P300-based Brain-Computer Interface Performance Enhancement

P300-based Brain-Computer Interface Performance Enhancement Enhancing Performance and Bitrates in a P300-based Brain-Computer Interface for Disabled Subjects by Phase-to-Amplitude Cross-Frequency Coupling Stavros I.Dimitriadis1,2*, Avraam D. Marimpis3 1Institute of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Cardiff, UK 2Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Center, School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK 3Brain Innovation B.V., Netherlands Abstract A brain-computer interface (BCI) is a communication system that transforms brain-activity into specific commands for managing a computer or other home or electrical devices. In other words, a BCI is an alternative way of interacting with the environment by using brain-activity instead of muscles and nerves. For that reason, BCI systems are of high clinical value for targeted populations suffering from neurological disorders. In this paper, we present a new processing approach of a well-known P300-BCI system for disabled subjects. Estimating cross-frequency coupling (CFC) and namely ÃŽÂ ´-ÃŽÂ ¸ phase-to-amplitude coupling (PAC) within sensor, we succeeded high classification accuracy and high bitrates for both disabled and able-bodied subjects. The system is tested with four severely disabled and four able-bodied subjects. The bitrates obtained for both the disabled and able-bodied subjects reached the fastest reported level of 10 bits/sec. The new preprocessing approach based o n recordings from the single-sensor Pz while the classification accuracy is tested also for others electrodes. Keywords: Brain-computer interface; P300; Disabled subjects; cross-frequency coupling; accuracy *Corresponding author: Dr.Dimitriadis Stavros Research Fellow School of Medicine, Cardiff University, UK CUBRIC Neuroimaging Center, Cardiff,UK Introduction From the very first work of Farwell and Donchin [1] the majority of P300-based Brain Computer Interface (BCI) systems focused on developing new application scenarios [2,3], and on developing and testing new algorithms for the reliable detection of the P300 waveform from noisy datasets [4-8]. For a review of P300, an interested can read the [9-10]. Ten years ago, two pioneer studies have been first published presenting a P300 BCI system on disabled subjects. Piccione et al. (2006) [11] design a 2D cursor BCI control system where subjects had to concentrate on four arrows flashing every 2.5 sec in random order occupied the peripheral area of a computer screen. Five disabled and seven able-bodied subjects were participated on this experiment. For controlling this cursor, this four-choice P300 flashing arrow cursor was used. EEG signals were recorded using four EEG sensors and electro-oculogram. Using independent component analysis and neural networks, Piccione et al. [11] demonstrated that P300 can be a valuable control signal for disabled subjects. However, the communication system was too low compared to state of the art systems [5,8]. Sellers and Donchin (2006) [12] designed a four choice BCI experiment with four stimuli (YES, NO, PASS, END) that were presented every 1.4 s in random order, in two different modalities either visual or auditory or in a combined mode. Three subjects suffering with ALS and three able-bodied subjects performed the experiment. EEG recordings from three sensors were classified using a stepwise linear discriminant algorithm (LDA). They demonstrated that communication via a P300 system is possible for subjects suffering from ALS. Additionally, they demonstrated that communication is possible in different modalities like the visual, auditory, and also in a combined auditory-visual mode. However, both the classification accuracy and the communication rate were low compared to the state of the art results. One of possible explanations of low accuracy and communication rate could be the low number of EEG sensors, the long inter-stimulus intervals and the low number of trials. McCane et al., demonstrated a BCI system where both accuracy and communication rate did not differ significantly between ALS users and HVs. Although ERP morphology was similar for the two groups, the target ERPs differed significantly in the location and amplitude of the late positivity (P300), the amplitude of the early negativity (N200), and the latency of the late negativity (LN) [13]. Hoffmann et al.,, demonstrated a six-choice P300 paradigm which was tested in a population of five disabled and four able-bodied subjects. Six different images were flashed in random order with an ISI of 400 ms [7]. They tested how the electrode configuration can influence the accuracy in order to detect the best channel selection. For four out of five disabled subjects and for all the able-bodied subjects both the communication rates and the classification accuracies were higher compared to the aforementioned studies [11,12]. The datasets in Hoffmann et al., study can be freely downloaded from the website of the EPFL BCI group (http://bci.epfl.ch/p300). In the present study, we used the dataset from Hoffmann et al., study to demonstrate an alternative algorithmic approach with main scope to improve the bitrates up to the limits. For that occasion, we adopted a cross-frequency coupling (CFC) estimator namely phase-to-amplitude coupling (PAC) to quantify how the phase of the lower frequency brain rhythms modulates the amplitude of the higher oscillations. The whole approach was followed in a trial basis and within sensors located over parieto-occipital brain areas. PAC proved to be a valuable estimator in many applications like the design of a biomarker: for amnestic mild cognitive impairment subjects during an auditory oddball paradigm [14], for dyslexia [15], for mild traumatic brain injury [16]. The layout of the paper is as follows. In Section 2, we described the subject population, the experiments that were performed, and the methods used for data pre-processing steps of the proposed pipeline and the classification procedure. Results are presented in Section 3. Discussion is devoted in Section 4. 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Experimental setup Users were facing a laptop screen on which six images were displayed (see Fig. 1). The images showed a television, a telephone, a lamp, a door, a window and a radio. The images were selected according to an application scenario in which users can control electrical appliances via a BCI system. The application scenario served however only as an example and was not pursued in further detail. The images were flashed in random sequences, one image at a time. Each flash of an image lasted for 100 ms and during the following 300 ms none of the images was flashed, i.e. the inter-stimulus-interval was 400 ms. The EEG was recorded at 2048 Hz sampling rate from 32 electrodes placed at the standard positions of the 10-20 international system. A Biosemi Active Two amplifier was used for amplification and analog to digital conversion of the EEG signals. [Figure 1 around here] 2.2. Subjects The proposed methodology was applied to P300 BCI-oriented recordings derived from five disabled and four healthy subjects. The demographics of the four disabled are presented in (Table 1). Disabled subject 5 as excluded from further analysis. Subjects 6-9 were Ph.D. students that were recruited from EPFL BCI groups laboratory (all males, age 30 ±2.3). None of subjects 6-9 had known neurological deficits. For more information regarding the subjects, an interested reader should refer to the original paper [7]. Table 1. Subjects from which data was recorded in the study of the environment control system S1 S2 S3 S4 Diagnosis Cerebral palsy Multiple sclerosis Late-stage amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Traumatic brain and spinal-cord injury, C4 level Age 56 51 47 33 Age at illness onset 0 (perinatal) 37 39 27 sSex M M M F Speech production Mild dysarthria Mild dysarthria Severe dysarthria Mild dysarthria Limb muscle control Weak Weak Very Weak Weak Respiration control Normal Normal Weak Normal Voluntary eye movement Normal Mild nystagmus Normal Normal 2.3. Experimental schedule Each subject completed four recording sessions. The first two sessions were performed on one day and the last two sessions on another day. All subjects were recruited within maximum two weeks between the first and the last session. Each of the sessions consisted of six runs, one run for each of the six images. For further details about the protocol followed on this experiment see the original paper related to this dataset [7]. The following protocol was used in each of the runs. (i) Subjects were asked to count silently how often a prescribed image was flashed (for example: Now please count how often the image with the television is flashed). (ii) The six images were displayed on the screen and a warning tone was issued. (iii) Four seconds after the warning tone, a random sequence of flashes was started and the EEG was recorded. The sequence of flashes was block-randomized, this means that after six flashes each image was flashed once, after twelve flashes each image was flashed twice, etc. The number of blocks was chosen randomly between 20 and 25. On average 22.5 blocks of six flashes were displayed in one run, i.e. one run consisted on average of 22.5 target (P300) trials and 22.5ÃÆ'-5 = 112.5 non-target (non-P300) trials. (iv) In the second, third, and fourth session the target image was inferred from the EEG with a simple classifier. At the end of each run the image inferred by the classification algorithm was flashed five times to give feedback to the user. (v) After each run subjects were asked what their counting result was. This was done in order to monitor performance of the subjects. The duration of one run was approximately one minute and the duration of one session including setup of electrodes and short breaks between runs was approximately 30 min. One session comprised on average 810 trials, and the whole data for one subject consisted on average of 3240 trials. 