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Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Cognitive Behavioural Therapies (CBT)
Aspects of CBTAssumptions under CBT
3. Empirical Foundation
4. How CBT Works
5. Effectiveness of CBT
Overall Effectiveness versus Individual EffectivenessAdvantages and Disadvantages or Limitations of CBTAdvantages
6. Limitations
7. Criticism
8. Conclusion

There are many people who continue to suffer depression, fear, anger and aggression but are unaware of the simple remedy in Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to the seemingly complicated problems. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) has proved to be very useful in psychotherapy and is today considered as one of the highly effective methods in the treatment of Cognitive and behavioural problems. CBT teaches the client or person suffering how to change their negative thought patterns and alter their behaviours that are triggered by the thoughts. This paper focuses on how CBT has proven to be one of the major orientations in psychotherapy and represents a unique category of psychologically driven interventions because it is derived from models of human behaviour.

Introduction

Contemporary counselling and psychotherapy offer clients with a wide range of choices in addressing the various and diverse psychological anguish. Though the choices are many and have been proven effective, pinning down the specific reasons to such effectiveness sometimes becomes elusive. As mentioned, there are many approaches to counselling and psychotherapy but it is imperative that the right method is applied in order to achieve the best results possible.

When faced with behavioural problems such as depression, extreme fear, personality disorders, anger or aggression and anxiety, it is common to open up to peers or trusted people in social circles and family members. When the problem is overrated, such cases are commonly referred to a counsellor. However, many parts of the world have been using simple psychotherapy remedies for many years. These remedies are cognitive behavioural therapies (CBT). Therefore, cognitive behavioural therapies are interventions that are collectively in agreement that cognitive factors are behind psychological distresses as well as mental disorders. Therapists in cognitive behavioural therapy work towards the identification and treatment of difficulties that are caused by difficulties mentioned above as well as difficulties in learning and misperceptions (Goldberg, 2001: 139).

Cognitive Behavioural Therapies (CBT)

The origins of CBT date from the time it was used in the treatment of depression. However, as more research was done, other disorders were incorporated as treatable disorders using CBT. Developed by Dr Aaron Beck, the therapy was initially thought to be two diverse therapies but Dr Beck amalgamated the two to form CBT as it is known today.

With the increase in its use, it has been proven to differ from other psychotherapies because it is realistic, focuses on problems at hand; it is collaborative and well structured. Consequently, cognitive behavioural therapies are seen to be developed to address specific contents in mind which means they are ‘disorder specific’ (Beck, 2011).

There are different types of cognitive behavioural therapies such as individual therapies, group therapies, computer programmes and self-help books (Dogaheh et al., 2011: 959).

Aspects of CBT

The main aspects in CBT are pragmatism which helps in identification of specified problems and endeavours at solving them and it is collaborative which means that the therapist works with the client but not necessarily command what is to be done. In addition, CBT focuses on current problems meaning that it is concerned with how a person thinks currently but does not try to solve past problems. Finally, CBT is highly structured in a way that helps he client discuss specific problems with the therapist as compared to spilling out all facts about personal life (Grossman, 2010: 46).

Assumptions under CBT

Therapists in CBT teach or coach clients how to identify deformed cognations using an evaluation process which discriminates personal thoughts from reality. In this process, the clients learn that cognition has an influence on feelings and they are instructed on how to recognise, observe and monitor own thoughts (Cummings, 2010: 826, Petersen, 2015:1).

• Cognitive approach believes the distortions or ‘abnormality’ originates from defective cognition about others, the environment or the world and self. The distortions in thinking may be as a result of lack of planning or inaccurate information processing.
• Cognitions cause distortions in the way a person with the cognitive problem perceives things which can be either by irrational thinking or cognitive triads.
• Humans interact with the world by the way of mental representation about it. It follows that if the mental representations are inaccurate; reasoning becomes inadequate which results in distorted emotions and behaviour.

As Chambless et al. (2001: 702) states, when CBT is administered, the behaviour part in the therapy involves the ‘homework’ part for the client which can be in the form of having a diary on thoughts and the therapist gives tasks to the client in order to help then change irrational beliefs.

The idea behind is that the client is able to identify own unhelpful beliefs and then prove them wrong which is supposed to result in a change of beliefs. As an example, a person who has phobia or anxiety about social settings may be arranged to meet a friend in a public place such as a restaurant or pub for a drink thereby fighting with the phobia through self-determination.

Empirical Foundation

Though viewed as a ‘simple’ approach to ‘simple’ psychological problems, to the patient and those affected, CBT offers practical solutions to real problems. It is also important to note that different behavioural and cognitive problems manifest differently with some very severe while others relatively moderate. It is from this foundation that clients deserve the best treatment that can be empirically authenticated and CBT offers this experimentally proved treatment.

According to Black and Hurley (2014: 1244), CBT has tremendous effects on people with cognitive and behavioural problems with the treatment proving to have a powerful positive impact on problems through its approach with the aim of averting behavioural reactions. The ‘replacement’ thoughts are based on facts and gradually expose and accustom the client to feared situations. The positive effects of CBT are based on the teaching of clients on the detrimental importance of maladaptive thinking processes as well as the maladaptive behaviour harboured by the patient. It is the harboured behaviour that instructs the patient in thinking more on facts rather than assumptions. In turn, this creates a powerful influence by affecting the clients’ behaviours in a healthy and positive way.

Therefore, if psychotherapy is to be accorded the seriousness it deserves, it must be based on practical research. It follows that the use of narratives, testimonials or triads cannot be a guide to treatment choices (Butler et al., 2006: 23).

In order to work effectively, cognitive behavioural therapies as the term suggest combining both the cognitive and the behavioural strategies in helping people with psychological distress. The cognitive part of the therapy helps the affected person become aware of distortions in their thoughts that cause psychological distress while the behavioural part helps the affected person realise the patterns that are used in reinforcing as well as treating them. There are various approaches but each therapist has to evaluate the problem at hand before deciding on the proffered method of administering CBT. In this case, two of these methods are illustrated (Carleton, 2010: 632-800).

As the name suggests, the model involves three steps in; activating event, beliefs and consequences.

• Activating events or objective situation which involves recording the objective situation or the event that has a likelihood of triggering a negative emotional or dysfunctional thinking.
• Beliefs where the client writes down the negative thoughts that have occurred to them
• Consequences that result from the negative feelings and the dysfunctional behaviour. In this case, the native thoughts in beliefs are the connection between the events and consequences or distressful feelings. Therefore, Consequences are explained by describing emotion and negative thoughts caused by activating events such as sorrow, anxiety and aggression among others (Petersen, 2015:1).

The most significant insight of cognitive therapy as originally formulated by Dr Beck over three decades ago is that thoughts act as a go-between between stimuli, such as external events as well as emotions. Therefore, it is the stimulus that elicits a thought, which might be an evaluative decision of some kind which in turn results to an emotion.

According to Haby et al. (2006: 13) and as depicted, it is not the stimulus itself which somehow elicits a direct emotional reaction, but the assessment of or thought about that stimulus. There is empirical evidence which shows that CBT has proven useful and effective for treatment of childhood, adult as well as late-life disorders.

