As Psychology Essay

One of the key differences between the concepts of STM and LTM is duration. â€Å"Duration† refers to how long a memory lasts before it is no longer available. Short term memories don’t last very long. An example of STM in action would be trying to remember a seven-digit phone number that you have just been given. This is maintained in the short-term memory by REPETITION until the number is dialled, and then fades once the conversation starts. The way most people keep information in their STM for more than a few seconds is to rehearse it. So rehearsal is one way of keeping a memory active. The result of verbal rehearsal is that STM are held in the STM store and eventually become long term. Duration of LTM LTM refers to memories that last anywhere for 2 hours to 100 years plus, i. e. anything that isn’t short term. Some memories are very long lasting. For example Shepard (1967) tested duration of LTM. He showed participants 612 memorable pictures, one at a time. An hour later they were shown some of these pictures among a set of others and showed almost perfect recognition. Four months later they were still able to recognise 50% of photographs. The material to be remembered was more meaningful to the participants and therefore the duration of the LTM was better. Key study on duration of STM Lloyd and Margaret Peterson (1959) conducted a landmark study of the duration of STM. They enlisted the help of 24 students attending their university. The experimenter said a consonant syllable to the participant followed by a three-digit number (e. g. WRT 303 or SCX 591). The consonant syllable was selected to have no meaning. Immediately after hearing the syllable and number, the participants had to count backwards from this number in 3s or 4s until told to stop. Then the participants were asked to recall the nonsense syllable. The reason for counting backwards was to stop the participants rehearsing the syllable because rehearsal would aid recall. Each participant was given two practice trials followed by eight trials. On each trial the retention interval (time spent counting backwards) was different. They found that participants remembered about 90% when there was only a 3-second interval and about 2% when there was an 18-second interval. This suggests that, when rehearsal is prevented, STM lasts about 20 seconds at most. Evaluation The findings from the Peterson and Peterson study have been challenged. We might argue that, in this experiment, participants were relying on more than STM alone because they knew they were going to be asked to recall the items after an interval filled with a distracting activity. Other research such as Marsh et al, (1997) has suggested that when participants do not expect to be tested after this interval, forgetting may occur after just 2 seconds. This suggests that our understanding of the duration of STM may not be as clear-cut as first thought. In fact, more recent research even suggests that the duration of STM is not as short as Peterson and Peterson’s study would suggest. Nairne’s et al (1999) found that items could be recalled after as long as 96 seconds. In Nairne’s study, participants were asked to recall the same items across trials, whereas in the earlier study different items were used on each trial, which would have led to interference between items, decreasing recall. Capacity and Encoding Capacity is a measure of how much can be held in memory. It is measured in terms of bits of information such as number of digits. STM has a very limited capacity (less than 7 chunks of information) whereas LTM has potentially unlimited capacity. Increasing the capacity of STM The magic number 7+/-2 George Miller (1956) wrote a memorable article called â€Å"The magic number seven plus or minus two†. He reviewed psychological research and concluded that the span of immediate memory is 7; people can cope reasonably well with counting seven dots flashed onto a screen but not many more than this. Miller also found out that people can recall 5 words as well as they can recall 5 letters – we chunk things together and can then remember more. The size of the chunk matters Simon (1974) found that people had a shorter memory span for larger chunks, such as 8-word phrases, than smaller chunks, such as one-syllable words. Evaluation Cowan (2001) reviewed a variety of studies on the capacity of STM and concluded that STM is likely to be limited to above 4 chunks. This suggests that STM may not be as extensive as was first thought. Vogel et al, (2001) looked at the capacity of STM for visual information and also found that 4 items was about the limit. Encoding in STM and LTM PAGE 23 Encoding is the way information is changed so that it can be stored in memory. Information enters the brain via the senses. It is then stored in various forms such as visual codes (picture), acoustic forms (sounds), or a semantic form (the meaning of the experience). Information in the STM is mainly encoded acoustically (information is represented as sound); whereas information in LTM tends to be encoded semantically (information is represented by its meaning). Acoustic and semantic encoding We can compare the ways information is stored in STM and LTM in terms of encoding of the memory trace. Acoustic coding involved coding information in terms of the way it sounds The multi-store model of memory The multi-store model of memory (MSM) is an explanation of how memory processes work. The MSM was first described by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin in 1968. There is three stores/components in the MSM which are the sensory memory, short-term memory and long-term memory. Sensory memory The sensory memory is composed of several stores which are the eyes, ears, nose, etc, and the corresponding areas of the brain. If a person’s attention is focused on one of the sensory stores, then the data is transferred to STM. Attention is the first step in remembering something. Short-term memory Information held in STM is in a â€Å"fragile state†. It will disappear relatively quickly if rehearsal is prevented. Information will also disappear if new information enters STM pushing out the original information. This happens because STM has a limited capacity. Long-term memory The second step is moving information from STM to LTM. Atkinson and Shiffrin said that this also happens through rehearsal. The more something is rehearsed the more it will be remembered. This kind of rehearsal is referred to maintenance rehearsal. Evaluation The sensory store Sperling (1920) gave participants a grid of digits and letters for 50 milliseconds. They were either asked to write down all 12 items or they were told they would hear a tone immediately after the exposure and they should just write down that row. When asked to report the whole thing their recall was poorer (5 items recalled, about 42%) then when asked to give one row only (3 items recalled, 75%). This show that information decays rapidly in the sensory store. The serial position effect Glazer and Cunitz (1966) gave participants a list of 20 words, presented one at a time, and then asked to recall words they could remember. They tended to remember the words from the start of the list (primary effect) and from the end of the list (recency effect) but were less good at recalling words in the middle. The primary effects occur because the first words are best rehearsed and transferred to LTM. The recency effect occurs because these words are in the STM when people start recalling the list. Areas of the brain associated with STM and LTM One way to demonstrate the existence of separate stores in memory is to link STM and LTM to specific areas of the brain. Modern techniques of scanning the brain can be used to take images of the active brain and enable us to see what region is active when a person is undertaking particular tasks. Research (Beardsley, 1977) has found that the prefrontal cortex is active when individuals are working on a task in STM. The working memory model Baddeley and Hitch (1974) used the term ‘working memory’ to refer to that bit of memory that you are using when you are working on a complex task which requires you to store information as you go along. The components of the working memory Central executive This is the key component of the working memory. The function of the central executive is to direct attention to particular tasks, determining at any time how ‘resources’ are allocated to tasks. The central executive has a very limited capacity. Phonological loop This also has a limited capacity. The phonological loop deals with the auditory information and preserves the order of information. Baddeley (1986) further subdivided this loop into the phonological store and an articulatory process. The phonological store holds the words you hear, like an inner ear. The articulatory process is used for words that are heard or seen (inner voice). Visuo-spatial sketch pad The Visuo-spatial sketch pad is used when you have to plan a spatial task (like getting from one room to another). Visual and/or spatial information is temporary stored here. Visual information is what things looks like and spatial information is the relationship between things. Logie (1995) suggested that the Visuo-spatial sketchpad can be divided into a visual cache (store) and inner scribe which deals with spatial relations. Episodic buffer Baddeley (2000) added the episodic buffer because he realised the model needed a general store. The episodic buffer is an extra storage system that has a limited capacity. It integrates information from the central executive, the phonological loop and the Visuo-spatial sketchpad and also from the long-term memory. Evaluation Doing two tasks using the same or different components Hitch and Baddeley (1976) gave participants two tasks to do simultaneously. Task 1 occupied the central executive and task 2 either involved the articulatory loop or both the central executive and articulatory loop. Task 1 was slower when given a task involving both the central executive and articulatory loop. The speed on task 1 was the same whether using the articulatory loop or no extra task. This shows that doing two tasks that involve the same component causes difficulty. Evidence for the central executive Bunge et al. (2000) used an fmri to see which parts of the brain were most active when participants were doing two tasks (reading a sentence and recalling the final word in each sentence). The same brain areas were active in either dual- or single – task conditions but there was significantly more activation in the dual-task condition indicating that increased demands were reflected in brain activity. Evidence for the Visuo-spatial sketchpad Baddeley et al. (1975b) demonstrated the existence of thee Visuo-spatial sketch pad. Participants were given a visual tracking task (they had to track a moving light with a pointer). At the same time they were given kne of two other tasks: task 1 was to describe all the angles on the letter F, task 2 was to perform a verbal task. Task 1 was very difficult but not task 2. This is also evidence related to the effects of doing two tasks using the same or different components. Evidence for the episodic buffer Baddeley et al. (1987) found that, when participants were shown words and then asked for immediate recall, their performance was much better for sentences (related words) then for unrelated words. This supports the idea of an immediate memory store for itesms that are neither visual nor phonological. Accuracy of Eye Witness testimony Loftus and Palmer were interested in whether misleading interesting distorted the accuracy of an eyewitness’s immediate recall. What did they do? 45 students were shown seven films of different traffic accidents. After each film the participants were given a questionnaire which asked them to describe the accident and then answer a series of specific questions about it. There was one critical question. This question was about ‘how fast were the cars going when they hit each other? One group of participants were given this question whereas the other five groups were given the verbs smashed, collided, bumped or contacted in place of the word hit. What did they find? The group given the world ‘smashed’ estimated a higher speed that the other groups (about 41 mph). The group given the word ‘contacted’ estimated the lower speed (about 30 mph). Evaluation Supporting DO LATER (PAGE 33) Factors influencing the accuracy of eye witnessing testimony Many researchers have looked at the relationship between anxiety and accuracy in eyewitness testimony. Deffenbacher et al. 2004) carried out a meta-analysis of 18 studies published between 1974 and 1997, looking at the effects of heightening anxiety on accuracy of eyewitness recall. From these studies it was clear that there was considerable support for the hypothesis that high levels of stress negativity impacted on the accuracy of eyewitness memory. Anxiety enhances recall Christianson and Hubienet te (1993) found when they questioned 58 real witnesses to bank robberies. Those witnesses who were threatened in some way were more accurate in their recall and remembered more detail than those who had been onlookers. This continued to be true even 15 months later. The weapon focus effect Johnson and Scott (1976) identified the weapon-focus effect. In their initial experiment, Loftus et al. used two conditions, one involving a weapon and one not. In both conditions participants heard a discussion in an adjoining room. In condition 1 a man emerged holding a pen and with grease on his hands. In conditions 2 the discussion was rather more heated and a man emerged holding a paperknife covered in blood. When asked to identify the man from 50 photos, participants in condition 1 were 49% more accurate, compared with 33% accuracy in condition 2. This suggests that the weapon may have distracted attention from the person holding it and therefore explain why eyewitnesses sometimes have poor recall for certain details of violent crimes. Evaluation Explaining the apparent contradiction Deffenbacher suggests that this contradiction in research finding could best be explained with reference to the Yerkes-Dodson law, which states that performance improves with increase of arousal up to some optical point then declines with further increase. Many researchers believe that anxiety effects in eye-witness testimony are curvilinear. This means that small to medium increases in arousal may increase the accuracy of memory, but high levels interfere with accuracy. Those studies which had found improved memory accuracy were most likely dealing with increased arousal within the first part of the Yerkes-Dodson curve, whereas studies which showed that accuracy decreases with increased arousal were most likely operating in the second part of the curve. MORE EVALUATION!! The cognition interview Fisher and Geiselman (1992) developed an interviewing technique, the cognitive interview. The original cognitive interview technique could be characterised by four distinct components 1. Report everything (hypermnesia) 2. Mental reinstatement of context- the interviewer encourages the interviewee to mentally recreate the environment and contacts from the original incident. 3. Changing the order- the interviewer may try alternative ways through the timeline of the incident, for example by reversing the order in which events occurred. 4. Changing the perspective- the interviewee is asked to recall the incident from multiple perspectives The first two components are based on the principle that if there is consistency between the actual incident and the recreated situation, there is an increased likeliness that witnesses will recall more detail therefore more accurate in their recall. The latter two components are based on the assumption that information that observed can be retrieved through a number of different routes into an individual’s memory. Evaluation Kohnken et al. , (1999) did a meta-analysis of 53 studies found, on average, an increase of 34% in the amount of correct information generated in the cognitive interview compared with standard interviewing techniques. Milne and Bull (2002) examined the relative effectiveness of each of the four components of the cognitive interview. Undergraduate students and children were interviewed using one of the components of the cognitive interview and compared to a control condition (where they were instructed to simply ‘try again’). When participants were interviewed using a combination of the components ‘mental reinstatement’ and ‘report everything’ their recall was significantly higher than in all other conditions.

