mysteriously killed during a forest fire, Ed was originally suspected because he led them directly to the body which had cuts and bruises on it that were irregular for a fire death but dismissed it as Ed looked too small to kill his brother. I believe that it was Ed that killed his brother and the reasoning behind it would have been that it would allow him to have his mother to himself because his father had passed away previous to that.The reason that Ed Gein may be a combination of both Nature and Nurture is because it was thought that he was mentally retarded which from previous videos and research I have found that this decreases a person’s capacity for learning and a person with a standard brain can expect their brains size to grow at a rate of 1 year per year whereas a person with mental retardation can expect their brain to grow at a far slower rate so they will be unable to learn at the same rate which may have caused Ed to become frustrated and be incapable of using the same thought process as others and it was suggested that he could plead not guilty via insanity suggesting that there was indeed something wrong with his brain that came from the nature side of things.The last serial killer that I looked at was John Wayne Gacy who was born into a family where he was the second child of three with a sister that is 2 years older than him and also a sister that is 2 years younger than him. They grew up in a middle class neighbourhood where Gacy busied himself with school and part time jobs. Gacy was not unpopular in school which is something we tend to expect of most serial killers but he was fairly well liked by staff and pupils. At the age of 11 Gacy was hit in the head by a swing which caused a clot in his brain, and between the ages of 11 and 16 Gacy suffered a series of blackouts.At the age of 17 Gacy was diagnosed with a heart ailment hospitalizing him several times throughout his life. As Gacy aged he began having trouble with his father who was an abusive alcoholic that abused his wife and verbally abused his children. Gacy was desperate to gain his father’s devotion and attention but was unable to do so before his father died which is something that Gacy regretted for his entire life. I believe the part about having the blood clot in the brain would be considered a nature side to things but it was actually not important in him becoming a serial killer because he had medication and it was removed long before he killed anybody.Later in life Gacy’s health took another turn for the worse where he suffered major weight issues leading to more problems with his heart and also a spinal injury that would plague him for the rest of his life. Although this is the case I do not believe that it actually impacted on Gacy becoming what he did because it is usually has to be something that affects the brain and this had no effect on the way he thought and was only impacting his physical attributes. In the community that he lived he was a well-respected man who worked long shifts and volunteered for his community. This is the point when things began to turn worse for Gacy as rumours were spread about his area that his sexual preference was Men which was frowned upon at the time and he was always in the company of young boys.In 1968 the first charges were being presented to Gacy with the first being about tricking a young boy into being tied up and raping him. The fact that Gacy’s victims were all young men may have been something to do with the way that he was brought up aiming to impress his father as much as possib le. Since he would have been of a similar age at the time that he was working towards impressing his father then he may have held a strong feeling that other young men did not deserve the opportunity that was taken away from him at that age to impress their fathers so that he was not alone. In total Gacy killed 33 people and buried them under his house.It was found that most of these were young men that Gacy had lured into working for him and then violently sexually abusing them and also engaging in Necrophilia after killing them where he would keep the body in his bed for days after killing them. In my research on John Wayne Gacy I couldn’t find a definitive reason for him doing this but I believe it may have a link with the way that Gacy’s father treated his mother because he would regularly physically abuse her so it may have been installed into Gacy’s values that this was an acceptable thing because it would have been similar to that of his father’s a ctions that he probably wanted to replicate to the full in order to make his father proud of him. This warped perception of what his father did may have been caused by the Blood clots in his brain when he was around that age because he may have not fully understood what was happening.In summary of Gacy’s actions I believe that the majority of his actions came from his nurture side where his father had abused members of his family so because Gacy looked up to his father and wanted to make him proud he thought that the way to do it would be to replicate the way his father acted. In conclusion of the way serial killers are created I still firmly believe that it is caused by a combination of both Nature and Nurture. I believe that Nature gives you a capacity for learning, for sports, for other things such as the ability to become a serial killer. Whereas nurture is about releasing that potential that you have by how they have been brought up.An example of this is from the video t hat we watched of Colin Jackson where he was discovering about how his genetic makeup and his nurture effected the way that he developed into an Olympic hurdler so if Colin Jackson was simply given the capacity to become an Olympic hurdler from birth and left it idly then he would not have been able to win the races that he did. It requires some input from the Nurture side in the form of training for athletes. So this can be directly applied to the way serial killers are created because I believe there is something in their genetics that gives them a potential to become a serial killer such as a short temper or an inability to think clearly and then this can either be left as simply a potential that is never unleashed in the form of them becoming serial killers.So that means that there has to be something in the nurture side of things that has made them act the way that they have such as some of the theories that we have learnt about in psychology like Social Learning Theory, Matern al Deprivation etc. which means that a person may have learnt from their parents in the cases of John Wayne Gacy for example that beating women was an acceptable thing to do because that is what his father did when he was a child. The capacity for learning to become something could actually be something very common if I’m correct in my explanation meaning that people around you could actually have the potential to become a serial killer because of the way their bio-chemistry is making them have a short temper or hear voices in their head for example.But I believe that because  people are generally subjected to a higher standard of parenting nowadays that serial killers are becoming rarer in western civilizations where it has become necessary to be a good parent otherwise social services will intervene meaning that someone with the potential to become a serial killer does not get that potential unlocked as they have been brought up in a home that will allow them to properly deal with their problems and learn how to react when confronted with them. Another thing that I believe has helped to reduce the number of recent serial killers is the fact that psychological treatment is more advanced these days meaning that even if a person’s cognition does tell them to kill people, or they hear voices within their heads telling them to kill a person then they can be treated to find ways around this. Are Serial Killers Born or Created We have been looking at the Nature vs Nurture debate in psychology and how it can be applied to Serial Killers. In class we also looked at the ways nature and nurture effected how Colin Jackson and found that it was a combination of the two arguments. I believe that it may be similarly a combination of both sides of the argument that lead a person to becoming a serial killer. The nature argument towards people’s behaviour is that traits such as intelligence, personality, aggression and sexual orientation are