Questions
Research newspaper or magazine articles related to crime using the print or online news media. Select...

Research newspaper or magazine articles related to crime using the print or online news media.

Select two articles or news stories and apply at least two theories from the biological, psychological, and/or sociological perspectives to each article or news story.

Write an analysis of each article or news story addressing the following:

What is the purpose of the story as you perceive it?

How is crime or criminal justice portrayed?

What feelings or reactions are evoked in you by the article?

How would you explain the reported criminal behavior using the two theories you selected? Explain your choice of theory.

Give complete citation for the selected article and include a digital copy if possible.

In: Psychology

Recall a time in a co-op placement, a summer job, an internship, a student club, a...

Recall a time in a co-op placement, a summer job, an internship, a student club, a student team project, etc. when your values conflicted with what you were expected to do in a particular, nontrivial decision, and you spoke up and acted to resolve the conflict.

Consider the following and write down your thoughts:

  • What did you do, and what was the impact?
  • What motivated you to speak up and act? Identify the values that conflicted with what you were expected to do.
  • How satisfied are you? How would you like to have responded? (This question is not about rejecting or defending past actions but rather about imagining your Ideal Scenario.)
  • What would have made it even easier for you to speak/act?
    • Things within your own control
    • Things within the control of others

Part 2

Recall a time in a co-op placement, a summer job, an internship, a student club, a student team project, etc. when your values conflicted with what you were expected to do in a particular, nontrivial decision, and you did not speak up or act to resolve the conflict.

Consider the following and write down your thoughts:

  • What happened, and what was the impact?
  • Why didn’t you speak up or act? Identify the values that conflicted with what you were expected to do.
  • How satisfied are you? How would you like to have responded? (This question is not about rejecting or defending past actions but rather about imagining your Ideal Scenario.)
  • What would have made it easier for you to speak/act?
    • Things within your own control
    • Things within the control of others

Compare how your responded to these two situations to draw a conclusion about when you tend to act on your values, and what is necessary for you to do so

In: Psychology

I've noticed that there's this misconception that folks who disagree with our general classroom-perspective are considered...

I've noticed that there's this misconception that folks who disagree with our general classroom-perspective are considered uneducated. This includes Dennis (who rejected life-saving measures due to religious reasons) or animal rights stakeholders (like the trauma surgeon).

There's a lot of science that shows us that facts (read: education) don't help to change people's minds

Now consider the following questions for this discussion:

When talking with someone you know really well, what kind of things do you get out of that interaction? Think along the lines of empathy, understanding, companionship, feeling listened to.

How does your communication style change when trying to change someone's mind? What do you get out of being "right"? Do you think the person gets something out of being "wrong"?

What's it like to be on the other side of the conversation when someone is trying to convince you of something?

How might we try to communicate more effectively around these controversial subjects?

In: Psychology

“The freedom of having your own money, has to be freedom to not marry the guy,...

“The freedom of having your own money, has to be freedom to not marry the guy, to be free to leave the guy, and to support yourself as a single person, possibly with kids”. Analyze the way that this statement reflects the importance of equal wages for equal work.

In: Psychology

Genetic adaption impacts all species and organisms over time. We can understand these changes by studying...

Genetic adaption impacts all species and organisms over time. We can understand these changes by studying the physical anthropology and:

a) adaption, clarification, super pronate

b) extinction, consolidation, ventral sufficiency

c) speciation, adaption, and extinction

d) extinction, targeted reproduction, speciation

In: Psychology

What are the strengths and limitations of differential association theory and social learning theory?

What are the strengths and limitations of differential association theory and social learning theory?

In: Psychology

Philosophy Describe the theory of compatibilism. Do you think it works? please describe in 200 words...

Philosophy Describe the theory of compatibilism. Do you think it works? please describe in 200 words response.

In: Psychology

How is black lives matter depicted in the media?

How is black lives matter depicted in the media?

In: Psychology

As health care costs continue to rise, does it make sense for corporations to encourage their...

As health care costs continue to rise, does it make sense for corporations to encourage their employees to participate in fitness classes on a regular basis? Do you think that it would save the corporations money in the long run to offer a variety of fitness classes for free or discounted through the workplace? Could a prevention verse treatment model of employee benefits be better of and cheaper for employee and employer in the long run?

In: Psychology

How might you adapt Kohlberg’s theory of gender development OR gender-schema theory to account for children...

How might you adapt Kohlberg’s theory of gender development OR gender-schema theory to account for children who are transgender or gender non-conforming?

In: Psychology

Write a letter of resignation to your employer for the past ten years. The company is...

Write a letter of resignation to your employer for the past ten years. The company is a non profit organization, that deals with people with developmental disabilities, and you have been working for them for the last ten years. Explain to them ups and downs times during your employment. And give a closing statement and appreciation to them.

In: Psychology

What is Public Administration?

What is Public Administration?

In: Psychology

Globalization Concept: Increasing access to clean water seems like a no-brainer on the surface. Installing local...

Globalization Concept:

Increasing access to clean water seems like a no-brainer on the surface. Installing local wells brings clean water to remote villages, thereby eliminating exhaustive trips carrying dirty water from contaminated sources. How could installing wells be anything but good and ethical?

This debate gives you the opportunity to consider this question. In this discussion, you will explore how the forces of globalization, modernization, and colonialism influenced the installation of clean water wells in less developed places like Africa.