Reaction Paper Last Princess by Kara David Essay

Stories of princess were part of our childhood memories. We dream of becoming one during those times. But in Tumandok tribe in Tapaz, Capiz, Philippines, there were women, who were treated like a princess. They are known to be the binukot. Before seeing the documentary of Huling Prinsesa (Last Princess), I was really excited because who knew that a 3rd world country like the Philippines would afford to have a princess. Then I realized, Philippines was not a 3rd world country then. And I remember that during the pre-Hispanic period we used to have datus, babaylans, pandays so having a princess would not be far from reality. Philippines though colonized by foreigners, retained its rich culture and I think this is one of the proofs. The binukot was usually the prettiest daughter of the chief tribe. The term was derived from bukot which means â€Å"to keep†. Binukot was not allowed to go outside the house. That’s why her food was usually delivered in her room. She will be taught to memories and sing different epics. Going outside the house is not a simple task. The binukot needs to be carried on a cradle so that her feet will be kept clean. The tribe believed that the binukot has a supernatural power. During planting and harvesting time, she will be brought to the farm to perform, for them to have a bountiful harvest. At present there are still few binukot on some part of Panay Island. But the danger of losing this tradition is very high, for most women of Panay preferred to be an ordinary citizen instead of becoming a princess. Stories of princess were part of our childhood memories. We dream of becoming one during those times. But in Tumandok tribe in Tapaz, Capiz, Philippines, there were women, who were treated like a princess. They are known to be the binukot. The trip to the remote mountains of Capiz is tough — an hours-long motorcycle ride and several hours more of trekking across rivers and up and down rocky, slippery slopes. It is a challenging feat for anyone who wants to see and explore a mysterious tradition preserved for decades among some of the mountains isolated communities.The trip took some time and I thought it’s worth the wait just to see the ‘Last Princess’, from the trip alone, it made me really curious of what will princess look like. I-Witness travels to the Tapaz Mountain, considered the farthest in Capiz, located in the central Philippines island of Panay. The mountain people called the tumandoks live in Tapaz, and I-Witness searched for the tribe’s last remaining princesses called the binukots. Reporter Kara David reaches the community of Rizal Sur, a village that looks just like any other isolated community, where the tumandoks living in traditional huts and survive on whatever nature provides them. In the midst of this community, she meets one of the last remaining binukots, 73-year-old Lola (grandmother) Isiang. Lola Isiang lives in an old hut, just like everybody else in the community. However, she has stayed inside a room in the house ever since she was five years old, living in isolation as the family’s chosen binukot.

Current Trend in Management Essay

The management should recognize the important role of human resources management in order to successfully guide organizations towards profitability. It is essential for the management of investment and time-consuming and the amount, to see change scenario for the human resources department in the 21st century. In order to stay competitive and be in the race, and human resources management should consciously update itself with a shift in human resources, and be aware of the human resources issues cropping up. With high attrition rates and poaching strategies of competitors, and there is a huge shortage of skilled staff, and therefore, the company human resources activities play a vital role in combating the crisis. Should be put in the appropriate human resource policies that would lead to the organization as well as the individual s goals. And human resource managers to manage all the challenges facing staff recruitment, training them, and then develop strategies to retain their career and build an effective management system for them. That just taking care of employees will not be enough; new initiatives for human resources should also focus on the quality and productivity needs, and direct clients and stress, teamwork and leadership building. This book is divided into two parts, which sheds light on the emerging trends in human resources, and discusses the issues of human resources in various industries such as financial services, information technology, energy and health care, for example a few. It should be the value of this book is to practice human resource managers in each institution, as well as for those who have a great interest in the field of human resources management, to realize the increasing importance of human resources and understand the need to build human resources effective strategies to combat human resources issues emerging in the 21st century. Has evolved Human Resource Management Introduction to a large extent over the past century, and has seen a major shift in form and function primarily during the past two decades. Led a number of large forces environmental internal and external, progress has been made in the management of human resources function maintenance to a large extent, with little if any impact down the line, why many scholars and practitioners regard today as a source of competitive advantage for sustainable organizations operating in the global economy. Changes in human resources management: some significant changes that are likely to take place in the management of human resources are as follows: An increase in the levels of education: Due to the technological progress and the spread of educational institutions, workers will become increasingly aware of the needs of a higher level, managers must develop appropriate policies and techniques to motivate knowledge workers. Better-educated workforce and greater demand management assessment and self-governance in the workplace. Technological developments: This will require re-training and vocational training in the middle of each of the workers and managers. The rise of an international company to prove new challenges for individuals and function. Change the composition of the labor force: In women, in the future, minorities, SCs and STs become an important source of manpower in the future at the expense of ease of access to better education and employment opportunities. Therefore workforce planning will from each organization to take into account the possibility of the availability of talent in these groups. And will change the mix of the workforce leads to new values ​​in organizations. Increase the role of government: In India and management, personnel have become so certified. Will be required in private institutions in the future will be to coordinate its programs with those welfare work in the government sector, especially the increasingly to support the government’s efforts to improve public health and education, training and development and infrastructure. Occupational Health and Safety: Because of the existence of the legislative and the trade union movement, and management personnel should be more health and safety conscious in the future. OD: in the future, and will have started to change and able to improve organizational effectiveness. And senior management will become more actively involved in the development of human resources. New work ethic: more troops will be on the forms of the project and a team of the organization. And change the work ethic requires a greater focus on the individual. You will have to redesign jobs to make the appeal. Development planning: Will be involved personnel management are increasingly in organizational planning, structure, and composition etc.. This will require greater awareness in terms of cost and profit based on attitudes on the part of the Department of Personnel. Better evaluation and reward systems: There will be a need to post the highest gains patrol organizations with the goal and the result more workers compensation-oriented systems performance and linking performance evaluation will have to be developed. New personnel policies: This will require the adoption of new and better policies for the labor force in the future. The traditional family management to give way to professional management with greater forces on human dignity. Hence, it will be in personnel management in the future cope with new challenges and new responsibilities performance. And will take place participatory leadership authoritarian leadership. And creative skills must be redone and rewarded the focus will shift from a legally binding approach and rule to a more open and humane. Recent trends in human resources Human Resource Management is the process of bringing people and organizations together so as to achieve the objectives of each other. The role of Director of Human Resources continues to shift from the role of protector and sort of the role of planning and agent of change. Management personnel are the new heroes of companies. The name of the game today in business is individuals. At present it is not possible to show good report your financial or operating only personnel relations are in order. Over the years, a high degree of skill and knowledge based on increasing employment opportunities while jobs that require low skills are diminishing. This calls for the appointment of skill in the future through human resource management initiatives occasion. Indian organizations have also experienced a change in systems and cultures and management philosophy due to the global alignment of Indian organizations. There is a need to develop multiple skills. The role of human resource management is becoming more important.