2.4 Offline Analysis The impact of different single-sensor recordings on classification accuracy was tested in an offline procedure. For each subject four-fold cross-validation was used to estimate average classification accuracy. More specifically, the data from three recording sessions were used to train a classifier and the data from the left-out session was used for validation. This procedure was repeated four times so each session served once for validation. 2.4.1. Preprocessing Before learning a classification function and before validation, several preprocessing operations were applied to the data. The preprocessing operations were applied in the order stated below. Referencing. The average signal from the two mastoid electrodes was used for referencing. Filtering. A third order forward-backward Butterworth bandpass filter was used to filter the data.. The MATLAB function butter was used to compute the filter coefficients and the function filtfilt was used for filtering. The predefined frequencies were : ÃŽÂ ´ {0.5-4 Hz},ÃŽÂ ¸ {4-8 Hz},ÃŽÂ ±1 {8-10 Hz}, ÃŽÂ ±2 {10-13 Hz},ÃŽÂ ²1 {13-20 Hz},ÃŽÂ ²2 {20-30 Hz} and ÃŽÂ ³1 {30 45 Hz}. (iii) Downsampling. The EEG was down-sampled from 2048 Hz to 512 Hz by selecting each 4th sample from the bandpass-filtered data. (iv) Single trial extraction. Single trials of duration 1000 ms were extracted from the data. Single trials started at stimulus onset, i.e. at the beginning of the intensification of an image, and ended 1000 ms after stimulus onset. Due to the ISI of 400 ms, the last 600 ms of each trial were overlapping with the first 600 ms of the following trial. (v) Electrode selection. We applied our analysis to recordings from single-sensor activity and mainly, PZ,OZ,P3,P4,P7 and P8. (vi) Feature vector construction. As appropriate feature for each trial, we used the phase-to-amplitude coupling (PAC) which already has been shown its potentiality in building reliable biomarkers (Dimitriadis et al., 2015,2016). PAC was estimated for each frequency pair (see ii)). The description of PAC is given in the next section. As a complementary feature that can separate the counted stimuli from the non counted stimuli, alpha relative signal powers have been estimated. Alpha power level can give us a valuable and objective criterion when a subject attends or not attends to the stimulus. Our idea is to create an initial binary classifier that will cut-off the attended from the non-attended stimuli for each subject prior entering the main multi-class classifier. CFC metric computation CFC estimates the strength of pairwise interactions and identifies the prominent interacting pair of frequencies, both between and within sensors [17-19]. Among available CFC descriptors, phase-amplitude coupling (PAC), which relies on phase coherence, is the one most commonly encountered in research [20]. The PAC algorithm as adapted to continuous MEG multichannel recordings is described below. ÃŽÂ ¤he within-sensor CFC version is described. Let x(isensor, t), be the EEG activity recorder at the isensor-th site, and t=1, 2,. T the successive time points. Given a frequency-limited signals x(isensor,t) , cross-frequency coupling is estimated by allowing the phase of the lower frequency (LF) oscillations to modulate the amplitude of the higher frequency (HF) oscillations. The complex analytic representations of each signal zLF(t) and zHF(t) are derived via the Hilbert transform (HT[.]). Next, the envelope of the higher-frequency oscillations AHF(t) is bandpass-filtered within the range of LF oscillations and the resulting signal is submitted to an additional Hilbert transform to derive its phase dynamics component à Ã¢â‚¬  '(t) which expresses the modulation of the amplitude of HF-oscillations by the phase of the LF-oscillations. Phase consistency between the two time-series was measured by means of both the original definition [21] and the imaginary portion of PLV, as synchronization indexes to quantify the strength of PAC. The original PLV is defined as follows: and the imaginary part of PLV as follows: The imaginary portion of PLV is considered to be less susceptible to volume conduction effects in assessing CFC interactions. While the imaginary part of PLV is not affected by volume conduction effects, it could be sensitive to changes in the angle between two signals, which not necessarily imply a PLV change. In general, the imaginary portion of PLV is only sensitive to non-zero-phase lags and is thus resistant to instantaneous self-interactions associated with volume conductance [22]. For further details and applications, an interested reader can read our previous work [14,15]. In the present study, as was already mentioned we used 8 frequency bands which means that PAC is estimated for 7*6/2=21 cross-frequency pairs e.g. ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A ,ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ±1Awhere à Ã¢â‚¬   and A denote the phase and amplitude of each frequency band. Figure 2 demonstrates the pre-processing steps of the PAC estimator for a trial of subject 6 at target image 6. [Figure 2 around here] Signal Power We estimated the relative power of each band-pass frequency signal segment with the following equations: The first equation quantifies the signal power (SP) of each frequency as the sum of the filtered signal squared per sample (3) while equation (4) divides the SP by the sum of the SP from all the frequencies which gives the relative signal power (RSP). The whole approach was repeated for every trial, sessions and subject. 2.4.4. Machine learning and classification Training data sets contained 405 target trials and 2025 non-target trials and validation data sets consisted of 135 target and 675 non-target trials (these are average values cf. Section 2.3). Adopting sequential feature selection algorithm, we detected the characteristic cross-frequency pair via PAC value that gives the highest discrimination of each target images compared to the rest based on the training data set. Additionally, we used the same feature extraction algorithm to detect the relative signal power that separate the counted flashing images from the non-counted images. We trained a multi-class SVM classifier based on the selected PAC estimate from specific cross-frequency pairs and then we tested the classifier to the validation data to get the response tailored to each target image [23]. The training test consisted of the first session while the rest three sessions were used for validating the whole analytic scheme. A k-nearest neighbour (k-NN) classifier was applied to differentiate the attended from the non-attended flashing images prior to multi-class SVM classifier. 2.4.5 Performance Evaluation Classification accuracy and ITR were calculated for the offline experiments separately. The method for calculating ITR (in bits per second) was as follows (5): Where N is the number of classes (i.e., 6 in this study), P is the accuracy of target identification, and T (seconds per selection) is the average time for a selection. Results ÃŽÂ ´-ÃŽÂ ¸ Phase-to-Amplitude Coupling as a Valuable Feature for the BCI-P300 System We estimated both PAC and relative signal power (RSP) for the first 32 samples (60 ms) increasing the window up to 500 ms (256 samples) with a step of 12 samples (5 ms) . The sequential feature selection algorithm detected only one PAC feature from the 21 possible cross-frequency pairs as the unique candidate feature to separate the six classes of images-stimuli. ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A was the selected feature for both disabled and able-bodied subjects. The group-averaged classification performance was for each sensor location using the first 100 ms for both able-bodied and disabled subjects. The errors were detected on the trials where the subject missed the flashing image. The classification performance with the use of a kNN-classifier prior to the multi-class SVM was 100 % for every subject and for all the pre-selected sensors namely PZ,OZ,P3,P4,P7,P8 EEG sensors. Figure 3 and Figure 4 illustrates the trial-related (grand-averaged) PAC-connectivity patterns (comodulograms) for subject 6 (able-bodied) and subject 1 (disabled) correspondingly from target and non-target trials for each flashing image. Comodulograms differed by contrasting target vs non-target within each subject and target image but also between the two images. ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A was the unique feature for both disabled and able-bodied subjects that can clearly predict the target image for both groups. [Figures 3 and 4 around here] Attention and Alpha Power Prior to multi-class SVM, we applied a kNN-classifier based on ÃŽÂ ±1 signal power which was selected as the feature that can discriminate counted from non-counted flashing images. The kNN-classifier performed 100 % clear filtration of attended from non-attended trials for each subject and further improved the performance of multi-class SVM to 100 %. We achieved this performance using ÃŽÂ ±1 signal relative power estimated from the first 100 ms for both able-bodied and disabled subjects. The classification performance with the kNN-classifier was 100 % for every subject and for all the pre-selected sensors namely PZ,OZ,P3,P4,P7,P8 EEG sensors. Table 2 summarizes the group-averaged relative signal power (RSP) of ÃŽÂ ±1 frequency band for attended versus non-attended images. Table 2. Group-averaged ÃŽÂ ±1 signal relative power for attended and non-attended images. Attended Non-Attended Able Bodied Disabled Performance Evaluation In the present study, we succeeded bitrates of 10 bits/sec for both disabled and able-bodied subjects correspondingly for all the sensor locations used on the whole analysis. The time for estimation of PAC and testing the trial was 0.00001 sec on a Windows 7 -Intel 7 8-core machine. Discussion A novel approach of how to analyse single-trials in a BCI system was introduced based on the estimation of cross-frequency coupling (CFC) and namely phase-to-amplitude coupling (PAC). PAC was estimated within EEG sensors from single-trials recorded during a visual evoked experimental paradigm. The proposed analytic scheme based on the extraction of unique features from the CFC patterns on a single-trial basis and namely the ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A coupling, as a unique feature for both able-bodied and disabled subjects. Our experimentations showed a high classification rate (99.7%) based on the proposed PAC feature. Additionally, the superiority of our approach compared to alternative popular methodologies like the use of the original recordings was evident from the succeeded bitrates (10 bits/sec) and also of the response time of the classification system (0.00001 sec). Complementary, using a binary classifier trained with ÃŽÂ ±1 relative signal power prior to the multi-cl ass SVM, we differentiated the attended from the non-attended stimuli which further improved the classification performance up to 100% in both groups. Compared to many other P300-based BCI systems designed for disabled users, we succeeded the highest classification accuracy and bitrates higher than the original presented dataset [7]. In previous studies like the one of Sellers and Donchin (2006) [12], the best classification accuracy for the able-bodied and ALS subjects was on average 85% and 72% correspondingly [12]. Hoffmann et al., succeeded absolute classification accuracy for both disabled and able bodied subjects for the first demonstration of the current dataset. However, he used longer time series of over 15-20 secs by concatenating trials in order to train better the classifier. Additionally, he used one classifier per image per each of the twenty block and the final outcome derived as the majority voting of the twenty classifiers. Here, using phase-to-amplitude coupling as the appropriate descriptor of the evoked response in the parietal brain areas and a multi-class SVM classifier, we performed almost absolute accuracy ( 99.97) on a trial basis. Using an additional binary k-NN classifier and ÃŽÂ ±1 relative signal power prior to multi-class SVM, we separated the attended (counted) from the non-attended (not counted) trials leading to zeroing the misclassified trials from the multi-class SVM classifier for every subject. This procedure further improved the classification performance from 99.97 to 100% for each subject. We succeeded bitrates faster (10 bits/sec) than any other BCI system including the fastest spelling system presented recently (5.32 bits/sec ; [24]). In a previous study of Piccione et al. (2006) [11] average bitrates of about 8 bits/min were reported for both disabled and able-bodied subjects. Hoffman et al., 2008 [7] reported average bitrates obtained with electrode configuration (II) (8 electrodes) 12.5 bits/min for the disabled subjects and 10 bits/min for the able-bodied subjects. According to Klimeschs ÃŽÂ ± theory, on the early stages of perception, ÃŽÂ ± directs the information flow towards to neural substrates that represent information relevant for the encoding system (e.g. visual stimulus to visual system, voice/sound to auditory system). The physiological main function of ÃŽÂ ± is linked to inhibition. Klimeschs ÃŽÂ ± theory hypothesizes that ÃŽÂ ± enables to have access to stored information by inhibiting task-irrelevant neuronal substrates and by timing/synchronizing the cortical activity in task-relevant neuronal systems. A lot of research findings showed that both evoked ÃŽÂ ± and phase locking are evidence of a successful encoding of global stimulus features in an early post-stimulus interval of about 0-150à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ °ms [25]. Besides the cross low-frequency/high-frequency coupling (e.g.,ÃŽÂ ¸-ÃŽÂ ³; 26,27), there are many evidences [28-31] that CFC exists also between the low-frequency bands (e.g., delta-theta, delta-alpha, and theta-alpha). Lakatos et al. (2005) [29] introduced a hypothesis about the hierarchical organization of EEG oscillations suggesting that the amplitude of the brain oscillations at a characteristic frequency band can be modulated by the oscillatory phase at lower frequency. In particular, they found that ÃŽÂ ´ (1-4 Hz) phase modulates ÃŽÂ ¸ (4-10 Hz) amplitude, and ÃŽÂ ¸ modulates ÃŽÂ ³ (30-50 Hz) amplitude in primary auditory cortex of awake macaque monkeys [29]. This multiplex coupling or nesting of brain rhythms might reflect a general brain organizational principle, as evidence of coupling (mainly ÃŽÂ ¸-ÃŽÂ ³) has also been observed in animals (e.g. rats,cats) and humans [32]. For instance, in auditory cortex, ÃŽÂ ´-band modulates the amplitude of ÃŽÂ ¸-band ICMs, whose phase in turn modulates the amplitude of ÃŽÂ ³-band ICMs [33]. This indirect enhancement effect uses the ongoing activity of local neural activity in the primary auditory cortex. Their hypothesis supports the notion that neural oscillations reflect rhythmic shifting of excitability states of neural substrates between high and low levels. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that oscillations can be predicted by visual input such as the auditory input arrives during a high excitability phase and is amplified. In the present study, we demonstrated that ÃŽÂ ´ (0.5-4 Hz) phase modulates ÃŽÂ ¸ (4-8 Hz) amplitude over visual brain areas due to flashing images, their content and mainly was observed on parietal EEG recording sites. We should also mention that the reason why ÃŽÂ ´Ãƒ Ã¢â‚¬   ÃŽÂ ¸A coupling discriminates the six flashing images can be directly linked to the content of the images. Visual attention samples image stimuli rhythmically demonstrating a peak of phase at 2 Hz [34] while flashing images induced rhythmic fluctuation at higher frequencies (6-10 Hz) [35] here within ÃŽÂ ¸ frequency range [4-8 Hz].Finally, the work of Karakas et al., ([36]) showed that the ERP represents interplay between the oscillations that are mainly in the ÃŽÂ ´ and ÃŽÂ ¸ frequencies and directly linked to P300 [37]. Conclussion In this work, an efficient algorithmic approach was presented to a P300-based BCI system for disabled subjects. We have shown that absolute classification accuracies and the highest reported bitrates can be obtained for severely disabled subjects under the notion of cross-frequency coupling and namely phase-to-amplitude coupling. Specifically, ÃŽÂ ´ (0.5-4 Hz) phase modulates ÃŽÂ ¸ (4-8 Hz) amplitude proved to be the candidate feature from PAC estimates that supported the highest classification accuracy, the fast bitrates and the fast response time of the multi-class system. Due to the use of the P300, only a small amount of training (trials from 1st session as a training set and 100ms per trial) was required to achieve good classification accuracy. Future improvements to the work presented could be the design of useful BCI applications adapted to the needs of disabled users. Also it might be useful to perform exploratory analysis on larger populations and on real-time to further validate the results found in the present work. Acknowledgements SID was supported by MRC grant MR/K004360/1 (Behavioural and Neurophysiological Effects of Schizophrenia Risk Genes: A Multi-locus, Pathway Based Approach) References Farwell LA, Donchin E. Talking off the top of your head: toward a mental prosthesis utilizing event-related brain potentials. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol 1988;70:510-23. Polikoff J, Bunnell H, Borkowski W. Toward a P300-based computer interface. In: Proceedings of the RESNA95 Annual Conference; 1995. Bayliss JD. Use of the evoked P3 component for control in a virtual apartment. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehab Eng 2003;11(2):113-6. Xu N, Gao X, Hong B, Miao X, Gao S, Yang F. BCI competition 2003 Data Set IIb: Enhancing P300 wave detection using ICA-based subspace projections for BCI applications. IEEE Trans B