encoded in a persons DNA.This would suggest that Identical twins would have the exact same levels of intelligence, personality and aggression. It also suggests that identical twins would both have the same sexual orientation but as we saw in a psychology lesson there were two identical twins where one showed very masculine traits for a male such as playing with toy guns and cars and the other showed very feminine traits like playing with barbies even though they were ident ical twins which suggests that not everything can be only down to your genetic makeup.The nurture argument is that even though they do believe genetic tendencies exist they do not actually matter in terms of a persons personality etc. This is because they believe that behavioural aspects originate from environmental aspects such as a persons upbringing. Studies done on this have been supportive as they have found cases where identical twins were separated at birth and grew up in different environments and developed very different personalities, intelligence and aggression. At the same time this also goes against the nature theory because it means that they haven’t been affected by only genetics.The opposite end of this argument would suggest that Fraternal Twins would act in exactly the same way and have exactly the same attributes as they will have both been raised in exactly the same environment under the same conditions. In this piece I aim to discuss whether a serial kill er becomes a serial killer due to Nature or Nurture or due to a combination of the two. 1. Power & Control This type of serial killer experiences complete sexual gratification from the domination and humiliation of the victim. This killer is a true sociopath and lives by his own personal set of rules and guidelines.Many of the famous serial killers we have seen in history would fall under his type of serial killer. 2. Visionary This type of serial killer is compelled by voices or visions they experience and are considered psychotic. These voices and visions compel them to kill certain kinds of people. 3. Mission This type of serial killer feels a â€Å"need† or duty to kill certain types of people or â€Å"class† of people such as religious or racial groups or prostitutes. This type of serial killer is not considered psychotic. 4. HedonisticThis type of serial killer makes a strong connection between personal violence and sexual gratification. This type of killer can a lso be described as a â€Å"lust† or â€Å"thrill† killer. This killer receives pleasure from the act and has eroticized the experience. They generally take the time to torture or mutilate their victims. I found this whilst I was doing some research about the serial killers that I have chosen and have tried to use reports of serial killers from a range of these 4 classifications of serial killers in order to make a wider and better rounded summation.I used Crime Library to do my research as I believe it is a reliable source of information on the serial killers and found four case studies that I can use; Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Ed Gein and Charles Whitman. Firstly I read Ted Bundy’s page and found that in the early years he was brought up by his grandparents who he was told were his actual parents and his natural mother was his older sister so that it would protect her from being judged as having a child before she was married.For the first 3 years of Bundy's life he lived with his grandparents who raised him as their son, this means that he will have formed an attachment to them both and seem them as his mother and father figure throughout the critical period of his life in terms of Bowlbys theory of Maternal Deprivation. This would then have been disrupted when he was told that it was all a lie and that the woman he thought was his sister was actually his mother. This may have caused Ted Bundy to change his cognition about how lying is acceptable within society as he has been lied to throughout his whole life.This may have led to him being unable to form secure attachments with anybody again and it was later reported that he became a petty thief which may have been a direct consequence of him being lied to about his parents. It was reported that soon after this he began to develop psychopathic tendencies and changed from being a shy person to someone that was very driven and dominant. This is a suggestion that Ted felt he had been bet rayed by his family and those around him leading him to have a warped perception of loving which may have influenced the way that he acted.I did some research and found a website that actually had reports of old x-ray’s and other tests on his brain which found there were no abnormalities which suggests that everything causing him to become a serial killer came from the nurture side. Bundy's favoured method was to first lure victims to his car by pretending he had a broken arm and needed someone to take his books to his car then gain control usually by bludgeoning with a crowbar he kept in his infamous Volkswagen Bug. The murders he committed at the sorority house in Florida he used a piece of wood he had found right outside the house.After being hit over the head the victims were strangled as they were raped by Bundy. Teddy also had the peculiar fetish of necrophilia, returning sometimes weeks after dumping a body to have sex with it over and over again. (‘Crime Library ’) This may have had a direct link with what Bundy’s childhood and the way that he was nurtured when growing up. For example when his parents lied to him for large periods of his life it may have led him into believing that it was acceptable for you to lie to people in order to benefit him which is exactly what he was doing when leading women back to his car before beating them.The fact that Bundy also returned to have sex with his victims bodies after weeks after dumping the body means that he was in control of his actions and reinforces the fact the there was no nature argument towards him being that way. However I am unsure what in his upbringing would have led him to act in this way as there were never any reports of any sexual abuse towards him that would have led him to maybe finding it to be acceptable.I believe that in Ted Bundy’s case he would have been a Power and Control type of serial killer because it is almost a direct description of the way that h e acted, he could have also been some aspects of a mission type serial killers as he only killed young women generally in university which may have a direct connection with an event that happened in his life. In the crime library report it said about how the â€Å"love of his life† had broken up with him and he did not know what to do with himself for the rest of his time at university and could not concentrate on anything.This happened whilst he was in university which may have led him to believe that it was down to him in order to kill university girls as he felt they were evil. So Ted Bundy is a serial killer that I believe was created from the Nurture side of things because it was not reported that he had anything wrong with his nature to cause him to act the way in which he did although I couldn’t find any records of brain scans or information about it to suggest that he had actually been properly tested for it.The next serial killer that I researched on was Charl es Whitman, who is not as infamous as Ted Bundy even though he killed a far higher number of people. Charles Whitman was brought up in a wealthy family with his dad being a self employed man that was at the top of his profession so there was no form of poverty in his life. There are a few things from his childhood and teenage years that may have affected the way that he grew up, one being that his father would regularly hit his wife.This may have led to Charles beating his wife as well which he reportedly did, he may have learnt to do this via social learning theory. This would have meant that because he had seen it done from a man that he saw as respectable and holding power that it was acceptable for him to do it as well. When Charles was aged 18 he came home drunk one night and his father punished him by beating him and throwing him into the swimming pool where he almost drowned. This would have a major impact on his life as he had almost been killed by his father.After that he j oined the Marine Corps and it was taught to Charlie from an early age that it was necessary for him to be the best that