Problem in your local community Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Problem in your local community - Essay Example According to traditional settings and history, the man usually stands as the breadwinners of the family. He works hard to earn money in order to support his family from outside work. The woman on the other hand is the caretaker of the family. She stays at home to take care of household chores, take care of the children, and to support the men. However, in modern times, there is a split in gender roles as more women are increasingly becoming breadwinners of their families, providing the majority of household income and needs. Gender roles grow closer by the day as we now have more and more stay-at-home dads taking care of the children while their wives go to work. Every society has a mechanism that allows for variations in the gender roles or sexuality of their members. This allows males to perform female chore while the men perform masculine chores. In the olden tradition, this was berdache, where a male who did not have strengths, skills and expertise equaled to his fellow male counterparts played the female gender roles while the strong men went to work. In modern societies, there is little or no emphasis on genders roles. In fact, they advocate for empowerment of women and education of the girl child. Hence the slogan, what a man can do a woman can do better. This shows just how open the society is to free participation of gender roles for both sexes. Men can work in jobs that were traditionally feminists, such as hairdressing and beauty therapy, while the women can also perform functions that traditionally were for the men, e.g. leadership and administration. Both sexes are equal and can perform each other’s roles as competently a s possible (Fausto-Sterling 19). The success of this development angles around the various feminists movements that took place across the world championing for the equal rights of women within the society. In fact, governments and other ruling

How did Slavery become a powerful Institution in America Essay

How did Slavery become a powerful Institution in America - Essay Example The trade developed rapidly in the country owing to the agrarian revolution that increased the demand for labor in the country as the discussion below portrays. The agrarian revolution refers to a time in the history of the world when agriculture was a key economic activity. Industries in different parts of Europe required raw products such as cotton and sugar cane among others. This led to the spread of colonization especially of the United States a country that presented viable potential for the development of agriculture. When the British colonized the United States, they fostered the growth and spread of the agrarian revolution into the United States as they engaged in extensive agricultural activities. Large tracts of land in both the north and the south of the country exhibited conducive climatic features that would sustain agriculture (David and Steven 290). Despite the existence of large tracts of land, the British required labor to facilitate the growth of agriculture in the country. Slaves were the only cost effective source of labor. As such, the British colonizers instigated slave trade. They coordinated with merchants in different parts of Africa who raided communities and kidnapped the unorganized Africans forcefully before shipping them to the United States among other European countries. The African slaves were cheap and therefore offered an affordable source of labor to enhance the agricultural production. In the United States, slave trade grew to become an important trade and a powerful institution in the country. The colonial government of the United States developed effective infrastructure to enhance the development of the trade in the country to become a powerful institution in the country. The structures persisted even after the country’s independence especially in the form of internal slave trading within the cou ntry. Among the key factors that enhanced the growth of slave trade in the country was the need for labor,

NCLB in your School Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

NCLB in your School - Coursework Example Effectively, the Act requires the development of basic skills assessments, critical towards receiving federal education funding (CQ Press, 2005).This is in addition to continuously giving these assessments to all students at various select grade levels, with each state developing individual standards. The utility of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standardized examinations is viewed as a pertinent requirement of all states in the U.S. This is aimed at achieving the critical purpose of NCLB that entails having all American students achieve proficiency in mathematics and reading by the year 2014. Accordingly, as founded under pertinent legislation, individual states are tasked with the setting of their individual standards, which students in public schools need to achieve. Through measurement of such student progress, states are thereafter able to solicit for federal funding, based on achievement of set standards (CQ Press, 2005). The requirement that all schools need to publish scores attained for the public to view enables parents to decide on the best education avenues through which their children can progress through. In case of contexts where schools continuously fail to meet these standards, pertinent measures are taken towards improving the schooling system present. These include utility of summer schooling and tutoring programs, or overall system restructuring if need be (New America Foundation, 2014). The AYP standardized examinations are critical towards measurement of individual and student-group progress. According to New America Foundation (2014), this is in reference to proficiency in mathematics and reading, which is essential in qualifying students for advancement to higher levels of learning. Critically so, these examinations are unique to individual states, given that there exists no national achievement standards. The NCLB Act expands federal role-play in public education

Social policy Case Study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social policy Case Study - Assignment Example They can seek help from programmes or organisations such as Childline, Sane, Supporting people, Refugee council, The Children's society, Housemate, NCH, De Paul Trust, Crisis, Scottish Churches Housing Action etc.that are specifically dealing with problems like those of Jake's. These social work organisations do help people as much as possible but after a point, they find difficult to move further as different policies prove to be a setback to their efforts of improvement. The current white paper that propagates the idea of 'valuing people' is the first of its kind since the last 30 years. So it is quiet evident that not much has been done for the improvement of this sector in the past. According to Department of Health the programs for improving services are based on the key principals; civil rights, independence, choice and inclusion. It stated, "Valuing people takes a life-long approach beginning with an integrated approach to services for disabled children and their families and then providing new opportunities for a full and purposeful adult life." (para.3) From this it appears that all are welcome for support and assistance but if we study the white paper in detail some other facts come into light. The National Austic Society has rightly pointed after observing the definition of 'Valuing people' that "the definition goes on to say that IQ below 70 is not in itself a sufficient reason for deciding whether an individual requires support. An assess ment of social functioning and communication skills should also be taken into account when determining need." (para.7) So the discussed white paper brings both; a ray of hope and a situation of dilemma to people like Jake. All this affects the social work professionals' attitudes too. The Independent Living Bill of disabled persons states that the disabled people are equal in freedom, choice, dignity and control to others and have the right to assistance and support. This automatically implies that Jake and his family can expect an independent and decent life for him. The current white paper also has set an objective to provide choices of housing to people like Jake so that they can live independently. According to Twigg, NHS and the Community Care Act 1990, "established the current arrangements for community care, introducing care management and according primary responsibility for community care-lead agency status-to social services." (1999, p.370). Sadly the housing policy is not aimed at those who need it badly. The housing policy that greatly follows the key legislation like the 1972 Housing Finance Act, 1977 Homeless Act, and 1996 Housing Act etc. is not completely a social policy. Of late it has taken a social character, which does not enable the social workers to fully utilize it for the betterment of the needy. Still the social policy is an indicator for the social workers to decide upon their plan of action. (Pahl, 1999, p.173) stated: 'social policy is now beginning to recognize the contribution which carers make to individualsThe National Health Service and

Cross-cultural Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Cross-cultural Management - Essay Example d by non-occupied markets, cheap labor force, tax exemptions, convenient locations and they are positioning themselves to the new territories to increase their value (Konecena, 2006). All these factors contribute to the new area of management; cross cultural management. The concept of cross-cultural team management was emphasized on when western countries recognized a huge inflow of expatriates. As a result the composition of workforce over there became more diverse in nature. Since the managers were still using the western way of team management, it was not considered the best way of handling individuals who arrived from different parts of the world. This sparked the interest of researchers to focus on cross cultural issues in management literature (Taras & Rowney, 2006). This paper focuses on the particular aspect of cross cultural management; team building and their management. Teams are a core characteristic of every organization and they are formed and nurtured to achieve organizational goals and objectives. The emerging trend towards cross cultural teams has attracted the attention of many managers as these teams are considered as more innovative and creative than ordinary teams. However there are contentious issues and challenges underlying the above concept. If managers comprehend on these issues thoroughly then only they can derive substantial benefits from it and can enhance organizational effectiveness. This document also focuses on difference in working styles of diverse range of cultures and how they affect team performance. According to Kreitner & Kinicki (2004), â€Å"Cross cultural management explains the behavior of people in organizations around the world and shows people how to work in organizations with employee and client populations from many different cultures†. Cross cultural team management encompasses the word â€Å"team† in above definition. Multicultural workgroups and teams are now no longer described as a voluntary practice but

Go tell it on the mountain by James Baldwin Essay

Go tell it on the mountain by James Baldwin - Essay Example â€Å"He awoke on this birthday morning with the feeling that there was a menace in the air around him’’ (Baldwin 1985, 19). The thought of sinning makes John depressed. John’s relationship with the father deteriorates because of his sin. He feels that obeying God requires submitting to his father. John tells Elisha that: â€Å"Elisha†¦ no matter what anybody says, you remember –please remember-I was saved. I was there.’’ This shows John depressed because of masturbating. â€Å"Then John knew that a curse was renewed from moment to moment, from father to son.†(Baldwin 1985, 288). This highlights John’s depressed state. Sinning is an innate behavior therefore should not cause depression. Instead, one should ask for forgiveness. The bitter relationship between John and Gabriel shows the theme of hatred. There is conflict between Gabriel and his son John. John did not understand the reason of Gabriel’s hate towards him. He tries all he could to appease Gabriel in vain. However, towards the end of the novel, John realizes that Gabriel hate could be because he was not his biological father but his stepfather. â€Å"He lived for the day when his father would be dying and he, John, would curse him on his death-bed.†(Baldwin 1985, 23) .This shows John’s hate for his father. â€Å"Satan, at the moment, stared out of John’s eyes while the spirit spoke.† This quote highlights Gabriel regarding John as a Satan. â€Å"And John did†¦to stare forever into the bottom of Gabriel’s soul.† This shows John disturbed looking for possible reason for Gabriel’s hate. The religious norms practiced by the community are hypocritical. Most of the church leaders and the congregation did not practice the Christian ideals they preached. The fact that Gabriel hated John despite the fact that he was a deacon shows religious hypocrisy. Gabriel does not seem pleased with John even after he became a saint. â€Å"They stood before each other in

