Comparing Kundera and Khaled

Comparing and Contrasting Works by Kundera and Khaled Hosseini The unbearable lightness of being was published in Paris in 1984 by Czech author Milan Kundera. The novel is a mix of genre-defying mix of historical fiction, love stories, philosophy, and experimentation with narrative technique. Set mostly in Prague in the late 1960s, the novel focuses on the love lives of four Czech intellectuals as they struggle with relationships, sex, politics, and the military occupation of their country.The narrator frequently interrupts the story to analyze his own characters and discuss the fictional plotline in the context of the novel’s central philosophy: the dichotomy between lightness and weight. On the contrary of The Kite Runner, the book was published in New York in 2003 by Afghanistan author Khaled Hosseini. The novel is a work of post- modern literature telling the story of how the author grew up and the relationship he had with one of his servant boys. However the similarity he re is the Kite Runner is also written about a time of war for its country while telling the story of the two boys.The author Kundera is unique narrative by presenting himself in the third person, suggesting that he is a character in the story. But he soon confesses to be the author, not the spectator of the fictional tales. He actually proceeds to comment on the characters his own fictional creations and analyze his own novel for us. What he trying to do which we cannot do in real life is disrupts the linearity of time by telling a non-chronological narrative. He achieves this by repeating the same scenes a second or third time. The novel explores the human struggle to give our lives weight despite its necessary and unbearable lightness.The novel itself is the narrator’s attempt at doing just that for himself. Contrary to Khaled is writing is Classical and he speaks as the author telling a story. He also allows the character themselves to define who they are. He does not disr upt the time of telling a chronological narrative. He allows the characters to feel the actually weight of their lives like real life. There is a quote in Kundera book â€Å"novelistic† to you, and I am willing to agree, but only on condition that you refrain from reading such notions as â€Å"fictive,† â€Å"fabricated,† and â€Å"untrue to life† into the word â€Å"novelistic. Because human lives are composed in precisely such a fashion. † (Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being) both authors are similar in that even though Kundera uses fictional characters and Khaled using real characters. Kundera is saying it is his way of using fictional novel and fictional characters to explore real ideas. Just because my characters are fake, he seems to be saying, doesn’t mean that they aren’t a completely accurate reflection of real life. His novel may be intricately structure and full of artistry but so is life. The novels are different w hen it comes to the plot.Khaled, follows a typical plotline. Khaled uses his characters to serves as the climax as a whole in the story. The events are placed in chronological order. Kundera, on the other hand no typical plotline, the novel features several different, interwoven, plotlines. If you identify a climactic situation for one character in one plotline, it doesn’t necessarily serve as a climax for the plot as a whole. The reason the same events are narrated more than once from different characters’ points of view. You can’t break this story into purely plot-driven stages.The bowler hat was a motif in the musical composition that was Sabina’s life. It return again and again, each time with a different meaning, and all the meanings flowed through the hat like water. â€Å"You can’t step twice into the same river† (Kundera, Milan) Sabina was touched by the sight of the bowler hat in a Zurich hotel and made love almost in tears was that its black presence was not merely a reminder of their love games but also a memento of Sabina’s father and of her grandfather, who lived in a century without airplanes and cars.The bowler hat carries weight primarily because it has recurred. This is exactly why motifs give meaning to an individual’s life because they recur over and over again. This is how we are able to give our lives meaning despite the fact that our life occurs only once. The kite was a motif in Amir’s life. It returns season after season and each time with different meaning. All the meanings flowed like the quote mention above. Amir’s longed for the kite runner contest because it was a chance for him to bond and make his father proud of him. The kite recurs over and over every year.This kite running gave him the chance to make his father finally proud of him when he won the contest that last year before war and things change between him and Hassan. Many years later the kite comes back to help him to reach his nephew. This like Sabina gave his life meaning despite the fact he lives only once. Both books show betrayal from one character to the other. In the Kite Runner Amir betrays Hassan on more than one occasion we see it when he was raped by Assef and the other boys. We see it when he places the money and some gifts under his pillow and tries to convince his father that he stole the items.Tomas betrays Tereza by making all his sexual life to so many women, he makes he and Tereza’s private life public. He violates her privacy. Tereza reads Tomas’s letters. Sabina betrays Tomas when she takes his sock and hides it so he will go home with one sock short. This made Tomas realize Sabina resents his love for Tereza as much as Tereza resents his lust for Sabina. In the book by Khaled there is a quote â€Å"For you a thousand times over† (Hosseini) Hassan used this quote to show his devotion to Amir and that there was nothing he would not do for hi s friend and master, yet unknowingly to him also his brother.His thousand times over was shown when he went after the kite for Amir and it cost him being raped and shamed. At the end of the story you have Amir using the same quote as he and Hassan’s son Sohrab are flying the kite and he noticed a slight nod and smile come across his face. He knew there was no great big change but like spring when it comes it melts the snow one flake at a time; he thought he might have just witnessed the first flake melting.Just like Hassan Tereza would show Tomas â€Å"For you a thousand times over† (Kundera) her devotion and love for him. Even though he cheated on her many times over she stayed with him. She believed he was her soul mate that was why she went to Prague to offer up her life to Tomas. Tomas himself was faithful to Tereza in that he would not let anyone possess a special area which he might call poetic memory and which records everything that charms or touches us, that m akes our lives beautiful.Since meeting Tereza he did not allow a woman to leave the slightest impression on that part of his brain. Hosseini, Khaled. â€Å"The Kite Runner. † Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Penguin Group, 2003. 371. Novel. Kundera, Milan. â€Å"The Unbearable Lightness Of Being. † Kundera, Milan. The Unbearable Lightness Of Being. New York: harperCollins, 1984. 88. Novel. Kundera, Milan. â€Å"The Unbearable Lightness Of Being. † Kundera, Milan. The Unbearable Lightness Of Being. New York: Harper & Row, 1984. 59. Novel.

