ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
According to Pezdek, Blandon-Gitlin, and Gabbay (2006), imagination can induce false autobiographical memories. When plausible events are imagined, they elicit false memories which are not common in implausible events. They categorized childhood sexual abuse as being an implausible event questioning therapists’ claims of inducing false memories. The best measure for plausibility could be gotten after understanding Pezdek et al.’s design. Personal plausibility was the dependent variable in their study where the participants were to rate the likelihood that they personally experienced certain types of events at age 10. The independent variable was general plausibility to do with how common the events were in a general population of students from where the participants were drawn. The dependent variable was measured twice: before and after the imagination task. It was observed that the rating for personal plausibility increased with the imagination task. For the independent variable, the participants were asked to gauge the likelihood that a person with psychological disorder suffered childhood sexual abuse. This question was asked to the general population as opposed to asking an individual who would have personalized the question. Recovery from repression and traumatic events is common and a possibility if the studies have done is anything to go by. 495 participants who included 273 females were selected from Denmark. A telephone omnibus survey was used to collect data. A rating scale was used and there were no correct or incorrect answers. About 80% of the respondents felt that forgotten childhood sexual abuse was plausible or very plausible. The results indicate that a forgotten childhood sexual abuse have effects on current behavior. As such the general plausibility of this scenario is high going by Pezdek et al. (2006). The real picture is however not brought out as surveys underestimate prevalence. Actually, 90% of sexual abuse cases are never reported. This could portend severe emotional problems later in life. Therapists have tended to relate to the client’s problems with childhood sexual abuse. Clients are told that most of the problems they experience emanate from childhood sexual abuse. To conclude, Pezdek et al.’s (2006) results hold water and remain valid. The effort used in therapy is more intensive and prolonged. The study adds to the cumulating evidence that the risk of inducing false memories in psychotherapy is substantial. Works Cites Rubin, D. C., & Berntsen, D. (2007). People believe it is plausible to have forgotten memories of childhood sexual abuse. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 14(4), 776–778.
Introduction Empiricism deals with assertion that all that is in the world and beyond is known through the senses. To the empiricists, especially of the modern era, there was no other way of gaining knowledge except through the sense perception. Postmodernism has been the branch of knowledge that questions the previous approaches to knowing and advocating for pluralism in epistemology instead of relying on only one epistemological approach, empiricism is incorporated into postmodernism (Brooker 1996). Epistemology is mainly interested and concerned with the nature and the scope that knowledge can cover and the various limitations to attaining knowledge. Mainly epistemology deals with the various philosophical questions like whether knowledge is possible, if so what is it? How is it acquired? and if we really know then how do we know what we know? (Sosa 2004). Empiricism deals with a specific method of attaining knowledge and its proponents claim and endeavour in proving that actually, knowledge emanates from our senses and all that we know is from sense perception. Most of the proponents lived during the modern era. Having observed how the various school of thoughts clashed over which was right in its endeavour to seek the method of knowledge attainment postmodernism thinkers sought out to harmonize these school of thoughts. Eventually, the postmodernists came to agree that no single school of thought could claim monopoly of providing the source of knowledge. Postmodernists therefore united many of these schools of thought views to state that knowledge is gotten from many sources (Grenz 1996). Empiricism as a Source of Knowledge As observed, empiricists entirely dwell on the senses. The renowned British philosopher John Locke, who was once an assistance of Francis Bacon before his death, is the pioneer of British empiricism. In his empiricism illustration, he adopted the case of a child at birth to support empiricism as the only source of knowledge. He stated that at birth, the mind of a human being is tabula rasa- empty blanket. He said that the brain of a person at birth is like a plain white paper. As one grows experiences are written on the white sheet of paper, which is the brain. The brain is fed by experiences and its work is like that of a machine, processing the raw data given. Locke believes that the world is physical and thus in his account of solving the mind body problem, he says that the mind and body are just one and the same thing and continues to expound by saying that the mind is just an attribute of the body so physical rather than spiritual. The postmodernists have posed the question, if the mind is physical and the brain is empty, then how does a young baby know ho to suckle? (Reck 1963). Another empiricist by the name Bishop George Berkeley asserts that there is only one source of knowledge in the universe and that is empiricism. He stated that to be is to be perceived, that is to say, for a thing to be said to exist it must be perceived first. He states that if something is not perceived then that thing is inexistence. To him the idea o