he could be at whatever he did because he was desperate to prove himself as a man after his father had belittled him for many years. Charlie joined university and was finally free from the regimented life that he had led due to his strict upbringing from his father and the strict training in the Marines which is when he began to get into trouble and found himself getting lots of debts and his grades going down.Charlie was considered to be a genius at a young age so this upset him greatly and when he returned to the Marines he found the military life to be oppressive and lonely. He began to hate the marines and this led to him being Court martialled for his gambling and unauthorized possession of guns. Charlie was embarrassed by his self failure during the marines and at school and was determined to redeem himself.He became obsessed with self improvement and many sc hemes were found where he had written down ways for him to improve himself and the way that he was acting. Someone described him as â€Å"Like a computer. He would install his own values like a machine, then program the things he had to do, and out would come the results†. This image that he desperately tried to uphold crumbled on occasion where he had bouts of temper and frustration which further damaged the self respect that he had for himself.He continued to receive money and expensive gifts from his father. Charlie hated freeloaders, yet that was how he saw himself. He hated failure, yet he had failed to accomplish anything he had set out to do since he left home at 18. He saw being overweight as a sign of weakness, yet he was unable to keep himself as trim as he had been in the Marines. Outwardly, Charlie was diligent and conscientious, a devoted husband and a hard worker; inwardly, he seethed with self-hatred.(‘Crime Library’) I believe that this came from a mixture of both Nature and Nurture in that his father had taught him that failure was unacceptable but it was also found that Charlie had a tumour on his brain that was the size of a peanut that was never dealt with and only found after his death that changed his cognition to make him hate himself and see himself as a failure because in reality he had not actually failed he just didn’t achieve grades or ranks in the marines that he felt he should have meaning that it was mainly himself believing he had not achieved enough whereas those around him actually thought he was doing well enough for himself. â€Å"I don't quite understand what it is that compels me to type this letter,† he wrote.â€Å"Perhaps it is to leave some vague reason for the actions I have recently performed. † He went on to say he'd increasingly been a victim of â€Å"many unusual and irrational thoughts† and that his attempt to get help with his problems (the visit to Dr. Heatly) had failed. He expressed a wish that his body be autopsied after his death to see if there was a physical cause for his mental anguish. As he continued, he outlined his plan for the coming 24 hours. â€Å"It was after much thought that I decided to kill my wife, Kathy, tonight after I pick her up from work at the telephone company,† he revealed. â€Å"The prominent reason in my mind is that I truly do not consider this world worth living in, and am prepared to die,and I do not want to leave her to suffer alone in it. † He continued, â€Å"similar reasons provoked me to take my mother's life also. â€Å"(‘Crime Library’) This quote from Crime Library is very interesting as it suggests that Charlie himself had known that there was something wrong with the way that he was thinking and felt that there was something wrong with his brain making him think the way that he was. I believe that Charlie wanting to kill his wife and mother because he did not consider the world worth living in suggests that he is a Mission type serial killer as he wanted to kill people to remove them from a world that he didn’t see as being good enough for the people he killed.Later in the report it says that Charlie climbed to the top of a Texas bell tower with 4 guns where he barricaded himself and began taking shots at people below killing 17 people in total and wounding a further 35 before he was killed by police that made their way up to him and killed him with multiple shotgun shots to the head. In his suicide notes Charles had left a final request to have an autopsy done on his brain where the pecan sized tumour was found. It was found that Charles had a build up of Necrosis surrounding the area of the tumour and the neuro-scientists studying his brain believed that it may have gone from being dormant to suddenly active which may have caused him to have done what he did as his natural ways of thinking were going wrong.The nature argument is present wit h this Serial Killer but it isn’t solely Nature as it is near impossible to completely rule out any form of Nurture in a child’s upbringing but I originally felt that a combination of the two is what caused people to become serial killers in the first place so this goes very well with that opinion as I believe the combination of both his father telling him that he was a failure led him to being angered easily by those around him and may be what caused him to have the thoughts about killing people but I also believe that the tumour and his brain chemistry that changed when the Necrosis surrounding the tumour became active.It is well documented that he had thoughts about killing people long before he actually did it and it was found that the psychiatrist that was trying to help him through it ignored his sayings about killing people as nonsense even though if he was taught ways to change his cognition on this matter then it may have a actually allowed him to have a highe r level of control over the brain tumour allowing him to use techniques taught to him to stop killing those people. The psychiatrist that ignored these facts was given no punishment even though I believe it was down to him to report this to somebody as it endangered the lives of innocent people regardless of ethical issues that may become present for breaking confidentiality. The next serial killer that I found on Crime Library was Ed Gein.This man is one of the better known serial killers with lots of films being done about his life and his killings. Ed Gein was another serial killer that I looked at because I felt that he also had a mixture of both the Nature and Nurture sides of things affecting him and causing him to become what he was; A very notorious serial killer with many films based around his life. Ed’s family appeared to be completely normal when being viewed from the outside as he had a mother, father and also an elder brother. The problems with his life from the nurture side all stemmed and revolved largely around his mother who was fanatically religious with very strict morals and taught her sons that women had â€Å"Immorality and looseness†.This constant teaching about how evil the outside world was is one thing that could have caused Ed to be the way he was as his victims were mostly women including the bones that he dug up from graves. Ed saw his mother as the â€Å"epitome of goodness and followed her every order† so much so that when she died â€Å"Ed lost his only friend and his one true love – and was absolutely alone in the world† from Freuds work on the psychosexual stages of development I believe that Ed Gein was stuck in the Oedipus complex which caused him to be in love with his mother. I think due to the way he was brought up by his mother he was never given an opportunity to escape this complex as he was so sheltered from the outside world that it was never possible for him to form real attachmen ts with anybody else.Even when Ed went to a school it was difficult for him to hold relationships with other people of his age because he would be beaten by his mother if she ever found out so he lived in constant fear of displeasing his mother. Eds father was the complete opposite to his mother in that he was a weak man who his mother despised and was an alcoholic therefore as the two boys were growing up it was evident that they would develop a poor perception of how a male should act which I believe may have been the cause for his victims being predominantly female and why he created a suit out of womens skin because his perception had taught him that women were strong and the â€Å"epitome of goodness† whilst men were feeble and couldn’t support their family.Something particularly