Cultural Issues of Human Resource Management

International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol. 5. No. 2 August, 2007 Page 45 Carrying Cultural Baggage: the contribution of socio-cultural anthropology to cross-cultural coaching Barbara St Claire-Ostwald, CINCRA International Coaching & Training Consultancy, UK Email Contact: [email  protected] com Abstract This study examines the cultural awareness of professionals working in organisations.Given the multicultural nature of today’s workforce, it is becoming increasingly important for companies and coaches alike to take into account how cross-cultural differences may affect daily working practices. The study draws on a review of current research into cultural dimensions and looks at the complex relationship between personality and culture – our ‘cultural baggage’. In order to explore the opinions and cultural awareness of participants, a questionnaire was developed.The purpose of the questionnaire was to identify themes and orientatio ns to cross-cultural issues in terms not only of communality but also of paradoxes. The results highlighted a high level of recognition of cultural dilemmas and a perceived need and willingness to address and reconcile them. However, the diversity of opinions about the potential benefits of specific methods of addressing cultural dilemmas suggested considerable uncertainly about dealing with cross cultural issues.Key Words: Cross-cultural, cultural baggage, cultural dimensions, coaching, mentoring, socio-cultural anthropology Introduction The aim of this paper is to report on the results of a study designed to explore the emerging discipline of cross-cultural coaching (Rosinski 2003) and to establish the levels of awareness about, and attitudes to cross-cultural issues; the patterns and/or relationships between awareness, attitudes and cultural dimensions among businesses and business consultants, coaches, mentors and coaching/mentoring organisations.I began this study from the pers pective that while there has been some research into mentoring and coaching, there appeared to be little that focussed specifically on cross-cultural influences. In my review of the available literature, it became increasingly clear that the integration of a cultural perspective into coaching was very much at the ‘pioneering’ stage. The main aims of this study were to try and establish levels of awareness bout, and attitudes to cross-cultural issues; and to study the patterns and/or relationships between awareness, attitudes and the cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede and Trompenaars and HampdenTurner among businesses and business consultants, and coaching organisations. Cross-cultural coaching addresses the way in which cultural differences affect the daily lives of people, and raises awareness of cultural differences and the effect they can have on the process of managing others and doing business in general.In today’s global economy organisations underst and that to sustain successful and resilient businesses and to keep their competitive edge, they must develop employees who understand their global business, and employ people with global skills. Rosinski (2003) and Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997) have developed pioneering work in cross-cultural competencies and coaching methods. At a fundamental level, their International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol. 5. No. 2 August, 2007 Page 46 work has been based on the works of socio-cultural anthropologists Hofstede (1980) and Schwartz (1994).Their contribution in overcoming cultural miscommunication, tension and conflict, including the perils of stereotyping and ‘mono-culturalism’, has helped to formulate and explore the hypothesis of this study. Cultural baggage: a by-product of cultural systems Socio-anthropological thinking is based on the premise that all humans are born with the same basic physical characteristics, but depending on where they g row up, each individual is exposed to different climates, foods, languages, religious beliefs etc.Therefore, ‘are we really self-made or did our parents, teachers, families and friends have a hand in it? ’ (Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner, 1997, p. 54). Thus, one could argue that the socioanthropological perspective on culture takes a holistic view, describing culture as a pattern of learned and shared behaviours of people and/or groups consisting of belief systems and languages; and of social relationships be they personal, organisational, or institutional. (Hall, 1963; Hall and Hall, 1987; Hofstede, 1980; Kondo, 1990; Levi-Strauss, 1966; Schwartz, 1994).Therefore, at a fundamental level, it could be argued that culture is a representation of a complete way of life of a people who share the same attitudes, values and practices. Csikszentmihalyi (1997, p. 7) makes the distinction of ‘identity’ by using snowflakes as a metaphor: â€Å"They look identical as they fall, but taking a closer look, we soon discover that they are not identical†. Hence, he argues, rather than seeing identity as a single unitary self, perhaps cultural identity should be viewed as being multi-faceted, i. e. cknowledging that people have a number of selves or identities depending on context and setting. For example, the biggest barrier individuals and/or employees encounter is not necessarily that they come from different parts of the world, or that they speak a different language or even occupy a different physical space, it is the baggage they carry in their own cultural suitcases which needs to be explored. Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner maintain that what people expect depends on where they come from, and the meanings they give to what they have or are experiencing.They argue that â€Å"expectations occur on many different levels, from concrete, explicit level to implicit and subconscious ones† (1997, p. 21). Furthermore, they describe culture a s consisting of various layers: †¦The outer layers are the products and artefacts that symbolise the deeper, more basic values and assumptions about life. The different layers are not independent from one another, but are complementary [†¦]. The shared meanings that are the core of the culture are man-made; are incorporated into people within a culture yet transcend the people in culture. (1997, p. 7) Cross-cultural dilemmas Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner argue that â€Å"Every culture distinguishes itself from others by the specific solutions it chooses to certain problems which reveal themselves as dilemmas† (p. 8); to this end, they have incorporated best management theories into their own analysis of the task of managing across cultures. These theories were realized by using a participant questionnaire profiler, which was based on their Seven Dimensions of Culture model and by incorporating Trompenaars and Woolliams framework for managing change across cultures. Similarly, Rosinski points out the dangers of our assumptions and beliefs systems when working with coachees from varying origins and backgrounds. He argues that by providing a framework for integrating coaching and cultural perspectives, i. e. examining numerous International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol. 5. No. 2 August, 2007 Page 47 cultural orientations, styles and approaches to coaching, the development of a cross-cultural mindset will be facilitated.For example, he writes: Our identity could be viewed as this personal and dynamic synthesis of multiple cultures. Our behaviour will typically vary depending on the group we happen to be associated with [. †¦]. The fact that our behaviours depend in part on the particular cultural context further justifies the need for coaches to integrate the cultural perspective into their practice. In some cases the obstacle to someone’s progress may be cultural rather than psychological, thus calling for a di fferent coaching dialogue. p. 1) Furthermore, he maintains that cultural awareness is more than just realizing another culture is different from our own; it is also about learning to value that other culture. He argues that culture is behind our behaviour, and often without our realization. It can influence how close we stand, how loud we speak, how we deal with conflict and as a result, by failing to understand how culture impacts our needs and preferences, culture can often lead us to misinterpret behaviour.Methodology As the research was exploratory, I focussed the design on two main aspects: the initial review of literature which drew on a broad array of coaching and socio-anthropological theories and studies, and the less extensive, but nevertheless in-depth cross-cultural coaching work of Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1997), and Rosinski (2003). In turn, this provided the basis for the primary research, which took the form of a questionnaire which was sent to a small expert survey sample to identify cross-cultural themes and patterns.To ensure that survey participants had some recognizable expertise on the subject under investigation, I adopted the model in (Fig. 1) below. On the one hand, I was attempting to quantify levels of awareness of cross-cultural issues, as well as to explore the accompanying opinions, beliefs and assumptions, and how they relate to the dimensions of culture. I was also trying to make sure that the survey respondents would have an interest in this particular area of study. Fig. Survey Sample and Questionnaire Model Corporate/Business Consultants Awareness Opinions Coaching Organisations The survey sample was not only limited in size, but also in terms of the geographical make-up of the participants, who were mostly from the U. K. with the rest from continental Europe. By International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol. 5. No. 2 August, 2007 Page 48 extension it would be difficult to generalise from the resul ts, however, this was not the intention of the study.While gender could also be a factor which might influence attitudes and responses, the exploratory nature of the study