How CBT Works

Cognitive behavioural therapies break down problems into situations, thoughts, emotions, physical feelings and actions. These problems according to CBT are interconnected and affect each other. As an example, when thoughts about a specific situation affect the physical and emotional feelings, there is a reaction to respond to such thoughts and feelings.

CBT is mainly focused at stopping the negative thought cycles which are determined by how a person reacts to different situations which are as a result of the thoughts about a situation. For example in a situation of a broken relationship, the victim might feel hopeless, lonely, tired and depressed which can lead in seclusion. The end result is trapping oneself in a negative cycle which involves feeling self-pity and avoiding people by staying alone. However, instead of accepting this form of thinking, acceptance of the situation and learning from own mistakes as well as choosing to move one will help in having optimism about the future. The optimism in the case above will lead to a better social life which could attract a new social group that can be the source of another relationship.

In essence, CBT aims at stopping the negative cycles by breaking down factors that contribute to bad feelings, anxiety or fear. Through management of problems, CBT helps in changing negative thought patterns by improving personal feelings. Therefore, CBT can help in getting to a point of tackling own problems without therapeutic help.

It is commonly assumed that human thoughts and not external stimuli as indicated above directly cause emotions and behaviours which are the reason that the cognitive part of CBT relies on thoughts. Different people react and interpret different stimuli in different ways with some interpretations considered predictably more rational as well as more positive than others. It is through exercises that concentrate on thought analysis that clients are able to identify negative and irrational thoughts and then starts replacing them with more positive and rational thoughts. Consequently, automatic thoughts are seen as most powerful in the effects on emotions and behaviours because they are cognitive reactions in situations that generate fear. Therefore, automatic thoughts raise assumptions that affect a human’s core beliefs. It follows that CBT concentrates on the negative as well as irrational beliefs and thoughts in a client’s mind.

Therefore, CBT is based and relies on facts and not assumptions because irrational and negative assumptions do not have factual explanations but have very negative effects because they are upsetting to the psychological health of a person (Hofmann and Smits, 2008: 628).

Effectiveness of CBT

Since its invention, CBT has gained a lot of popularity among psychologists with many published research studies to support it use in cognitive behavioural therapeutic interventions. One of the reasons behind its success has been the adaptation of CBT as an applicable therapy to several disorders as well as other related psychological problems. Despite the extensive research on CBT, there still remain unanswered questions on its effectiveness with regards to different disorders and its long-term effects as well as the authenticity of research aimed at proving its level of effectiveness. The main issue has been the increased effects that arise out of combining BT with other therapies in treatments. However, in order to give answers to these questions, Meta-analysis is used to provide clarity as well as insight on these factors.

According to (Petersen, 2015:1 ), for CBT to deliver fruits, the therapist starts by establishing a relationship with the client which is referred to as a therapeutic alliance in order to identify the problems in thoughts, feelings or behaviour. For effectiveness of the therapy, the relationship between the two should be collaborative. Together, they are able to get to the core of the problem where the therapist understands the difficulties of the client as well as the triggers to such negative effects. In this case, both parties are expected to be experts with the client being an expert in own experiences and life whereas the therapist is an expert in CBT. Therefore, they work hand in hand in developing new ways in which the client is supposed to adopt. After the problem has been identified, it is important to set milestones which are agreeable and practical for effective and positive results to be achieved.

As Ceniceros (2012: 23-32) states, many clients joining CBT are in many times sceptical of its effectiveness because they believe it is not possible to change the way they think since it is fundamental to their being. However, after analysing the irrational and negative thoughts, they are able to learn the significance of the thoughts and how they impact on their behaviour. The therapist teaches the client to look at facts that can be substantiated with tangible evidence that is developed from having an objective perspective. Therefore, with the introduction of the patient to objective as well as factual analysis, CBT assists the client to reduce the negative and irrational thinking.

There is also the behavioural part of the therapy that identifies major behavioural problems that affect the client and manifest themselves mainly by escaping or avoiding certain situations in their lives which work in changing the maladaptive behaviour. In this case, the therapist teaches the client fundamental information on the severe effects of their negative behaviour patterns. As a result, the client may avoid various situations as a result of irrational fear and phobia attached to a specific situation (Tolin, 2010).

Overall Effectiveness versus Individual Effectiveness

Despite the high effectiveness of CBT, different cases manifest in different forms. Additionally, different clients or patients will have different levels of manifestation. As a result, the therapist is tasked with the responsibility of evaluating the level of the problem before deciding on the method to use. It follows that depending on the level of the problem the therapist will decide what course of action for the best treatment.

Considering that the normal course of treatment spans between five to 20 sessions, the progress of the client will guide the therapist on the level of effectiveness of the therapy. Sometimes, the therapy can be administered to a group but in these cases, the therapist should be careful to ensure all the clients get the best treatment to full mental health (Oaklander, 2014: 1).

Advantages and Disadvantages or Limitations of CBT

Using CBT treatment, management of depression or anxiety and reducing the negative effects is possible. However, there are risks that the problem can recur because of the underlying factors that triggered the problem. In this case, it is important to control such triggers with the empowerment made possible by CBT. However, it is important to continue with CBT programmes where the problem is likely to recur. While there is evidence to the effectiveness of using CBT in the treatment of mental health problems, there are some limitations or disadvantages associated with its use (Eriksson et al., 2013: 1814).

Advantages

• CBT is very instructive and accords the clients capacity to understand how to deal with tier problems in a rational and confident manner. As mentioned above, with the likelihood of recurrence, the client is already empowered to have control and administer the already learned solutions in dealing with the problem. Therefore, the skills can be incorporated in daily life in coping with difficulties even after finishing the programme.
• CBT is short-term: The programme does not take a long period to administer and can be completed in an average of sixteen sessions. However, the more advanced mental problems require more sessions.
• The structured nature of the programme means that it can be administered in different formats such as groups, computer programmes or self-help reading material. It follows that the sessions are not necessarily chatting or ‘shrink' sessions thereby eliminating the stigma associated with mental health.
• CBT emphasises on getting better as compared to feeling better. This means that the programme aims at correcting the problem which has lasting effects on the health of the client.
• Cognitive behavioural therapies are cross cultural: Considering that the methods are empirically founded, they can be administered indiscriminately on any human being. This means that CBT is founded on human behaviour regardless of race, religious or any other background.
• Cognitive behavioural therapies are empirical: Being empirical illustrates that CBT is highly substantial because they can be and are well researched in order to have clearly defined techniques. It follows that CBT can be examined through scientific researches.

Limitations

Though highly praised, CBT has its limitations which are mainly associated with treatment processes. Of major concern is the capacity to instil positive thinking but lacking the capacity to actualize such positivity in the client. While the therapist can try by all means to help a client, there cannot be results without the cooperation of the client. It follows that the client must play their part in the path to recovery. Cooperation means that the client has to fully take part in every therapy as well as do their ‘homework.’ Therefore, CBT is not a quick fix despite being highly praised to be fast and effective (Good et al., 2010: 21).

Additionally, because of its structured nature, CBT is not suitable for people with complex mental health problems or learning difficulties. Clients with treatment resistant depression as well as those with personality disorders or even both are not recommended to CBT. In cases where the mental problems are complex, CBT cannot work without administering antidepressants to the patient which proves the limited capacity of CBT.

