1. If praising employees for doing a good job seems to be fairly easy and obvious motivational tool, why do you think companies and managers don't often do it?

There is nothing like a good recognition for a job well done. When you are acknowledged for something that you worked hard for and given praise, you can't help but feel motivated to do better and improve your current output. These praises may come from different people that observe directly and who may be benefited from the hard work you put in. It may be from your colleagues that may give you a good remark or two. It can be from clients or customers who may have a good experience from the product that you offer. However, one of the most significant praise that you can garner and can uplift your morale is one that comes from your manager as well as recognition from the company.

As the saying goes, “Different strokes for different folks”, but isn't it a widely accepted fact that verbal praise can be one of the the most powerful incentive that can be awarded to a good performing employee? As one research conducted goes to show, verbal praise in forms of recognition during events or a formal praise in front of others is a big factor that affects the turnover rate of the company, that is their ability to retain their employees. Verbal praise affects the willingness of the employee to stay with the company for a longer period of time. Percentages show that verbal praising is among one of the recognition techniques that is effective alongside cash bonuses and other non-cash incentives (Maritz 2006). However, easy as it is to dole out praise words, not a lot of managers are into the practice. There are different factors that may affect the manager's disposition about doling out verbal praises and are enumerated as follows:

a) The manager may be uncomfortable with verbally praising employees. This may root from previous experiences that make him/her distrust this kind employee recognition strategy.

b) Ego. This is a common problem for everyone. Some managers, due to having reached their status with the company, has developed a a sense of pride that may be unhealthy. He/ she may adapt an attitude that makes them think highly of themselves. Rank and power sometimes does a lot of things to people.

c) Other employees sometimes think that those that are praised are becoming favorites or “pets” by the manager. This sometimes prohibits the manager to give verbal praises to employees in front of others in fear of being labled unjust. They would rather not give praises than cause an uncomfortable atmosphere.

d) Words are very powerful tools in affecting the human emotion and depending on the kind of words that one may hear, it may have negative of positive effects. In praises for example, it can negatively effect employees who are uncomfortable with it. It may make them decrease their productivity in order to shy away from being acknowledged publicly. Therefore, not knowing the proper incentive needs that are effective with your employees may be a hindrance to managers and companies to praise their employees.

2. As a manager, what steps would you take to motivate your employees after observing them perform well?

Working hard is a virtue that all employees must employ in order to get recognized and be acknowledged. It is their part of the bargain when they get accepted in the company. You don't just receive praises and rewards without expending effort on it. Most employees who are career-oriented and are focused in their productivity put their best foot forward in order to achieve their goals of a higher position ang compensation in the future. It is employees like these that are key factors for a company to achieve their goals of productivity. Driven as they are, they are humans as well and may experience burn-out or may become unsatisfied when their hard work are not being acknowledged and they would feel like they are taken for granted.

No one likes a boss who takes his/ her employees for granted. Sometimes, monetary incentives are not enough to make employees feel appreciated. A direct recognition of a job well done may just be the thing to keep their fire burning. An honest appreciation of a positive outcome of a project done by employees is an effective way to make them feel pride on what they have done. It will give them a sense of importance and fulfillment which will fuel their drive to perform better in the next undertaking. Others who may see this in a positive light will be encouraged to do the same thus creating a constructively competitive environment for all. A win-win situation for the employees and the company as well. As from the Supervisor's Newsletter of Mines and Associates, “Effective praise tells employees what they're doing right and encourages them to keep doing it. That's why some consider praise superior to punishment as a teaching tool. Praise is loaded with information: It tells you exactly what to do next time (Epotech 2001).”

Warning and Friendly Reminder: Plagiarism is a crime. This essay is here to give you an idea or guide you, not to be copied by you. You can look at the references and Works cited provided by this free academic essay and from that you can create your own. Be a smart student,be honest: look for free academic essays anywhere in the web or the Internet but don’t forget to make your own. There are so many free essays online as guides but please do your own. You can also utilize free plagiarism checkers available online.

Another motivation tool for me is to provide compensation based rewards as well as spontaneous rewards that may be out of the blue or may serve as a surprise. This will provide an atmosphere of excitement that is contagious to all and will make the employees put in a conscious effort to make their work exceedingly noticeable. They will all be eager to put in extra effort since they know that they will be reaping rewards. Ed Frigsbee gives examples of spontaneous gift like maybe a day at the spa or gift certificates to a good restaurant (Rigsbee 2010). This may be good idea for treats since the employee who works so hard may welcome a relaxing day to have them recharged and be more motivated as ever to perform well. All properly motivated employees will highly contribute to the productivity of the company as a whole. It all starts with a few or a handful but if the right motivation is employed, it will spread to a company full of eager employees. The company must employ the right strategy to keep the fire burning.

3. Are there any downsides to giving employees too much verbal praise? What might these downsides be and how could you alleviate them as a manager?