interesting about the Ed Gein case is that he had a brother that was older than him and although from the videos we have watched in class we know that the nature of a child does not prede termine them having the same personalities it is also evident from this case that siblings do not share similar personalities due to their nurture as well. It was never documented throughout his brother’s life of him ever doing anything similar to that of his brother although it is not entirely possible to disprove it using this case because Ed’s brother was mysteriously killed during a forest fire, Ed was originally suspected because he led them directly to the body which had cuts and bruises on it that were irregular for a fire death but dismissed it as Ed looked too small to kill his brother. I believe that it was Ed that killed his brother and the reasoning behind it would have been that it would allow him to have his mother to himself because his father had passed away previous to that.The reason that Ed Gein may be a combination of both Nature and Nurture is because it was thought that he was mentally retarded which from previous videos and research I have found that this decreases a person’s capacity for learning and a person with a standard brain can expect their brains size to grow at a rate of 1 year per year whereas a person with mental retardation can expect their brain to grow at a far slower rate so they will be unable to learn at the same rate which may have caused Ed to become frustrated and be incapable of using the same thought process as others and it was suggested that he could plead not guilty via insanity suggesting that there was indeed something wrong with his brain that came from the nature side of things. The last serial killer that I looked at was John Wayne Gacy who was born into a family where he was the second child of three with a sister that is 2 years older than him and also a sister that is 2 years younger than him. They grew up in a middle class neighbourhood where Gacy busied himself with school and part time jobs. Gacy was not unpopular in school which is something we tend to expect of most serial kille rs but he was fairly well liked by staff and pupils. At the age of 11 Gacy was hit in the head by a swing which caused a clot in his brain, and between the ages of 11 and 16 Gacy suffered a series of blackouts.At the age of 17 Gacy was diagnosed with a heart ailment hospitalizing him several times throughout his life. As Gacy aged he began having trouble with his father who was an abusive alcoholic that abused his wife and verbally abused his children. Gacy was desperate to gain his father’s devotion and attention but was unable to do so before his father died which is something that Gacy regretted for his entire life. I believe the part about having the blood clot in the brain would be considered a nature side to things but it was actually not important in him becoming a serial killer because he had medication and it was removed long before he killed anybody.Later in life Gacy’s health took another turn for the worse where he suffered major weight issues leading to mo re problems with his heart and also a spinal injury that would plague him for the rest of his life. Although this is the case I do not believe that it actually impacted on Gacy becoming what he did because it is usually has to be something that affects the brain and this had no effect on the way he thought and was only impacting his physical attributes. In the community that he lived he was a well-respected man who worked long shifts and volunteered for his community. This is the point when things began to turn worse for Gacy as rumours were spread about his area that his sexual preference was Men which was frowned upon at the time and he was always in the company of young boys.In 1968 the first charges were being presented to Gacy with the first being about tricking a young boy into being tied up and raping him. The fact that Gacy’s victims were all young men may have been something to do with the way that he was brought up aiming to impress his father as much as possible. S ince he would have been of a similar age at the time that he was working towards impressing his father then he may have held a strong feeling that other young men did not deserve the opportunity that was taken away from him at that age to impress their fathers so that he was not alone. In total Gacy killed 33 people and buried them under his house.It was found that most of these were young men that Gacy had lured into working for him and then violently sexually abusing them and also engaging in Necrophilia after killing them where he would keep the body in his bed for days after killing them. In my research on John Wayne Gacy I couldn’t find a definitive reason for him doing this but I believe it may have a link with the way that Gacy’s father treated his mother because he would regularly physically abuse her so it may have been installed into Gacy’s values that this was an acceptable thing because it would have been similar to that of his father’s action s that he probably wanted to replicate to the full in order to make his father proud of him. This warped perception of what his father did may have been caused by the Blood clots in his brain when he was around that age because he may have not fully understood what was happening.In summary of Gacy’s actions I believe that the majority of his actions came from his nurture side where his father had abused members of his family so because Gacy looked up to his father and wanted to make him proud he thought that the way to do it would be to replicate the way his father acted. In conclusion of the way serial killers are created I still firmly believe that it is caused by a combination of both Nature and Nurture. I believe that Nature gives you a capacity for learning, for sports, for other things such as the ability to become a serial killer. Whereas nurture is about releasing that potential that you have by how they have been brought up.An example of this is from the video that w e watched of Colin Jackson where he was discovering about how his genetic makeup and his nurture effected the way that he developed into an Olympic hurdler so if Colin Jackson was simply given the capacity to become an Olympic hurdler from birth and left it idly then he would not have been able to win the races that he did. It requires some input from the Nurture side in the form of training for athletes. So this can be directly applied to the way serial killers are created because I believe there is something in their genetics that gives them a potential to become a serial killer such as a short temper or an inability to think clearly and then this can either be left as simply a potential that is never unleashed in the form of them becoming serial killers.So that means that there has to be something in the nurture side of things that has made them act the way that they have such as some of the theories that we have learnt about in psychology like Social Learning Theory, Maternal De privation etc. which means that a person may have learnt from their parents in the cases of John Wayne Gacy for example that beating women was an acceptable thing to do because that is what his father did when he was a child. The capacity for learning to become something could actually be something very common if I’m correct in my explanation meaning that people around you could actually have the potential to become a serial killer because of the way their bio-chemistry is making them have a short temper or hear voices in their head for example. But I believe that becausepeople are generally subjected to a higher standard of parenting nowadays that serial killers are becoming rarer in western civilizations where it has become necessary to be a good parent otherwise social services will intervene meaning that someone with the potential to become a serial killer does not get that potential unlocked as they have been brought up in a home that will allow them to properly deal wit h their problems and learn how to react when confronted with them. Another thing that I believe has helped to reduce the number of recent serial killers is the fact that psychological treatment is more advanced these days meaning that even if a person’s cognition does tell them to kill people, or they hear voices within their heads telling them to kill a person then they can be treated to find ways around this.