precluded it from being a controlled variable at this point, although this issue could form the basis for further research. The purpose of the initial questionnaire was to elicit the opinions of the survey participants in order to identify themes and orientations to cross-cultural issues, in terms of communality as well as potential paradoxes.It was also intended to see how these opinions and orientations fitted with responses to questions about the various cultural dimensions identified and developed by Hofstede and Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner. The questionnaire was therefore divided into two parts. The first section addressed the opinions about attitudes, values and behaviours pertaining to culture in general, cultural dilemmas and, to crosscultural coaching and training specifically.I also decided to use a n umber of similar questions to check for inconsistencies in responses, which might indicate either a paradox in terms of opinions, possibly a conflict between a ‘norm’ and a given individual’s personal view, or could reflect a lack of appreciation for, or indeed indifference to, a given issue. The second section of the questionnaire was constructed on the basis of Hofstede’s and Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s cultural dimensions, and sought to elicit culture-specific values, beliefs and assumptions which could influence cross-cultural interaction within a professional environment.Results, discussions and recommendations In analyzing the responses to the questionnaire, it was evident that there was a high level of recognition of the importance of cross-cultural issues, and the need to address and reconcile them. However it was very difficult to define or quantify levels of cultural awareness, which was to some extent unsurprising given the complexit y of the issues involved. But as I outlined in the methodology, a major objective was also to explore the quality of awareness and understanding of cultural dilemmas and dimensions.In this respect, the first section of the questionnaire (on attitudes to culture and potential cross-cultural training solutions) was very instructive in terms of perceptions about the relationship between culture and personality. In my opinion, the most notable contrast was that there was considerably greater agreement that culture shapes the personality and a lot more uncertainty about how the individual shapes culture. This impression was further reinforced by the general agreement that managers from different cultures do not necessarily find it easy to adapt their behaviour to fit the different needs of another culture.From a coaching perspective, it suggests some attention needs to be paid to how an individual perceives and relates to his/her culture. For example, there is a clear difference between seeing culture as providing a framework for social interaction, which is constantly evolving, and on the other hand perceiving culture as providing a set of social constraints. In either case, there may be some elements of our culture, which at an individual level are considered to be important in our everyday lives, while there are others which may be difficult to accept, which could be sources of tension with other members of our culture.Given that such perceptions may be operating partly at a subconscious level, this may not be easy to establish. But they appear to me to be a significant element in the process of gaining a better understanding of our cultural baggage, i. e. in how we synthesize the myriad of cultural groupings to which we are exposed on a daily basis. There was greater diversity of opinion about the benefits of specific cross-cultural training solutions, and when, where and how they might be applied.The initial conclusion that can be drawn is this shows that the process of integrating the cross-cultural domain into both business and coaching practice is still at an early stage of development. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol. 5. No. 2 August, 2007 Page 49 As far as improving the general awareness and understanding of the benefits of cross-cultural training, three sets of responses in the first section seem to me to define some of the issues that need to be addressed.Firstly the fact that half of the respondents believed that cultural issues within organisations are dealt with only if they relate to behavioural issues is indicative of a certain level of resistance to dealing with these issues, which may be due to an appreciation of the complexity of such issues. On the other hand, if cultural issues in some organisations are only addressed when there is a behavioural conflict, then this will tend to cast them in a negative light.Hence it does lead to the conclusion that some organisations are not sufficientl y aware that ignoring and playing down cultural differences, as well as evaluating them negatively, is a major contributor to miscommunication, misunderstanding and conflict. Secondly, while coaches largely agreed that business managers recognise that diversity training should now include cross-cultural training for employees sent on global assignments, the business organisation responses were much divided.This leads me to conclude that some businesses are either unaware, or possibly not persuaded of the benefits of this specific approach. Nevertheless this set of responses, and the fact that none of the respondents disagreed that incorporating the dilemmas deriving from the differences in cultural dimensions help organisations to integrate their cultural orientations suggests that the key area of uncertainty among businesses and coaches is the method and/or models of integrating cultural dilemmas.The point that this suggests to me is, that before any attempt is made to develop the skills necessary to negotiate the differences between cultures, a greater awareness of how we negotiate difference in our own culture is required. This is to say we need to be more consciously and self-critically aware of the assumptions that underlie our habitual responses and modes of interaction, in other words our cultural baggage. In principal this is already the main focus of traditional coaching and mentoring.But I believe considerably more research needs to be conducted into how these methods and skills can be developed to take account of and integrate cross-cultural issues and dilemmas. From national to cross-cultural perspectives Cross-cultural research has largely focused on national differences because it is much easier to establish a person’s nationality, than to identify him/her as belonging to another type of cultural grouping, be that regional, professional, political, economic or social.The most frequently cited reason is that a given individual will be a mem ber of numerous forms of socalled sub-cultures or higher level cultures (e. g. European), which in effect rules them out as unique independent variables. But I believe that without exercising some control for the effect of these ‘other’ cultural variables, it is difficult to be sure that attributing a given behaviour, belief, value or attitude expressed by an individual to national cultural influences is theoretically or empirically valid.For example, even at a national level, there has to be particular care to acknowledge the difference between ethnically diverse nations such as Canada or Malaysia; ethnically and/or religiously divided nations such as Belgium or the former Yugoslavia, or relatively homogeneous nations such as Japan or Korea, let alone very complex national cultures such as China or India. In essence, this does nothing more than acknowledge that socio-cultural anthropology is the study of the dilemmas and problems of differences and similarities not onl y between, but also within societies.In the specific context of this study, one of the most interesting aspects of the responses to the second section of the questionnaire on cultural dimensions was the differences in opinions both within and between coaches and business organisations. My original intention in including a section on cultural dimensions was to explore the relationship between these responses and those on the first section of the questionnaire. But the differences of opinions between the two sets of respondents on ‘universalism vs. particularism’ and ‘individualism vs. ommunitarianism’ (Fig. 6) suggested to me that I had to consider whether these opinions in some way reflected values that were influenced by the differing needs and requirements of the corporate and coaching environments. I cannot conclude whether this was the key influence International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol. 5. No. 2 August, 2007 Page 50 on thes e responses. However I do think this emphasizes that it is tenuous to assume that the responses to such value dimensions questionnaires can be ascribed largely to national culture.I also believe that the way that corporate and professional culture influences our habits and values requires a great deal more in-depth research. For example, it might be interesting to establish whether there are differences in the responses to a cultural dimensions questionnaire between professional groups, e. g. doctors, police officers, computer programmers, sports professionals, etc. , and how these compare to national differences. However, it also has to be acknowledged that the difficulty of drawing any definite conclusions about key influences is clearly a limitation to the use of questionnaires in general.This does suggest it would have been preferable to be able to expand and explore the data that was generated by the questionnaires via follow-up interviews. But, as discussed in the methodology, this would have required a lot more time and resources than were available to me in this study. Nevertheless analyzing the results in relation to the problem of ignoring and playing down the importance of cultural differences also suggested that the questionnaire design needed refinement.Specifically, I was unable to deduce or make any assumptions about what level of importance each respondent attached to each of the dimensions. A system