Again, verbal praises can highly affect an employees work as whole. It can affect their productivity, image in the workplace, self esteem as well as relationships with other employees and managers as well. Much as it is positive, it has it's downsides as well. The key to somehow avoid these downsides would be to plan on a way of lessening it and it's effects to the employees. Here are the possible downsides of too much verbal praises as well as ways to somehow alleviate them:

a. One downside would be making the employee feel complacent and may cause him/ her to feel that mediocre work would be enough. It may give them a feeling that there is no room for improvement. If verbal praising is over done, it may not develop a sense of improvement in the work attitude of the employee. To alleviate this, the manager should not overdo verbal praising. Choose only the achievements that are noteworthy of praise. When verbal praising is overdone, the next praise would seem meaningless for employees. Point out the positive effects of the wonderful job done to the company as a whole to give the employee a sense of responsibility in furthermore improving their work.

b. Another downside of too much verbal praise is the perception it may give to employees. Some employees may perceive it insulting when things that are too basic are given praises. Do not sweat the small stuff.

c. It may be a prelude to insults. Some managers when given the assignment from higher management to give too much verbal praise can think of this as a opportunity to insult the employees through phony praises. Employees may also think of it a as sugar coating and may think that there are insincere undertones to it. The best way for a manager to avoid this is to make eye contact when giving out the praise to communicate the honesty to it. It should be more meaningful when it is timely and delivered in a precise way to make it more credible and believable.

d. It may not be applicable to all but too much verbal praising can cause unnecessary stress to the employee. There are employees who do not take well to being praised especially when in public. There are cases when it is the cause of the deterioration in the employees' productivity and attitude in the work place. One way to address this is for the manager to study the personalities of the employees. Be keen on matching the effective incentive or praise strategy for employees so that it is both effective and well appreciated.

e. It may cause chaos in the workplace since some employees may be envious with other employees who receive excessive praising and may think them favorites. Again, to be precise in pointing out the noteworthy act comes into place. The manager should point out the exact reason why the praise was given so that it could be set an example for others to follow and resolve their issue, and make it clear to them that the praise was given for a reason.

4. As a manager, how would you ensure that recognition given to employees is distributed fairly and justly?

Managers should think it important that incentives and praises should be justly and fairly given to employees. It is indeed hard to face complaining employees who are comparing themselves with others. To address this, first and foremost, the manager should design a non-biased incentive program or a gauge level that should be uniform to all. This should be made clear to everyone and must have a basis so that there can be a benchmark or a standard that all the employees can reach to gain rewards.

Managers should also conduct in-house surveys that dwell on employee relationships and work attitude so that others that may not be recognized may have the opportunity. Some employees who have meaningful contribution may not be very visible and surveys can help in recognizing them since other employees who see the value of their colleague's work can bring this to the attention of management. Good peer-to-peer relationship is inportant in fostering a more productive atmosphere. Suggestion boxes can also be used and will be helpful in addressing other employee issues and will also aid in assessing incentive and praise programs.

Furthermore, management should make sure that everyone gets a chance in getting a well deserved recognition. The rewards program should also be consistent and clearly communicated. Well satisfied employees translates to good productivity and wellness for the company.

List of References

Epotech. (2001). Praising Employees. Retrieved April 19, 2005, from the Epotech database.

Maritz (2006). The Power of Meaningful Employee Recognition: Why One Size Does not Fit All.

Maritz Inc. MRC-124 April 2006

Rigsbee, E (2010). Praise for a Job Well Done. (Online) available from <http://www.rigsbee.com/ma9.htm >

Given the scenario, being the president of the Homeowners’ Association (HOA) board, and having to give feedback to one HOA board member that is distressed and to other board members, in light of discussing whether a certain proposal is to be implemented or not, I need to consider some factors before sharing my thoughts.

First, “what is my purpose in giving feedback?” Indeed, before doing anything, it is important to know why we are doing such a thing. Being the president, empathizing with my fellow homeowner would ease out the tension. However, in the present situation, it is best to empathize with the one who is in worse situation: the board member that is heavily distressed by our discussion. Empathy is one of the positive psychologies that I can utilize in easing the feeling of the distressed board member and make him feel a better and positive so that a better decision can be made. Aside from making our discussion productive, empathizing with the distressed board member can “cultivate positive emotions in our own lives and in the lives of those around us not just because doing so makes us feel good in the moment but also because doing so will transform us to be better people, with better lives in the future. (Fredrickson, 2002, p. 131)

The second thing to ponder upon is, “what specific actions am I trying to change?” It is obvious that the situation is becoming too much for everyone who is attending the discussion. It is not only the “action” but also the situation need to be changed. By giving my feedback to the distressed board member, through empathy, I can change the current heated exchange of words and possible long-term misunderstanding that this discussion can lead to, not only today but also in the future.

The third consideration I need to think about is, “what will be the most helpful feedback I can give?” I would tell the distressed board member that I truly understand his position that such a proposition is reasonable that is why we, HOA board members and officers, are currently having this discussion. I would emphasize to him that he needs to take it calmly because so far, the proposition has not been decided yet. Who knows? What he opt to might even get implemented. I would advise him to compose his mind and ideas so that he can further put his input in the final discussion to conclude and decide the matter at hand: whether to have the security guard in the neighborhood or not.

Fourth, I have also to consider that my feedback does not have an assured 100% success rate. I still have to reflect and ask, “what are the potential problems with my feedback?” There are many things that can happen. The anger of the distressed board member might be redirected to me. This happens when his id overtakes his ego or superego. He will turn narcissistic especially if he will realize that I have reasonable feedback but he does not want to admit his mistakes at the same time. He will obviously do this as a defense mechanism. In fact this is one of the "most widespread and supple of the mechanisms of defense” (Newberger, 2000, p. 279), the denial. The board member hates to admit that he overreacted with the issue and that my feedback is rational.