Advertising Creativity And Communications Marketing Essay

Advertising Creativity And Communications Marketing Essay This essay will first identify the advertising benefits for the company and why companies do advertising with regard to some credible authors of marketing books. Secondly, it will investigate the strong models based on persuasion theory with the help of different examples from UK advertising market. Next, it will examine the ATRN model of Ehrenberg based on reinforcement. Finally, this essay will present a view that the companies are using different strong and weak models to attract the audience to buy their products. In this modern era of technology many companies using tool of advertising to aware the customers about the features of their products and services. The advertising is a form of creating and sending a message to certain targeted population and hoping for their reaction towards your product. Historically the producers developed a product and then advertise it to find the market for the product but in todays world the product is specially design with the customer interest (Wells et al, 2006). In the recent past, the marketing concept has increased dramatically. The companies are started putting huge amount of budgets into advertising to produce high profits for their organization. The advertising particularly helps to create awareness because people do not buy those products they have never heard of them before. The advertising is very important for new products to launch them into segmented market. The relationship between the customer and the company need to be build up by the help of effective advertising (Farbey, 2002). Globalization made the companies to expand their businesses into other markets around them. This fact has increased the competition among the competitors. In this competitive world, it is made compulsory for the company to advertise and protect themselves from the primary competition (Wells et al, 2006). Advertising is only as strong as the product and service because you can only sell poor product at once time but to sell it for twice you have to speak truth with your customers. The effective campaigns are making customers more loyal to the company. Advertising can be a strong or weak force for the company (Farbey, 2002). The Strong theory and models are based on persuasion and on the other hand the weak theory is based on reinforcement. Persuasion is a process which includes changing of attitudes and manipulated the thoughts of customers to change their believes and habits (Health, 2007). There are two types of persuasion, Rational and Emotional persuasion. Rational persuasion is about explaining the benefits, advantages, likeness and different incentives where as emotional persuasion has the same features but it can create a strong relationship and make brand most successful. When the result come to calculate the efficiency of them then its very hard to evaluate the effectiveness of emotional as compare to rational persuasion (Health, 2006). The strong school of advertising really focuses on the effectiveness of advertising. The effective advertising helps the company to grow its sales very rapidly. Short term advertising campaign is more effective then the long term. The most important feature of short term advertising is that it tells the company to go with the campaign in long run or to leave it because it will not have a further effect on the sales (Jones, 2003). Not every campaign has an effective outcome on its sales. About 70% of all the campaign raises the sales immediately and on the other hand 46% of long term campaigns have a direct impact on the sales (Jones, 1998). Strong school of advertising models include AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action), DAGMAR (Unawareness, awareness, Comprehension, Conviction, Action), Hierarchy of effects (Awareness, Knowledge, Liking, Preference, Conviction, Purchase) and Elaboration Likelihood Model. The AIDA model was designed by St. Elmo Lewis (1898) and Strong (1925). This model used especially for the personal dealing but later on it was adopted as a communication process between the company and its customers (Yeshin, 2006). It consists of four steps Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. Its very important for the company to get the attention of the customer so that the other three steps should be taken by the customer. The main issue for the company is to know its own benefits and then tell the customers with different attractive words or phrases to get their attention (Johnston, 2009). Attention can built the interest and make desire for the product. By giving more and more true information of the product the interest can be generated (Brewer, 2010). The desire only be created by showing the actual picture to the customer and make him or her desire for the product. The product features can make the man go mad for the product and indulge in the step of taking quick action (Johnston, 2009). There are many adverts these days for the customers to get their attention towards the product. Apple is a very famous company in making electronic products such as Iphones, Ipods, Macbooks and now the Ipads. The Ipad is specially made for the customers to access their emails, watch videos, downloads pictures and listen to songs. Before launching Ipad the company really wanted to grab the attention of their customers. They used their website to attract the customers for example; if anyone opens the web page then he gets a welcoming message of the new product of Apple. The picture of Ipad is shown below which was advertised on www.apple.com (Lazaris, 2010). C:Usersfazal ranaDesktopipad.jpg Source: APPLE WEBSITE (2010) Figure 1: IPAD IMAGES This is a very good example of how picture can get customers attention. This sort of pictures can create an interest for the customers. Apple gave the enough knowledge on their website to create certain interest for the customers. Java script switchers and image sliders are very famous nowadays. The image shows that you can access the email and the save pictures at a same time. Considering the example of the Ipad, the aesthetics and accessibility feature of the product should not only be provided to induce the desire of attainability but also to facilities the user and to give an even better maneuverability of the device for a comfortable and more passionate experience (Lazaris, 2010). The campaign ran very well through web page and indulges the customers to take action and buy the Ipad. Hierarchical model only deals with the individual response and the effect resulted by the advertisement (East, 2003). The advertising process model was developed by Robert Lavidge and Gary Steiner in 1961 that has some points difference from AIDA model. The main implication of this model is that, if any one of all stages missed out then the desire outcome will not be achieved. The first stage is to get aware the customer about the product by the help of advertising. Secondly, he or she should provide with all the information about the product so that the process of likeness can be built on its own. The following step is to create preference of the product among the other product with same qualities. The next step is conviction which includes making decision to purchase the advertised product. If all of the steps are effectively put in by the company or the advertising agency then its not difficult to make customer buy for the product (Yeshin, 2006). As can be seen from an old advert of Ariel (YouTube, 2008) which delivered an idea of Lavidge and Steiner model, this advert gives a good example of Hierarchy of effect model. By emphasizing on the problem of stain clothes the company creates awareness and gives us the problem of removing these stains which is not possible to be done by other ordinary liquids. By performing a simple experiment of comparing Ariel liquid by other liquids the company has induced a liking effect among the audience. The better results of the product would generate a preference among people whereas convincing them that if this product is selected and used it would give out better results than other product which are already available in the market. By using such a method the company leaves the audience with an inclined desire to purchase the product and try it at least for once which resulted in a number of sales for the product. In early 1960s, Russell Colley developed a model with the name of DAGMAR (Colleys hierarchy of effects) model. This model aimed to quantify the process of communication (Yeshin, 2006). The stages of this model are Unawareness, Awareness, Comprehension, Conviction and Action. This model emphasized a lot on creating higher number of sales by the help of awareness. The customer must be aware of the product and the company. He must have the comprehension or knowledge that what the product is about and how the product can help him (Joyce, 1998 in Jones, 1998). Thirdly, convincing the customer by telling him benefits of the product. Lastly, for the