With its focus on current problems, CBT does not look at the foundation or background of the problem. With the focus on specific issues, CBT does not address the underlying cause of psychological problems which form the basis of the treatment process.

CBT also focuses on the client’s capacity to change themselves in thought, feelings and behaviour but does not address the secondary problems that can have an effect o the treatment process. These secondary problems can be family or systems related and have drastic effects on the health of the client (Johnsen and Friborg, 2015: 754).

Criticism

As mentioned above when getting in the programme, many people are sceptical because they believe it is not possible to change the core of their beliefs and thinking patterns. Others allege that the therapy does not reflect reality and does not alleviate their bad feelings. There are also claims on the ‘pettiness’ of the programme where the therapist simply tells the client that a thing is wrong which is seen as trying to caricature the approach. This can be equated to critiquing the client centred approach by insinuating that the therapist simply allows the client to discuss whatever they wish to discuss and attract no judgement which would result in difficulty in discussing the problems. On the other hand, the therapist is accused of leading the client using questions that are directive and biassed towards their recommendations (Kirwan-Taylor, 2002: 24).

Conclusion

It is a fact that CBT is a highly developed and well-proven and therapy. Through testing, it has been confirmed to be an effective therapy on treatment of clients with behavioural and cognitive problems. It is also important to note that CBT is a treatment of choice for moderate and severe cases on cognitive and behavioural problems. In order to the treatment to work effectively, a high level of collaboration is required between the client and the therapist. In the treatment of mental health problems, CBT targets multiple areas that have potential in being vulnerable in order to provide intervening measures.

As mentioned above, CBT embarks on teaching the client to self-administer solutions to their problems which make it pragmatic. By teaching the client on the importance of maladaptive thinking as well as behaviour, the client is able to see the negative aspects of such thinking and start developing new beliefs which result in mental health. There are several advantages associated with CBT such as being well structures, having empirical substance and the short period it takes to administer. On the other hand, it also has limitations such as the high dependency in collaboration between the therapist and client. Additionally, it is limited to current problems without looking at the history of the client whereas past cases could be the triggers to current problems.

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Cognitive behavioural therapies have proven practical with reasonable substance attached to its use. It is out of this that it is highly reliable in obsessive-compulsive disorders, panic disorders, phobias and post-traumatic stress disorders among others. As more research is done on CBT, new information will be provided in the enhancement of the therapy for better mental health.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is a school of thought that helps patients focus on their points of view on the world. Though they cannot control or change every aspect of their life, they have the ability to take control of how they interpret and deal with things in their environment. According to Hoffman (2014), “people often experience thoughts or feelings that reinforce or compound faulty beliefs. Such beliefs can result in problematic behaviors that can affect numerous life areas, including family, romantic relationships, work, and academics”. To put this into context with a person who suffers from low self-esteem shows to have negative thoughts regarding their own appearance and/or abilities. Because of these thoughts the individual may begin to avoid social situations or even turn down opportunities to advance in school or work. A cognitive-behavioral therapist would help the client to identify their problems as a way to face the destructive thoughts and behaviors. This is the functional analysis stage, and it is important for the patient to learn how certain situations and thoughts can contribute to a maladaptive behavior process. The second stage is to focus on the behaviors that are contributing to the problem. The client will start to learn new skills to practice so that they can apply them late to use in the real world. This can look like learning new coping skills and rehearsing them so that when in a certain situation the client can use their new found skills to address what they struggle with.

There are a few studies that are mentioned within this paper that outline the benefits of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Each study focuses on a group of individuals that greatly benefit from therapy, as well as highlighting the differences between clinicians that are cognitive-behavioral therapists and those who only use cognitive-behavioral techniques. Waller’s study focuses on cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques on eating disorders. Waller took a study of 80 clinicians (69 women, 11 men) and had them describe what their cognitive-behavioral techniques were and how often they used them within their session. Each clinician is then asked to fill out a questionnaire that talked about their methods. The study found that the clinicians who claimed to use cognitive-behavioral therapy but did not follow the protocol did not have as great of success in helping their clients. But those who followed protocol found great outcomes for their patients with eating disorders. According to Waller (2012), “cognitive-behavioral therapy has good outcomes for bulimia nervosa and for atypical cases, and some impact on anorexia nervosa”. Those who followed the guidelines for CBT had a greater outcome in success in the patient’s outcome than those who simply took certain techniques from CBT and did not follow their guidelines.

Trockel’s study focused on the effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia on suicidal ideation in veterans. According to Trockel (2015), “veterans account for an estimated 20% of suicide deaths in the United States, suggesting compelling need for effective strategies to reduce suicide mortality incidence in this population”. He also found that there was a link that has demonstrated the link between insomnia and suicidal ideation. Trockel (2012) also states that “…sleep disturbance is a stronger predictor of suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior among active military personnel than two well-stablished risk factors – depression and hopelessness”.

With this study that Trockel has done he found that best treatment that veterans may receive will be from a CBT intervention, which has shown having a reduced risk among individuals with insomnia compared to the use of other methods. According to Trockel (2012), CBT may be a particularly promising intervention to reduce risk among individuals with insomnia. CBT is also free as drug-drug interactions and suicide death by overdose of prescribed sedative/hypnotic medication(s). CBT may become the first intervention strategy to use for veterans because of its promising statistical data. How the study was conducted was through 4 months of weekly workshops, implementations challenges, video demonstrations, group discussions, and 90-minute telephone consultation sessions. The veterans who took part in this study filled out a questionnaire before the 4 month cognitive-behavioral sessions, and then received another questionnaire after the 4 months.

Hoffman’s study focuses on the effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders on quality of life. His study consisted of a meta-analysis on 44 studies that included 59 CBT trials, totaling 3,326 participants receiving CBT for anxiety disorders. In Hoffman’s (2014) conclusions he states that, “CBT for anxiety disorders is moderately effective for improving quality of life, especially in physical and psychological domains”. Hoffman (2014) also states that “the study found solid evidence for the beneficial effect of CBT on quality of life. The pre-post overall and controlled effect sizes of CBT on quality of life were moderately strong”. He also did a meta-analysis on whether internet-delivered treatment would be more effective than face-to-face treatment. The study had shown that in person treatment had a better response than internet-delivered treatment.

Ehde did a study on the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy on chronic pain. He examined the techniques that would could be used for chronic pain and found that the most used techniques are relaxation training, setting and working toward behavioral goals, behavioral activation, guidance in activity pacing, problem-solving training, and cognitive restructuring. According to Ehde, “An estimated 100 million U.S. adults suffer from chronic pain, a condition influenced by biological, psychological, and social factors and optimally managed by treatments that address not only its biological causes but also its psychological and social influences and consequences. Over the past 60 years, parallel advances in the scientific understanding of pain and the development of cognitive and behavioral therapies have led to the widespread application of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to chronic pain problems. Indeed, CBT is now a mainstream treatment, alone or in conjunction with medical or interdisciplinary rehabilitation treatments, for individuals with chronic pain problems of all types”. His research concludes that with the therapeutic techniques found with CBT patients were able to control a portion of the pain that they were feeling by using relaxation as well as other techniques.