Fifth, “how do I plan to overcome potential problems with this feedback?” As Clarke-Epstein, (2001) stressed, the truth in feedback is that, whether it is “positive or negative, given or received, feedback can be tricky". First, I should plan a very good timing in giving them. I would let the distressed board member calm down for a few minutes, engage him in a conversation that is not related to the subject that distressed him. One good example is something interesting and gives a sense of enjoyment from his side such as his latest vacation or his sailing activity or his upcoming family reunion. Then, I would get back to the issue at hand, look him straight into the eyes and give him my feedback. I should make sure though that no one is nearby who can unnecessarily join in our conversation giving unsolicited opinion that may irritate the board member again.

Sixth, I have to plan whether “all the feedback I want to deliver need to be done at one time?” As indicated above, I have to be in perfect timing to make things work perfectly. Thus, giving all the feedback in one time will not help. A set of procedures need to be followed: one step at a time and slowly but surely. Once the heated discussion is at its peak, I would call for a session/discussion break. In my experience, no one refuses a hot cup of coffee or tea in the middle of a heated discussion. Everyone simply wants to wind up a bit, refresh and free the mind and compose his or her ideas and thoughts better to better present his or her views.
Lastly, I have to ask, “what is the best time to give my feedback without a need to procrastinate?” The feedback that I plan to give should be given outright. It is best to hit the iron while it is hot. In psychology, "some researchers, following behaviorist tenets that reinforcements need to be given quickly to be effective, have thought that it is essential to give feedback immediately." (Metcalfe, Kornell & Finn, 2009) Thus, a ten to fifteen minute break is enough to implement my plan as mentioned in the preceding paragraph. My plan has a 97% success rate because the distressed board member is a close friend of mine and he is also a respected nice person. Once I have implemented my plan on him, my next feedback is for the whole board. If my feedback and advice to the distressed board member succeeds, everything will be better when the time to finalize the discussion comes and decision is to be rendered. Our discussion would be more productive and our personal relationships, with respect to each other, not tarnished by the heat of the discussion.

References
Clarke-Epstein, C. (2001, November). Truth in Feedback: Positive or Negative, Given or Received, Feedback Can Be Tricky. We Shatter Some Popular Misconceptions to Guide You. T&D, 55, 78+.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2002). 9 Positive Emotions. In Handbook of Positive Psychology, Snyder, C. R. & Lopez, S. J. (Eds.) (pp. 120-131). New York: Oxford University Press.

Metcalfe, J., Kornell, N., & Finn, B. (2009). Delayed versus Immediate Feedback in Children's and Adults' Vocabulary Learning. Memory & Cognition, 37(8), 1077+.

Newberger, E. H. (2000). The Men They Will Become: The Nature and Nurture of Male Character. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.

The title itself caused prejudice upon my mind on the theme of the story. I have been expecting, from the very beginning, the idea that indeed “a good man is hard to find” theme would be all throughout the story. Indeed my insights were correct. The reasons why my perceptions have stayed intact and have not been swayed can be attributed to the way the story itself have progressed. In fact, at the start, I never had the faintest idea how and why Flannery O’Connor gave such title to her story. With the presence of the “wicked grandmother” in the story as I may say, I have drawn conclusions on how humanity or a person can really be bad.

In the story, I have observed the absence of heavenly guidance on the characters, especially to the old woman, the grandmother. In her alone, I have imagined the reality of an evil act and evil’s existence. Moreover, I have learned that in many occasions, human beings cannot really make better decisions and how their thinking can be influenced by the things they believe and by their ambitions: materialism. I have seen this specific situation when the old woman believed that nicely dressed men are better and good-hearted than those that are haggard looking and dirty ones.

Moreover, I can see the bulging ego of the characters and how material world have influenced the lives of humanity in general. I see egocentricities and heavy pride in the old woman as well in the dominant hard character of the son. In the presence of the Misfit, I have perceived lack of respect and a strong absence of beliefs to the supreme being.

Again, a good man is in fact difficult to find. Man is generally evil, proud, materialistic and lost. Only with God’s grace and guidance they can be led in a correct pathway of life. In the story, these ideas were emphasized making me stay with my thoughts regarding the story. As the grandmother and the Misfit found something uncommon, it was actually not as uncommon as they have thought. It was sin and suffering in life. Certainly the grandmother “would have been a good woman… if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”

Reference
Castle A. (2007). “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. The Literary Encyclopedia, 14 October 2007. Accessed 16 May 2008 from .

Definitions of Traditional and Electronic Bullying -- Bullying has been a major problem in schools ever since. It may take different forms either verbal, non-verbal, direct or indirect. It is a problem that has caused major attention because of it's rising gravity and the numerous cases of student deaths resulting from intense bullying. Adolescents are most likely the culprits and victims of bullying because it is a time in the human physical and social development that emotions are most sensitive, hormones are at an all-time high, and peer pressures are abound. However, in the fast paced world that we have that caused evolution of technology, traditional bullying has taken on a different look. Like our gadgets, clothes, look and style has been modernized, so has traditional bullying. It has taken a form that was motivated by the availability and accessibility of the internet. It is now of another form referred to as “electronic bullying”.

Traditionally, bullying is said to occur when a person is the target of criticism or any form of attack and that the bullied person eventually feels that he is powerless to put a stop to the harm being done to him. The main forms of bullying are physical and verbal (Olweus,2001). Physical bullying would mean physically hurting another person by kicking, punching, pushing, throwing things and other forms of abuse that may hurt the person physically. Verbal bullying on the other hand, constitutes calling the person names that are emotionally hurtful. It may also be teasing and throwing words that are degrading and demeaning. It may be direct or indirect. Other definitions of traditional bullying by experts are : Bullying is a subtype of aggression (Dodge, 1991; Olweus, 1993; Smith & Thompson, 1991); "A person is being bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other students" (Olweus, 1993, p. 9) ; "A student is being bullied or picked on when another student says nasty and unpleasant things to him or her. It is also bullying when a student is hit, kicked, threatened, locked inside a room, sent nasty notes, and when no one ever talks to him" (Smith & Sharp, 1994, p. 1).