action you have to depend on the customer. However, your previous actions will have a major role to play (George, 2006). This model is mainly use to define advertising goals and measure the effectiveness of the campaign. Effective advertising can take the audience down to the way of awareness, comprehension and conviction to take the final actio n (East, 2003). Indian premier league (IPL) is becoming very famous these days among all the ages who love to watch cricket. These days the third season of IPL cricket is going on. IPL has recently signed a contract with ITV for live broadcasting of every match especially for UK fans. To get aware the people the ITV is advertising on TV and Internet. Recently, on 11 March 2010 ITV king cricket website showed an advert about the watching the matches of IPL on terrestrial TV without paying any money. The targeted audience is students who can watch matches in the afternoon by sitting at their homes. As ITV is a famous channel for UK audience so there is not much need for the comprehension about the channel. The conviction has done by telling the major benefit of watching the match without paying (King Cricket, 2010). The Elaboration Likelihood Model was developed in 1980 by Richard E Petty and John T Cacioppo. This model addresses the interest of the individuals and changing habits of individuals behavior. The company tries to develop the positive behavior of the individual customers towards their offerings. There are two routes in this model of persuasion. The first route is the central processing route which provides the information with high level of motivation and the customer can asses to the core features of the persuasive message. This stage helps very much in making the effective decision. The other route is peripheral route which is about giving different cues to the customer and can involve personal selling as well. The outcome of attitudes forming with this method is less effective as compare to the first one (Eckert and Goldsby, 1997). Infomercials are the best example of giving information to the customer through central processing route. As can be seen from wearable towel infomercial (YouTube, 2009), the information about the product has been given to the audience to know about the product for example, how easily you can wear it as compare to the other towels which are already available in the market. Secondly, the advert provides the advantages of wearing the towel and different ways of wearing it. The individuals do not have much time in watching the whole infomercial so its better for the company to use peripheral route for the advertising. The weak theory is based on the reinforcement or repurchases habit of customer. The ATR model was proposed in 1974 by Ehrenberg which includes Awareness, Trail and Reinforcement (Hoek et al, 2000). Ehrenberg rejected the persuasion models and argues that the step of taking action in persuasion model is not supported by the empirical evidence (Yeshin, 2006). This model actually tells about the reinforcement in the customer current behavior patterns. The empirical generalization describes as the relationship between the consumer perception and beliefs about the brands and their behavior with respect to those brands (Hoek et al, 2000). In 1997 the model was refined by Barnard and Ehrenberg and they put another step of nudge after the reinforcement (Hoek et al, 2000). The first step of ATRN model is about Awareness of the product. The awareness can be done by different forms of advertising for example promotions, media adverts, word of mouth, direct marketing and so on. For the brand whi ch is already available in the market to buy, the customer already has the knowledge of the product and its specifications. For the new products awareness is very important so that the customer should know about the product. After the awareness the customer straight make a decision of buying the product and get him in the stage of trail (Yeshin, 2006). The ATR model specially focuses on the long term relationship of the customer with the company and the customer can only buy the product if he has believe in the product or if he tried it before. The managers are very willing to use ATR model these days to make the use of behavioral goals and to create a long term relationship (Hoek and Janet, 1999). The adverts are mostly for those people who already have the product. Majority of the people use to see and concentrate on the adverts of those brands which they are using or used it before in their lives. In new markets, the image of product and awareness has to be built but on the other hand in mature markets the adverts are mainly use to retain the customers. The customers do not have any interest in changing their brands and they are willing to stuck themselves to limited brands(East,2003). C:Usersfazal ranaDesktopTradeAdverts_kit kat caramel.jpg Source: GOOGLE Images (2010) Figure 2: KitKat Adverts This advert is especially for those customers who have already tried different flavors of KitKat. The advert is actually for the new flavor of Chunky Caramel KitKat. The packaging is a designed to aware the customer so that he can answer himself what taste is going to de inside? The company spent around 7 million pounds on the advertising campaign (Frewin, 2009). Kitkat is announced as a bestselling chocolate bar of year 2009. The reinforcement to buy the product made the huge profit for the company. The sales have risen to 13% of the last year (Laycoak, 2010). Scholten (1996) has stated that the traditional models of hierarchy of effect paradigm have two major issues to criticize. Firstly, it cannot research about the market situation to deliver their message. Secondly, the campaign is run to a specific group of people which are targeted. The ATR model focuses on the behavior, brand awareness, trial purchase and repurchase if the customer is satisfied and willing to buy it again. On the other hand, traditional models do emphasize on the effectiveness of advertising by getting a regular response up to a particular stage in hierarchy (Scholten, 1996). This essay has explored the difference between strong theory and weak theory with the help of different example which has taken from the UK advertising market. It has been found that the use of strong theory based on persuasion can really help the company to grow its business globally by giving information about their organization and the product. The communication process by persuasion is specially for those companies which are diverting the business line to the different countries and those who are new in different businesses so that they can aware the audience. The communication through ELM model can be very expensive for low budget advertising campaigns but on the other hand it can be very effective for big marketers to give maximum information to the individuals or give some cues by hiring celebrities. Furthermore, the ATR model can be helpful for those companies which are willing to advertise in the same market where they are performing their current businesses. However, the co mpany should have some competitive advantages for new market openings which really help them to get successful in the stage of trail. The brands which are already well known or people are very much aware to them such as, Coca Cola, Pepsi etc usually use ATR model to reinforce the customer to buy the product again and again. REFRENCES Apple Official Wesbite (2010) Ipad images [Online] Available at: http://www.apple.com/uk/ [Accessed: 26 march, 2010] Brewer, D. (2010) What is AIDA in small business marketing [Online] Available at: http://office-software.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_is_aida_in_small_business_marketing [Accessed: 27 march, 2010] East, R. (2003) The effect of advertising and display New York: Kluwer [Online] Available at:http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iRlpSnMqcICpg=PA52lpg=PA52dq=atr+advertising+model+examplessource=blots=A2ja_RzYJsig=py6c51flzLa2TCLyDzpwA4K52y8hl=enei=ag2vS5zuEpGI0wS2kMn3DQsa=Xoi=book_resultct=resultresnum=4ved=0CBoQ6AEwAw#v=onepageq=f=false [Accessed: 21 march,2010] Eckert, J Goldsby, T. (1997) Using the Elaboration likelihood model to guide customer service based segmentation [Online] Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?Filename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/0050270905.html [Accessed: 20 march, 2010] Farbey, A.D. (2002) How to produce successful advertising. 