The last study evaluated in this paper is a study done by Jeffery Wood who did a case study on the impact of cognitive behavioral therapy on observed autism symptom severity during school recess. This study followed 13 children (7-11 year olds) through 32 sessions of CBT for 16 weeks. Blind trained observers followed their interactions with their peers. According to Wood (2014), “This study compared cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and treatment-as-usual in terms of effects on observed social communication-related autism symptom severity during unstructured play time at school for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD)”. The observers documented that the children who went through cognitive behavioral had more frequent interactions with their peers, as well as more positive interactions. In fact, Wood (2014) states that “On average, children in CBT were engaged in positive or appropriate social interaction with peers in 68.6 % of observed intervals at posttreatment, compared to 25 % of intervals for children in treatment-as-usual”. Showing a significant difference between the children who are treated under the cognitive behavioral protocol over the children who do not.

Through these various articles it has been proven the cognitive behavioral therapy is found to be a useful school of thought in regards to treating a large amount of both physical illness, but as well as mental illnesses. As well as showing that in person treatments get a better result than treatments that are done over the internet through various different internet programs.

Introduction: A cognitive bias disrupts a normal cognitive process like reasoning, evaluating, and recalling memories. This perception mainly results from the tendency for individuals to put their own beliefs, mood, and preferences above any outside fact or opinion. Cognitive bias is a distortion in our perception of reality. It’s a systematic pattern of deviation from normal rational judgement. Background: Individuals create their own “subjective social reality” from their particular perception of the input. Their construction of social reality, not objective input, may dictate their behavior in the social world (1). Cognitive bias may also lead to perceptual distortion, biased judgement, irrational thinking, and illogical explanations.

There are many types of cognitive bias that affect one's everyday decision making, including: confirmation bias, bandwagon effect, blind-spot bias, clustering illusion, outcome bias, overconfidence, ostrich effect, information bias, placebo effect, selective perception, and zero-risk bias. This phenomenon is a result from various processes that can difficult to distinguish between when trying to narrow down the source of a particular bias situation. Thesis statement: While cognitive bias is a widespread and frequent happening, it can be controlled if an individual is willing to go through the steps to change their patterns of thinking.

Debiasing is a technique that aims to decrease biases by encouraging individuals to use controlled processing compared to automatic processing (Baumeister & Bushman, 2010, p.155). This training was shown to reduce cognitive bias. The process for modifying cognitive biases is called cognitive bias modification and is used in healthy people and is also used in a number of therapies for anxiety, depression, and addiction called cognitive bias modification therapy (CBMT). An example of cognitive bias that has affected events in my life would be categorized as a memory bias. A memory bias either enhances of impairs the recollection of a memory. It's possible that it changes the content of a memory, how long it takes to recall, or if the memory is able to be recalled.

Topic sentence: There are several different types of memory bias, including: bizarreness effect, change bias, childhood amnesia, context effect, cryptomnesia, egocentric bias, fading effect bias, false memory, rosy retrospection, and google effect.

I'm going to discuss my experience with hindsight bias and how it has affected my recollection of important memories and behavior. There was a time in my life when I had a very close friendship with an individual whom I entrusted with every detail of my life and shared everything with, even my home. As I was blinded by my love for this person, I went through a shock when our relationship started to decline. Her behavior was baffling to me at the time, and as I was in emotional distress, I couldn't see clearly the signs that were right in front of me. I went on to lose a lot more than just my trust as a direct result from the downfall of that relationship. I spent some time, after I went on with my life, to ponder what I should have done differently. While reflecting, I realized that for months before this person's true colors were revealed, I knew what was coming. I realized that the uneasy feeling I carried with me for weeks was the oncoming shift in my life. I also knew that something was off with this individual, but my need for love and acceptance was enough to lie to myself every day. I saw it coming, but I did not feel the desire to stop it. Topic sentence: Hindsight bias, or the knew-it-all-along effect, is the feeling after an event has occurred, to have seen the event as being predictable despite having little or no objective basis for predicting it. Commentary: It occurs when a person looks back on an event and thinks that they should have seen it unfolding as it was happening and could have predicted the outcome.

Evidence & citing: In my experience with this phenomenon, I find the feeling quite strange in the way it simplifies my recollection of events that were actually complex while they were occurring. Conclusion paragraph: I believe there are ways that hindsight bias could be mitigated, for the sake of an individual’s struggle to get past the feeling of ‘missing the signs’. Be aware of the facts surrounding past events and how to interpret them. I believe that attempting to accept that hindsight bias is a risk and working on how to avoid and cooperate with it may be a possible way to mitigate the risk. The approach must suit the situation, but with most cognitive bias, I think that we must adapt and try to take a step back to evaluate not only our understanding, but the understanding of everyone involved.

References:

1. Bless, H.; Fielder, K. & Strack, F. (2004). Social cognition: How individuals construct social reality. Hove and New York: Psychology Press.

2. Baumeister, R. F.; Bushman, B. J. (2010). Social psychology and human nature: International Edition. Belmont, USA: Wadsworth.

Introduction

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Background

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Thesis statement

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Topic sentence

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Commentary

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"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is a striking example of how Samuel Taylor Coleridge failed to attain his vision of perfect poetic unity. The work in question leaves the reader with unanswered questions regarding its stated moral, its failure to adequately account for the reasoning behind its central action, and its vacillation regarding the mariner's supposed atonement. Coleridge famously sought unity in life and art, yet in this poem he is remarkably unable to produce any semblance of such. He does, however, succeed in telling a story that instantly grabs the attention of the reader and sustains her attention long after the poem has been initially digested.

Attaining unity within the poem is impossible primarily because it lacks a unifying moral to explain the appalling events taking place on the ship as described by the guilt-stricken mariner himself. The mariner's states the moral for what has taken place in this way: "He prayeth well who loveth well / Both man and bird and beast. / He prayeth best who lovest best / All things both great and small, / For the dear God who loveth us, / He made and loveth all" (612-617). This moral explanation seems far too pat and simplistic to account for the harrowing events that have taken place and for the mariner's exceptional sense of guilt. What kind of God would kill off the innocent, the mariner's shipmates, instead of the one guilty of killing the albatross? What kind of "morality" is this? To what kind of God is the mariner referring? No satisfying unity exists between the mariner's final reflections and the sin and guilt that led him to that moral conclusion.

This lack of unity puts into question the poem's entire meaning. Does the moral belong to Coleridge or only to the mariner? The author's marginal glosses confound the question, as he echoes the morals as explained by the mariner; for instance: "...and to teach by his own example love and reverence to all things that God made and loveth." The reader knows this is not the mariner speaking, so she can tentatively assume it to be Coleridge himself. If this is the case, then it is Coleridge offering the simplistic moral put forward by the mariner at the end of the poem; if true, this suggests that Coleridge was perhaps a lesser intellectual and poet than commonly believed. Creating a complex and highly entertaining story only to explain it sophomorically is not what one would expect of a a true literary great.