Electronic bullying is a form of bullying by electronic means and may be indirect or direct. Electronic bullying has been defined as a means of bullying in which peers use electronics to taunt, insult, threaten, harass, and/or intimidate a peer. Anecdotal evidence and media reports show that Internet bullies use text messaging, e-mails, defaming websites, and online “slam books” to aggress against peers (Tench, 2003; Wendland, 2003). One specific example may be the use of cellphones to take pictures that may compromise the dignity of your peers and by distributing this to others. This pictures may have been taken by secret or through deceit. Electronic bullying has also been referred to using other terms such as cyber bullying or online social cruelty. It is said that Electronic Bullying has now been considered as more dangerous than traditional bullying. “Cyber bullying is a very difficult form of bullying to prevent and to police. A major difference between cyber bullying and traditional bullying is the ability to bully without a face-to-face confrontation. Kids become emboldened by the false feeling of being anonymous and they say things they might not have said in person (Beckerman & Nocero, 2003).”

Characteristics of a Bully
Because of the growing problem about bullying, a lot of studies have focused on the determination of the inherent qualities or observable qualities of a bully. This is important for the determining of ways on how this can be cured and avoided. Healthwise (2009) provides a list of characteristics of a bully: Children who bully:may witness physical and verbal violence or aggression at home. They have a positive view of this behavior, and they act aggressively toward other people, including adults; may hit or push other children; Are often physically strong; may or may not be popular with other children around their same age; have trouble following rules; and show little concern for the feelings of others.

The Dominance Theory by Hawley in 1999 and the Social Cognitive Theory by Bandura in 2002 may somehow give light as to how the social networks would provide a venue for bullying (Moutappa, 2010). The dominance theory takes the position that some students use agression against the weaker peers so that resources are made available for them as well as an increase in social status. The social cognitive theory on the other hand poses that some students makes models of some of their more popular peers and imitate their behaviors including aggression.

Preventive Measures in US Schools against Bullying
Since the school is the common venue for bullying, it is important that the school engage in preventive measures to avoid the mitigation of this social problem. Some actions made by schools in the US are to fund researches and concentrate on strategies to reduce bullying in schools. Several websites that are informative were designed by a collaboration of a number of schools to provide the students an online help and information center when they experience problems regarding bullying. Example of which is stopbullying.com. Leaflets and brochures that talk about the negative effects of bullying and how this can be prevented are circulated in the campus to provide insights for students. These materials are also distributed to parents on occasions such as PTA meetings and other gatherings so that they are also educated and informed. Students are also immersed in seminars, talks and lectures made by experts in the field to further the cause of the elimination of bullying in schools. Guidance Counselors also encourage the students to seek help whenever there are onsets of bullying that they may feel they are subjected to. It is a constant effort that everyone lends a hand in putting a stop to this problem that has emotionally maligned a number of teens in the United States and even lead to tragic deaths that may have been avoided.

The US governments also make efforts in reducing bullying in schools. In August 2008, the California state legislature passed one of the first laws in the country to deal directly with cyberbullying. The legislation, Assembly Bill 86 2008, gives school administrators the authority to discipline students for bullying others offline or online.This law took effect, January 1, 2009 (Surdin, 2009)


References
Raskaukas, J. Stoltz, A. (2007). Involvement in Traditional and Electronic Bullying Among Adolescents. Washington DC: American Psychological Association

Olweus, D. (2001). Peer harassment: A critical analysis and some important issues. In J. Juvonen & S. Graham (Eds.), Peer harassment in school: The plight of the vulnerable and victimized (pp. 3–20). New York: Guilford Press.

Dodge, K. A. (1991). The structure and function of reactive and proactive aggression. In D. J. Pepler & K. H. Rubin (Eds.), The development and treatment of childhood aggression (pp. 201-216). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Smith, P. K., & Thompson, D. (1991). Practical approaches to bullying. London: David Fulton.

Smith, P. K., & Sharp, S. (Eds.). (1994). School bullying: Insights and perspectives. London: Routledge.

Michele Mouttapa "Social network predictors of bullying and victimization". Adolescence. FindArticles.com. 09 May, 2010. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_154_39/ai_n6364179/

Surdin, Ashley (January 1, 2009). "States Passing Laws to Combat Cyber-Bullying— washingtonpost.com". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2009-01-02.

Beckerman, L., & Nocero, J. (2003, February). High-tech student hate mail. Education Digest, 68(6), 37.

Tench, M. (2003, January 21). Schools struggling to stop tech-savvy bullies
who have taken their taunting to cyberspace. Boston Globe, p. B1.

Wendland, M. (2003, November 17). Cyber-bullies make it tough for kids to leave playground. Detroit Free Press. Retrieved September 24, 2004, from http://www.freep.com

Healthwise. (2009, January 14). Bullying: Characteristics of Children Who Bully. Retrieved May 9, 2010, from http://www.webmd.com/parenting/tc/bullying-characteristics-of-children-who-bully

When one hears a great speaker talk about a cause that they personally believe in, a feeling emanates from within. One can feel affinity to the speaker and gets infected with the same intensity of feeling that the speaker feels for his cause. In the visual perspective, when one sees the news and it features something about violence, the viewer cannot help but feel fear. Tools used for violence such as guns and knives may be associated with the fear that has developed from what was seen. So, can one therefore say that emotional feeling can be taught in ways that may only be seen and heard in the four corners of a room?