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Why does the middle east is important to obama - Essay Example This became evident in 2007 when a plutonium-producing reactor of Syria in cooperation with North Korea, was discovered. Israel released photographic evidence of the said partnership leading to the raid of the nuclear reactor in Deir ez-Zor region and the dismissal of a terrorism attempt (Blackwill and Slocombe). Israel is skillful in making aerial systems, armored vehicle protection, and short-range rockets defenses, and robotics. It has been known as a world leader when it comes to developing devices and techniques for force protection (Blackwill and Slocombe). Because of the unifying goal of both countries to eliminate terrorism and nuclear proliferation, Israel shares its assets to United States which on the other hand, finances Israel’s projects and endeavors. In this case, the role of Obama’s partnership with the Israelis is to further develop missiles which would help him protect his forces and allies and span its influence over Europe, Middle East, and Persian Gulf (Blackwill and Slocombe). In all of these involvements, Obama does not only interestingly gain the assets of Israel but a possible underlying reason for this involvement is for him to expand its power over Middle East. This is evident in Michael Oren’s book, â€Å"Power, Faith, and Fantasy†. He stated, As an explanation to this, Oren mentioned about Jefferson and the May 1787 Articles of Confederation. In the meeting that followed, Americans felt a great threat from the kingdoms of Middle East countries. They stated, As a result of this, America waged wars all intended for Middle East. By imposing wars and force, America gained power over its greatest enemy – the Middle East countries and thus worry less about this threat (Oren). United States’ gaining of power and influence becomes more convincing when Obama expressed his interest in the oil industry of Middle East in his speech in

Income Inequality and Redistributive Policies Essay Example for Free

Income Inequality and Redistributive Policies Essay This paper discusses the factors that determine the increase in pay gap between top executives and the average worker. Income inequality has continued to be an economic issue in the United States. The changes in income inequality in the United States have been researched and well documented. The findings reveal an alarming state of affairs concerning income inequality in the country. Most labor economic policies have started to focus on the income inequalities in the country. One of the programs that target this issue is redistribution. For Redistributive Policies to work, it is important to know the factors that contribute to the increase in income gap between the executives and the average workers. Its significance in labor economic policies is vast because of its requirement for mobility as well as heterogeneity in the labor market. It is important to know how the factors established play part in income determination (Piketty Saez, 2003). As will be revealed in the paper, these factors do exist and play a major part in income inequality. Literature analysis The main concepts in the topic of discussion need to be defined. Income is defined as the total of all income components that are showed on tax returns. Income comprises of salaries and wages, pensions, gains from business dealings, capital incomes, rents, and realized capital profits. Income is thus defined as the market income prior to reduction of income taxes. Income is very different from wealth, and the main focus of the paper is income (Piketty Saez, 2003). Available literature defines income inequality in a manner that is completely different from the commonly known inequality, that is, poverty and unfairness. Income inequality refers to the unequal distribution of income among players in a specific economy. This could be income distribution in a particular nation or at the global level. Income inequality metrics seek to give a system of gauging dispersion of income. Income inequality in the economy of the United States is evident in different categories of people. There is income inequality between the executives and the average workers, as in the focus of this paper; there is inequality between men and women and inequality between whites and blacks. Income inequality between the executives and the average workers in the United States is an issue that needs to be handled with the seriousness it deserves. One of the efforts to achieve this is income redistribution (Piketty Saez, 2003). Income redistribution is the reassignment of income from some people to others. Studies reveal that there is concentration of income among the executives, that is, this group tends to earn more that the average workers. Therefore the distribution in this case is from the executives to the average workers. There have been many debates as to the rationale behind redistribution. It is clear that with the increase in income inequality something needs to be done (Piketty Saez, 2003). This will be discussed in a later part of the paper. Statistics to reveal income inequality It is evident from statistics that there is rampant income inequality in the United States. Following the reason of the hard work principle, current executives must work more that the average workers. They also work harder than they used to work forty years ago. As a result, their pay is expected to be higher than that of the average workers and also that it was forty years ago. In the year 2000, the average Chief Executive Officer salary was more than 500 times the salary of the average worker. This is a tremendous increase for in the year 1960 the salary of a Chief Executive Officer was only 40 times that of an average worker (Chingos, 2004). For many other reasons other than hard work, the salary of the executives went up tremendously than corporate gains, while that of the average worker increased in proportion to the rate of inflation. While the salaries of the average workers remained more or less constant they continued working hard as indicated from the results in productivity. The economic inequalities between the executives and the average workers can be observed from a broader scale, as indicated in the rise in pay between income quintiles. Between the year 1979 and 2001, the pay of the top quintile went up by 53 percent, while the pay of the lowest quintile increased by a mere 3 percent (Bebchuk Grinstein, 2005). This is the phenomenon that has marked the economy of the United States; the top quintile though earning more is the one that receives higher pay that the lowest quintile despite the fact that it is the one that earns the least (Kopczuk, Saez Song, 2009). Quite a number of the people who belong to the lowest quintile are the poor. Close to 13% of the United States public, which are about 37 million people are poor. More than a third of this group is, which is about 13 million are young people. Trends in the income, wealth and poverty statistics show an increasing gap among classes. The wealthy are getting wealthier, with the poor becoming poorer. There is an increasing gap between the pay of the executives and that of the average workers and there is no sign that this will change in the near future. This is an argument brought up by the Institute for Policy Studies that has been studying executive income since the year 1994 (Kopczuk, Saez Song, 2009). In the year 2007, the mean ratio between the pay for the Chief Executive Officer and the average worker was 344:1. There was a slight decrease in the average ratio to 