Hinduism Characteristics Essay Example for Free

Hinduism Characteristics Essay The following nine facts, though not exhaustive, offer a simple summary of Hindu spirituality or about Hinduism. 1 Hindus believe in a one, all-pervasive Supreme Being who is both immanent and transcendent, both Creator and Unmanifest Reality. 2 Hindus believe in the divinity of the four Vedas, the worlds most ancient scripture, and venerate the Agamas as equally revealed. These primordial hymns are Gods word and the bedrock of Sanatana Dharma, the eternal religion. 3 Hindus believe that the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation and dissolution. 4 Hindus believe in karma, the law of cause and effect by which each individual creates his own destiny by his thoughts, words and deeds. 5 Hindus believe that the soul reincarnates, evolving through many births until all karmas have been resolved, and moksha, liberation from the cycle of rebirth, is attained. Not a single soul will be deprived of this destiny. 6 Hindus believe that divine beings exist in unseen worlds and that temple worship, rituals, sacraments and personal devotionals create a communion with these devas (divine beings) and God. 7 Hindus believe that an enlightened master, or satguru, is essential to know the Transcendent Absolute, as are personal discipline, good conduct, purification, pilgrimage, self-inquiry, meditation and surrender in God. 8 Hindus believe that all life is sacred, to be loved and revered, and therefore practice ahimsa, noninjury, in thought, word and deed. 9 Hindus believe that no religion teaches the only way to salvation above all others, but that all genuine paths are facets of Gods Light, deserving tolerance and understanding. GOD AND LORDS IN HINDUISM God is a one being, yet we understand Him in three perfections: Absolute Reality, Pure Consciousness and Primal Soul. As Absolute Reality, God is unmanifest, unchanging and transcendent, the Self God, timeless, formless and spaceless. As Pure Consciousness, God is the manifest primal substance, pure divine love and light flowing through all form, existing everywhere in time and space as infinite intelligence and power. God is all and in all, great beyond our conception, a sacred mystery that can be known in direct communion. Hindus believe in one Supreme Being. In the Hindu pantheon there are said to be three hundred and thirty-three million Lords(divine beings). The plurality of Lords are perceived as divine creations of that one Being. So, Hinduism has one supreme God, but it has an extensive hierarchy of Lords. Hinduism views existence as composed of three worlds. The First World is the physical universe; the Second World is the subtle astral or mental plane of existence in which the devas, angels and spirits live; and the Third World is the spiritual universe of the Mahadevas, great shining beings, our Hindu Lords. Hinduism is the harmonious working together of these three worlds. Hinduism is a family of four main denominations Saivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism, Smartism under a divine hierarchy of Mahadevas. These intelligent beings have evolved through eons of time and are able to help mankind without themselves having to live in a physical body. These great Mahadevas, with their multitudes of angelic devas, live and work constantly and tirelessly for the people of our religion, protecting and guiding them, opening new doors and closing unused ones. TEMPLE WORSHIP IN HINDUISM It is in the Hindu temple that the three worlds meet and devotees invoke the Lords of our religion. The temple is built as a palace in which these Lords live. It is the home of the God and Lords, a sacred place unlike every other place on the earth. The Hindu must associate himself with these divine beings in a very sensitive way when he approaches the temple. Though the devotee rarely has the psychic vision of the Deity, he is aware of the Gods divine presence. As he approaches the sanctum sanctorum, the Hindu is fully aware that an intelligent being, greater and more evolved than himself, is there. This Lord is intently aware of him, safeguarding him, fully knowing his inmost thought, fully capable of coping with any situation the devotee may mentally lay at his Holy Feet. It is important that we approach the Deity in this way conscious and confident that our needs are known in the inner spiritual worlds. The physical representation of the God, be it a stone or metal image other sacred form, simply marks the place that the Lord will manifest in or hover over in his etheric body. It can be conceived as an antenna to receive the divine rays of the Lord or as the material body in or through which the Lord manifests in this First World. When we perform puja, a religious ritual, we are attracting the attention of the devas and Mahadevas in the inner worlds. That is the purpose of a puja; it is a form of communication. To enhance this communication we establish an altar in the temple or in the home. This becomes charged or magnetized through our devotional thoughts and feelings which radiate out and affect the surrounding environment. You can feel the presence of these divine beings, and this radiation from them is known as shakti. It is a communication more real than the communication of language that you experience each day. Finally, it must be clearly understood that God and the Lords are not a psychological product of the Hindu religious mind. They are far older than the universe and are the fountainheads of its galactic energies, shining stars and sunlit planets. They are loving overseers and custodians of the cosmos, earth and mankind. The Hindu cosmological terrain envelopes all of humanity. HINDU HOLY BOOK The Veda is the Hindu holy book. The four books of the Vedas—Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva—include over 100,000 verses. The knowledge imparted by the Vedas ranges from earthy devotion to high philosophy. Their words and wisdom permeate Hindu thought, ritual and meditation. The Vedas are the ultimate scriptural authority for Hindus. Their oldest portions are said by some to date back as far as 6,000 bce, orally transmitted for most of history and written down in Sanskrit in the last few millennia, making them the world’s longest and most ancient scripture. The Vedas open a rare window into ancient Indian society, proclaiming life’s sacredness and the way to oneness with God. For untold centuries unto today, the Vedas have remained the sustaining force and authoritative doctrine, guiding followers in ways of worship, duty and enlightenment. The Vedas are the meditative and philosophical focus for millions of monks and a billion seekers. Their stanzas are chanted from memory by priests and laymen daily as liturgy in temple worship and domestic ritual. All Hindus wholeheartedly accept the Vedas, yet each draws selectively, interprets freely and amplifies abundantly. Over time, this tolerant allegiance has woven the varied tapestry of Indian Hindu Dharma. Each of the four Vedas has four sections: Samhitas (hymn collections), Brahmanas (priestly manuals), Aranyakas (forest treatises) and Upanishads (enlightened discourses). The Samhitas and Brahmanas affirm that God is immanent and transcendent and prescribe ritual worship, mantra and devotional hymns to establish communication with the spiritual worlds. The hymns are invocations to the One Divine and to the Divinities of nature, such as the Sun, the Rain, the Wind, the Fire and the Dawn— as well as prayers for matrimony, progeny, prosperity, concord, protection, domestic rites and more. The Aranyakas and Upanishads outline the soul’s evolutionary journey, provide yogic philosophical training and propound realization of man’s oneness with God as the destiny of all souls. Today, the Vedas are published in Sanskrit, English, French, German and other languages. But it is the popular, metaphysical Upanishads that have been most amply and ably translated. KARMA AND REINCARNATION IN HINDUISM Karma Karma literally means deed or act, but more broadly describes the principle of cause and effect. Simply stated, karma is the law of action and reaction which governs consciousness. In physics-the study of energy and matter-Sir Isaac Newton postulated that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Push against a wall. Its material is molecularly pushing back with a force exactly equal to yours. In metaphysics, karma is the law that states that every mental, emotional and physical act, no matter how insignificant, is projected out into the psychic mind substance and eventually returns to the individual with equal impact. The akashic memory in our higher chakras faithfully records the souls impressions during its series of earthly lives, and in the astral/mental worlds in-between earth existences. Ancient yogis, in psychically studying the time line of cause/effect, assigned three categories to karma. The first is sanchita, the sum total of past karma yet to be resolved. The second category is prarabdha, that portion of sanchita karma being experienced in the present life. Kriyamana, the third type, is karma you are presently creating. However, it must be understood that your past negative karma can be altered into a smoother, easier state through the loving, heart-chakra nature, through dharma and sadhana. That is the key of karmic wisdom. Live religiously well and you will create positive karma for the future and soften negative karma of the past. Truths and Myths About Karma Karma operates not only individually, but also in ever-enlarging circles of group karma where we participate in the sum karma of multiple souls. This includes family, community, nation, race and religion, even planetary group karma. So if we, individually or collectively, unconditionally love and give, we will be loved and given to. The individuals or groups who act soulfully or maliciously toward us are the vehicle of our own karmic creation. The people who manifest your karma are also living through past karma and simultaneously creating future karma. For example, if their karmic pattern did not include miserliness, they would not be involved in your karma of selfishness. Another person may express some generosity toward you, fulfilling the gifting karma of your past experience. Imagine how intricately interconnected all the cycles of karma are for our planets life forms. Reincarnation The soul functions with complete continuity in its astral/mental bodies. It is with these sensitive vehicles that we experience dream or astral worlds during sleep every night. The astral world is equally as solid and beautiful, as varied and comprehensive as the earth dimension-if not much more so. Spiritual growth, psychic development, guidance in matters of governance and commerce, artistic cultivation, inventions and discoveries of medicine, science and technology all continue by astral people who are in-between earthly lives. Many of the Veda hymns entreat the assistance of devas: advanced astral or mental people. Yet, also in the grey, lower regions of this vast, invisible dimension exist astral people whose present pursuits are base, selfish, even sadistic. Where the person goes in the astral plane at sleep or death is dependent upon his earthly pursuits and the quality of his mind. Because certain seed karmas can only be resolved in earth consciousness and because the souls initial realizations of Absolute Reality are only achieved in a physical body, our soul joyously enters another biological body. At the right time, it is reborn into a flesh body that will best fulfill its karmic pattern. In this process, the current astral body-which is a duplicate of the last physical form-is sluffed off as a lifeless shell that in due course disintegrates, and a new astral body develops as the new physical body grows. This entering into another body is called reincarnation: re-occupying the flesh. During our thousands of earth lives, a remarkable variety of life patterns are experienced. We exist as male and female, often switching back and forth from life to life as the nature becomes more harmonized into a person exhibiting both feminine nurturing and masculine intrepidness. We come to earth as princesses and presidents, as paupers and pirates, as tribals and scientists, as murderers and healers, as atheists and, ultimately, God-Realized sages. We take bodies of every race and live the many religions, faiths and philosophies as the soul gains more knowledge and evolutionary experience. Therefore, the Hindu knows that the belief in a single life on earth, followed by eternal joy or pain is utterly wrong and causes great anxiety, confusion and fear. Hindus know that all souls reincarnate, take one body and then another, evolving through experience over long periods of time. Like the caterpillars metamorphosis into the butterfly, death doesnt end our existence but frees us to pursue an even greater development. Dharma Dharma yields Heavens honor and Earths wealth. What is there then that is more fruitful for a man? There is nothing more rewarding than dharma, nor anything more ruinous than its neglect. When God created the universe, He endowed it with order, with the laws to govern creation. Dharma is Gods divine law prevailing on every level of existence, from the sustaining cosmic order to religious and moral laws which bind us in harmony with that order. Related to the soul, dharma is the mode of conduct most conducive to spiritual advancement, the right and righteous path. It is piety and ethical practice, duty and ob ligation. When we follow dharma, we are in conformity with the Truth that inheres and instructs the universe, and we naturally abide in closeness to God. Adharma is opposition to divine law. Dharma is to the individual what its normal development is to a seedthe orderly fulfillment of an inherent nature and destiny. SIGNIFICANCE OF HINDUISM Hinduism is unique among the worlds religions. I boldly proclaim it the oldest religion in the world. To begin with, it is mankinds oldest spiritual declaration, the very fountainhead of faith on the planet. Hinduisms venerable age has seasoned it to maturity. It is the only religion, to my knowledge, which is not founded in a single historic event or prophet, but which itself proceeds recorded history. Hinduism has been called the cradle of spirituality, and the mother of all religions, partially because it has influenced virtually every major religion and partly because it can absorb all other religions, honor and embraces their scriptures, their saints, and their philosophy. This is possible because Hinduism looks compassionately on all genuine spiritual effort and knows unmistakably that all souls are evolving toward union with the Divine, and all are destined, without exception, to achieve spiritual enlightenment and liberation in this or a future life. Please visit, if you wish to seek further