A place does not essentially mean just a location or a mere name. It is the elements that make it up. These elements add up to make the place distinct and create an atmosphere that makes the certain place unique.It may be the people, landmarks, animals, stories as well as the history that makes the place a whole. One can develop a “sense of place” when the person begins to be conscious about his physical surroundings. As the person fully absorbs and integrate the experience of what is around him, he learns to appreciate and eventually embrace the feeling of familiarity. This is when he develops his sense of place. Sense of place being a social phenomenon is usually derived from the natural environment but most often intensified by the culture that is inherent in the place. This culture may be portrayed through art and music made by local artists, poets and historians.

New Orleans: The Making of an Urban landscape is a faithful representation of the wonder that is the place. The author, Pierce Lewis did a magnificent job at detailing the development of the city, as well as the large-scale processes that were involved in affecting New Orleans and how these processes translated to the city that we see now. The book is very effective in influencing one's views and awareness on the legendary city. It is more than a guidebook or a book that only conveys information but with the good illustrations and an engaging writing style, the reader cannot help but feel a sense of pride and admiration for New Orleans.

Using the other various presentations that showcased New Orleans such as listening to the local music of the place, radio broadcasts and watching films, aided in the development of a deeper understanding of it's uniqueness. These means have further enhanced the connection that one can feel with the place. It has achieved a goal which is to make a way for the students to harbor a kinship with New Orleans. By listening to the local musicians, taking in their music, and identify their struggles, the students are positively inspired and they get infected with the same attraction and passion that these musicians have for their hometown. This kind of place-based education is very effective in ensuring that students would not lose their culural awareness and in the future would not feel detached to their place of roots. By promoting this kind of education or incorportating this in the curriculum, students may still have their sense of place intact despite the many global and national issues that tend to take up much of the public's attention. However, a great deal of effort should be employed when choosing the materials that are presented to the students because the mediocrity of the material can directly affect the amount of attention as well as interest that a student may exhibit. The information that was imparted throughout the course were well chosen and has been substantial to facilitate the sense of place that the students have for New Orleans.

In a society that has been radically affected and changed by modernization, one can fear the eventuality of being disconnected in the place that has given him a sense of cultural distinction. It is important that sense of place be cultivated because it gives identity to the people who dwell in it and when one is familiar with it's rhythms, potential and beauty, a sense of intimacy and responsibilty is then established. As a student of the course and based on the experience of being immersed in the local heritage, cultures, landscapes, opportunities and experience of New Orleans I can definitely say that my sense of place for it is now re-affirmed. Through these various intellectual means perceived visually and through sound, it can be concluded that a sense of place can definitely be established though classroom instructions.

References
Kriesberg, D. (1999). A Sense of Place. Colorado: Teacher's Ideas Press.
Allen, B. (1990). Sense of Place. Kentucky:The University Press of Kentucky.

Background- Measuring the intelligence is something very essential in any educational system, be it in public or in private educational institution. It was only around 1910, few years after the invention of the first usable intelligence test have scientific workers started to fully appreciate the importance of intelligence tests as a an essential guide to educational procedure. In fact up to the present such tests are still very popular and useful.


The first usable intelligence test was invented and published by a French psychologist and inventor, Alfred Binet. Binet’s invention, called the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale, became the basis of today’s popular (Intelligence Quotient) IQ tests. It was published in 1905 and other two revised publications in 1908 and 1911. The test was named Binet-Simon after the inventor Binet and his collaborator in the said invention, Theodore Simon. The Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale was invented with an objective to assist in identifying school children who have needs in coping with school curriculum. The test has become a means of perfection and a measure in evaluating educational systems and practices and in particular a tool “for diagnosing individual possibilities and needs” (Terman viii)

Aside from Binet, the names that have a loud sound in terms of the measures of human intelligence or cognitive process are Robert J. Sternberg for his Triarchic Theory, Dr. John C. Raven with his Progressive Matrices, Allan and Nadeen Kaufman and their Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) and David Wechsler for the Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) . These individuals have made tremendous contributions to psychology especially when it is related to psychometry and cognitive process.

The Works of Binet and the Development of Binet-Simon Scale
Being the pioneer in the field of intelligence measuring scale, the work of Binet can never be disregarded when the testing of intelligence is being talked about. In fact, even up to this time the concept of Binet about intelligence “is essentially the one that is held at the present time by psychologists.” (Pintner 24) Even before the publication of the Binet-Simon Scale or “the scale”, Binet had already numerous works relating to the study of intelligence. These include his collaborations with Henri in 1896 “in an article discussing the field of individual psychology” (Pintner 26), the Measurement in Individual Psychology in 1898, the Attention et Adaptation published right before the scale, his book "L'étude expérimentale de l'intelligence in 1903 and his works on Handwriting and Feeblemindedness as determinants of and correlated to intelligence, in 1904 and 1905, respectively. In his article New Methods for the Diagnosis of the Intellectual Level of Abnormal Children, the idea of intelligence scale appeared the first time and it was exactly termed as une échelle métrique d'itelligence. It is “here too we find the first specifications of intelligence tests, namely, they must be simple, must not consume a long time, they must be heterogeneous and not pedagogical”. (Pintner 31) This set of tests is also known as the 1905 scale containing the idea of graded series, the concept of intelligence and the conception of the fundamental qualities of an intelligence test. It was composed of thirty items in increasing difficulty although there was grouping yet according to age. It was in 1908 that Binet published one of his more important works, the 1908 Scale that appeared in his article entitled The Development of Intelligence in Children. It is important to note that during this time, the tests, unlike the previous 1905 Scale, has been grouped according to appropriate ages. Another innovation of this scale as compared to the previous one is the introduction of mental age. This concept is actually "one of Binet's important and valuable contributions to the problem of mental testing" (Pintner 32) stating that the mental ability of a person is expressed by the age that he/she achieved in the series of graded tests.