319:1. There is a probability that the average ratio will continue to rise. The current estimate is almost hitting 400:1. If there is no remedy in place, there rate will continue to go up with a huge stock option gains by the executive. This is a worrisome state of affairs that should be handled immediately by public policies (Kopczuk, Saez Song, 2009). The public outcry about the income of the executives seems to have gone down in the recent past as a result of rallying of the broader capital market. The focus has shifted from the income to other matters like public health. Cavanagh, who is the director of the Institute for Policy Studies, argues that the income inequality between the directors and the average workers in the United States is a serious matter. He claims that the gap is still very wide, in fact wider than in most other nations worldwide (Chingos, 2004). This is considered a problem in a country that is supposed to be an example of a democracy in the world. The director argues that going back only one generation in the United States, the average ratio in the income between the two groups was 30:1. Based on the factors that are discussed later in the paper, it is not possible for the executives to earn the same amount of income as the average workers. Nevertheless a ratio of more than 300:1 is an exaggeration that should be carefully taken care of. The United States seems to be owned by just a few individuals in the top quintile, with the majority living in poverty. The country seems to be experienced very high rate of income and wealth inequality. The wall street journal reported that the average Chief Executive Officer of a sizeable company earns more than 10 million dollars per annum. This is a vast amount as compared to the 10,000 dollars per annum earned by an average worker (Kopczuk, Saez Song, 2009). Factors that determine the increase in income inequality It is a societal feature that people tend to earn differently. The positions held by people determine the kind of payment they receive due to the fact that they tend to hold varying responsibilities. The importance and complexity of the executive position means that they will obviously receive higher pay that the average workers. For the purpose of providing enough motivation for a wider range of occupation to be occupied, with motivated servants, the society requires to offer varying rewards (Chingos, 2004). Partisan politics The executives are the decision makers in any organization. As a result it is expected that they will always make decisions that are in their favor. Incestuous corporate boards of directors on regular bases approve compensation benefits to the CEOs and other top authorities that are unreasonable. While seated in the board, they only think of their own interests without caring about the hardworking average worker. The average workers have no one to defend their interests and as a result their pay rise increase slowly and after a very long time. This is what has led to the widening in the gap in the gap between the incomes of the two groups. Research reveals that, it is possible for the salary of an average worker to remain constant without increase for a decade (Chingos, 2004). Basic salary While job evaluation is used as the basis for determining pay increase for the workers, this is usually not the case with the executives. The pay increase and compensation for the executives is usually determined by the compensation committee. This is a committee that includes a number or all the members of the board within the organization. The decisions of the pay rise and compensation for the executives has nothing to do with the reports from job evaluation. It is also independent of the data on payment within similar organizations. This therefore means that there is no standard in pay and compensation of executives. There are also no standard rules to govern income and compensation for executives. Basically, income for executives is set to compete with pays of other executives in the market. As a result, the payment is always higher as compared to the salaries of the other workers in the organization. Recent researches reveal that the incomes for the executives within all companies are on the increase. A study of 100 major companies in the united states done by Mercer Human Resource Consulting reveled that the mean sum direct compensation for the CEOs in the studies companies was 4, 419, 300 dollars in the year 2004 (Bebchuk Grinstein, 2005). Executive benefits and privileges In the United States, executives are paid their basic salaries plus other benefits. This is what is together known as the Total Cash Compensation. The executives may also be compensated for their efforts with cash plus shares in the organization, which are most of the times subject to vesting limitations. This is what it means to be provided with long-term incentive. After the expiration of the time referred by the vesting restrictions, the shares are transferred. Vesting can be on the basis of performance, time or both performance and time. The incentives are provided to the executives as a way of motivating them to put more effort in running the company. These are some of the benefits that are not available to the average worker, therefore explaining the difference in their income (Bebchuk Grinstein, 2005). Benefits for the executives are obviously different from those offered to the average workers. The executives are the ones who receive higher fringe benefits, insurance and pension schemes. Most of the executives negotiate high packages during the time of employment. This is mostly tied to their education level, skills and experience. In this case, they are able to collect a lot of money from the company regardless of their performance. Executive privileges are special benefits that they receive. These perquisites are mostly paid to the executives and the top managers of the organization. These may be items like vehicles, membership to clubs, special parking among other amenities. It is common for the United States executives to get perks as part of their overall compensation (Chingos, 2004). Executive bonuses In the basic salary of the executives, most of their pay is not constant, they payment may be entitled to a compensation that varies with their level of performance. The intention of this compensation is a motivating factor for the executives to perform better. For example, there can be a reward for achievement of a particular target. One of the most common variable pay is what is known as executive bonus. This is a kind of compensation that is paid on achievement of some short-term objectives. The compensation is on the bases of any number of performance results. The compensation can be based on the judgment of the board or the amounts of profits or market share gained by the business. Nearly all the companies in the United States offer compensation or bonuses to their executives. This is a benefit that is not enjoyed by average workers in these companies. The Mercer research reveals that the executives of the 100 companies had a mean bonus of 1. 4 million dollars in the year 2004. This bonus is equivalent to 141% of their annual basic salary. This indicates that the bonuses are higher that the pay they receive as a basic salary. In other words, even if the ratio of the basic salary of the executives to that of the average worker was low, the bonuses accounts for the increased level of the income inequality among the two groups. It is evident that with this kind of income, there is no way the income inequality between the two groups can be avoided (Chingos, 2004).