of ranking the various value dimensions is not a new concept or methodology, in that it is very similar to the two ‘basic bipolar’ dimensions of ‘openness to change vs. conservation’ and ‘selfenhancement vs. self transcendence’ that are incorporated as higher dimensions in the Schwartz Value Inventory (Fig. 4).But more importantly I think that more research into developing a system of ranking the value dimensions would not only help to identify those value dimensions, which may be ignored, downplayed or even n egatively evaluated, but also provide a potentially very useful tool for integrating the cross-cultural dimension into traditional coaching and mentoring practices. Conclusion From this specific perspective, a focus on quantifying how national cultures differ along the various value dimensions that have been identified does run some risk of contributing to the formation of cultural stereotypes, which have little or no predictive value.This is why greater emphasis needs to be placed on understanding our own ‘cultural baggage’ from a coaching perspective, particularly on the dynamic processes of the way in which our own culture has, and is evolving. The building blocks of improving cultural awareness and developing cross-cultural skills therefore have much in common with the key skills associated with building rapport as a coach or mentor. For the coach or business organisation, it is therefore about understanding the processes involved with the different ways in which we negotiate social interaction, and the elements of the various models of culture.These range from the apparently simple distinction between the visible and invisible level of values (Fig. 1) to the complexity of Schwartz’s ‘Theoretical model of relations among motivational value types and two basic bipolar value dimensions’ (Fig. 4). It is about raising our awareness of what is subconscious and invisible up to a conscious and visible level; and from there we can develop the skills necessary to negotiate ways of interacting with others whose values, attitudes and habits, or indeed in contexts are unfamiliar to us.I believe that if this is to be achieved, coaching and cross-cultural research needs to transcend the limitations of a focus on national culture. It needs to acknowledge that cultural identity should be viewed as being multi-faceted, and that people have a number of selves or identities depending on context and setting. The work of Schwartz, Hofstede and Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner has provided very valuable insight into the cultural dimensions, which help to identify the way in which values differ between national cultures.However, they would also be the first to acknowledge that International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol. 5. No. 2 August, 2007 Page 51 national cultures are in a constant state of change, and this in turn dictates the need to evolve their questionnaires, re-analyze the accompanying databases of results, and amend and redefine their models accordingly. But perhaps the key aspect for further research is to develop methods that place a greater emphasis on the processes though which culture changes.In other words how human actions and practices change, and new meanings evolve in response to changes to social contexts. By this I mean for example: the impact of increased migration (whether voluntary, or in response to political or economic factors), or the proliferation of new forms of communicati on like the internet, not only on working environments, but on the myriad ways in which we organize our social lives. The point being that this should help to move research and practice from a focus on more abstract concepts such as values, to the ways in which culture is produced and negotiated.Consequently, as Rosinski (2003, p. xviii) said, ‘intercultural professionals will be better equipped to fulfil their commitment to extend people’s worldviews, bridge cultural gaps, and enable successful work across cultures’. References Clutterbuck, D. (1985), Everyone needs a Mentor, Fostering talent at work (3rd Ed), Trowbridge: The Cromwell Press Clutterbuck, D. (2003), ‘The Problem with research in mentoring’ The Coaching and Mentoring Network Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997), Living Well, The Psychology of Everyday Life, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson Flaherty, J. 1999), Coaching – Evoking Excellence in Others, Burlington MA: Elsevier Foucault, M. (1 980) Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972-1977, Ed. Colin Gordon, New York: Pantheon Books Gray, J. (2000), Two Faces of Liberalism, London: Polity Press Hall, E. T. (1963), The Silent Language, Greenwich Connecticut: Fawcett Publications Inc. Hall, E. T. (1976), Beyond Culture, Garden City NY: Anchor Press Hall, E. T. (1984), The Dance of Life – The Other Dimension of Time, Garden City NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday Hall, E. T. & Hall, M. R. 1987), Hidden Differences – Doing business with the Japanese, Garden City NU: Anchor Press/Doubleday Hall, E. T. & Hall, M. R. (1990), Understanding Cultural Differences, Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press Hofstede, G. H. (1980), Culture’s Consequences – International Differences in Work-Related Values, Beverly Hills: Sage Publications Hofstede, G. H. (1991), Cultures and Organizations – Software of the Mind, London: McGraw-Hill U. K. , (1997) New York, McGraw-Hill U. S. A. , Third Millenniu m Edition, and (2004) New York: McGraw-Hill U. S. A. Hofstede, G.H. (1998), Masculinity and Femininity – The Taboo Dimension of National Cultures, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Hofstede, G. H. & McCrae, R. R. (2004), ‘Personality and Culture Revisited: Linking Traits and Dimensions of Culture’, Cross-Cultural Research, Vol. 38, No. 1, p. 52-88 Hussey, J. & Hussey, R. (1997), Business Research: A practical guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students, London: Macmillan Press Ltd. Jarvis, J. (2004), Coaching and Buying Coaching Services – a CIPD guide, London: CIPD Enterprises Ltd Kerlinger, F. N. 1979,) Behavioural Research: A Conceptual Approach, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Kondo, D. (1990), Crafting Selves: Power, Gender and Discourses of Identity in a Japanese Workplace, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 9, 11-24 International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring Vol. 5. No. 2 August, 2007 Page 52 Kram, K. E. (198 8), Mentoring at Work – Developmental Relationships in Organizational Life, Lanham: University Press of America Kuhn, T. S. (1962), The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago: University of Chicago Press Levi-Strauss, C. 1966), The Savage Mind, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson Megginson, D. & Clutterbuck, D. (1995), Mentoring in Action – a practical guide for managers, London: Kogan Page Ltd. Nietzsche, F. quotes, QuotationsPage (2005) http://www. quotationspage. com/quotes/Friedrich_Nietzsche/ Oxford Dictionary of English (2003), Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Editors), Oxford: Oxford University Press Peterson, D. & Hicks, M. D. (1996), Leader as coach: Strategies for coaching and developing others, Minneapolis, MN: Personnel Decisions International Potter, J. Wetherell, M. (1995), ‘Discourse analysis’, in Smith, J. , Harre, R. , van Langenhove, R. , (Eds), Rethinking Methods in Psychology, London: Sage Robson C. (1992), Real World Research: A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitionerresearchers, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Rosinski, P. (2003), Coaching Across Cultures, London: Nicholas Brealey Schwartz, S. H. (1994), Beyond Individualism/Collectivism – New Dimensions of Values. in Individualism and Collectivism: Theory Application and Methods, U. Kim, H. C. Triandis, C.Kagitciabasi, S. C. Choi and G. Yoon (Eds) Newbury Park CA: Sage. Tao Te Ching quotes, ThinkExist quotations (2005), http://en. thinkexist. com/quotes/Tao_Te_Ching The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th Ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin The Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Sociology (1991), 4th edition, Guilford, Connecticut: The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc. Trompenaars, F. & Hampden-Turner, C. (1997), Riding the Waves of Culture, London: Nicholas Brealey (2nd Ed) Trompenaars, F. & Hampden-Turner, C. 1993), The Seven Cultures of Capitalism, London: Piatkus Trompenaars, F. & Woolliams, P. (2003), Journal of Change Manage ment Vol. 3, 4, p. 361375: Henry Stewart Publication Watson, T. J. (2001), In Search of Management – Culture, chaos and control in managerial work, London: Thomson Learning Whitworth, L. , Kimsey-House, H. , Sandahl, P. (1998), Co-Active Coaching, Palo Alto, CA: Davies-Black Publishing Zachary, L. J. (2000), The Mentor’s Guide – Facilitating Effective Learning Relationships, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Zeus, P. & Skiffington, S. 2002), The Coaching at Work Toolkit – A Complete Guide to Techniques and Practices, Australia: McGraw-Hill Barbara StClaire-Ostwald is an international coach and freelance consultant who specialises in cross-cultural awareness and developing successful and effective communication skills for global managers and teams. Barbara grew up in the United Kingdom as a Polish/British dual national. Prior to setting up her coaching practice CINCRA, she lived and worked in the UK, Continental Europe and North Africa for over 30 years; working for multinationals in the private, public and not for profit sectors.Barbara is a member of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC) and until recently, Chair of the EMCC European Conference Committee. She is also a member of the British Psychological Society, Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, British Sociological Association and the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR). She is tri-lingual (Polish, English, French) and she is able to converse in Dutch, German, Czech and Slovak.