Scaled Intelligence: Binet-Simon Scale to Stanford-Binet Scale
After the success of Binet’s work, the 1908 Scale, continuous developments and innovations are done with regards to or related to his measure of intelligence through tests. He, however warned the public that the scores in the test “should not be taken too literally because of the “partial plasticity of intelligence” (Fancher 151) and environmental factors together with the inherent margin of error in the test . A more accepted innovation of the Binet-Simon Scale, and eventually became very popular, came out in 1916 engineered by a Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman. His work was entitled Stanford Revision of the Binet-Simon Scale or commonly known as the Stanford-Binet. Stanford-Binet is an overhauled Binet-Simon Scale wherein new items were added to the tests and some original ones of the latter were removed. It, naturally, was done with proper study and scientific approach in validating the experiments done to make this work a success.

Moreover, heavy improvements was made to the old scale as American psychologist Robert Yerkes called on the expert testers including Terman and Goddard. The Scale, which was originally made for the mentally challenged, according to Yerkes, "should not work primarily for the exclusion of intellectual defectives but rather for the selection of men in order that they may be properly placed in the military service." (Fancher 117)

The test style approach to measuring intelligence, as Binet has admitted, have its shortcomings. In fact test administrators who have handled and proctored some group tests of intelligence noted the wide difference in the approach the testees have on their respective tests.

With non-timed tests such as attitude or personality batteries, the first person to complete the task may do so in less than half the time that the last person dutifully hands in their booklet. Equally, with timed tests, some testees appear to approach the task with intense earnestness, as if their lives, or at least their careers, depended on it, whereas others appear cavalier, even nonchalant. (Furnham 289)

Another possible error that can be attributed when test style of measurement is imposed upon testees, as Furnham have elaborated, is the “problem of dissimulation” or the subjects that do not give honest answers.

One of the latest publications on measures of intelligence measure, representing “the latest in a series of innovations in the assessment of intelligence and abilities using qualitative and quantitative methods” (Becker 1) is the 2003 publication of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition. The following matrices are taken from the bulletin, History of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales: Content and Psychometrics by Kirk A. Becker published in 2003 by Riverside Publishing in Itasca, Illinois. These matrices illustrates in a summarized form what the latest Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales can be.

Even the latest version of the Stanford-Binet test has been so polished and psychologists rely on their validity and it is undeniably popular, it is not perfect. In fact one of the strong critics of the scale is Gould who states that Binet originally have devised his test to be carried out with an examiner in a one-on-one method for detecting problem areas instead as a means of ranking the general intelligence testees linearly. Moreover, he noted that tests of mental abilities has suffered from "inadequate support and its own internal contradictions" (Gould 223) that even the mayor of Chicago, "had tested as a moron on one version of the Binet scales" (Gould 223)

Robert Sternberg and his Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Another theory on Man’s intelligence is that of Robert J. Sternberg who took a truly holistic approach to the conceptualization of intelligence in his Triarchic Theory. What makes the work of Sternberg special and advantageous over the conventional psychometric test is its bases. Aside from being more cognitive, Sternberg himself proclaimed that his work is "based on a theory of human intelligence, the triarchic theory that is broader than conventional differential theories" which “have been based on theories of intelligence that have their roots in differential psychology -- the psychology of individual differences” (Rowe 183)

The three subtheories of Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory are the componential or analytical subtheory , experiential or creative subtheory, and practical or contextual subtheory. These “theories seek to go beyond the IQ” ( Mackintosh 27) of a human being, though Sternberg acknowledges the importance of IQ testing. He believed that IQ tests measure only a sub-set of the” multiple intelligences” (Mackintosh 27).

The first subtheory, which is the componential one deals with the components of intelligence; the experiential subtheory deals with the importance of coping with relative novelty and of automatization of information processing; and a contextual subtheory dealing with processes of adaptation, shaping, and selection. “I have referred to the theory from time to time as triarchic.”(Sternberg 456) Moreover, one of the arguments of his work is that the g factor or the “general intelligence does not exist” (Sternbeg 4)although general ability does.

Table 7. The Triarchic Theory Diagram

Although the Triarchic Theory is very useful and advantageous, even more detailed than that of Binet, it has its own share of criticisms. Quoting sociologist Linda Gottfredson in Sternberg’s book, is an obvious defense for the validity of the IQ tests.

The effects of intelligence--like other psychological traits--are probabilistic, not deterministic. Higher intelligence improves the odds of success in school and work. It is an advantage, not a guarantee. Many other things matter. is an obvious qualification of the arguments Sternberg has presented and a defense for the validity of IQ tests.