Benefits And Disadvantages Of Internet Banking

Benefits And Disadvantages Of Internet Banking This chapter will review the e-banking system in Malaysia and review the relevant literature on consumer perception towards e-banking. In addition, this literature review also considers the discussion of customer satisfaction and loyalty towards internet banking. 2.1 Benefits and Dis-advantages of Internet Banking 2.1.1 Benefits of Internet Banking Bu using internet, clients can access to their accounts doing transaction or access to other services with cost reduction and more convenience because online bank are operation 24hours per day, 7days per week. Furthermore, banks able to expand their market penetration internationally and offer personalized online services like clients able to check their account balances and monthly statement by login to the secure website of the bank, make payments, and transfer funds to other accounts. The speed of online banking transaction is generally faster than ATM processing speeds. Internet banking also provides advantages likes flexibility, individually and mobility which is a brand new distribution channel for clients to make on-line transaction. The improvement of internet protection through security technologies such as automatic log-off, firewalls, encryption, monitoring tools and authentication to ensure clients trust on internet banking (Banking Info, 2007). Table 1 are the benefits arise are summarized by Thulani et al.(2009) in their research paper on various study of internet banking. Benefits Related literature Cost Reduction Bradley and Stewart (2003), Rotchanakitumnuai and Speece (2003), Jayawadhera and Foley (2000), Nath et al 2001, Al-Sukkar and Hasan (2005) and Singh (2004), Corrocher (2002),Chang (2003), Sullivan and Wang (2005). Increased customer base Bradley and Stewart (2003), Jayawadhera and Foley (2000), Jen-Her Wu et al 2006 and Singh (2004), Corrocher (2002). Enable innovation and development of non-core business services Jayawadhera and Foley (2000), Nath et al. (2001), Karem (2003), Corrocher (2002), Chang (2003). Marketing and communication Jayawadhera and Foley (2000), Karem (2003), Corrocher (2002). Increased consumer loyalty and satisfaction Jen-Her Wu et al 2006 and AL-Sukkar and Hasan (2005), Nath et al. (2001). High profit consumers Jen-Her Wu et al 2006 and AL-Sukkar and Hasan (2005), Nath et al. (2001). Ability to attract new consumers AL-Sukkar and Hasan (2005). Table 1: Benefits of Internet Banking Source: Thulani et al. (2009) 2.1.2 Dis-advantage of Internet Banking AL-Sukkar and Hasan (2005) and Singh (2004) had identify the disadvantages of develop internet banking. They stated clients have to pay indirect cost as some of the internet banking systems charge money on browsing connectivity on personal computer. Moreover, cash are not available through internet. Customers are unable to withdraw cash or deposit cash by using internet banking. They also emphasize on security concerns, the issue of security concerns may delay the clients adoption of internet banking. Before using internet banking, applicant required to go through some procedure in one of the bank branch, especially the clients want to open a joint account. Some of the clients not familiar to internet browsing, they have to go through tutorials to familiarize with the navigation tools. Unfortunately, clients require re-familiarizing the navigation tools to access their account once banks update and upgrade their online system. Last but not least, trustworthiness is the most difficult yet most important issue face by clients. They always wonder whether the transaction or payments have been proceeding to another account accurately. 2.2 Aspect that Influence Consumer Perception towards Internet Banking The financial institutions have been use the Internet as an alternative way in order to provide services and interact with their customers. The electronic banking (e-banking) is no exception. Three of the most important characteristics of financial services to extend e-banking are: High availability, Scalability, and Security. (Antovski and LJ, 2001). According to them, high availability also can define in reliability, availability and serviceability. The e-banking are design for easy and continuous service to customers. Yibin and MU (2003) also stated the three improvements of the system infrastructure which are to build-up the reporting services for online transaction, improve the e-payment system, and improve the telecommunications infrastructure and other forms of electronic transaction. Factors such as the speed of transactions or the cost of using the Internet have little impact on an individuals final decision. After setting up better system infrastructure through Web, the new delivery channel can highly recommended to clients by giving guarantee on security, privacy and trust of Web system to minimize barrier. The adoption of electronic banking forces consumers to consider concerns about password integrity, privacy, data encryption, hacking, and the protection of personal information (Benamati and Serva, 2007). The following research provided the analysis on different aspect that will effect customer perception towards internet banking. 2.2.1 Electronic Security (E-Security) Electronic security is a tool or process designed to restrict entry or prevent unauthorized access to a systems information assets or is a risk-management (Thomas et al., 2002). Mueller (2001) stated that e-security prevents the hacker and others from accessing customers information, security pin number or credit card number. Thomas et al. (2002) highlighted e-security adds value to a naked network. As Internet is a new distribution channel for banking system, it require to providing sufficient security to maintain trustworthiness of clients towards the internet. Any inexpedient of security in Internet usage may lead to increase fear and desperate among the clients and bar them to use the banking system as their private information being hacked. Thomas et al. (2002) stated that although technology offer a new distribution channel for financial institution but it creates opportunities for crimes to be committed very quickly. A criminal can use the tools available on the Web to hack database on internet and steal personal hidden identities in seconds. This is why e-security must be taken very seriously. However, Raigaga (2000) stated that some banker has delay the online banking service due to the security concern. Consumer perceptions of security are measure through the operations and processes of encryption, protection, verification and authentication. The mechanisms of encryption, digital authentication, firewalls, protection, filtering routers, and personal identification numbers influence the internet customers perception towards security and might increase the confidence and trust of consumer. E-security is one of the important factors to be stressed. Most of the customers refuse to use internet banking as the alternative way to carry on transaction and payment because they afraid of losing their private information and data on hacker. 