Social Reactions To Interracial Relationships

Social Reactions To Interracial Relationships The United States Supreme Court In 1967 ruled that Virginias anti-miscegenation laws were not in accord with the principles set forth in the constitution of the state and put a stop to all of the legal restrictions that were in place against marriages amongst mixed race (Erin, 2005). Since that time there has been a remarkable increase in the number of marriages amongst mix race in the United States (Lewis and Yancey, 1997), and the figures of interracial couples has also become twice as much every decade since 1960 (Killian, 2002). Statistics show that currently there are about 3 million interracial marriages, which make up 5% of all marriages in the United States, and another 2.5 million mix race couples that are dating (Hibbler and Shinew, 2002). Interracial marriages can include the combination of White, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and any other group. However, when people talk about interracial relationships, the first things that mostly come to their mind is relationships amongst black and white (Vernellia, 1998). The rate of growth of interracial marriages is increasing by the day. In particular, the kind of interracial intermingling involving Blacks and Whites has been constantly changing. Immediately after Emancipation, the figures of black and white interracial relationships increased, got to its peak in 1900, and subsequently decrease till 1940. However, this form of union is still the least common type of mix race union (Davidson, 1992), even though the Black and White intermarriages has been on the increase since the 90s (Tucker and Mitchell-Kernan, 1990). There are a lot of reasons for the sharp increase in the figures of the different form of interracial marriages. One of the reasons is the Supreme Court decision in 1967 that made anti- miscegenation laws unconstitutional (Kalmijn, 1993). The close in the gap narrowed down between Blacks and Whites education, occupation and income (Kalmijn, 1993). Also, data from National Center for Health Statistics indicates the decrease in Whites prejudice against Blacks (Kalmijn, 1993). Further more, the increase in interracial marriage can be linked to the progress made by the Civil Rights movement, the increase in opportunities afforded Black people, and the increase in social contact between the races (Davidson, 1992). This research aim at reviewing the historical background of interracial relationship both interracial dating and marriage, and also factors attributed to relationships amongst mix race. This research also focuses on the opinions of the youth to interracial relationship in the 21th century. In general, the main aim of this piece is to examine interracial relationships, whether marriage or casual dating and the attitude of the youths towards it, taking foreign pre- masters students at ICRGU from different regions as samples. The reason for the study of different forms of relationships is because some individual rather prefer to go into a causal date, than going into a serious relationships that might lead to marriage. But this research will not only look at attitude towards interracial relationships from perspective of preference. It will look at possible points of meeting a person from another region or origin, and what might probably propel someone into such relationship base on pers onalities and compatibility. The research questions are as follows: What are the attitudes of the youths towards relationship amongst mix race in the 21th century? How popular is relationships amongst mix race. Factors affecting relationships amongst mix race. LITERATURE REVIEW This section of review on the interracial relationships will basically focus on three major tittles, which are The characters of those going into interracial relationships Theories why people marry outside of their race taking blacks and whites form of union as study sample. Social reactions to interracial relationship. To start with, characteristics of those in interracial relationships, in terms of marriage, research shows that people who interracially marry tend to be younger, likelihood of being married before, live in developed environment like cities or town, or are older in age from their spouse compared to people who married within their own race (Erin, 2005). Research founds that male and female within a particular racial group to an extent have different tendency to get married to someone outside their racial group (Erin, 2005). For instance, Black male have high records of interracial compared to black females. Also, Japanese and Native American woman have much higher numbers of interracial marriages compared to their male counterparts (Erin, 2005). In the U.S interracial marriages currently are highest in the west and lowest in the southern region. However, Hawaii breaks the normal trends of interracial marriages. Hawaii has a unique racial makeup in that no single racial group makes up more than 25% of the population and nearly 40% of all marriages interracial (Solberry, 1994). Therefore, it is significant to note that interracial couples tend to often move to more hospitable areas of the country (Tucker and Mitchellkernan, 1990). Further more, many theories have been established to explain the reasons behind people getting married to race other than their race, and success of such marriage to stand test of time. Structural theory states that marriages among mix race is more frequent in areas where community structure have been kept in place to support and authorize interracial marriages, and also community were there is increase in awareness of peoples personal decision to go into such a union. Recent attention given to interracial marriage in the media and in popular literature along with more people living and working in more integrated environments has lead to an increased acceptance of heterogeneous relationships (Hibbler and Shinew, 2002). Another predominant theory on reason people chose to marry outside of their race is the social exchange theory. Using Black-White interracial marriage for instance, social exchange theory states that when White women marry Black men, who usually are of higher economic status, they exchange the prestige of their skin color for the Black husbands higher economic status (Davidson, 1992; Kalmijn, 1993; Lewis and Yancey, 1997). However, Black women have been found to marry down in both interracial and same race unions, which seem to prove that Black-White interracial marriage is more complex than just an exchange of status (Foeman and Nance, 1999). An additional theory, which attempts to account for the union of interracial relationships, is the racial motivation theory (Kouri and Lasswell, 1993). The racial motivation theory states that many interracial marriages take place because of racial differences, not in spite of them (Kouri and Lasswell, 1993). From this view, it can be said that curiosity about differences in race, increases sexual interest or attraction to someone not of same race. This theory also says that those who intermarry may be acting in rebellion against social norms of racial endogamy and using the marriage as a way to state their independence (Kouri and Lasswell, 1993). Finally, there has been a change in the societal view of interracial marriages. Many studies have shown that there is less pressure in society today to have racially homogeneous relationships than in the past (Lewis Yancey, 1997). Never the less there are still some discriminations in some form of interracial union. Using the union of Black and White for instance, recent studies still suggest that the Black-White interracial union, especially the Black male-White female union, is still the most negatively viewed relationship type (Norment, 1994). There have been many researches on the history of discrimination against Black-White Interracial union. Today, the relationship between Blacks and Whites is seen as different from that of other minorities. When one speaks of race relations in America, the majority of people immediately think of the struggles between Black and White people (Killian, 2002; Wright et. al, 2003). Despite the dramatic increase in Black-White marriages, they are still the least favorable form of interracial marriage in America (Wade, 1991), and they are still considered to be a taboo subject by some (Harris and Kalbfleisch, 2000). According to survey carried out among Blacks and White marriage, in the study of 270 interracial couples, it was found that nearly half reported that marrying someone not from their race makes marriage difficult, while about two thirds reported that at least one of the parent objected to their marriage (Fears and Deane, 2001). Although there is increase in the tolerance of interracial couples, there are still powerful forces in society that make Black-White interracial marriage hard and unappealing (Dainton, 1999). Many Black-White interracial couples report that they face discrimination from members of their own particular race; European Americans view them as being too Black and African Americans view them as being not Black enough (Orbe, 1999). Another source of discrimination for those in interracial marriages is often the family. The majority of people in interracial marriages have said that they have had to face one or both parents express serious concern to outright disapproval of their choice to marry interracially. Most of the time , this disapproval are always expressed verbally, and in the case where couple goes on with the marriage, some certain members of the family not in support of the union might refuse to attend any important event organized by the couples, such as wedding, holiday celebrations, family reunion or even family visitation. In some extreme cases, members of interracial marriages have reported having lost all contact for years at a time with once close members of their families (Luke and Carrington, 2000). But, one part of the twos couples tend to be more acceptant than the other. Studies have also found that acceptance of interracial marriages is increasing at a rapid rate and an increasing number of interracial couples are reporting that their families have openly accepted their interracial relationship, and they feel comfortable speaking about their relationship in public (Fears Deane, 2001, Rosenblatt et. al., 1995). However, attitudes towards interracial relationships have been found to vary based on race, age, and gender. In a study of Black and White people between the ages of 21 and 40, it was reported that men have more positive attitudes towards interracial relationships compared to women, and also those that are younger have more favorable views on interracial relationships (Datzman and Gardner 2000). It was also found that the families of the Black partner in interracial relationships tend to be more accepting and supportive than the families of the White partner (Hibbler and Shinew, 2002). In another study eighty-six percent of Black respondents said that their families would welcome a White person into their family compared to only 55% of White respondents who said their families would welcome a Black person into their family (Fears Deane, 2001). This research however is not just about interracial relationships among blacks and white, the review is to build up facts associated with interracial relationship considering researches already done on different topics on interracial relationships which can help answer some of the research questions. This research aims at cutting across all forms of interracial relationships, and types of relationships, whether causal dating or marriages and associated factors that influences the opinion of people towards going into it. Also, it aims at finding the opinion of the youth towards interracial relationships in the 21th century. METHOLOGY The research targeted at getting the opinions and attitudes of the youths towards interracial relationships, whether just casual dating or marriages. Considering the limitation both time and resources, the research were conducted among international students of ICRGU who are from different parts of the world, namely, China, Nigeria and Kazakhstan. The final sample of students consist of 4 Chinese (1 males, 3 females), 3 Nigerians (2 males, 1 female), and 3 Kazakhstanis (1 male, 2 females), all between the age of 20-35. None of the participant is married. Interviews were conducted on each of the participants to explore their attitudes toward interracial relationships. Qualitative data were collected by the means of follow-up interviews with the respondents who participated in the survey. The interviews with the respondents were semi- structured interview, including general questions as well as sets of questions for individuals who either have family members or friends, or know someone who was is into interracially relationship. Generally, all the questions aimed at getting disposition towards interracial relationships, and also general opinion towards interracial relationships. DISCUSSION Over the decades now, many studies have been made on interracial relationships and so far shown many controversies. The study on interracial relationships is a wide study, but very interesting study. This research however focused on the opinion of the youths towards interracial relationships, and has been proven that there is increase in the awareness of youth towards interracial relationships, unlike in the past. The table 1 shows the numbers of participants both male and female who took part in the survey, and their opinion on whether they can go into a relationship with someone not of their race. About 60% agreed they can go into interracial relationships, while about 20% disagree not to going into interracial relationships. 20% percent others would want to, but are restricted because of some factors like family acceptance or their culture. Table 2, shows the participants general opinion towards interracial marriages, and from the table, there is a trend of acceptance in some region compared to other regions. Fig 2.1 and 2.2 shows the percentages of both male and females opinions towards interracial marriages. Figure2.1 shows individual dispositions towards interracial marriage and about 60% sounded positive of getting married to someone outside their race, and about 40% wouldnt want to get married to someone not from their race. Figure 2.2 shows the general opinion on interracial marriages, and about 90% feels nothing is wrong in going into interracial marriages, while about 10% feels interracial marriages isnt ideal. Even with challenges faced in interracial relationship, its still something one can rule out from happening. According to Mr. John, he feels with high speed travel and communication technology in this age of globalization interracial marriages will always happen irrespective of the family, cultural believes, or societal opinion. But he feels to preserve culture, interracial marriage is not ideal. Miss Ama also feels marriage has nothing to do with culture or believes. She feels as long as there is love and the both parties understand themselves, marrying each other shouldnt be a problem. She also didnt rule out difficulties that might come with the marriage such as language barriers but she said if the 2 parties are strong enough to overcome the challenges that will make them strong. Generally, from the research, it was observed most believe interracial relationships have to do with the personal decisions and feeling. According to Miss Beauty, she feels going into interracial relationship is a personal thing. She also said as long as there is respect and happiness, there is nothing wrong about interracial relationships. To add to this, Miss Ama said feeling is a thing of the mind irrespective of color, culture or religion , you dont expect it, it just happens. When happens and you feel the person is the right choice for you, you just go for it. One of the limitations in this research is the time frame. The time frame to complete this research isnt long enough to get more samples for analyzing the topic in context. The research was restricted to little numbers of participants and limited questions to elaborate more on the factors affecting opinions so as to have enough time to execute the aim of the research. However, with previous review on related research, the aim of the research was accomplished. Another limitation was the numbers of different regions availably. In the pre masters class of ICRGU where the survey was carried out, presently have students mainly from 3 countries namely, Nigeria, China, and Kazakhstan. The effect of this is that, there were limitations to cultural behaviors and believes considering the topic was generally on opinion of the youths in the 21th century, and just 3 countries were available for the survey. CONCLUSION An interracial relationship is where there is marriage, sexual or romantic relations between individuals of different races. In the past, interracial marriages were in fact taboo in some parts of the world, but with globalization there has been a change in ideology about interracial relationship. From the result of the survey, it suggests that there is increase in the awareness of interracial relationships. It also suggests there is an increase in the acceptance of going into a relationship with someone of different race. However, there are still some believes that interracial relationships, especially marriage if encourage, could lead to cultures being eradicated, in this light very few persons wont support such union so as to preserve culture. The finding in the studies also shows that about 90% of the participants feel there is nothing wrong in going into interracial relationships, as long as both parties love each other and have reasons to want to go into such relations, and also can solve their differences. There are some attitudes common to the participants of this survey which are, All participants are in their 20s and are all international students of ICRGU who are from different countries, and might want to try something new. They have been opportune to meet with other students from other countries. Considering might be the first time most of them have the opportunity to meet different people with different culture, color, background and country. They believe as long as the 2 parties are willing to pass the huddles, there is nothing wrong in interracial relationships Lastly, they feel relationship is the thing of the heart. It has nothing to do with color, culture or country. As long as the two parties can cope with their differences. There are a lot of controversies on interracial relationships because believes of every individuals varies. But according to this research, it can be said to some extent that interracial relationships is somehow accepted and there is increase in awareness. In light of the increasing rates of interracial relationship and the opinion of people towards it, there is still a great deal of research that needs to be done on this topic. One of the researches needs to discuss more on the success of interracial marriages.