Psychometric Approach and the Information Processing Approach
Psychometrics or psychometry, being the basis of the Psychometric Approach, is “the branch of psychology that deals with the design, administration, and interpretation of quantitative tests for the measurement of psychological variables such as intelligence, aptitude, and personality traits” (The Free Online Dictionary) in testing human ability. The Psychometric Approach, which presume that intelligence is a measurable factor, has became the “ primary method of studying intelligence” (Corr) and thus the testing of IQ was born. There are many psychologists who devoted their time on studying intelligence and have paved ways in producing a method to measure the intelligence in a psychometric manner. Among them, as previously mentioned, is Alfred Binet with his Binet-Simon Scale. The study of psychometrics was only starting with that of Binet though and its furtherance can be seen in Dr. John C. Raven's Progressive Matrices, Kaufman couple’s Kaufman’s Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) and in the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) .

If a one is not following the psychometric approach, that psychologist would be using an Information Processing Approach. This is another philosophical theory in understanding the cognitive process, similar to the applications used by Sternberg in his Triarchic Theory and diverse from that approach of Binet as explained above. This approach views human as an “information processor” (Wyer 2). The same author further explains the idea of this approach on the character of the information processor as:

..capable of receiving information operating upon it according to certain rules, storing the results of these operations in memory, altering the contents of certain areas of memory to which new information is relevant, and ultimately reporting the results of these operations in a form that is implicitly or explicitly specified by a "user." The Information Processing Approach, therefore, is based on the premise that humans have brains that are similar to computers.


Conclusion
Intelligence is something measurable and all the efforts done to measure it have greatly influenced the foundation and philosophical views on the cognitive process as well as the educational system all throughout the world. No matter what a person chooses to use to understand the cognitive process, any approach is useful and have their certain characteristic that is superior over the other. They have their respective disadvantages over each other as well.

Finally, in measuring the intelligence of an individual, it is not the measurement that matters or the measurement method that was used. The most important is the application of that highly measured intelligence towards the betterness of humanity.


Works Cited
Becker, Kirk. A.. History of the Stanford-Binet intelligence scales: Content and psychometrics. (Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition Assessment Service Bulletin No. 1). Itasca, IL: Riverside Publishing, 2003.

Corr, Bradley. "The Psychometric Approach to Intelligence: How Smart am I?." Serendep. 2004. Retrieved May 5, 2008 from

Furnham, Adrian. "16 Test-Taking Style, Personality Traits, and Psychometric Validity." Intelligence and Personality: Bridging the Gap in Theory and Measurement. Ed. Janet M. Collis and Samuel Messick. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001. 289-304.

Gould, Stephen Jay. The Mismeasure of Man /. New York: Norton, 1996.

Jensen, Arthur R. The G Factor: The Science of Mental Ability. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1998.

Mackintosh, N. J. IQ and Human Intelligence. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Pintner, Rudolf. Intelligence Testing: Methods and Results. New York: Henry Holt, 1923.

"psychometric." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. 2003. Houghton Mifflin Company 5 May. 2008

Rowe, Helga A. H., ed. Intelligence: Reconceptualization and Measurement. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1991.

Sternberg, Robert J., and Elena L. Grigorenko, eds. The General Factor of Intelligence: How General Is It?. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002.

Terman, Lewis M. The Measurement of Intelligence: An Explanation of and a Complete Guide for the Use of the Stanford Revision and Extension of the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1916.

Wyer, Robert S. Cognitive Organization and Change: An Information Processing Approach. Potomac, MD: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1974.

Instructions:
research paper about Alfred Binet discussing his theories and comparing them with a few other theories like, the triarchic theory of intelligence, the psychometric approach, the information processing approach. It should not a biography but a work comparing the psychologist with other psychologists theories.

Things About Freud - Have you heard of the “Freudian Slip”? The phrase did not simply come out of nowhere. And what is your “Defense Mechanism” when your “Unconscious Mind” urges you to do something that is supposed to be “Repressed”? All these terms became known because of Sigmund Freud, his popularity and the usefulness of his contributions. A. Who Is Sigmund Freud? a. Sigmund Freud was born on the 6th of May in 1856 at 117 Schlossergasse, Freiberg, in Moravia. This is actually the reason why “Schlossergasse has since been renamed Freudova ulice in his honor.”(Jones, 1953, p. 1) When he was a child, one of his greatest interest was to study his family history. His father influenced him with a sense of humor, shrewd skepticism about the uncertain vicissitudes of life, his custom of pointing a moral by quoting a Jewish anecdote, his liberalism and free thinking.

When Sigmund Freud was seven years old, he was soiling the chair with a dirty hand while he was promising his mother that he would be a great man. In fact, it was a fulfilled promise. Aside from this incident, there were other six incidents that had made indications what Sigmund Freud would be. Indeed, Freud had become a man of history and psychology as well as of philosophy and this person has made great contributions to humanity.

As a short summary of his life, Freud was medical student from 1873 to 1881; had a medical career from 1881 to 1885; engaged/betrothed from 1882 to the year of his marriage in 1886. It was after his engagement/betrothal to marry when Freud became interested in psychopathology.