Introduction International students with non- English speaking backgrounds face multiple pressures that may affect their academic performances. The uppermost among these pressures is their level of English language proficiency. They find the instructions of their classes fast-paced not only because of language and communication styles but also because of other cultural and social differences. Bilingual students normally perceive that their English vocabulary is less extensive than students with English-speaking backgrounds, and because of such perception they become hesitant to take part in classroom discussions. Often other students fail to understand their point of view on the subject matter. Bilinguals feel that their remarks may be ignored or interrupted. There is a difficulty for them to understand idiomatic language or the fast-paced lectures of the tutor that characterize the American classroom proceedings. This perpetuates the participation of such students in classroom proceedings and discussions, which is very important if students have to develop their debating skills. Sometimes they find it difficult to become part of the classroom community. International students also face challenges in their written work as they are not good English speakers. The problem is that they express strong anxiety over the correctness and that dominates any concerns over the content of the material. The writing of non- English speakers normally consists of repeated and consistent use of non-standard phrases, and this seriously hinders the development of the expression of their ideas. It is observed that bilinguals err on verb forms, use of proposition, and articles among writing mistakes. The uses of the non-standard verb- forms indicate a more serious linguistic interference than the use of non-standard propositions or articles. ‘As the student tries to control the language, he may lose the control of focus, logic, or the structure of the paper’(Writing needs of International Students). Main body Cultural differences of international students affect their academic performance and learning responses more than language interferences. Students with Asian, European, and Latin American backgrounds feel it is disrespectful to look directly at teachers when they speak to them asking questions or expressing any opinion. They are likely to have been taught not to speak in class unless asked to speak on an issue. With such a background culture, bilingual students may be more hesitant to participate in class discussions than other students. It is observed that students with such backgrounds rely heavily on abstract and passive constructions; and that obscure the direct presentation of their ideas. International students studying English in the same classes as native English-speaking students have difficulties in understanding the academic contents. As compared to their native English-speaking classmates, bilinguals usually have to put in extra effort and time to cope with the fast pace of the American way of te
Introduction The Gulf region remains an incredibly volatile region within the Middle East. This volatility gives rise to external and internal security threats. The region has never benefited from the various changes that took place in Latin America and Eastern Europe in the end of the 20 th century. Following these transformations, these regions ended up having their security issues intertwined with economic and political legitimacy coupled with the surfacing of myriads of concepts of cooperative security. With regard to Henderson (2003), these concepts were “associated with a shift away from realistic approaches predicted on a zero-sum notion of national security” (p.3). Since this kind of comparative shift never took place in the Gulf region’s states since 1980s, three main interstate wars have been encountered. They have been articulated upon consideration of balance of power. However, “the conflation of regime security with national security is a feature of local discourses on security in the Gulf as it is in many other developing countries” (Harders & Legrenzi, 2008, p.20). Indeed, the GCC ruling elites comprising six states have endeavored to pursue various strategies for surviving in a bid to manage the transition process into the oil production era. Apparently, “external security alliances, both bilaterally within the United States and multilaterally through the creation of the GCC, met internal needs by reinforcing regimes’ security, as much against their own societies as it is for the neighboring states” (Henderson, 2003, p.4). This implies that the security situation of the Gulf region is influenced by external and internal challenges. From this perspective, this research paper focuses on investigating the degree of validity of the statement that the Arabian political regimes are the real threats to security in the Arabian Gulf region. The paper highlights the security challenges within the Arabian Gulf region particularly on how the Arabian political regimes are threatening the oil supplies in the long term. The central goal is to create a better understanding of new challenges in the region. Research Problem The Gulf region has a history of volatile situations that pose threats to residents of the nat
Introduction Tourism is one of the fastest developing industries in the world. The industry has resulted to both positive and negative impacts on the environment. Tourism will negatively influence the environment if the intensity of use by the visitors becomes more than the ability of the environment to support it. On the other hand, tourism results to positive impacts if every tourist understands the actual idea of environmental preservation and its sustainability. This paper endeavors to discuss how the two relate besides giving a highlight of the impact of tourism on the environment. Relationship between tourism and the environment There is a great dependency of tourism on the environment as described by Holden and Fennel’s book The Routledge Handbook of Tourism and Environment. As Supporting the claim made, Holden and Fennel confirm how tourism relies on the naturally existing environments, heritages, and the people that inhabit certain environments (46). Therefore, everyone