The rise of Obesity and type 2 diabetes in America. Literature review Assignment

The rise of Obesity and type 2 diabetes in America. Literature review - Assignment Example Some states, such as Mississippi, had higher rates of obesity and diabetes than the national average, at 24.3 percent and 8.8 percent respectively, while states like Alaska had lower prevalence rates than average, at 4.4 percent for diabetes, and Colorado, at 13.8 prevalence rates for obesity (Mokdad et al.). The escalation in the obesity and diabetes rates is likewise reflected in rising rates of obesity among children below the age of 5 years in America and the rest of the world, with the rise in obesity associated with a correlative rise in type 2 diabetes rates among the same age group (Deckelbaum and Williams 239s). Fast forward to the present, and newer data suggests a further escalation in the rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes in America, mirroring the global rise in rates of the two conditions all over the world. Worldwide, about 1.6 billion adults were deemed overweight in 2005, rising to 2.3 billion 2.3 billion by 2015. Obesity figures are expected to balloon to 700 mill ion. In America, by 2005-2006, obesity rates had soared to 33 percent, where the greatest representation of obese people came from the Mexican-American females and Black Americans. These figures are expected to further rise, triggering a massive health crisis. ... On the other hand, the obesity trends where the metric used as standard is abdominal obesity, measured by waist size, likewise show a general long-term trend towards increased obesity rates (Moffat and Prowse 231-232). Looking at the long term picture, meanwhile, it is clear that diabetes and obesity rates are expected to rise even more sharply, with global estimates at the rise in incidences of diabetes pegged at 20 percent for the developed world from 2010 to 2030, and 69 percent for the whole planet. In the United States, the number of adults with diabetes is expected to rise from 26.8 million people in 2010 to 36 million in 2030, making the United States number three among countries in terms of diabetes incidence for the adult population worldwide (Shaw et al. 5-11). These are essentially macro, big picture views of trends in diabetes and obesity in the US as they compare with the rest of the world. Looking at the micro view, meanwhile, the picture in the United States is one of increasing variances in the occurrence of obesity and type 2 diabetes by ethnicity. The figures from 2009 reflect observations elsewhere, that some ethnic groups have higher rates of diabetes compared to others. In the concrete, among a sample population consisting of adults who are deemed overweight, one study notes that over time, the rates of diabetes has increased 60 percent for Black Americans, 227.3 percent for Mexican Americans, but only 33.3 percent among white Americans. One interesting fact is that among groups who have undiagnosed diabetic conditions, there are fewer disparities among ethnic groups. This analysis is from data on diabetes rates among different ethnic groups from 1971 to 2004, among adults between the

Branding Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Branding - Assignment Example The companies look at branding to create certain amount of awareness and reputation related to the product and the organization and places the firm at a better place in the market. The real value of brand comes from its ability to add values and delivering profit to the organization by creating loyalty among the customers. Branding is not only used in terms of marketing but also from the financial perspective. Getting the value recognition and image for the customers helps the organization to gain financial impact (Schatte, 2010; Clifton, 2010; Blackett and Boad, 1999; Franzen and Moriarty, 2008). This report focuses on the company Cinnabon Inc., that started its first operation in the year 1985 in the Sea Tac Mall. The company was specially known for its â€Å"world's best cinnamon roll†, which was prepared after the team found the best flavoured cinnamon in Indonesia and mastered the recipe (Cinnabon, Inc., 2012a). This company has grown into a world famous brand with its un matched craving appeal among the customers for their baked goods and various types of beverages. This report aims to design a branding strategy for Cinnabon Inc. Current branding strategy of Cinnabon Inc. Few decades ago Cinnabon Inc. ... bon to the distribution channel along with the varied range of products and at the same time making sure that the expanding brand of Cinnabon continuous to operate as an integrated and seamless whole (Fehrenbach, 2013; BusinessWire, 2013). Multi-Channel Operations Cinnabon Inc, does not operates as a one-dimensional brand that plays in just one segment or channel. They are into a multichannel business leading the brand across different channels and ensuring that every channel integrates with each other so that it can accelerate the brand image. Thus, the multichannel brand management successfully is the major challenge for the organization. The organization is currently operating in about 48 countries with over 900 franchises and is approaching towards the annual sales of about $1 billion (Fehrenbach, 2013; Goudreau, 2012). In recent years the organization has experienced a magnificent growth by creating and marketing new products that can looked through two new conduits such as lice nsed product that are sold by other outlets like fast-food restaurants and consumer packaged goods that are sold in grocery stores. Immediate consumption food services has been operating as the main channel through the franchise bakeries, which is the most common company’s face to the consumers; but now the company has planned to move towards few more newer channels like grocery retail and food service licensing (Thorn, 2013). Therefore, the main aim of Cinnabon Inc. at present to manage these multichannel operations such they mingle among themselves well and enhance the brand image of the organization. Protection of Brand Image Using multiple channels to make the products available to the consumer opens door to other challenges too like protecting the brand. According to Cole there are

Problem of Human Trafficking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Problem of Human Trafficking - Essay Example Various countries have their own human traffic control authorities and disciplines which ensure mitigation of human trafficking within its borders and across. Internationally efforts are being made to counteract this turbulence; however the need is for a more effective joint venture across the platform internationally. The parent organizations need to join hands against the nuisance. This can be made possible through expansion of human intelligence, more effective borders surveillance systems and signing of accords that allows actions across the borders. United Nations General Assembly in 2000 passed a resolution in the form of Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Human Trafficking in Person, which is seen as a positive step towards the culmination of human trafficking (Gupta 2006). However, the job is far from being accomplished and more needs to be done internationally, in order to make the world a better and safe place for many who fall victims to it every year. Having highli ghted the issue of human trafficking, it must not be deducted that all kinds of immigrations are illegal and non conducive. Immigration and migrants are natural phenomena and is a need of many countries. It allows exchange of people, and many a times, a particular country’s economy heavily relies on the working of immigrants since they provide low rate labor (Zheng 2010). One of the five truth commissions: The truth commission that got established was for the purpose of humanitarian efforts for restoring peace and punishing the guilty. This took place in 1983 when the civilian President took over in Argentina and took a step forward to investigate the wrong doings conducted by the military junta of the predecessor regime who had once forcefully overthrown the elected government back then. During the military rule oppression was quite common in practice and as many as thirty thousand people went missing, while others are harassed in various ways. They visited the places that w ere used for torture and as prisons along with all other evidences that were left and could help in the investigation process. High level official investigation was conducted in this regard which lasted over an extensive long nine months and the entire findings were named as â€Å"Never Again†. As a result of this, trial was conducted and the once mighty military rulers were brought to justice through this effort launched by the then President of Argentina. The movement went very well amongst the folks and people supported this entire process (Robben,2007). Justice: Justice is the pivot towards the balanced operations of any society. It is the fact of equality, humanity, unbiased attitude of individuals and organizations. Justice could be either in form of motivation of as institution. The former is an individual effort, while the latter pertains to the society and judicial setup. Legal system is defined as one that constitutes all the essentials which make up for a system th at would suffice the needs of a society. Any crime committed or any offense is dealt according to the legal system of a particular society and country (Orme, 2007). Political Justice pertains to the legal and social judicial norms practiced in the helm of political activities, which primarily embodies the

The Ides of March by George Clooney Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Ides of March by George Clooney - Essay Example   Some of the gossip about certain indignities including bribery or corruption, sex scandals, blackmail and altering their visions and course of history by compelling the voters to compromise their values and principles, by doing so, the candidates end up making sacrifices so that they can survive in the race and hopefully win in the end.The idea for the theme and plot of this movie traces back to the historical 2004 elections. It is a condemnation of the small minded politicians in the country, and an eye-opener to the public that there is something greater inside all of us, therefore, we should not be swayed by what we see and compromise our values, but stick to our beliefs and vote for the right people. It is also a reflection of the cost one has to pay for conducting business, in a world filled with people who are ready to bring down and kill each other in whichever manner, just for the opportunity to be in control of what and who remain. When Barrack Obama was vying for the pr esidency under the Democratic flag, there were high anticipations of him clinching the chair, and that would be the most exhilarating event to occur to the party, after the death of John F. Kennedy. However, the hash of the reality of the past few years messed up the optimism everyone had, but Obama managed to become victorious. In relation to the movie, it is a depiction of a long, hard journey from mere hope to struggling to survive, just as Obama did. In conclusion, the theme of the movie is about a politician who seems different from others.