3rd edn. London: Kogan Page ltd. Frewin, A. (2009) Trade launch for KitKat Chunky Caramel by Nestle [Online] Available at: http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2009/09/25/330095/Trade-launch-for-Kit-Kat-Chunky-Caramel-by-Nestl.htm [Accessed: 28 march, 2010] George, K. (2006) Models for an advertising agency [Online] Available at: http://www.articlesbase.com/multimedia-articles/aida-and-dagmar-models-for-an-advertising-agency-35178.html [Accessed: 23 march, 2010] Google Images (2010) KitKat adverts UK [Online] Available at: http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.asiantrader.biz/TradeAdverts%255Ckit%2520kat%2520caramel.jpgimgrefurl=http://afoxiesmile.livejournal.com/usg=__SiB8tU7OEcEDAkhKltkiNW088SE=h=1169w=827sz=395hl=enstart=3um=1itbs=1tbnid=-0Ld_72uKkWwVM:tbnh=150tbnw=106prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkit%2Bkat%2Bold%2Badverts%2Buk%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26tbs%3Disch:1 [Accessed: 28 march, 2010] Health, R. (2006) Emotional Persuasion pp.47-8 [Online] Available at: http://www.adliterate.com/archives/RobertHeathJuly06Admap[1].pdf [Accessed 20th march, 2010] Health, R. (2007) Emotional persuasion in advertising. Research Report. Bath: School of Management [Online] Available at: http://www.bath.ac.uk/management/research/pdf/2007-07.pdf [Accessed: 16 march, 2010] Hoek, J., Dunnett, J., Wright, M., Gendall, P. (2000) Descriptive and evaluative attributes: What relevance to marketers? [Online] Available at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?Filename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/0960090604.html [Accessed: 18 march,2010] Jones, J.P. (1998) How Advertising Works. New York: SAGE [Online] Available at: http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=enlr=id=VLhLSg6GyACoi=fndpg=PA1dq=J.P.+Jones+advertising+strong+theoryots=guEnVOPivPsig=8Daj0uBmHvaImqGmPksDb_jfIyY#v=onepageq=f=false [Accessed: 17th march, 2010] Jones, J.P Slater, J.S. (2003) Whats in a name?: Advertising and concept of branding. 2nd end. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe. Johnston, R. (2009) The AIDA marketing model [Online] Available at: http://www.articlesbase.com/printing-articles/the-aida-marketing-model-825021.html [Accessed: 25 march, 2010] Joyce, T. (1998) The Advertising Process. In Jones. P (Eds) (1998) How Advertising Works. New York: SAGE [Online] Available at: http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=enlr=id=VLh-LSg6GyACoi=fndpg=PA1dq=J.P.+Jones+advertising+strong+theoryots=guEnVOPivPsig=8Daj0uBmHvaImqGmPksDb_jfIyY#v=onepageq=f=false [Accessed: 15th march, 2010] Laycock, M. (2010) Fairtrade KitKat goes on sale across Britain [Online] Available at: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/4869073.Fairtrade_KitKat_goes_on_sale_across_Britain/# [Accessed: 27 march, 2010] Lazaris, L. (2010) The AIDA model in web design [Online] Available at: http://www.noupe.com/design/the-aida-marketing-model-in-web-design.html [Accessed: 25 march, 2010] Scholten, M. (1996) Lost and found: the information processing model of advertising effectiveness. pp. 97-104 [Online] Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL_udi=B6V7S-3VV44BC-B_user=10_coverDate=10/31/1996_rdoc=1_fmt=high_orig=search_sort=d_docanchor=view=c_searchStrId=1271700460_rerunOrigin=google_acct=C000050221_version=1_urlVersion=0_userid=10md5=e8bacad0d90ce77cfb832a2aa4379b02 [Accessed: 23 march,2010] Wells,W., Moriarty, S., Burnett, J. (2006) Advertising. 7th edn. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Yeshin, T. (2006). Advertising. 1st edn. London: Thomson learning. You Tube (2008) Ariel washing powder 1980 advert. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ2eSKRR6Uo [Accessed: 26 march, 2010] YouTube (2009) Wearable towel infomercial. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjdyjL0dbG8 [Accessed: 26 march, 2010]

Was Christianity the key to the downfall of the Vikings :: Essays Papers

Was Christianity the key to the downfall of the Vikings When I think of the words that describes Vikings I would think of barbaric, having no mercy, and great explorers. Words that describe a Christian to me are trustworthy, considerate, helpful, and peaceful. The descriptions of words I described for Viking and Christians have basically opposite meanings. So as Christianity was implemented on the Vikings they became more civilized. The process of conversion of Christianity happened slowly. (? Book has two authors for the book and then two different authors for this story?)(Roesdahl and Wilson 187). The strength of the Viking was having no fear of death also no right or wrong with the way death was committed. The Bible was began to be followed at the end of the Viking era.(The total structure of this sentence is messed up.) I wonder how much Christianity affected the downfall of the Viking’s, below I did some research on the topic. The Viking era existed from 800 BC to 1200 BC (â€Å"From Viking to Crusader†). (This is supposed to be cited with the author name and page in brackets.) The Vikings have three main religions throughout there period of existence. Each of the religions affected the character of the Vikings in a big way. Polytheism was the belief the Vikings had in the beginning of there existence. Paganism and Christianity came towards the end of the Viking era. Christianity arrived during the 10th and 11th BC (â€Å"The Viking to Crusader†). Polytheism was the most heavily practiced religion the Vikings had. The main god of the Vikings was Odin who was the god of war wisdom and poetry (â€Å"Viking Fury†). There isn’t much documentation from history about Odin and other gods of the Vikings. Odin was mirrored by the Vikings to be a great warrior, and be poets. Vikings felt it was an honor to die in battle because Odin would be grateful (â€Å"Viking Fury†). Paganism was another religion of the Vikings. Through the writing on Rune Stones Viking women appeared to have followed paganism before the Viking men did.(The Viking woman are thought to have mixed views on Nordic Paganism since they were looked down upon according to some researcher other researchers said that Viking men followed paganism first. Since the belief of who followed paganism in the Viking culture first, men or woman is highly debatable among researchers I left this out.

Reflective essays -- essays research papers

The classic tragedy, as defined by Aristotle, has six major parts. These parts include a plot, characters, theme, melody, spectacle, and language. All stories, according to Aristotle must have a beginning, middle, and end, and must follow a logical sequence according to these six elements.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The plot is the series of events, or sequence in which the action of the play occurs. Plot must follow a cause and effect relationship, which follows a logical pattern. Characters are the people in the play, who have certain qualities that can be determined by what they say, do and what others say about them. The theme of the play is the general feeling or statement made by the author that presents an observation or thought to the audience. Melody is the musical quality of the play, which includes a change of pitch by the voice, musical instruments , and also includes the high and low points of the play giving it an overall melodic quality. Spectacle includes the visual elements of the play, anything that is observed by sight. Often in modern movies and plays spectacle can be overdone, especially if a reason for the spectacle cannot be found. Language is the dialog or speech that makes up the story, and is used by characters to present the play to the audience.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Aristotle lays out a very specific definition of what a tragedy should include, and how each element should be presented. He tells us that the tragedy must include these six elements and that they must be laid out in a logical manner. Aristotle sets up the framework for a tragedy that is used with or without the playwright’s knowledge for innumerable classical and modern plays. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Along with giving us the six elements of a tragedy, Aristotle also gives us four parts that should be included in a tragic hero. Sophocles’ character Oedipus is considered to be the classic example of a tragic hero. This is attributed to the fact that Oedipus clearly demonstrates all four of the characteristics that make up the tragic hero as defined by Aristotle. According to Aristotle, the tragic hero must be a good, as well as great person. What this means is that he must hold high moral goals and ideals for himself as well as being of high or noble stature in society. The tragic hero must have a character flaw, this could be some excess or... ...ey† may not be the first comedy, nor is it the sole creation of Homer, however these things are attributed to it, because it was the first to be written down.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Odysseus is considered to be the â€Å"quintessential† comic hero. Even though he is of great stature, he represents â€Å"every man† or the common man. He is sent on a long journey by Poseidon where he must use his cunning and shrewdness to make his way home. Odysseus must come up with a scheme in order to regain his homeland. Mistaken identity and deliberate deception are often used together and are used throughout this epic. Mistaken identity is when a character believes they are seeing someone, but it is not really that person, adding an element of dramatic irony. Deliberate deception is very similar, but the character is intending to deceive others and often uses a disguise. These elements are used several times by Athena, who comes to mortals in the form of people around them. Odysseus also disguises himself as a beggar when he gets back to Ithaca. Several elements of the modern comedy can be found in the â€Å"Odyssey,† and because of i ts home coming, or happy ending it is considered the first comedy.