should understand the need to conserve the environment for purposes of sustaining tourism. Tourism involves people who visit places for purposes of “sightseeing, vacation taking, visiting relatives and even friends, or even enjoying a good time” (Holden and Fennel 25). These visitors can also take up sports, talk, ride take, sunbathe, touring, and even interact with the environment. Others visit places for conferences, conventions, and business meetings or even for study tour with some guidance from experts when they are doing scientific studies and researches. These people are the tourists who depend on the environment for their success. The environment includes a variety of facets, for example, economic, cultural, social physical, political, or even the natural environment. Tourism majorly depends on the physical environment. The dependency relationship involves the society at large especially one that gives confidence to various people in order to take up tourism. This close relationship is also promoted by both positive and negative impacts as confirmed by Faraji in his work that addresses the subject under scrutiny (37-48). Impacts of the relationship between tourism and environment On the usage of resources, tourism requires a variety of natural resources for purposes of growth. The main natural resources that are important in tourism are water and land, all of which are part of the environment. These two natural resources can be easily threatened by the impacts of tourism. When tourism is done without any control, a number of tourism areas that occur naturally in many parts of the world can be destroyed. When there is too much pressure on the land, the results are negative effec
The portrayal of female characters in horror movies has been an issue of concern for many years in cinematography. Placing a woman in the center of a horror story helps to reveal diverse themes related to the nature of femininity, social, and psychological aspects of the female personality. The film, under the title “Carrie,” directed by Brian De Palma in 1976, is one of such cinematographic works. It is an essential benchmark in the history of US film-making history. The story, based on the novel by Stephen King, unravels the power of a woman to stand against bullying and oppressing society, which is masterfully depicted by efforts of the director and the leading actress. The plot of the film is linear and chronological, in which the problematic life of the school’s scapegoat Carrie White (played by Sissy Spacek) is shown (De Palma). Since her early childhood, she has been bullied and laughed at because she was different. Her difference is rooted in the way she was brought up. Carries religious mother, Margaret White (played by Piper Laurie), is not mentally stable and continuously forces her daughter to pray, abuses her both physically and emotionally (De Palma). Margaret neglects her daughter’s education concerning her development as a woman. As a consequence, Carrie is exposed to humiliation when she experiences her first menstruation in front of her classmates. As she reaches her puberty, the girl realizes she has supernatural powers of telekinesis that allow her to revenge for injustice and bullying. The powerful demonstration of the strictly feminine natural issue brings many topics to discuss. De Palma’s presentation of the ways women experience themselves in the oppressive societal conditions emphasizes the complicated life they might lead. On the other hand, the immense power of Carrie’s agony shows the potential the girl has when confronted with unspeakable humiliation. The scope of merciless revenge reaches everyone who has ever harmed the main heroine. Carrie’s feelings and sufferings are at the center of the film’s plot. Throughout the movie, the spectators observe how the events evolve around the main character. Such a leading role shows both the monstrous nature of the female character and her strong desire to protect herself by balancing the good and evil. Indeed, the general view at the plot might imply the overall neg
The article in question addresses the correlation between the duration of a vowel and the type of focus or stress. De Jong and Zawaydeh (2002) address this phonetic issue on the basis of the Arabic language, attempting to observe a potential effect of quantity and voicing duration on the vowel duration and describe this influence. The authors refer to the concept of hyperarticulation that is used to describe transformations in speech style condition by an intention to realize stressed material by more intense articulatory activity. Similar effects have been described by them in the English language, which provided a solid foundation for this subsequent investigation into the patterns of Arabic. De Jong and Zawaydeh (2002) equally rely on prior observations, suggesting a speaker’s ability to create specific phonological contrasts through hyperarticulation to attract the listener’s attention to a specific segment. Hence, the article in question elaborates on a phonetic phenomenon that has been at the center of academic research for some time. This piece of research aims to explore the relationship between stress, focus, and segmental contrast, resulting in modified vowel durations. At the same time, De Jong and Zawaydeh (2002) acknowledge the fact that the dynamic characteristics of durational lengthening are not universal. The authors refer to a number of previous studies that confirm this information, elaborating that hyperarticulation is more commonly observed within the final portion of a vowel. Nevertheless, most of these previous pieces of research are centered around the trends of the English language. De Jong and Zawaydeh (2002) note that Arabic is found to possess similar stress characteristics, making it a viable option to verify the central hypothesis. The key research question that is pursued by the authors is whether stress, lexical focus, and segment focus have an observable effect on the quantity and voicing of the speech. The formulation