A psychologist is someone who studies and practices psychology as a job. Psychologists study the human mind and behavior. They study human perceptions, emotions, and personality relationships. Clinical psychologists help people overcome mental health issues without the use of drugs. They often use CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy.
Psychology is the study of the mind, partly by studying what people do, and grounding the observations in science. The goal of Psychology is to gain an understanding of individuals, groups and relationships and how certain personality traits can influence the outcome of any given situation. Psychology tries to gain an understanding of mental functions in an individuals social behaviors, while also exploring the physiological and neurological processes that influence certain functions and behaviours.
Johannes Heesters
Johan Marius Nicolaas "Johannes" Heesters (5 December 1903 - 24 December 2011) was a Dutch actor, singer, and entertainer.
He worked for 91 years, and almost always worked in German-speaking Europe. Heesters was one of the oldest working people in entertainment. Some people have had problems with Heesters because he once sang for Adolf Hitler. He also supported the Nazi's during World War II.
Heesters was married twice: to Belgian actress Louise Ghijs (1906-1985) from 1930 until her death and from 1992-2011 to Simone Rethel. Heesters has two daughters from his first marriage and five grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren, twenty-five great-great-grandchildren and one great-great-great-grandson as of 2011. His younger daughter Nicole Heesters is a well-known actress in the German-speaking world, as is his granddaughter Saskia Fischer.
On 1 January 2008, he fell down some stairs in his holiday house in Tyrol and broke two ribs.
On 29 November 2011, he suddenly fell ill and was rushed into a hospital. He was operated on to fit a heart pacemaker. He was allowed home less than a week later. This was in time to spend his 108th birthday the next day with family. He did not feel strong enough to make the planned stage appearance to sing in celebration of his birthday. He also missed the premiere of his latest movie, "Ten". Due to a relapse in his condition, on 17 December he went back to the hospital. He had a stroke and died on Christmas Eve 2011.
World Bank
The World Bank is an international bank that lends money and other help to developing nations for infrastructure. The World Bank has the goal of reducing poverty.
The World Bank is different from the World Bank Group, because the World Bank is made up of only two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). The World Bank Group has these two, but also three more: International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
The World Bank is one of five institutions started as the Bretton Woods system in July 1944. The International Monetary Fund is another one. Many countries sent people to attend the Bretton Woods Conference. The most powerful countries with people there were the United States and United Kingdom, which controlled most of the negotiations.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are both based in Washington DC, but the World Bank is headed by an American, while the IMF is led by a European.
From the start until 1967 the bank did not lend as much money as it does now. Careful screening of loan applications was common. The bank wanted to provide loans for reconstruction and development, but if they lent out too much, there would be less trust in the bank.
Bank president John McCloy chose France to be the first country to receive a loan from the World Bank; Poland and Chile applied but did not receive one. The loan was for $987 million, half the amount that France actually asked for. There were very strict rules about the use of the funds. Bank staff made sure that the French government would have a balanced budget and pay back what it owed to the World Bank first before it paid back other countries. The United States State Department told the French government that the Cabinet should not have any communists. To get the loan, the French government removed the Communist coalition government. The loan to France was given very quickly after that.
The Marshall Plan of 1947 meant that many European countries already got help, so the World Bank began to lend to non-European countries. Until 1968, loans were used mainly to pay for projects that would help the country pay it back (such projects as ports, highway systems, and power plants).
From 1968 to 1980 the bank worked mostly on meeting the basic needs of people in poor countries. The amount of money being loaned out grew bigger, and more loans were given. This was because the loans were not just given for infrastructure, but also for social services and other things.
These changes were made by Robert McNamara who became the president in 1968. McNamara managed the Bank in the same way he had worked when he was United States Secretary of Defense and President of the Ford Motor Company. McNamara changed the focus toward things such as building schools and hospitals, improving literacy and farming. McNamara started a new system of gathering information from nations applying for loans. This helped the bank to process loan applications much faster. To give out more loans, McNamara told bank treasurer Eugene Rotberg to find new sources of money, because the northern banks that had lent out the money did not have enough. Rotberg used the bond market to increase the amount of money that the bank could lend. One result of lending so much to help poor countries was that the countries in the Third World started owing a lot more money. From 1976 to 1980 developing world debt rose at an average of 20% a year.
From 1989 World Bank policy changed, because many people were complaining. Environmental groups and NGOs were also lent money, to help fix the things that the people were complaining about. Now bank projects include caring for the environment.
The World Bank's current focus is on meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This means lending mainly to countries that are not very poor, at interest rates which are a little bit higher than the ones it borrows at. The IDA provides low or no interest loans and grants to the poorest countries. The Bank’s mission is to help developing countries to develop more and become less poor. They will also meet the MDGs by helping countries to become good places for investment, jobs and sustainable growth. This (it is postulated) will help the country's economic growth through investment and help the poor to share the results of economic growth.
The World Bank says that there are five key factors necessary for economic growth:
For the poorest developing countries in the world, the bank’s plans are based on poverty reduction strategies. The World Bank looks very carefully at local groups of people, and the needs of the country, to develop a strategy that works best for that country. The government then says what it will do to help stop poverty, and the World Bank works with it.
Forty-five countries gave US$25.1 billion in "aid for the world's poorest countries", aid that goes to the World Bank International Development Association (IDA) which distributes the money to eighty poorer countries. While richer nations sometimes pay for their own aid projects, Robert B. Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, said when the gifts were announced on December 15, 2007, that World Bank money "is the core funding that the poorest developing countries rely on".