Helping Children Handle Stress :: Stress in Children

Stress is a common emotion or state that is experienced at difficult or threatening times. This is often not attributed to children, however, and can be even more detrimental to their mental and emotional state. High stress in children is both physically and psychologically harmful, which can affect behaviors and attitudes in the future.  High stress can cause children to lag in academic settings and turn to detrimental social behaviors. This can even lead to heart disease, depression, and other serious complications later in life (Segal and Smith, 2014). Taking preventive measures or intervening early in childhood can greatly decrease these risk factors and consequences. High stress in children interacts with a variety of factors, including attachment style and biology of the developing brain. Based on the social learning theory, caregiver’s active role and community care programs are essential in the intervention and prevention of high stress in children. Prevention and intervention of high stress in children is possible and necessary.There are many suggestions for parents on how to manage this. As mentioned above, the attachment style between the parent and child is crucial in how the child thinks and behaves. According to  Dozier and Cicchetti, interventions should concentrate on attachment styles in order â€Å"to increase parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to foster more secure parent-child relationships and alter the child’s inner working models† (2003, 2005). This emphasizes the importance of a â€Å"secure base† for the child in order to be active in their environment but also feel comfortable and safe that they have someone to fall back on in times of stress or trauma (Book). It is also important to note that the caregiver is more likely to affect the attachment relationship than the child (Goodman, 2007). Parenting style also affects the environment of the child, particularly on an emotional level. According to Baumrind’s theory on parenting styles, parents should be high in responsiveness and demandingness (1973). The social learning theory supports this and parents should be aware that they should â€Å"use clear, consistent, non-hostile guidance and discipline technique† (Fisher, Burraston, & Pears, 2005).  A clear relationship has been seen with the responsiveness and attentiveness of a parent and the stress levels of a child. In a study done by Gunnar and Fisher, parents were tested for responsiveness and sensitivity to the child several times as the child aged. The children were later tested and found to have greater levels of cortisol, which is a hormone released in response to stress (2006).

Emile Durkheim’s Theory of Crime and Crime Causation Essay

Abstract The concept of â€Å"crime† has over the ages been subject to various definitions as the society tries to address it. Criminology is thus the study of crime and crime causation. It concerns itself with understanding the deep essence of crime as an act or omission, and all the reasons behind its occurrence. In this pursuit, criminology draws on various other fields such as sociology, biology, psychology, etc. This field of study is often argued to be a subdivision of sociology which the larger field since its main focus is grounded in social realities. Hence, during the twentieth century, the sociological approach to crime was the most influential, thus scholars such Emile DURKHEIM bought about considerable impact to the common perception of crime. He was a French sociologist who, viewing the whole society as a reality, perceived crime as a mere element of the society; a completely natural phenomenon and which serves certain significant functions. This work is therefore intended to, throughout a concise discussion, explicate and analyze the theory of crime and its causation as perceived by Emile Durkheim, mainly considering its natural and functional characteristics. †Emile DURKHEIM (1858-1971) viewed inequality as a natural and inevitable human condition that is not associated with social maladies such as crime unless there is also a breakdown of social norms or rules† Explain and Assess Durkheim’s theory on crime and crime causation. Introduction Criminology is understood to be the study of crime and crime causation as social phenomena; it thus concerns itself with the study of the causes of crime and the treatment of the offenders.1 In this pursuit, criminology, as a subdivision of sociology2, draws on many fields inter alia psychology, biology, anthropology, etc. In the twentieth century, the sociological approach to criminology became the most influential approach; this is basically the study of social behavior, systems, and structures. 3 Emile DURKHEIM, a French sociologist, is amongst the scholars who exerted great influence on criminology during that period. He, unlike other scholars, both in and outside the field of sociology, perceived criminal behaviors as normal part of all societies. No society, he argued, can ever have complete uniformity of moral consciousness4, and thus, there has always been some deviant characters from the commonly accepted moral values. This write-up is therefore intended to briefly explicate and analyze the theory on crime and its causation as observed by E. Durkheim. Scholars in almost all the fields (related to criminology in particular) before and after Durkheim have endeavored to find the cause for crimes. In this regard, they have attempted to find the causation of criminal behavior in different factors, including external factors such as in natural and supernatural forces,5 climate, economic conditions, density of population or  certain ecological areas.6 In contrast to all the above factors, Durkheim maintained that the only explanation in relation to crime causation is to be found in essentially looking into ‘the very nature of the society’.7 In this respect, he was convinced that the individual is rather ‘a product’ than an ‘author’ of the society; he is, otherwise, a small image of the world in which he lives, hence, the causation of his behaviors, be they criminal or not, could be found only by understanding the society in which he lives. For E. Durkheim, crime is therefore immanent in society an d results from social interaction. Simply put, criminality proceeds from nothing but the very nature of humanity itself and, far from being transcendent, it is immanent.8 In his writings, Durkheim emphasizes on the immanence of crime; its causation as solely based upon the material world. Rejecting all definitions of crimes, as per the commonsense of any society, as acts that are harmful to society, Durkheim observes that all crimes, as a common characteristic, consist in acts universally disapproved of by members of each society; they shock sentiments, which, for a given society, are found in all healthy consciences. 9 Put simply, a crime is a deviant behavior only because it goes against social norms. From this perspective, arguably, the French sociologist seems to In reference to the pre-classical school of criminology whereby crime causation was understood as based upon supernatural forces, i.e. forces beyond the natural or human capacities. Adopt the legal definition of crime, as any act that the law makes punishable.10 However, unlike the proponents of that legal definition, he hold the view that the said act punishable by the law serves a significant social function which is to support and reassure the same social norms or  laws of a society. From the above elements, one would deduce that according to this theory, a crime is, arguably, a paradoxical phenomenon. Durkheim, the theorist, suggests that a crime is normally caused by or results from social interactions, and it is not deviant per se unless so declared by the laws or social norms. This is arguably Durkheim’s eminence in the field of criminology which rests upon his broad approach to anti-social behavior.11 However, it will be worth remembering that Durkheim, after identifying the essence of crime and causation, he went further to attribute to this phenomenon a certain function. This is what makes him different from all the scholars in the field of criminology. He observed that, not only is crime something normal in societies, it also plays some significant function. The Normality and Functionality of Crime Unlike other social scientists before and after him, Durkheim maintains that criminality is Normal factor rather than a Pathological one.12 Especially in current societies, this might seem really strange. According to Durkheim, crime is normal because a society the society cannot get rid of it; it is utterly impossible for a society to exempt from criminality. He argues that it is a phenomenon, not due to any imperfection of human nature or society, but from the  normal course of affairs in that given society. Hence, it is the fundamental conditions of the social organization that logically imply it. Crime is hence all a part of the totality of a society. The criminal behavior is a behavior completely normal like any other and thus its complete eradication is quite impossible. Durkheim articulates; â€Å"A society exempt  from it (crime) would necessitate a standardization of the moral concepts of all individuals which is neither possible nor desirable.†14 From this contention, one would concur with Durkheim on the fact that a society cannot get ride with or completely eradicate criminality. The criminal justice system is well-set, not to completely eradicate criminality, but to try as much as they can to reduce its level. Furthermore, Durkheim was of the view that crime serves a non-negligible role within the society. The social function he attributes to crime is inextricably linked with the society’s legal system, in that it supports or reassures the social norms of the society by the fact that it is considered as going against the said norms.15 One of the main justifications for his belief is that the fact that crime is found in all society simply suggests that it must be performing some necessary functions; otherwise it would have degrading over the ages and by the end of the day, abolished in an advanced society. 