However, other lapses of unity within the poem suggest that Coleridge may have still been in the process of writing the poem upon its publication, that it was merely published before he was able to conclude it more satisfactorily. For instance, the poem's central event is never explained. As far as the reader can tell, the mariner's decision to kill the albatross - traditionally regarded as a harbinger of good fortune for sailors - was an arbitrary one. This defining moment is described in just one and a half lines ("'With my crossbow / I shot the albatross" (81-82)), as if Coleridge wanted to hurry beyond the story's climax towards a deep exploration of its moral consequences. Without this kind of reflection, the reader cannot understand why so much death and psychic injury follows what apears to be a rather mundane trespass. One cannot appreciate the full weight of the mariner's crime, nor care much about the mariner and his guilt at all, without knowing more about the mariner, his moral character and motivations. Coleridge fails to unite the crime adequately with its consequences; one learns of the death and guilt that follow without understanding why the action merits such punishment.

The mariner's quest for deliverance also demonstrates the lack of unity within the poem. After his blessing of the water-snakes, the mariner symbolically casts off his sin. "The self-same moment I could pray, / And from my neck so free / The albatross fell off and sank / Like lead into the sea" (288-291). Despite this supposed respite from his guilt, however, the mariner is still not done paying for his crime. "The man hath penance done / And penance more will do" (408-409). Even though he no longer must carry with him the burden of the albatross, he has not yet paid in full for his sins. Coleridge notes on the side that "The curse is finally expiated," suggesting conclusion, but the mariner must continue to circle the globe, re-telling his story in what appears to be a vain attempt to achieve salvation. Great discontinuity exists between the mariner's supposed release from culpability and his compulsion to continue telling his tale.

Coleridge's desire for unity is firmly rejected in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Unresolved questions leave the reader dissatisfied with the poem despite the work's strong qualities, e.g. plot, rhyme, and meter. The disconnect between successful components and failed ones is itself evidence for the poem's lack of unity. Ultimately, the poem lacks enough harmony for the reader to make even an attempt at judging it a success or failure overall.

Coleridge, in common with other romantic artists such as Wordsworth and Keats revolted against the artificial eighteenth century philosophy of a dislocation between man and nature. Coleridge developed an extremely analytical, passionate and spiritual interest in nature and the idea of 'the one life'. His belief that nature is "the eternal language which... God utters" fuels a vast, and unquestionably, eclectic collection of precisely observed images and themes which almost always focus on the natural world and are used to explore wider issues in his poetry.

The hypnotic rhythm of the Circassian Love-Chaunt created by a mixture of two regular rhyme schemes used intermittently throughout the poem helps to capture the sense of equilibrium, tranquillity and beauty Coleridge believed could be found in nature. Equally the repetition of the word "Lewti" five times in the opening two stanza's as well as the repetition of natural imagery such as the "rock" and the "stream" adds a sense of a natural monotonous charm to the poem suggesting an air of peacefulness and restfulness. The muted colours in the poem suggested by clouds of the "palest hue" as well as the "grey" and "flushed" landscape surrounding the clouds heighten the sense of tranquillity. Conversely, these muted images are directly contrasted with bolder images such as the "rich and amber light" of the moon shining through the cloud. There are almost an identical number of references to both the muted and the vibrant images in Lewti which creates a feeling of equilibrium in the poem further emphasising the natural balance and beauty of nature. In Sonnet to a River Otter the persona remembers in a rather paradoxical way "what happy and what mournful hours" he had by a brook. Once again there is a feeling of equilibrium and balance created by contrasting images. However, the suggestion of beauty in something much more mundane, such as the "native brook" as opposed to Lewti who is an Arabian princess gives the impression that we are not just looking at the subjects but a more universal idea of a unifying beauty throughout the entire natural world. It is precisely this underlying interest in the beauty and natural equilibrium (which many eighteenth century industrialists threatened to ruin) that lies at the heart of poems such as Lewti. The paradoxical statement by the "ancient mariner" that there is "water, water every where, / nor any drop to drink" adds to the sense of a paradoxical natural world and the "beauty and the happiness" of the "slimy things" the mariner notices whilst at sea creates a similar paradoxical image. The inclusion of the word agony to describe the soul of the mariner is once again paradoxical as the word can mean both mental anguish and pleasure. This double meaning in describing the "soul" of the mariner symbolises the fact that the balance in nature is at the heart of the natural world as the soul is an important part of the mariner. Coleridge chooses to focus in a precise and detailed way on one subject, which becomes symbolic of a wider natural world. Through his use of equally balanced contrasts, both in terms of imagery and style, he is able to suggest a natural world that although often conflicting is always in perfect equilibrium.

Equally, through his precise observations of the natural world, Coleridge was able to explore the Eternity of nature. Kubla Khan's language hints at this timelessness with quasi-superlative language that describes the caverns as "measureless" and the forests as "ancient". The importance of these images is heightened by the fact they are mentioned within the first stanza. Furthermore, by mentioning specific antiquated names such as Xanadu and Kubla Khan, which are fairly obscure, Coleridge is able to suggest that human creation is not like the infinity of nature. By keeping the natural subjects in the poem unspecified and stereotypical, "green hill", "caves of ice" we feel a sense of timelessness in nature.

Furthermore, there is a hypnotic regularity in the entire poem and in particular the first stanza. Coleridge alliterates the last two words of each of the first five lines, "Kubla Khan", "dome decree", "sunless sea" giving the poem a bombastic, yet regular rhythm. Short exclamations such as "but oh!" and "a savage place!" coupled with excessively long exclamations created through enjambment "as holy and enchanted as e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted by a woman wailing for her demon lover!" Consolidate this feeling of 'ebbing and flowing' which is reminiscent of time ticking irregularly away and creates a sense of the infinite. Similarly, the Ancient Mariner reflects this timelessness through the regularity of the way in which he tells his story. He speaks within a rhyme scheme that becomes an almost comical 'nursery rhyme' in places due to the regularity and inexorable rhythm of the couplets. The use of the word "ancient" consolidates this idea of eternity as it is a word usually used for inanimate and often only natural subjects as does the vastness of the ocean he is marooned on. Furthermore his attention to detail in his story suggests he has told it many times and detailed observation such as his description of the albatross, "at first it seemed a little speck, /And then it seemed to mist" helps us realise this isn't just one story about the nemesis of the natural world being told at one precise moment in time but a timeless story of nature and the natural world.

Furthermore, the Mariner's unkempt yet charismatic appearance suggested to the reader through a repeated focus on his "glittering", "bright" eyes and his appearance as a "greybeard loon" and particularly his "long grey beard", suggests subtly that he has become a 'spokesman for nature.' The Mariner's timelessness in direct contrast to the deaths of all the other crew members helps suggest the eternity of nature he has become symbolic of.

The eternity of nature is actually looked at in a rather paradoxical way because by focusing briefly on events or single images that are symbolic of a wider natural world Coleridge creates a sense of the infinite shown through specific examples. This is perhaps also another example of Coleridge suggesting the paradoxes within the natural world by suggesting something infinite with a specific event or image.