2.2.2 Trustworthiness Trust is considered as a strategic variable in current marketing (Selnes, 1998). Meanwhile, the development of internet banking brings new challenges, this lead to an increase of motivation in bank to provide a better service. Bank image will might slightly improve if clients able to enjoy better service. Bank image and consumer trust are significant influence the individual behavior (Ratnasingham, 1998). Bank image and customer trust are significantly affect individual behavior and their level of perception (Ratnasingham, 1998; Rexha et al., 2003; Lehu, 2001; Ba, 2001). Since the online banking give a higher level of risk to the clients, so Gefen et al. (2003) stated that trust is an important aspect to take note when doing internet transaction because it determines the nature of businesses. The issue of trust arises when risk is involved. Trust is the main factor being concern because bank and clients are physically separated from each other and there is a large number of suspicious about the e-security over the Internet. Generally, customers distrust and worries about the reliability of internet banking even the e-security system is good. Apart from this, Chellappa (2002) also emphasize on trust will be favorably influence with the increase in perceptions of security in EC (Electronic commerce) transactions. Furthermore, clients lack of confidence on the e-security is the main obstacle prevent e-banking is being developed further. As William Pitt, the eighteenth century British statesman once said,confidence is a plant of slow growth. Nexhmi et al. (2003) believe that trust and commitment are key relational mediators in the development of customers within the banking industry. According to them satisfaction will have a role in development but a more important element is to maintain close bank-customer relationship. Overall customer satisfaction with the bank will be directly related to the level of trust within the relationship. 2.3 Consumer Satisfaction and Loyalty Towards Internet Banking. For offline environments, it is common knowledge that quality of services and products is a key determinant of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Caruana, 2002; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Kelley and Davis, 1994; Parasuraman et al., 1988). The quality of services delivered through a Web site has become a more significant success factor than low prices or being the first mover in the market space (Mahajan et al., 2002; Reibstein, 2002; Shankar et al., 2003). Research by Patricio et al. (2003) goes one step further to measure service quality of various banking services through different delivery channels, including the electronic and traditional channels. They have found that perceived service quality with one delivery channel has an impact on how another channel is perceived. Moreover, Fassnacht and Ko ¨se (2007) found that high electronic service quality in web-based services had an important role in building overall customer trust for the service provider. Furthermore, Jean-Michel (2003) notes that customer is most important in designing, providing and evaluating the level of service quality. Customers past experience with the service is one of the factors that influence them to use Electronic banking for transaction. According to Vohra (2002), electronic banking makes it easier for customers to compare banks services and products. This can increase competition among banks and allow banks to enter into new markets by overcoming resistance and thus expand their geographical boundary. Banks operate websites through which customers are not only able to inquire about account balances, interest, and exchange rates but also conduct a range of transactions. Shailey et al. (2003) therefore notes that understanding customer requirements and meeting their demands and expectations is becoming a challenge. However, acceptance of this new technology has not yet been found to be equal in all parts of the globe indicating a lack of a common generalizability. Ramayah et al. (2002) suggest that users will eventually lose interest in using Internet banking if they feel that it is not useful to use Internet banking even though the system is rather easy to handle. One of the most important discussions was carried out by Machauer and Morgner (2001), who defined four clusters of German bank consumers. These were transaction oriented, generally interested, service oriented and technology opposed groups. In another study in Singapore, Liao and Cheung (2002) found that individual expectations regarding accuracy, security, transaction speed, user-friendliness, user involvement, and convenience were the most important quality attributes in the perceived usefulness of Internet-based ebanking. Among these, the first five determined the willingness of consumers to use of Internet based banking. According to Zorayda Ruth B. Andam (2003), 42% of respondents said they had access to computers and 7% said they had access to the Internet. Therefore, it can be perceived that this large variance has been found due to security obstacle in Asia and the emerging markets. This may be one of the greatest reasons why people do not initiate online banking or open inve stment accounts. Then, we might draw our concerns on perceived service quality and indeed, access to high quality services and products is another crucial concern. Apparently, there may also be a preference for personal contacts with the banks. customer satisfaction and customer retention are increasingly developing into key success factors in e-banking. http://www.mpexpert.com/images/stories/storydoc/Measuring_the_quality_of_ebanking_portals.pdf Sathye (1999) investigated the adoption of online banking by Australian consumers and argued that the intention of Internet banking in Australia is significantly influenced by variables of system insecurity, awareness of service and its benefits, ease of use, and availability of infrastructure Meanwhile the importance of the Internet to users banking needs relates to the advantages that accrue to the users of the technology in question. As adoption and the usage of the Internet banking services increases, a certain maturation point will be reached in the following years (Mà ¤enpà ¤Ãƒ ¤, 2006). Academicians also take a different stance in the theories they adopt when exploring consumer adoption of electronic banking (Laforet and Li, 2005). This study shows that only protected transaction, have significant impact on consumers perception about e-banking security, followed by service quality and regulatory frame work issues. This study offers an insight into e-banking in Malaysia. http://www.academicjournals.org/ajbm/pdf/pdf2009/Jun/Haqua%20et%20al..pdf African Journal of Business Management Vol.3 (6), pp. 248-259, June 2009 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJBM ISSN 1993-8233  © 2009 Academic Journals