The Age of Global Communications Technology and a Cause for Worry for Essay

The Age of Global Communications Technology and a Cause for Worry for the Subsequent Spread of Westernization - Essay Example It is a factor that assists in determining the speed with which human beings are able to grow and develop on a personal as well as societal basis. The internet is one such form of global communication technology in the world today. Over the last few decades it has spread all over the world massively, wiring almost every corner of the world and helping in spreading information and resources to every nook and cranny. This paper is a reflection of how this same global communication technology, in the form of the internet, has helped to spread westernization all over the world within the span of a very short period, how this spreading of the western culture has been affecting various parts of people’s lives, namely, culture, politics, business, science and technology; and whether or not this very spread of westernization, affecting all these portions of a person’s life, is a cause for worry for the rest of the world or not. The world has become almost like a small village, with almost each and every person connected to the other. All kinds of information can be found online with the help of the internet. In the last few decades, the internet has also become a very common and affordable phenomenon taking over every person’s household; most people look for the feature of having internet on their cell phones, smart phones, personal computers, laptops, and any other aspect of their life that may have the option of being connected to the World Wide Web consortium. Information from various kinds of libraries, government agencies, NGOs, offices etc, from all around the world can be available easily on a person’s private laptop with the click of the mouse; such resources help in researching, writing as well as gaining more and more knowledge on vast topics. Sitting in one’s bedroom, a person can conduct meetings worldwide through video conferencing, play multi player games with people from around the world, social network with friends and family and do so much more. (Huntington, Samuel) The internet is thus that part of the global communication technology which does not restrict a person from knowing more about anything. The internet is also mostly free to anyone wanting to make use of it, and thus its appeal grows even more. However, the question remains, has the widespread use of this part of technology led to the spreading of western culture, and if it has, then is this westernization a cause for worry for the rest of humanity? Westernization is the adoption of western thoughts, ideas and beliefs, in terms of science, technology, industry, politics and culture. It also includes aspects like religion, philosophy and anything else that includes the adoption and usage of foreign thoughts coming from the West. It is thus the process of inculcating values and ideologies from the west into an indigenous thought process. Westernization basically comes from the acceptance and implementation of ideals from Europe and Amer ica. Since these regions have been known to dominate the world for a good period of time since the modern world took its course, they have been said to have left behind their values and way of living life in the countries and colonies they had captured back then. Most countries around the world have been under the rule of Europe for a very long time in the past. Others have been a part of American cultures and ideals before they broke free and started forming their own governments and democracies. However, despite breaking away from these parent overriding rules, they still retain a vast amount of culture from them. For example, India was ruled

Negotiation Strategy Article Analysis Research Paper

Negotiation Strategy Article Analysis - Research Paper Example What the authors suggest is that negotiation does not occur as a product of quick decision-making when one party believes that rapid solutions are the most beneficial to both parties. This represents an individual with premature judgment who believes that simply formulating a rapid solution can end a long-term negotiation with another party. The authors’ negotiation strategy suggests that broadening potential options for mutual solution offers both parties a wide variety of ideas to discuss, further giving both parties a chance to reflect on the long-term benefits of each option. It seems that by making premature judgment or ill-conceived solutions can have a negative impact in the long-term because they were not constructed for anything else but to end the negotiation session quickly. For a negotiator looking to establish long-run relationships, this strategy appears most viable. Another expert in negotiation strategy suggests blending both the positional bargaining theory with interest-based bargaining in order to fully achieve successful negotiations. This approach clearly illustrates, to the other party, what the negotiator’s specific interests are and helps the second party to define theirs as well. A person holding what is referred to as a principled negotiation tactic then works to create extra value in bargaining by creating a larger pool of potential options and solutions. Once the pieces of this larger pie have been analyzed and discussed, to identify which options would be most suitable for both parties, the pieces of this hypothetical pie are distributed until both parties feel they have won the negotiation (even if there really was no victor by design of mutual reward). Under this principled negotiation tactic, a negotiator makes his or her opposing party believe they have gained advantage in the bargaining

Applying for residency program in surgery Personal Statement

Applying for residency program in surgery - Personal Statement Example Although other medical practitioners may look upon dentistry as a â€Å"breeze† course, the reality is that this particular type of course is just as demanding as any other medical degree. It still requires academic ability, personal motivation, diligence, and perseverance. With the current trend in the modernization of treatments in the dental field, it has become as equally exciting as any other medical field in the world today. It is because of the aforementioned reasons that I would like to have an opportunity to further my dental career by concentrating on the completion of a residency program with your reknowned teaching university. Having spent a part of my career as a teaching assistant at Kind Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (Oral and Maxillofacial Division) I have already managed to develop leadership abilities thanks to the time I spent managing an oral clinic for them. Having spent a great deal of time in the USA at the moment, I have spent an impressive number of hours at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial It was at UNC where I developed my dental surgery skills further by participating in ward rounds, assisting in theater and out patient clinics, as well as attending didactic sessions. All of the clinical experience that I have gained through the years have proven only one thing to me. I was born ready to become an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. This is my life calling and mission. I take great pride in the way that my work in this field, no matter how minor the contribution I made, has already helped to improve my patients lives. With the help of your esteemed university and its group of trailblazing teaching dentists, I hope to be of even greater help to the patients who entrust their oral health to me in the

Art is a product of its context Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Art is a product of its context - Essay Example This was the period after Mesolithic which was majorly dominated by human domestication of plants and animals. It was around 9000BCE when climate grew warmer and the ice that covered the north Europe melted separating England from continental Europe and Spain from Africa. Agriculture and animal husbandry became the human kind’s major source of food. This art was mainly manifested in two cultures; the Ancient Near East and the Europe. In the Ancient Near East, Neolithic art is presented by the widespread of agricultural activities among the communities that settled around foothills of the Antilebanon, Taurus and Zagros mountains in the present day Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran. These activities were motivated by the sufficient rain that occurred in these regions. The crops which they domesticated include wild wheat and barley while goats, sheep and pigs were some of the herds of animals they had. Due to the massive growth of wealth as a result of different agricultural activities in Jericho, security was paramount leading to the construction of a great stone tower built into the settlement wall of Jericho to protect them from the marauding nomads. This permanent stone fortification had an estimated population of 2000 people. This marked the beginning of the monumental architect. In Catal Hoyuk settlements, there were numerous excavations and different types of Neolithic set ups. Their source of wealth was trade which involved the use of obsidian stone which was chipped to make cutting tools and weapons.