Once again, in a slightly paradoxical sense, the poetry focuses on an idea of 'religion in nature', a view held by many romantic poets, notably Wordsworth. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner takes many religious images and 'naturalises' them. In part the third the mariner says "I beheld/ A something in the sky", which has subtle connotations of the star the three wise men followed. However, the "something" is in fact an albatross and like the star in the bible story the albatross is a key symbol in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. "LIFE-IN-DEATH" and "DEATH" "were casting dice" for the souls of the crew and once again this mirrors with a natural (or arguably supernatural) twist the soldiers who diced for Jesus' clothes after his death on the cross.

Ultimately the ancient mariner becomes less arrogant and shifts his perspectives, having repented for his sins and this has echoes of the Christian message except through his killing of the albatross the mariner's crime is directly against nature rather than a perceived 'God'. However, the suggestion of religion in nature becomes slightly less attractive when we see that ultimately the mariner is not forgiven for his sins unlike the Christian message of a forgiving God.

In the examination of religion in nature, the poems also focus closely on the power and nemesis of the natural world. The Mariner and his entire crew are tortured by the mistake of the mariner to kill the albatross. The poem hinges around the line "I shot the ALBATROSS" which is made to seem significant by the fact the line is shorter than the other lines in the stanza, ends "part the first" and contains the word "albatross" in capital letters. Similarly the "pleasure dome" in Kubla Khan, which through its description as "stately" appears very grandiose, is dwarfed by the biblical, apocalyptic language that describes the natural world the dome is surrounded by, "romantic chasm", "ancestral voices". Furthermore, the description in the poem is extremely sensual and covers all the senses. The sensuous description of the natural images gives them an all-consuming and extremely powerful presence echoing the suggestion by Coleridge of the power in nature. The "sunless sea" and the "gardens bright" are both striking visual images, our ears are filled by the sound of the "woman wailing and the "damsel" who is "singing of mount Abora". "The incense-bearing tree" awakens our sense of smell. Equally the suggestion of the "earth breathing" and the fact the persona has "drunk the milk of paradise" ensures that our we both feel and taste the powerful language used to describe the natural world where Kubla Khan built "a stately pleasure dome."

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Coleridge's poetry relies entirely on a detailed analysis of nature in order to present and further examine his bigger ideas such as 'religion in nature'. More specifically however, Coleridge relies on a 'zoom effect' to scan the general scenery and then focus in on one small natural subject at a time, which in turn becomes symbolic of nature as a whole.

Part 7 forms the dramatic climax of the poem in which the Mariner returns to his own “countree”. Coleridge uses the focal character, the eponymous Ancient Mariner, to narrate the aftermath of the journey and his life since and includes dialogue from the pilot, his boy and, most significantly, the Hermit to make clear the moral of the poem. That the Wedding Guest is not given direct speech as the Mariner concludes his tale can also be seen as significant, suggesting to the reader that as he is a “sadder and wiser” man, he cannot find the words to respond to the Mariner’s tale. The omniscient narrator concludes the tale, completing the “frame” of the narrative and perhaps introducing more credibility to the Mariner’s tale: this external voice prevents the reader from dismissing the Mariner’s narrative as the ramblings of a “grey-beard loon”.

Like the rest of the poem, Part 7 draws on elements of the ballad form such as use of the quatrain stanza form, but it is in this concluding section that we see Coleridge stray the furthest from the traditional form, perhaps to emphasise the changes in the Mariner’s life: although the setting has moved from sea to land, the Mariner’s life has been irrevocably changed by his experiences. Coleridge varies stanza length throughout Part 7 and also uses enjambment between stanzas which can be seen to reflect the idea there is not defined ending to the poem: the Mariner’s journey will continue. There is also little evidence of the internal rhyme so prevalent in earlier sections of the poem. The effect of this had been to draw the auditor, the Wedding Guest, –and by extension the reader- in as it created and almost chant- like, hypnotic feel, compelling us to listen. However, by this point, the Mariner is aware he has our full attention.

Coleridge’s use of a variety of poetic methods adds to this many-layered poem and enables us to have a deeper understanding of Coleridge’s themes and ideas, particularly here, the idea of “the one life”, often seen as the poet’s central message. The introduction of the Hermit is a key as he serves as a parallel to the Mariner. He prays at an “oak stump” and this symbol illustrates how his closeness to Nature reflects a closeness to God. The oak traditionally has connotations of wisdom and in this case Coleridge is presenting the Hermit’s way of life as a good and desirable one. In direct contrast with the Mariner who shot the innocent albatross and the Wedding Guest who sees merriment rather than solemnity in the wedding ceremony, the Hermit is at one with God through his complete integration with the world around him. Furthermore, when the pilot and his boy are driven to the emotional extremes of fear and madness by the Mariner’s macabre ship, the Hermit prays, paralleling the comfort the Mariner felt when he blessed the water snakes.

Coleridge’s nature imagery can also be seen as significant at this point. The idea of the wolf that “eats the she-wolf’s young” suggests a perversion of nature, a creature killing its own, which can be seen as a metaphor for the Mariner’s killing of the albatross. Indeed, there are many images in this section of the poem that parallel earlier images. The ship sinks “like lead”, repeating the simile used when the albatross is released from the Mariner’s neck. The supernatural forces and noises surrounding the ship here are echoes of earlier similar Gothic images and the way the Mariner finds himself lifted “swift as dreams” in to the boat perhaps serves to remind the reader of the sailor’s dreams of the spirit when the ship is becalmed.

Coleridge’s use of onomatopoeia and assonance helps to immerse the reader in the Mariner’s nightmare. Using sensory imagery that is not only visual, but auditory too, enables us to envisage the scene more clearly. Plunging us in to this nightmare world enables us to appreciate the validity of the alternative life promised by the moral. Repetition of the lines “Alone on a wide wide sea” is of particular significance here. This line metaphorically suggests the Mariner’s continuing isolation from the rest of humanity even after returning home which is emphasised in the long assonant vowel sounds of “i” in “wide”.

What is considered by many to be the moral of the poem is contained here in the lines that follow “He prayeth best that loveth best” and this explains the introduction of the Hermit as a concrete example of how to integrate with nature, in contrast to the Mariner who has broken the rules of the “one life” and is punished. The lack of Gothic elements in the final lines of the poem can be seen to symbolise that the “nightmare” of the Mariner’s journey has ended as he has returned from “Where God scarce seemed to be” to where the “kirk” of his home town symbolises God watching over the people. The focus in the final lines shifts to the Wedding Guest, with a return to the omniscient narrator, perhaps indicating to the reader that the Mariner’s work is done now his tale is told. The embedded narrative has been completed and now the frame narrative has concluded. We are returned to the beginning of the poem just as the Mariner must now seek another audience to hear his cautionary tale.

Table of contents

1. Pricing strategy
Billing cycle based pricingFree trials

Collaborative business tools or applications (CBA) or apps help business units to make the workforce more efficient and productive. These tools help a team in collaborating between themselves so that ideas and discussion points are shared efficiently. While there are many tools used by organizations such as emails, share documents etc which help in collaboration within an organization, these are not very scalable tools for an organization to effectively collaborate.