16 One of the most effective and necessary functions, he argued, crime plays is ‘social change’.17 Crime could be considered as one of the effective sources of change in a society. This could be exemplified by, in line with his definition of crime, the events that happened in the United States with the Anti-miscegenation Laws that promoted racial segregation.18 These laws began being violated as the American society progressed, it reached a point where, in violation those laws (social norms), many people started having inter-racial relationships. To some extent, the violation of those social norms, which could be regarded as crime, brought about social change in the US. Durkheim further argues that without crime, there could be no evolution in law.19 For instance, every individual’s right to express himself should be guaranteed for any society to progress. Hence, the opportunity for a genius or an artist to carry out his work affords the criminal his originality at a lower level.20 Thus, there has to be a certain evolution of the laws in order to face such situation from time to time. He further drew some analogy to the trial of Socrates; â€Å"According to the Athenian Law, Socrates was a criminal, and his condemnation was more than just. However, his crime, namely, the independence of his thought, rendered a service both to his country and the humanity.†21 In terms of evolution of the laws, this trial that occurred in the ancient ages is significant. From the above contentions, one would thus say, that crime should no longer be conceived as an evil that cannot be repressed. It should be considered, instead, as a normal phenomenon which can be faced for purposes of reducing its rate in the society. Conclusion Crime, according to Durkheim, is a normal phenomenon in the society that at the same time serves certain social functions. This paper emphasized on the fact that, unlike other scholars in the field of criminology, Durkheim perceived crime in, arguably, a kind of paradoxical manner in the sense that he started by defining crime as being caused by social interactions. For him, it is an act caused by social interaction, which (act) is not a crime per se, but it one becomes after being so declared by the social norms. He however recognized the negative part of crime, anyway, by conceding that crime is an act that shocks sentiments, which, for a given society, are found in all healthy consciences. He finally suggests that, without condoning crime or presenting apology for it, crime must no longer be conceived as an evil that the society could be exempted from, but rather a reality that exists as part of the society to members of the society can react through punishment.22 Therefore, in stating that crime could be perceived as merely a normal and natural element, he conceived the whole society as reality which is meant to move and evolve. BIBLIOGRAPHY Black’s Law Dictionary; (8th Ed. 2004). West’s Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. S.v. â€Å"Criminology.† Retrieved July 27 2014 from http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Criminology Durkheim, E. The Rules of Sociological Method, Edited by G. E. Gatlin, 1938. http://kpulawandsociety.wordpress.com/2012/10/18/durkheim-crime-serves-asocial-function/; Retrieved on July 27, 2014. Hamlin, J. The Normality of Crime. Durkheim and Erikson, Department of Sociology and Anthropology. UMD (2009). Walter A. Lunden; Pioneers in Criminology XVI–Emile Durkheim (1858-1917); Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Vol. 49|Issue 1, Article II (1958). Prins, A., Criminalite et Repression, Bruxelles, 1886. http://www.s-cool.co.uk/a-level/sociology/introduction-to-deviance/reviseit/deviance-durkheims-contribution. Retrieved on July 27, 2014.

How Can We Organise Our Thinking Essay

Psychologists who study the mental process of thinking, as well as perception, learning, memory and language, work in the area of cognitive psychology. Thinking is probably one of the most difficult processes to describe, as we think in three ways. We think in words and meaning: semantic thought, we think in images by making mental pictures: iconic thought and enactive thought based on impressions of actions, such as tying a shoelace. Our memory provides us with the ability to remember the past and things that we have learnt in the past. On a daily basis we are overloaded with information, so how do we process it? Firstly, we can organise our thoughts by involving and using mental images which helps us memorise better verbal and written information. So, we think about things by making a mental picture in our mind. When starting to learn the a new language, mental images are very helpful to learn the basic vocabulary. A very good example of this is the key word technique. To explain this further, imagine a picture of a bell with a lid on it, which has a nasty smell, the French word is â€Å"La Poubelle†, and is pronounced pooh-bell, which means â€Å"bin† in English. You can then make a mental picture of yourself lifting the lid off of the bell shaped bin and saying â€Å"pooh†. This key word technique created by Michael Raugh and Richard Atkinson, who experimented on two groups of participants, who were asked to learn a list of 60 Spanish words. The group that used the key word technique, when all participants were tested, scored an average of 88% and the group that did not use these key words scored 28%. This proves that the use of mental images help us remember things, and we can develop different memory stagegies such as mnemonics, which are an aid or verse to remember facts. An example of this is, to aid us when setting up a snooker table with the different coloured balls. Most of us know all the red balls go in the triangle, and the location of the black, pink and blue balls. However, we do forget the order of the green, brown and yellow because they are placed in a row of three next to each other. An easy mnemonic way to remember this order of balls is: God Bless You. Second, another important way we can organise our thoughts is by putting them into categories. This is known as concept formation and is the process of developing mental representation by developing categories of a group of objects or events that share similar properties. For example, the concept of â€Å"animal†, this concept contains other sub-concepts and then further sub-concepts. You divide animals into birds, fish and mammals. Then, divide birds into robins, sparrows and owls etc. Using our concepts we can define the features that we associate with birds, such as wings, feathers, beaks, flying.These defining concepts of a bird, do not have to be applied rigidly, as certain birds cannot fly, such as penguins and ostriches. Weston Bousfield conducted an experiment where participants were asked to learn a list of sixty words that could be divided into four categories. Example: furniture, fruit, clothing and flowers. Although the words were presented in a random order, the participants tended to remember them in groups which belonged to the same category,so if they remembered apple, they would remember peach, lemon and strawberry.This shows us that the information was available, but without the category clues given above, we cannot access all of this information. Now, when we try to recall this information that has been arranged in to categories. Each piece of information then cues the next in turn, as it has been stored in our mind in an structured way, as opposed to a random and arbitrary way. Finally, schemas are a vital way to organise our thoughts, as they allow us to remember information about particular things. A schema is mental framework of knowledge developed as a result of experience, that can help us recall information that has been stored, and so provide more cues to prompt our memory. Hence, we file our knowledge about objects, situations, groups of people and ourselves into a large filing cabinet in our mind. The term schema (plural schemas or schemata) that was used by Jean Piaget an influential Swiss psychologist, who spent over 50 years, investigating the way children developed their thinking and cognitive skills, learning and memory.This was done by developing schemas which built up and developed by their result of experience in the world. Simply this means that our memory is a large filing cabinet and each file in the cabinet is a schema. If you opened a schema labelled † going to the cinema† it would contain all your knowledge about trips to the cinema. Buying a ticket, seeing a film, sitting in the dark and eating popcorn. So, if you went to a cinema that you had not been to before, you would open up your â€Å"cinema schema† file in your memory and this would lead the way. John Bransford and Marcia Johnson conducted an experiment, which illustrated the role of schemas.They asked participants to read a passage from a book and recall it as accurately as they could. Half the participants were given the title of the passage and the other half without the title of â€Å"washing clothes†.The title provides a schema, so that the information can be set aside and remembered more easily. In conclusion, we have explored the ways that we think and the ways that organising our thoughts our can improve our memory. So, mental images give us pictures, concept formation puts information into groups of categories, and developing schemas, allows us to construct and remember mental packages about relevant information.Therefore, our memory is the key to how we function and who we are.