Effects of Marketing in Wilderness Tourism Promotion

Effects of Marketing in Wilderness Tourism Promotion Promoting Wilderness Tourism Literature Review Introduction Behavioural research on the study on wilderness destination is a relatively new development in the ecotourism industry. Promoting place marketing has become increasingly important within the tourist industry (Kang-Li 2008). There has been limited work done on promoting wilderness as a place of tourism. This research project aims to identify whether experiential marketing would have a greater impact than traditional marketing and branding approaches in promoting wilderness in tourism. The literature review will explore the concepts of Tourism, Wilderness, Place Marketing and Experiential Marketing, looking at past and present literature from various scholars and academics who have conducted extensive research on these subject areas. Arguments identifying gaps that exist within the literature will be presented, exploring the extent to which experiential marketing would be different and/or more effective than traditional marketing approaches. The Evolution of Tourism and it’s relationship to Wilderness In the early 19th century, the term â€Å"tourism† was used to describe the movement of people for pleasure (Smith, 1989). It is also written that a more convincing origin to present day tourism is centred on the medieval pilgrimages. There is a distinct difference between pilgrimage and tourism. One is a religious activity and the other is a secular (Theilmann 1987). However, as years have passed, there have been further attempts to define the term â€Å"tourism†. The United Nations Statistical Commission has accepted the following definition recommended by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), stating that tourism comprises: activities where people may travel to different places and stay away from their normal surroundings for not more than a year for leisure, business or any other purpose. (World Tourism Organisation, 1993). In a similar context in the UK the definition most often used was proposed by the Tourism Society in the early 1980’s: Tourism is defined as destinations where people would travel for temporary or short-term stay away from their natural environment to live, work or engage in activities as day visits or excursions (Tourism Society, 1982) Similarly, Jafari, 1977 argues that tourism is about the study of man away from his natural habitat, where the industry responds to his needs, and there an impact is created by him and the industry on the host social-cultural, economic and physical environment. In a simplistic form the term tourism could be understood as movement of people for pleasure or work. From the evidence presented above would it can be concluded from the above definitions that tourism would seem to be: People who are away from their normal place of residence and will return back to their homes at some point in the future. Visits that are only temporary or short term, but are not longer than 12 months in duration. Inclusive of a day visit (excursion). Inclusive of absence from home on business rather than pleasure. The 1990’s increasingly saw the development of tourism in new areas. While the more traditional sightseeing tourism remains at the core of tourism around the world, there has been a significant diversification occurring, particularly within adventure tourism (Cloke and Perkins, 1998), nature-based tourism (Pearce and Wilson, 1995; Higham 1998) and events (Nicholson and Pearce, 2000). Literature shows that one particularly distinctive area of growth has been in natural area tourism (Burton 1998). This form of tourism is nature-based and primarily motivated by an interest in the environment (Burton 1998). Burton further argues that people seek refuge in nature-based tourism to escape from their day to day pressured life style. But, he writes that with the level of growth in nature-based tourism literature, has given way for individuals to misuse and overuse the terms ecotourism and natural based tourism. Creamer, 1995 adopts a framework to present a clear distinction between nature based tourism and ecotourism as seen in figure 1. This framework has been interpreted by arguing that nature-based tourism consists of all forms of tourism which occur in a natural environment and that ecotourism is one form of this type of tourism. Although they are similar there is a distinct difference (Goodwin, 1996). The experience of ecotourism goes beyond just being in a natural environment. Griffith, 1993 argues that ecotourists have distinctive perceptions and beliefs relating to their experiences. This is a far cry from the Sunday picnic or the occasional bush walker. It has been argued that ecotourism has the ability to influence the direction of a tourist’s life. This distinction is seen when they return from an ecotourism experience gaining a new outlook.(Hunter 1994) In a similar vein Ziffer, 1989: 5–8; Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996: 22 and Boo, 1990: 10, have also echoed the same principles underpinning ecotourism. Nature-based tourism has been distinguished into three main categories (Valentine, 1992: 110). Activities dependent on nature (i.e. bird-watching); activities enhanced by nature (i.e.camping); and activities where the natural setting is incidental (i.e. swimming). Adding to this framework, Duffus and Dearden (1990) defined these activities in terms of human and wildlife interaction. Similarly Goodwin, 1996: 287–288, argues that nature tourism includes the marketing of the natural elements to the tourists while enjoying the nature around them. Other arguments present ecotourism as a concept that definitions of integrated tourism giving emphasis particularly to nature conservation (Goodwin, 1996; Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996; Dowling, 1995a, b). Moreover the natural settings characterized in the definition of ecotourism were proclaimed to be similar to that of the concept of Wilderness Recreation in North America, (Boyd Butler, 1993: 11) or in other words, new name to an old activity (Wall, 1994: 4; Nelson, 1994: 248). Academic literature of wilderness exist within the discipline of tourism literature detailing about wilderness and the experiences that people have experienced during their visits. However, wilderness and the relating â€Å"sense of place† it evokes has not been investigated in-depth within the empirical research studies (Dawson, 2006). Managers of wilderness areas need to further understand and measure the relationships that tourists are developing or have already developed with the land area that they are managing. â€Å"Place† is defined as a physical location and a visitor’s subjective experience or relationship with the particular place. The concept of place has been subdivided into a variety of factors, such as place meanings, attachment, identity and dependence (Cheng et al. 2003). The term wilderness has been perceived differently by various scholars and academics. Some academics argue that wilderness is a conserved area where there is a limited presence of humans (Dawson, 2006). While others argue that it is place where people go to the wilderness for short or long hikes that last a day long, while another set of people who camp for several days using primitive means of travel and living (Chad, 2006). At one time, the earth was just a place of wild. The natural environment of wind, fire and rain was operating without the interference by any human influence. The earth was a global wilderness. Today, questions have risen on what is wilderness, how much of it needs to be preserved and should it be managed. Wilderness has achieved a reputation of being a highly valuable resource to many countries.(Stankey 1989) Wilderness has commonly been used in the context of the Bible (Nash 1974). Nash reports that the term wilderness appears in the bible nearly 300 times both in the Old and New Testaments. He continues to report that the term was used as a synonym for â€Å"desert† and â€Å"waste† with the same Hebrew or Greek root. Wilderness has been described as having had three physical characteristics. (1) virtually inhabited. (2) deserted and dry and (3) they were large areas. Human survival in the wilderness was difficult (Stankey 1989). Nash further reports that the wilderness was used to describe in the bible as a place where God’s blessings were absent; paradise and wilderness was a contract to each other. The story of the Garden of Eden stated in the Bible captures this theme explicitly. Nash writes, â€Å"The story of the Garden and it’s loss, imbedded into Western thought the idea that wilderness and paradise were both physical and spiritual opposites† The book of Genesis in the Bible reveals the early Christina idea of the relationship that transpired between man and nature. White (1967), argues that based on the qualities that were developed from the relationship between man and nature, Christianity was the most â€Å"anthropocentric† religion. Furthermore,White argues, â€Å"in great measure, God’s transcendence of nature. . . . Christianity, in absolute contrast to ancient paganism and Asia’s religions . . . not only established a dualism of man and nature, but also insisted that it is God’s will that man exploit nature for his proper ends.† This type of perspective created negative and exploitative thoughts about nature and wilderness among humans. However, it is argued that Christianity also fostered counter perspectives, which have led to our modem views from where wilderness would be have been originated (Stankey 1989). The experience of the Promised Land mentioned in the Biblical context has helped develop a tradition of going to the wilderness. Reasons for going to the wilderness have been determined to get freedom and a purification of spiritual-values. This may have possibly led to the present-day legislative definition for wilderness. Tuan (1974), writes â€Å"For the ascetics the desert was in effect at once the haunt of demons and the realm of bliss in harmony with the creaturely world.’ However, the Judeo-Christian defined wilderness as a cursed land, evil places and a place where water was not present (Dilworth 2006). Dilworth further argues in this context, the paradox of wilderness was evil, it was a necessary evil, also where you could be closer to God, a refuge and testing ground. On the other hand, the Puritan tradition wilderness was understood as a threat to survival, and the ability to survive in the wilderness would make you in favour of God. However, the Utilitarian view o f nature was cultivation and civilization instead of using the term wilderness. This was necessary as it would be a land useful in a practical sense as well as to be in favour of God (Nash 2001). Nash further argues from a Romantic and Transcendentalist era. He writes, wilderness was looked in a more positive sense. The Romantic era brought man â€Å"an enthusiasm for the strange, remote, solitary and mysterious† (Nash, 2001, p. 47). On the other hand the Transcendentalist eras, gave emphasis to the spiritual quality of the wilderness experience. This experience brought humans closer to God and the importance of material things. From the above arguments it seems evident that the definition of wilderness is very much fluid in the sense that there does not seem to be one single definition which can clearly explain the term wilderness. Sigurd Olson, in the early 20th century further expanded on the definition of wilderness – is escaping from a mans everyday difficult life and gaining freedom from â€Å"tyranny of wires, bells, schedules, and pressing responsibilities† (Olson and Backes 2001). This definition was further refined by the Wilderness Act of 1964. They defined wilderness as an undeveloped Federal land maintaining its character of the early years and the influence, without any lasting improvements or human habitation while it being a place that has generally been affects by the forces of nature. It also has an â€Å"outstanding opportunities for solitude or a primitive and unconfined type of recreation†. On the other hand culturally, it has been defined as any natural areas, to the â€Å"Urban† wilderness (Dilworth 2006). Evidently, it seems that Wilderness means different things to different people. Dilworth 2006, recently conducted a study on the meaning of wilderness based on images of the wilderness. His sample was students. The study revealed that based on the images the students viewed they defined wilderness as primarily with natural landscapes lacking human sign, particularly mountains, lakes, and forests. The questions would then arise as to what do you mean by the terms; mountains, lakes and forests? The debate would seem to be endless !! Increasingly, popular adventure recreation activities such as rock climbing, mountain-eering and remote-area trekking most often take place in the wilderness. Most often commercial packing of this type of recreation in the wilderness is coloured with fundamental irony (Eric, Linda et al. 1998). Wilderness business range from skill-building schools to eco and ethno tourism adventures (Eric, Linda et al. 1998). For example in Thailand back-pack trotting adventures (Cohen, 1989). This type of adventurous excursions and activities are positive, enjoyable experiences for participants (Arnould and Price 1993). The commercial offering of Wilderness as a tourist attraction means converting wilderness into a commodity to be marketed as a tourist attraction. Wilderness tourism requires human intervention. This would mean ensuring the wilderness is evaluated, managed, regulated and controlled (Eric, Linda et al. 1998). Therefore, the comodification of wilderness would require the intervention of a communication medium which would attract visitors of the wilderness for tourism. Creating a memorable lasting experience would be the challenge for wilderness managers and marketers. Place and city marketing has been one of the most interesting research topics which have grown in the last 20 – 30 years (Metaxas 2005). Much of the marketing literature over the years have sited on the impact that marketing has had on the global Tourism industry (Palmer and Bejou 1995; Mark and Robert 2002; Theobald 2005; Alistair 2006). Within the marketing literature, â€Å"Place Marketing† has grown rapidly among cities globally and especially in Europe who use different promotional policies to support images of their cities to gain competitive advantage (Metaxas 2005). Promoting the wilderness experience within the place marketing literature has been limited although marketing of island tourism, alpine tourism and adventure tours have developed (Tuohino). As mentioned above, comodification of wilderness is a challenge for marketers. A greater challenge would be the comodification of wilderness as a â€Å"sense of place†. The next section of the literature will seek to explore the idea of place and place marketing and it’s relevance to wilderness tourism. Place Marketing as an opportunity for Wilderness Tourism The concept of place is often related to the adjective â€Å"safe†. But there could be negative feelings also attached to that place (Tuohino). Tuan (1974) defines â€Å"topophilia† as a place which one belongs to and has a sense of belongingness. On the other hand â€Å"topofobia† (Tuan 1974) is defined as negative feelings – aversion or fear. Tuan, further argues that feelings such as fear being connected to a place will remain in the human mind as well as in the environment. Similarly, â€Å"placelessness† is defined as where the environment does not recognise place. Furthermore it does not take into consideration the meaning of places (Tuan 1974; Relph 1976). A â€Å"Sense of Place† has been one of the important concepts of human geography (Tuohino). Tuan in the 1970’s introduced this concept within the geography literature. The concept of â€Å"Sense of Place† has been determined as a social concept and as an individual value or phenomenon (Tuohino). This concept has been sited in many of the tourism literature in the recent years. To quote Tuan (1974), ‘people demonstrate their sense of place when they apply their moral and aesthetic discernment to sites and locations†. In other words â€Å"Sense of Place† is the connection that man would have with a place. Hence, it could be argued that is an important development for tourist and developers of tourism. Place marketing has become an important policy goal for most governments (Kang-Li 2008). Kotler (2002), claimed that the concept of place marketing of a city is considered as a market-oriented product. Ashworth and Voogd (1993) argue that place marketing is where the local activities of a particular location will work together to meet the customers needs. On the other hand Gold and Ward (1994) claim that place marketing is all about creating a positive and attractive image of the place. On the other hand it is argued that Place Marketing is about locality-based strategy to reimage and restructure local economies (Demaziere and Wilson 1996). Furthermore it is argued that Place Marketing is about â€Å"the strategic manipulation of image and culture clearly provides a strong basis for coalition building†(Hall and Hubbard 1996). From the arguments presented, place marketing seems somewhat similar to running a business but ensuring the required facilities, services and visions for further developments are presented. Tourism as an industry, especially cultural tourism has been fully integrated into place marketing (Stabler, 1990). Holden (2000), argues that negative impacts of tourism development can harm the local communities of a place by: misuse of resources, negative behaviour and pollution of the environment. Therefore it is important that place marketing ensures it develops cultural tourism strategies keeping in mind the external factors that can harm and hinder, while satisfying the customers (Kang-Li 2008). Wilderness managers strive to provide a quality experience to all visitors (Dvorak and Borrie 2007). This has lead to the need to incorporate a relationship aspect in the planning and management framework. These experiences are not one off transactions. These are relationships which develop over a period of time between the visitor and the setting (Borrie and Roggenbuck 2001). There is also other aspects that have an effect on the relationship / experience a visitor would have with the wilderness setting. These factors are cultural and social forces, social institutions and the lives of visitors. These factors do change and this has an effect on the wilderness experience (Dvorak and Borrie 2007). Psychology and marketing research have provided some insight in support of this wilderness relationship (Berry 1995). One key aspect to this relationship is that the visitor tends to accumulate an experience with a particular place that associates to a certain identity. Over a period of time the visitor develops a certain loyalty towards this particular area / place (Dvorak and Borrie 2007). It is argued that this relationship built over a period of time becomes something of an individuals culture, expressions and defining who he was and hopes to be. It is this relationship / experiences that managers/marketer of wilderness tourism would find as a challenge in promoting and sustaining. What means are available to marketers in promoting and sustaining this experience? The next section of this paper will argue how place marketing could be integrated into a wilderness marketing experience through the idea of experiential marketing. Marketing Wilderness Experiences The evolution of the philosophy of marketing management has moved from production concept, product concept, selling concept, marketing concept, societal marketing concept to relationship marketing concept. Traditionally marketing has viewed customers as being rational decision markers who care mainly about the features and benefits of the product and service they purchase (Schmitt 1999). An integral part of the marketing mix is the element of promotions better known as marketing communications. Marketing communications is a mode by which marketers / firms attempt to inform, persuade, incite and remind customers about their product or service they sell (Poul Houman 2001). This is one area in marketing which has evolved and changed dramatically over the last 20 – 30 years (Kevin Lane 2001). This has resulted in firms faced with the challenge of designing, implementing and evaluating their communication campaigns which are unique and competitive. In other words campaigns which create a unique customer experience (Mark and Robert 2002). Today the concept of selling experiences is spreading beyond theatres and theme parks. Pine and Gilmore, (1998) claim that experience is not an amorphous construct, but is as real an offering like any other service, product or commodity. Stage experiences occur when a company goes beyond the offering of a good and service by engaging with the customer to create a memorable event. Experiences have always been at the heart of tourism and entertainment (Tsaur, Chiu et al. 2007). For example Walt Disney and his company took the industry by storm with creative interactions with customers. At theme restaurants such