Some of the major factors that drive the adoption of CBA are discussed below:

• Efficiency improvement: It is found that organizations which adopt CBA show increased efficiency in operations. Since CBA helps employees to collect the information faster, it helps in faster decision making and coordination among team members.
• Time Management: CBA can be used to connect with team members spread across different geographies. CBA helps in scheduling the work, and updating the progress of work which results in better time management for the team members.
• Cost optimization: Collaboration apps help the team members to work from anywhere in the world, resulting in lower costs of real estate rentals and travel expenses.
• Better quality of work: Better collaboration among team members limit the errors in the projects thanks to the sharing of documents and discussion threads. This will improve the quality of project works.
• Increasing use of Mobile devices and social media: Higher penetration of smartphones and tablets has forced organizations to give access to desktop tools through mobile devices. Instant messaging and web conferencing are examples of such tools available on mobile devices. Further, expansion of social media necessitates the use of social networks within an organization's workforce. Such social networks can drive new ideas and innovation.

Typical collaborative business tools will have the following features as part of its design:

• Chats and discussion forum: It helps a team communicate, share and discuss
• A centralized storage platform: It helps in storing files and other resources
• Features such as task assignment, scheduling, and trackers

Pricing strategy

Collaboration tools need a proper pricing strategy to win customers. If the pricing of the product is not right or not suited to the market needs, the product may fail in the long-term. It is important to look at the broader pricing trends within the industry and strategies to be adopted for an optimum pricing for collaboration apps.

Generally, pricing of collaboration tools can be divided into the following broad categories:

• Billing cycle based pricing
• Free trials and offers based pricing
• Feature loaded pricing
• Customized pricing
• Client segment-based pricing
• Number of users based pricing

The above categories are discussed in detail below:

Billing cycle based pricing

Companies offer different prices to the clients based on the billing cycle. Some tools are offered on quarterly, monthly or annual subscription basis. Some clients may prefer monthly billing cycle while some other clients may prefer annual or quarterly billing cycle. Having different pricing based on the billing cycle will be advantageous to sell the products to potential clients. For example, Slack, a collaboration app, offers per month and annual subscription options for its clients.

Free trials

Some of the basic collaboration tools or apps can be offered as free trials which can be limited to 30 days use. Customers who use the tools for a limited time may come back and subscribe for the full version tools. Such clients may be offered some discounts and offers of new features. Most of the software products sold in the market adopt free trials options to sell and market their products. Collaboration apps such as HipChat or Stride, and Podio offer free trials.

Feature loaded pricing

Certain sophisticated tools may be offered with additional features which will appeal to some clients. In such cases tools may be priced higher based on the needs and the tools will be offered to select clients. Features such additional storage space for files, and higher security options are examples of feature loaded pricing. Slack, for example, offers unlimited workspaces, security, and 24x7 support as part of its enterprise grid product offering.

Customized pricing

There are cases where clients prefer customized products. Certain features such as easier integration with another software package, scalability for future requirements etc which can be custom-built into an application as per client needs. Such products can be priced based on the needs and requirements of the clients. Wrike, a collaboration tool, offers customizable tools for clients.

Client segment-based pricing

Every product can be priced based on the pricing expectations of its final client base. Small businesses may prefer simple or base versions of collaboration tools which could be priced lowest. The pricing for products in this group can be termed “base pricing”.

When a product is targeted to the medium-sized companies, the pricing offered can be different from the "base pricing". The requirements of medium-sized companies will be different from small companies, hence the pricing will be mostly on the higher side. Such a pricing can be termed “medium pricing”.

The third client base can be a bigger corporate who look for more feature rich and sophisticated tools. These clients can be offered customized or standardized solutions as the case may be. The pricing can be termed "enterprise pricing". While there are some products which cater to the specific client base, there are products which cater to a wide range of clients. Zoho Cliq, for example, caters to small, medium and large businesses, whereas Flock, a collaboration app, focuses on small businesses.

Number of users based pricing

Pricing based on a number of users is another popular pricing strategy. In this case, pricing per user is decided first and when more than one user subscribes to a product, the pricing is arrived at by multiplying the number of users with the price per user. The pricing can be standardized for a group of users such as five users charged a specific amount followed by 10 users charged double the amount for five users. There can be offers such as discounts for higher user numbers.

Table of contents

1. What type of collective bargaining is this?
2. What are the underlying causes of the dispute?
3. What economic or ethical pressures has each side attempted to use to prevail in the dispute?
4. What, if any, the role was played by third parties in resolving this bargaining dispute? What was the identity of the third party?
5. Conclusion
6. References:

In the past couple of decades, there have been noticed that the nature of educational activities has reduced and students are not fully getting the maximum amount of education that they are expected to get from the teachers. Teachers’ wages have drastically increased from what they once were but the academic performance of students has severely dropped. It is clearly visible that at several colleges where student performances have been constantly on the decline. There are teachers' unions, the group who are involved in collective bargaining processes, for increases of pay as the newer policies, regulations, and creative negotiation strategies. That being said, the issues that face educational institutes of learning, which are directly obstructed by the educational level of students. Hence, this also affects the students which are the future leaders of the United States.

What type of collective bargaining is this?

This type of collective bargaining is distributive collective bargaining which can be observed through the teachers union and running policies. Now the definition of distributive collective bargaining is a competitive bargaining strategy where one group gets something if the other group loses something. The conduct of the government endorsing and encouraging instructors to take the increases with the hopes of effective learning for students is true in hindsight. Even though teachers are getting benefits the educational level isn’t rising. There are actually articles showing a decrease in the academic levels for the past several years. This distributive or conjunctive bargaining is where one party is getting benefits without better benefits for other parties.

What are the underlying causes of the dispute?

There are many underlying disputes and they are:

1. Government and teachers’ unions emphasize on the issues of teachers’ issues such as their pay and greater job security.
2. There are a few things to consider for the student's education.
3. Teacher unions have become more fixated as the past data and resisted their issues to ensure instructors are held responsible for the academics of their students and have them succeed consistently.
4. Tenure policies are the reasons that you can’t fire a bad teacher. They do have regulations out there but they basically inconsistently applied.

What economic or ethical pressures has each side attempted to use to prevail in the dispute?

Well, economically this is a big loss of future possibility for people who could possibly be in charge of a business and run it better and acquire better jobs. There are many more aspects in their lives which can be done only after effective academic learning. In the article, there is a mentioning that the government is looking into doing some surveys and data collection so they can find the reason behind the issues and work on doing what they can to fix it. There are a few factors where the government would like to follow in an attempt to find a possible solution and solve the issues. Teacher unions are also tracking this and are trying to fix the situation. They know that the expectations for educational learning are an issue but they need to improve for not only the students’ future but the economical one as well.

Now ethically there are circumstances where some students learn and try to apply their knowledge in their life. If there is a lack of education or knowledge then you couldn’t expect a knowledgeable social environment. This means that there would be less discussion, research groups and so many more things which would be bad because we must always be moving forward.

Now as we know collective bargaining is “Collective bargaining refers to the negotiation process between an employer and a union comprised of workers to create an agreement that will govern the terms and conditions of the workers' employment.” This is a bit difficult to provide you with a concrete answer because neither side did all the wrong things. It is a collaborative method which includes guidelines, regulations, policies, teachers’ unions, and even the students. There was nothing in the article to indicate to me that anything illegal or unethical was going on at the time the article was written. That being said this is still an ongoing issue. It is a topic that is discussed by many people in positions of power. There are many powerful groups working to try and fix what could now be considered a serious problem.