of the research question has determined the selection of the methodology used by the authors. De Jong and Zawaydeh (2002) investigate the phonological phenomenon in question on the basis of a colloquial Arabic dialect. The study utilizes the input of four native Ammani-Jordanian Arabic aged between 17 and 28. The experiment incorporated a two-step design, with unfocused items and lexical focus items followed by a segmental focus. Table 1 of the article describes the target words, reflecting the phonetic similarity between them. More specifically, the authors observed the phonological transformations on the basis of shared phonemes within lexically different language items. Both lexical- and segmental-focus items were recorder with a portable cassette recorder and later analyzed with the use of SoundScope. The findings of the article support the initially advanced hypothesis of the theorized effect of stress, lexical focus, and segmental focus on the durations of vowels. First of all, the findings reveal a 20 ms increase of stressed syllable duration as compared to their unstressed counterparts on average. On the other hand, focus did not yield an observable effect in this
Introduction Yitzhak Rabin, the soldier turned statesman and eventually the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, was assassinated by Yigal Amir, a student and a right-wing radical, on November 4, 1995. Being the first Prime Minister to ever been assassinated and the second to die while in office, many controversies and opinions are circulating within people’s minds as to the reasons behind his death. The best way to observe the reaction of people towards the leader and his demise can be seen through the public mediums and the articles which were written before and after the sordid affair. The opinions differ across borders but for this research, we will concentrate on Western publications (namely the United States newspapers) and the Israeli perspective. The report’s thesis statement would be to gauge the diversity in the portrayal of the assassination by different groups of people, namely the American and the Israeli journalists. The paper will answer this question by quoting articles from different sources and prove that there were many different angles with which to view the assassination. The results of the demise of Rabin The assassination initially led to an outrage in the Israeli nation but the key facet to observe here is the apparent lack of involvement with Rabin as a leader. In different sources, we can observe that though Rabin had an immense following as a symbol, people did not relate to him as a figure that could have brought about peace. The sudden demise of Rabin led to the chasm between the budding peace process which itself had created a rift between the Israeli nation. Many journalists have stated in the Jerusalem Post about the assassination further creating a divide between the “leftist” and the “rightest” parties within the state. The common belief regarding the assassination is of some higher powers being involved to derail any progress which might have been created for peace and some even point towards conspiracies as far-ranging as the existence of a New World Order and Barry Chamish, an Israeli author of books such as “Who killed Yitzhak Rabin?” and “The Last Days of Israel”, directing doubts towards the West and their vested interests in this region. Media reaction Even though political experts refrain from addressing the incident of the assassination, various segments of the Israeli community have reacted actively concerning the incident. An article in the Jerusalem Post regarding this subject gives a good sense of how the common people
During the era of slavery, the white slave owners living in the Southern states of the USA were inclined to discuss black slaves as the beings taking the transitional or liminal level of development between animals and humans. However, in his work Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Frederick Douglass represents the contradictory vision of the issue, supporting the idea that the white slave owners acted as animals in relation to the black people in many cases because of being ruled by the natural instincts which were not associated with the principles of humanity. From this point, Douglass provides the discussion of evidences to state that white slave owners can be discussed as more animalized humans than black slaves with references to the point that slave owners can also combine animal instincts with hypocrisy typical only for humans. Thus, Douglass states that slaves in relation to their identity are more human than slave owners despite the idea that the black people are animalized in their nature because of their origin and race, and that slaves take the specific liminal stage between humans and animals; moreover, Douglass refers to his own experience, human attributes, spirituality, and intellectual qualities to support the argument. The significant role of discourses on the issues of animality and liminality is emphasized by Douglass on the first pages of his narrative because the author describes the challenges of the constant thinking over this problem. Thus, Douglass states, “I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own. Any thing, no matter what, to get rid of thinking! It was this everlasting thinking of my condition that tormented me” (Douglass 35). Douglass concentrates on the problem of being a slave and on the conditions associated with the slave owners’ perceptions of the blacks as animals because these conditions prevent the blacks from perceiving themselves as humans equal to the whites. Douglass compares himself and his life conditions with the life of a beast not because of identifying himself as the inferior being, but because of opposing to the life of slaves discussed as animalized humans. Douglass pays attention to the fact that the black slaves are perceived as brute animalized humans not because of their actions and rule of instincts. The white slave owners