Pyschlogical Analysis of Zombie Apocalypse Survivors Essay Example for Free

Pyschlogical Analysis of Zombie Apocalypse Survivors Essay The door slams shut as you force your weight against it. Two people whom you have never met before, merely joined during your sprint, grab the largest object in the room and wedge it in front of the door. A second later the fist of the undead outside pound on the door in attempts to get in. â€Å"We have to get out of here! † one of the others screams immediately. But why? It seems that whether it be a decrepit cabin in the woods or a home or a mall; nothing seems to be good enough for the survivors. Step one of a survival plan always seems to start with the word Escape. A casual movie buff may simply see a character’s reaction as an irrational snap decision, however, through a psychological and sociological examination, one can come to better understand of character’s pleas. One cannot assume that the character just wishes to put distance between themselves and their attackers; especially not during a zombie apocalypse. Lets take a look at George A. Romeo’s 2004 Dawn of the Dead for a moment. The mall was well defended, surely had adequate food, and they were completely surrounded. Why attempt an escape to somewhere that was referred to as â€Å"†¦an island that for all we know doesn’t even exist. †? Environmental Psychology The viewer must examine sever different aspect of the scenario that the characters are being put into. The environment itself is a large factor in the equation; also to be considered is the group dynamics and stresses that are arising. Finally, and perhaps more importantly, the risks. All of these factors of the situation in which the characters are placed can alone, or collectively, cause a people in any shelter to decide to leave. Potentially the largest determining element of any long termed survival could be the environmental aspect. Setting aside the obvious insecurities of poor shelters, try to look at the other features someone would like in their dwellings. Imagine several different locations, all equally safe for argument’s sake, an office building, a mall, a school, a prison. Some options aren’t quite as appealing as others. These differences can be seen the best by using environmental psychology to understand what a groups wants within a shelter. Someone can use environmental psychology to study an individual or a group in a social context by looking at the places where people are at and examining the perceptions, attitudes, evaluations and representations, and the accompanying behaviors (Kazdin 421). In almost any movie where the suggestion of getting out is brought up, we can look at some of the characters’ perceptions and attitudes to see that the location has fallen short of being perfect for the survivors. The environment is a relationship between individuals and their life spaces. That means not only should the environment provide us with all that we need to survive but also the spaces in which to appreciate, understand, and act to fulfill higher needs and aspirations (423). This leads to the question then of; if we cannot look at it simply as a space to stay in, then how should we look at it? The answer is that a place is not simple an empty building or space; it is, but also it is an expression of an idea or of a culture. Made to be warm and encourage relaxation, or cold and sterile to promote work and organization (420). An office building is plain, organized, and open. The idea of an office is to have very little distraction away from the work. The coloring is usually white to keep from distracting the eye or drawing attachment by employees. Typically a person enjoys a place with more color and not as structured. A good example of this idea of attachment and welcome is seen in Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead, where they chose to go to a local bar call The Winchester mainly off of the fact that is was a familiar place that they visited frequently. Altman and Chemers (1980) identified three types or levels of territory: Primary territory (e. g. home or private office space), where usually only one or two people are in control of its organization. The area is highly personalized and more easily draws attachment from a person. Secondary territories (e. g. , the classroom or open plan office), These areas are intended for larger groups but control of the area is temporary and personalization is minimal. Public territory (e. g. , the street, parks), where there is no personalization and the area is very open making protection difficult if not impossible (424). Most often primary territories are too constrained to allow for large groups to reside there for long periods. Secondary territories are typically the ones seen being used as in Dawn of the Dead where they use a mall and also in Day of the Dead where they take shelter in a large military base. They exist in a larger area but they also can retreat to a person area where they have customized a private area to their own preferences. A public place, as seen in George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead is one of few cases where such a large area is uses as a refuge. While this landscape did allow for comfortable private area’s for a select, elite few, the majority of the people lived on the streets in discontent and resentment for the others. In this scenario we can clearly see the breakdown of the environmental factors as some survivors mention escaping to Canada (an area believe to be safe from the zombie plague) even though all the citizens at this point were protected. Ideally, territories are controllable spaces that serve to allow for the personalization and regularization of who comes in. This idea, territoriality, then actually provides an actual function in being able to allow people to have a feeling of safety, predictability, order, and stability in their own surroundings (424) In movies where a group of people are kept up in a larger secure area, and they have a private space, we can then look at its own function. Understand what is involved in private space. Personal space is important for not only an individual but also the well being of the community (424). It allows people to escape from each other whenever we need a break from everything. It is our own spot to go and relax for a while as we do some personal work or just even think without having others come by and interrupt us. Not only is this seen as us having a home for ourselves away from others but almost as also having a mental sanctuary. People will use physical or mental barriers in order to keep others from wherever they’re unwanted (424). When only one person or group claims the function of a space, the control is absolute, producing feelings of security. (424) This, is the largest factor in determining whether a group can endure weeks or months at this location; however, as we have seen it is not the only contributing factor. The territory must be able to separated into private spaces for the occupants to maintain their own customization. Further more there must be an area to collect together, to allow fellowship to provide a sense of unity among the members. This is an example of where environmental psychology intertwines with social psychology (422). Sociology What is the advantage of a group as apposed to going it alone? No worries about what other people want, you can travel at your own pace, no arguments to worry about. At first glance going alone seems like the simplest plan for survival. Nevertheless, this is rarely the case in movies. And the answer is not simply because more people increases dialogue and drama. People are social beings today for obvious benefits, but it has been part of a clear survival strategy that mankind has most likely always stuck to (485). There is obvious truth in the phrase â€Å"strength in numbers†. Later on, though, we will see that this physical strength my come at a cost. First, image a person who has just run into several other survivors. The person my be excited to see others, but still skeptical in the back of their mind of the new strangers. If a person believes he or she can complete a task more easily if they are with others as opposed to if they were to go alone, the person will more than likely join or form their own group (Cialdini, 427). At first these people cannot just be considered a group. Given the situation, it can either be spoken amongst them, or simply implied by all running in the same direction. Whatever the means are, these people are making the decision to become a group then by their actions. Groups become more unified though two means, first is the enjoyment of being with the other member in the group (rarely is that so in this situation) and the second option is based off of how committed all the members are to the specific task they are all gathered together to complete (423). The members have come together with the common goal of staying alive and are relying on the others to help increase their odds of staying safe. In spite of this, the ties to one another are still weak. Very little has been established between them, only the understanding that they are all using each other for survival. Now assume that our hypothetical micro society has manages to get to safety in a suitable shelter. Once things begin to calm down then they will begin the normal group activities. If group size increases beyond a dyad or triad, a distinct leader will tent to step forward or be chosen by the members (Borgatta, 1118). Once this leadership role has been established tasks will often be assigned. Everyone is familiar with the basis types of conversation that is used to get to know someone. As we learn about a person’s past we get to know them, building a sense of unity. In small groups or micro societies an individual fuses into the group by having some of their common life and goals added to the group’s (Benokraitis, 130). If this sense of common life is not shared by all then tensions begin to form. This is seen in Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later when Jim and Selena do not share the same common goals with the soldiers of making the only woman (still alive) have sex with all the men in order to stay there. As a person can see, this scenario is very difficult to manage. In contrast to typical life; where you can look at a group, see if it suits you, and leave if it does not. If the members are thrown together like this, there is no established group norm, making it very easy for one or more members to become unhappy with something going on. This potential for conflict increases with the number of members that enter the group. The ideal number of people is up to five or six people, this allows for easy communication and adaptation (Borgatta 1118). Stress After you have managed to paint your new bedroom, and you have won the Nobel Peace Prize for getting your group in line, you still have to deal with some other stresses. But first let us begin with a quick understanding of stress. No situation is inherently stressful, but rather an individual must see the situation as involving threat, harm, loss, or challenge. (Levins 640) Obviously in a zombie apocalypse someone can expect there to be a large amount of stress surrounding them. When faced with stress a person undergoes a coping process to try and regain control of the situation. Psychological, emotional, or behavior reactions are provoked by any of three distinguished stressors. Cataclysmic events: such as volcano eruptions, floods, earthquakes (zombies apocalypse) etc. Personal life events: illness, family or work issues Background conditions: traffic issues, access to services, noise or crowding. (Kazdin 429) All three of these types of stressors are clearly prevalent, and in fact, almost overwhelming in a zombie apocalypse. Between the dead attacking everyone, all of your loved ones dying, and all of the background conditions like noise and crowding becoming deafening, it is very simple for a person to not be able to handle everything that is going on. Luckily, in some sense, the body is actually prepared to deal with large amounts of stress at one time. While this system is not perfect, it works better than say a computer that would just shut down if overloaded. If there are too many stressors for one individual they deal with an overloaded system by focusing on the task at hand or the ultimate goal that they are trying to achieve. This focus is actually very demanding of an individual and results in fatigue (Kazdin 424). This process can actually be useful in several scenarios to motivate a person in order to complete a task. Still, like everything, a person can still suffer from prolonged exposure to an overload of stress. A person can deal with a great amount of stress, however if these stressors get to be overwhelming or the person is faced with a prolonged period of an overloaded system they could become delusional and even deny the distracting stimuli. If a person is pushed beyond their coping capacity the results could be worsened fatigue (430). This can be very problematic when someone is in such an issue where they cannot go outside. If they are left unattended and become convinced that the zombies are not an issue, they then put everyone at risk if they decided to leave. While someone flat out denying the zombies outside is an extreme case of stress overload, they are many other potential issues that can arise much more easily. Being exposed to stress for too long or repeatedly can result in less tolerance to frustration, shorter attention span, and become less likely to adapt to a situation (Kazdin 429). These three effects are very detrimental to a community that is locked within walls, forced to interact with each other, and with little means to resolve their stresses. While this may not be a group wide condition, these issues caused by stress are still a burden on the group even if only one person is suffering from them. In a group survival scenario being able to adapt to the conditions is key. The inhabitants need to be able to respond properly to any issue that may come about in a territory such as a fire or failing securities. In a similar fashion, it is just as important that frustration does not overwhelm a single person. Frustration is a mood that can easily be transferred from person to person. This is typically the reasoning behind characters having such short tempers and snapping at each other at the climax of movies. This is the point where all their stress is building up to, the point where a group either manages to fix their issues and resolve things, or they collapse and succumb to their fate. Even with all the possible stresses that face a person, the social aspect still comes into play here. If someone’s alternative is to be alone, even without the zombie apocalypse, they’re less likely to leave a group and more willing to put up with stress or even a feeling of hopelessness (Kazdin 448). By this point the members of the previously mentioned micro society have developed some level of bonds varying by the conditions and varying by each member. The members however will still look to the group for support and assistance during struggles with stress. If a member or several members of the group feel like they cannot be helped or that others will not help them they then fall into one of the lowest mental states. Hopelessness eventually sets in after repeated stress and disappointment on a person (Levinson 358) Alas, if a person reaches this point, they are unlikely to attempt to leave the group and go to another location. By this point the most common way a person will leave the group is through suicide. Risk There is one final piece we need to look at in order to fully understand why a person will decide to leave where they are in search of someplace else. This final part of the equation is probably the biggest factor in determining whether people leave a group or simply stay and endure the conditions. This factor is the risk. If motivation explains why the individual takes the risk, what is it that allows the individual to overcome the fear, anxiety, and rational assessment of danger? A 1997 study by Elissa Slanger and Kjell Rudestain identified â€Å"perceived self-efficacy† (a concept named and defined by Albert Bandura) as that element. Perceived self-efficacy is the belief that one can do what is required, that a challenge is within one’s ability. This self assessment may or may not be accurate, because perception of effectiveness is partially independent from actual skill. A complete understanding of risk taking, then, is comprised of two considerations: motivation (be it sensation seeking or sensation seeking in concert with other factors) and whatever it is that allows the isinhibition necessary for a person to overcome the fear and take action. (Borgatta 602) That motivation mentioned above in our case is not sensation seeking, but rather our survivors seeking one of several things. Perhaps to be in a healthier environment; one in which they can act to fulfill higher needs and aspirations. Maybe it is to get away from the current social dynam ics, look for another group with similar common life goals to their’s. Or, it could simply be that stress is building up on some people. They may feel their only escape from stress may be to escape everything and try to start again. Any of these three alone, or combined, could act as the perfect catalyst in someone’s mind. To infect them with the idea as it fester and drives them to ultimately pick up whatever they can grab and head for the door. This may be a solo trip or including the entire group depending on the conditions. Our original survivor, along with a few of his buddies, will prepare themselves at the door. Gun and supplies in hand, one look back at the former home, former group, and former issues reassumes them of their plan as the door opens before them.