In: Psychology

Chapter 1 of our text casts the Spotlight on Nigeria, with a population of 186 million...

Chapter 1 of our text casts the Spotlight on Nigeria, with a population of 186 million and counting. Africa’s most populous country faces the curious challenge the comparative literature calls the “resource curse--” one that other resource-rich countries such as Iran, Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan also grapple. The “curse” points to a situation in which an abundance of oil resources, instead of delivering higher living standards, a better quality of life, and economic prosperity for the population, instead perpetuates underdevelopment.

The paradox is particular pronounced for Nigeria, one of the world’s biggest oil-producers. Despite earning hundreds of billions from its petroleum exports, accounting for a whopping 90 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), Nigeria scores only 0.532 on the UNDP’s 2017 HDI index, up a mere 0.061 from 2012, or 157 out of 189 countries. (UNDP. International Human Development Indicators. Its poor showing on critical QLI indicators--health, life expectancy, education, poverty, gender equality, sustainability, and so on--is illustrative of the classic challenge to many resource-rich countries in the Global South: abundant natural resources that, instead of bringing economic prosperity has done the opposite. It begs the question, would Nigeria be better off without oil?

It may strike us as odd that a country so richly-endowed with natural resources has not been able to show more for it. Instead, what we have had are several military coups, rampant corruption, political fragmentation, poor living standards, and fitful democratic progress. On the corruption side of the ledger, Nigeria ranks 148/180 on Transparency International’s 2017 Corruption Index, scoring a mere 27 out of 100, slightly above Afghanistan, Burundi, Haiti, North Korea, Somalia, and Tajikistan. Corruption has enabled the political elite to “buy off” mass publics and, until recently, underwrite repressive rule. “Black gold” has served to distort normal economic development in Nigeria by robbing other sectors of needed resources. (Similar situations obtain in other oil-producing economies such as Algeria (now experiencing great political upheaval) and Iran in the Middle East/North Africa and Mexico and Venezuela in our own Hemisphere.)

Nigeria’s (post-independence) economic plan sought to encourage domestic growth through tariffs and subsidies, a strategy that should have produced good results, given its high oil revenues. It failed, being driven more by political expediency than by economic logic. So, for example, a US$ 8 billion investment in steel production failed to get off the ground. (Nmehelle, Vincent O. “Sharia Law in the Northern States of Nigeria: To implement, or not to implement, the Constitutionality is the Question,” Human Rights Quarterly 26, no. 3 (2004), pp. 730-59.).

Oil price declines beginning in the 1980s, amidst economic uncertainty and changing energy habits in the industrialized North and a chronic foreign-debt burden, forced Nigeria’s leaders to reverse course on its economic development strategy. This resulted in huge job losses, run-away inflation, and much public discontent. To win support, the military government of Ibrahim Babangida (1985-93) diverted the country’s oil wealth to coopt opponents and the civil society, even while it kept up the pressure on its critics. Political support was purchased through an elaborate system of patrimony using petro dollars.

Another military coup in 1993 brought Sani Abacha to power. Corruption (the misuse of political office for personal or political gain) became endemic (Johnston, Michael. Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power, and Democracy. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press (2005)--as was narco- and human trafficking, money laundering, and so-called 419 scams--an internet swindle involving unknown Nigerian civil servants.

The fourth republic under the popularly-elected government of Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007) faced the daunting task of reining in the economy while breaking with the past. The approach produced only limited results. Yar’Adua (2007-2010) and his Democratic Party (PDP) successors (2010-15) launched what became known as the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS). NEEDS was an ambitious plan to stimulate domestic enterprise through foreign direct investment (FDI). It was also meant to bring more transparency in government spending, foster the rule of law, reduce corruption, improve transportation and telecom, and deliver the people’s health. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on Nigeria sounds a cautious note of optimism, i.e. if the economic reforms and diversification plans, and the efforts to control inflation (the money supply), stabilise the country’s finances, and “move beyond oil,” remain on track.

In theory, then all is not lost for Nigeria to overcome its resource curse. For all that, it continues to depend heavily on one source of income--petroleum; and not much has changed in terms of improvements in living standards for the majority of Nigerians. Indeed, inequality has reached alarming levels. To be fair, Nigeria’s civilian leaders have boldly gone where none of its military rulers have gone, starting the “rainy-day” fund and tackling corruption, especially in the all-important oil sector.

Still, huge challenges remain, reflecting the ambiguous role of petroleum in the country’s life. So, although there are hopeful signs, Nigeria’s prospects, like that of Brazil and others, remain uncertain. The rise of the Boko Haram terrorist group and the failure of the current President Muhammadu Buhari to bring it to book has not helped. (For background on the group, founded in 2002, see the BBC here.) Buhari has come in for “widespread criticism over his government’s inability to defeat the renewed …insurgency in the northeast.” The New York Times, 9 April 2018 (here). This explains in part why Nigeria scores only modestly on civil liberties (freedom of expression, association, the rule of law, personal and individual rights) on the Freedom House Index; and also on the EIU Index.

Here are some pathways into this first discussion: What do you make of Nigeria’s resource-curse challenge? Can the country get out from under this curse and how? Why does Nigeria seem to hold so much promise, yet continually fails to deliver? Comparatively speaking, how do we account for the fact that Canada, also an energy-rich country, has not fallen prey to this curse?

In: Psychology

Why did Reconstruction come to an end?

Why did Reconstruction come to an end?

In: Psychology