B. Notable Ideas of Sigmund Freud
a. Little Hans Puzzle

It was in 1909 when Freud published the "Analysis of a Phobia in a Five Year Old Boy." It was the paper for the case that has become known as the case of "little Hans." The full history of the case is laid out in detail on tat published paper and it furnishes the psychological community (and the whole scientific world) the invaluable chance of checking his diagnosis against the evidence. On that same year Freud was already equipped with the studies and knowledge on personality. The histologist and brain anatomist had given way to the physical therapist, the hypnotist, the free associationist and finally the psycho-analyst.

b. Do Our Minds Have Divisions?
Another work of Freud that is worth noting is the “Interpretation of Dreams”. In this particular work, Freud noted that in one’s mentality exist three various processes. These are the “the Conscious, Preconscious, and Unconscious” (Stoodley, 1959, p. 38). As Freus sees it, dreams are the fulfillment of the wishes. The Conscious process wishes something and the Preconscious makes another wish that is being rejected and unacceptable to the Conscious causing the wishes to be unsatisfied. The Unconscious has the third wish, which is more on childhood related desires. More elaborations on the Unconscious were made by Freud and became one of his very notable works.

c. The Unconscious Mind
Freud theorized that in order to understand the Conscious mind, its attitudes and thoughts, the Unconscious must be understood first. In fact, according to Dr. Ernest Jones, "Freud's greatest contribution to science … was his conception of an unconscious mind." (MacIntyre, 2004, p. 47)

The Unconscious part is the domain of the mind that which cannot thus be brought into consciousness. It “is the area of the primary process” (MacIntyre, 2004, p. 65) and it is “the background link between infancy and adult life” (MacIntyre), and according to Freud, the instructive contrast for an understanding of the unconscious is that between the ego and the repressed.

d. Ego, Superego and Id
As mentioned in the preceding section, the study of the Unconscious was one of the major focus of Freud’s studies and theories. Another extension, or branch or related study regarding the Unconscious was Freud’s presentation of the Id, Ego and Superego idea. "The ego represents what we call reason and sanity, in contrast to the id which contains the passions." (Freud, 1927, p. 30)

On the other hand, the superego is something more superior (in quality) and has a role to play in person’s self esteem. Or, a role to play in Mesopotamian sex omens: "if a man has a woman grasp his penis he is impure and no god will accept his prayer." The rules of good behaviour and etiquette imposed by society appear to forbid such actions, which may be pleasurable but are not allowed. (Geller, 1997) This is why repression exists.

e. The Libido Factor and Instinct
According to Freud, “we can understand in the first place nothing but the psychic representative of the continually flowing inner somatic source of stimulation which is to be distinguished from a 'stimulus' which comes from combined external excitations.” It is about instinct. With this, Freud had tentatively presumed that various bodily organs may be the source of sexual stimulation.

He assumed that ". . . from the bodily organs two kinds of excitation arise which are founded upon differences of a chemical nature. One of these forms of overstimulation can be designated as specifically sexual, and the concerned organ, an erogenous zone, while the sexual element emanating from it is a partial impulse." 3 The sexual instinct thus shows a similarity with other instincts and also an important difference. The similarity is in the fact that the sexual instinct, like hunger and thirst, is based on a body state, a special chemism. (Stoodley, 1959, p. 48)

Within the same observation, Freud made a differentiation between somatic process and instinct. For Freud, instinct is something that is being processed by the mind.
The aforementioned are some of the ideas that Freud have presented. They are not mutually exclusive nor they are the total and final list of Freud’s ideas and works. Other works and ideas of Sigmund Freud involve Studies on Hysteria, The Psychopathology of Everyday Life, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious, Totem and Taboo and many more.

C. Freud’s Theories and Legacies

a. On Psychoanalysis
It is indeed true that no one can impress everyone. In many books, and writings, many critics and questioning articles are thrown upon Sigmund Freud and his ideas. In the field of Psychotherapy however, Freud has made an impact with his ideas and theories. Psychotherapy involves interaction (relational and interpersonal) between the therapist and the patient.

Why and how is Freud connected with the psychotherapy? It is because Freud, as previously discussed, has recognized the unconscious wellsprings of human motivation —“an insight that has shaped education, politics, business, our attitudes toward child rearing, our understanding of history, and literary criticism.” (Basch, 1988, p. 3) Psychoanalysis, as Freud used the term and as it is still used today, according to Basch, refers to a research method into human motivation, to a particular form of intensive psychotherapy, and to his proposed general theory of mental functioning.

b. Impact on Philosophy
French philosophers are among the greatly influenced individuals with Freud’s works. The idea of empathy and unconscious state of mind are some concepts that are highly regarded in the philosophical world. Because Freud’s ideas involve religion and human behavior, his works are being a challenge to some philosophical ideas such as the enlightenment model of rational agency, a major component of the modern philosophical ideas.

Other factors that made Freud a known man in philosophy are his prior lectures regarding science and philosophy.

D. Conclusion
The life and works and most important contributions of Sigmund Freud might not have been laid out clearly and thoroughly in this paper but it is certain that Freud is an icon when psychology is being talked about. A person who knows what psychology is, most probably knows he person named Sigmund Freud as well.

In fact, as mentioned in the beginning of this paper, Freud has become so popular that even the common people use/mention the “Freudian Slip” term in their normal everyday life. A term that is "defined by one wag as being 'when you say one thing and mean a mother" ("FREUD versus FUHRER; Mind," 2007, p. 69)

The legacy of Freud is too strong and it remains in the humanity. His theories may be strongly questioned but it is undeniable that he set the fire out, kindled it out and made the psychology discipline burning.


References
Basch, M. F. (1988). Understanding Psychotherapy: The Science behind the Art. New York: Basic Books.

Freud, S. (1927). The Ego and the Id (Riviere, J., Trans.). London: L & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, and the Institute of Psycho-analysis.

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