What, if any, the role was played by third parties in resolving this bargaining dispute? What was the identity of the third party?

There is a third party involved in this case was the government. The government has a predominant role in recognizing the problem and resolving it accordingly. The solution will be beneficial for the students. This will directly influence the future of the US and its ability to effectively and efficiently run businesses.

Conclusion

The problem here can’t be easily resolved and it still hasn’t been resolved. Even today there are still negotiations tanking place and plans being thought up. As the old saying goes Rome wasn’t built in a day, and this issue can’t be fixed easily. Course my thought is that even if you can fix one area of education it might work for some but I doubt for all. So is there actually a solution or is there just this is the best we can do at this time?

References:

1. Andrew Stiles (June, 2013). 'New Study Blames Collective Bargaining for Education Stagnation. Retrieved From: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/350820/new-study-blames-collective-bargaining-education-stagnation-andrew-stiles
2. [Author removed at request of original publisher]. (2016, March 22). 12.2 Collective Bargaining. Retrieved November 8, 2019, from https://open.lib.umn.edu/humanresourcemanagement/chapter/12-2-collective-bargaining/.
3. Baron, E. Jason. 2018. “The Effect of Teachers’ Unions on Student Achievement in the Short Run: Evidence from Wisconsin’s Act 10.” Economics of Education Review 67 (C): 40–57.
4. Collective Bargaining. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2019, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/collective_bargaining.
5. Lovenheim, M. F., & Willén, A. (2019). The Long-Run Effects of Teacher Collective Bargaining. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 11(3), 292–324. doi: 10.1257/pol.20170570

Table of contents

1. Individualism
2. Collectivism
3. Horizontal and Vertical Individualism
4. Horizontal and Vertical Collectivism
What I’ve learned

For managers, it is important to know different cultures that they may face within the work place. Two cultures that they will face are individualism and collectivism. The purpose of this article is to explain the differences in individualism and collectivism and how they can work together.

Individualism

”Individualism means the social framework is loose, and employees put loyalty to themselves and their families ahead of loyalty to their company and work group” (Nelson, 2013, p.20). According to Komarraju, Dollinger, and Lovell, “individualist value their freedom and autonomy and seek self-enhancement” (2008, p.21). Individualist like to have independence as opposed to doing things with others. This is important in an organization because individualist will not always be pressured into going with the group and they are not afraid to put their ideas out in the open. “Individualist also believe each individual should look out for themselves rather than looking out for each other” (Komarraju, 2008, p.21). In an organization, this is very important so that not everyone is just going with the flow. There must be individuals that question the flow at times to avoid mistakes.

Collectivism

“Collectivism means there is a tight knit social framework in which individual members depend strongly on others and group decisions are valued and accepted (Nelson, 2013, p.20). According to Komarraju, Dollinger, and Lovell, “collectivist take a great interest in others and are willing to share their material and non-material possessions with them. They are deeply concerned about how they may appear to others and try not to lose face or cause others to lose face” (207, p. 22). Collectivist identify as a group as opposed to as an individual. This is also important in an organization because collectivist are good at working with others and this is good for organizations that require group projects. Collectivist normally go with the flow of things and don’t tend to question things.

Horizontal and Vertical Individualism

“Horizontal individualist like the freedom to express themselves and prefer to be unique” (Komarraju, 2008, p. 22). This is important because they bring individual ideas to the organization. “Vertical individualist like to compete with others and strive to be the best” (Komarraju, 2008, p.22). Striving to be the best is good for an individual in an organization however, wanting to compete with others can bring up challenges within an organization.

Horizontal and Vertical Collectivism

“Horizontal collectivist tend to identify with the in-group completely and experience a sense of equality with other members” (Komarraju, 2008, p.22). These are the individuals that just go with the flow instead of questioning the flow. “Vertical collectivist are willing to sacrifice self-interest if required by the authority of the in-group (Komarraju, 2008, p. 22). There are also members that just go with the flow and will change themselves to become like the group rather than growing as an individual.

What I’ve learned

Through chapters 1 and 2 and the journal article I’ve chosen, I have learned that it is important for individualist and collectivist to work together. It is important for each organization to have a mix of both for the organization to thrive. The individualists help an organization by identifying challenges and presenting them to the group in order to stay ahead. The collectivist helps an organization by wanting to stick with the group. So, when an individual presents a problem to collectivist get together and work on that issue as a group rather than by trying to get ahead.

Finally, I’m starting to write my college essay. I don’t know what is hard, constructing it or trying to think of my achievements, I was raised to be modest about my achievements, whatever they might be. Applying for college is nothing but bragging, and it makes me uncomfortable. Every college essay you are likely to see it entails achievements from top to bottom, that’s not me!

Not yet, I don’t have it all figured it out. I’m still getting myself around this thing called adulthood. Those applicants who have already tasted far-reaching success are well-formed as people. They already know what works and see no reason to change. Why should they? They already have an invention in advance. They have life figured out, or sincerely believe they do. They are wrong. There is no better teacher than failure.

Think about it for a second. Wisdom is what you get from experience. Experience is what you get from failure. The transitive property works out from there. I know this because I failed, and it turned me around in a way that modest or even spectacular success could not have. If I can tell you, I was the first in the race but one slightest mistake I took my eyes off from the race before I knew it I slowed down and there I was a D.

Getting a D probably isn't the worst thing in the world, but it's not something anyone wants to see, let alone put, on a college application. It came back to me, scrawled in red, on my mid-year exam. The one the teacher had assured us was a third of our grade. I could already see my chances of a four-year college-going up in smoke before it even began.

What happened? I'm not a D student. I'll get the occasional B, as well as the occasional A. D's, is out of character for me, and enough of a stomach punch to really get my attention. The short version is, I didn't study hard as I should have, and I don't remember precisely why. There is always a reason not to study, isn't there? I didn't study and I went into an exam woefully unprepared and got beaten up.

I had two options here. I could accept that I was, in fact, a D student despite what I had thought. Or I could study hard for the next test and try to bring my grade up by the force of the average. I realized something pretty important: while I had already forgotten the reason I didn't study, I never forgot the grade. Thus, the grade itself was far more important than whatever it was I was doing instead.

Imagine, instead, if I had gotten a C or even a B. It would have taken sheer, blind luck, but it could have happened. If this had happened, if I had succeeded rather than failed, I would have learned nothing. Or, at the very least, I would have learned that I didn't have to study, which is the opposite of what any college-bound senior should learn.

I chose to work harder. By my failure, that D, I had already learned the consequences of not studying. At the end of the year, I got a better grade than I should have, based on strict averages. The teacher weighted improvement over other concerns. Those who buckled down and worked harder as the year progressed were rewarded. In essence, my hard work paid off twice over. Had I not failed, I would have learned nothing. I might have done much worse on my finals since I 'knew' studying was not important. Instead, by failing, I was able to write my course. Going into college, I have concrete experience with just how important hard work can be.