as Hard Rock Cafà ©, Planet Hollywood the food is just a prop for what is known as â€Å"eatertainment†. But experiences are not just about the pure experience that a customer may encounter (Pine and Gilmore 1998). Company’s stages an experience were they could engage with customers to present it in a memorable way. Experience is everywhere. Companies have moved from the traditional â€Å"features and benefits† marketing towards customers encountering an experience (Schmitt 1999). To get a grasp of the concept of experiential marketing, Schmitt (1999) presented an argument comparing principles that underpin the traditional marketing approach and the experiential marketing approach. As discussed above (Schmitt 1999) argues that the traditional marketing is all about customers being rational decision makers who care about the feature and benefits. However, experiential marketing is viewing consumers as rational and emotional human beings concerned about experiencing a holistic consumption experience. Further (Schmitt 1999) claims that this shift has occurred due to omnipresence of information technology, the supremacy of brand and the ubiquity of communications and entertainment. This argument was echoed by (Pine and Gilmore 1998) when they claimed that leading-edge companies whether they sell to companies or consumers will be facing the competitive battlefield of â€Å"staging experiences† as presented above. Along with this trend, some companies adopted this concept of experiential marketing to gain competitive advantage such as Apple(Randall 2003), DaimlerChrysler (Tanya and Karl 2003), PG (Jack 2004) and IMG(Barry 2005). Sky, Nike and Strongbow are companies who have in recent years adopted the concept of experiential marketing. But some firms still remain sceptical (Mark 2007). Andy Bellass, of Splendid communication agency argues that experiential marketing has â€Å"come of age†. Bellass explains that it is becoming increasingly difficult to build relationships with customers when you are standing outside. Advertising is not dead, yet, until the circle of experience marketing is complete – getting people to experience the brand, agencies are standing outside (Mark 2007). The biggest problem being that the definition of experiential marketing has flaws and it lies at the roots. Marketing Director of Sledge understands experiential marketing as a â€Å"medium that is focused on creating one-to-one experiences that engage consumers in deeper and more memorable ways†. Others understand it as integrating brands to people’s life styles and adding value to create an experience with the brand rather than having any interruptions. Going further some feel that the definition is becoming broader by the day. However, in saying all this, it seems apparent that traditional communication agencies are nervous how company budgets are being reallocated in favour of experiential marketing techniques (Mark 2007). For instance, research showed that 68% of companies were spending more on experiential marketing in 2005 than they did in 2004 (Mark 2007). Based on the evidence presented, it would seem although there is scepticism, budgets being allocated to experiential marketing techniques means that there is some form of success in this concept in practice. It has been acknowledged that customers are driven emotionally and rationally (Schmitt 1999). People want products and services that render a certain experience. Tourism has been a pioneer example of the experience economy (Quan and Wang 2004). The nature of the travel and tourism product is intangible. What does a consumer expect or get when they visit a tourist location? These experiences are actual. How would companies promote these locations/places? Place marketing has seen it’s relationships to experiential marketing. Echoing on what has already being discussed, experience comes from direct interaction/observation in an event. The core of experiential marketing is about creating an experience for the customer. Accordingly, the experience marketing trends of â€Å"experiences, cultural marketing and ecological landscape† seems to have become the core for this concept (Kang-Li 2008). Based on this, Kang claims that these factors can evoke a consumers motivation and feelings of certain meaningful attachments, while these features and styles need to be preserved and enhanced. So far the review has demonstrated the relationship that experience marketing has had / have with tourism and place marketing. However, there seems to be a gap in the tourism literature on how this concept could be used to promote wilderness in tourism? Ability to creating that â€Å"Sense of Place† and relationship with the wilderness, seems to be limited. Empirical studies have been done on what are the key drivers that motivate people to visit major wilderness areas. However, further research needs to be done on promotional strategies for creating that wilderness tourism marketing experience (Mabunda) Over the years, psychologists and market researchers have attempted to develop techniques and methodologies to explore customer experience (2006). Understanding consumer attitudes and behaviour have not always been easy for marketing researchers (Athinodoros and Ronald 2002). Psychologists view attitudes as a two step process : an antecedent stimulus followed by an evaluative reaction.(Adel 2003) In their paper (Pine and Gilmore 1998), argue the importance of economic progress. They convey their thoughts by way of the following figure. Their thinking on this topic of Experience Economy argues that whether companies are selling to individual customers or organisations, they will find that the next competitive challenge is â€Å"Stage Experiences†. How does â€Å"stage experiences† influence the promotion of wilderness in tourism? Does it create a greater impact on marketing of wilderness in tourism? Summary The aim of the research project is to evaluate if experiential marketing would have a great impact than tradition marketing and branding approaches in promoting wilderness as a tourist destination. The literature review provided a rationale for this main aim, whereby the outcome included in the review illustrated the need for further research in the area of wilderness in tourism marketing. The first section of the literature review focus on the evolution of tourism. The review demonstrated that there is a high level of evidence on defining the term tourism. However, it was evident that the term â€Å"tourism† in its simplest form was understood as people moving to different places for the purpose of pleasure or work. It was noted that in the 1990’s tourism evolved to a high level of definition. Evidence was presented that tourism diversified into adventure tourism, nature based tourism and events. Through the years it was noted that nature based tourism has grown extensively within the tourism literature. Nature based tourism was understood as being primarily motivated by the interest in the environment (Burton, 1998) It was further argued that the Nature Based Tourisms and eco tourism although similar in nature had a distinctive difference. Although it was argued that ecotourism was some form of nature based tourism. (Goodwin, 1996) Much of the literature demonstrated that visitors of natural environments(ecotourism) would gain a new perspective or experience. (Hunter 1994, Ziffer, 1989: 5–8; Ceballos-Lascurain, 1996: 22 and Boo, 1990: 10) Moreover the literature review provided evidence to show that ecotourism was proclaimed to similar to that of the concept of Wilderness Recreation in North America. (Boyd Butler, 1993: 11) In stating these factors a gap in the literature demonstrated that little empirical studies were done on wilderness and the relating â€Å"sense of place†. Literature review then moved on to explore the concept of wilderness. Literature revealed that the term Wilderness was originated initially in the context of the bible. (Nash 1974) The term wilderness evolved from the eras of Christianity, (Nash 1974), to Judeo-Christian (Dilworth 2006), to Puritan tradition, to Utilitarian view, to Romantic and Transcendentalist. (Nash 2001). It was evident that none of the definitions were complimentary to each other. The conclusion gained from the evidence presented was that there was no single definition for wilderness as it meant different things to different people. A recent study proved this thinking. A study on images of wilderness revealed that the sample of students understood wilderness as natural landscapes lacking human sign, particularly mountains, lakes, and forests. The question was then raised, what are mountains, lakes and forests? This debate seems to be endless! Next the literature revealed that popular adventure activities often took place in the wilderness. Evidence proved that visitors on these adventurous excursions and activities always have a positive and enjoyable experience. (Arnould and Price 1993) It was noted that making these activities to commercial packages needed a carefully thought of marketing campaign as wilderness tourism has a human intervention. The greatest challenge all marketers of Wilderness would experience is the ability to comodify the idea of wilderness in tourism to ensure a memorable lasting experience. To explore the idea of comodification of wilderness experience, it was prudent to first understand the concept of marketing and its evolution. The next section of this literature review demonstrated this aspect of the subject area. Place marketing needs to be included. It was understood that traditionally marketing was viewed as customers being rational decision makers. They mainly cared about features and benefits of a product or service they purchased. It has been noted that the promotional element better known as marketing communications has played a major role in this conversion of features to benefit thinking. However it was presented that this element has had a rapid evolution over the years. (Kevin Lane 2001). The focus has been to develop marketing communication campaigns that would create a unique customer experience. (Mark and Robert 2002) The idea of Experience Economy was introduced in the last decade by (Pine and Gilmore 1998). They argue that this experience economy will find out that the next challenge is Stage Experience – where the company goes beyond customer’s expectations by ensuring the customers engages with the product or the service to experience something of a memorable event. This type of experience was pioneered within the tourism and entertainment industry. An example was Disney World. (Tsaur, Chiu et al. 2007) Furthermore the paper pr