The Mending Wall Essay Example for Free

The Mending Wall Essay A stone wall separates the speaker’s property from his neighbor’s. In spring, the two meet to walk the wall and jointly make repairs. The speaker sees no reason for the wall to be kept—there are no cows to be contained, just apple and pine trees. He does not believe in walls for the sake of walls. The neighbor resorts to an old saying: â€Å"Good fences make good neighbors.† The speaker remains unconvinced and mischievously presses the neighbor to look beyond the old-fashioned folly of such reasoning. His neighbor will not be swayed. The speaker envisions his neighbor as a living relic from a justifiably outdated era, an example of a dark-age mentality. But the neighbor simply repeats the saying. Review The image at the heart of â€Å"Mending Wall† is striking: two men meeting on terms of civility to build a barrier between them. They do so out of tradition, out of habit. Yet the very earth conspires against them and makes their task Sisyphean. Sisyphus, you may recall, is the figure in Greek mythology condemned perpetually to push a boulder up a hill, only to have the boulder roll down again. These men push boulders back on top of the wall; yet just as inevitably, whether because of the hunters or sprites or at the invisible hand of nature, the boulders tumble down again. Still, the neighbors persist. The poem, thus, seems to be based on three themes: barrier-building (segregation, in a sense), the doomed nature of this activity, and our persistence in this activity regardless. The speaker may dislike his neighbor’s pointless wall-building, may observe the activity with humorous indifference, but he himself goes to the wall at all times of the year to mend the damage done by hunters; it is the speaker who contacts the neighbor at wall-mending time to set the annual appointment. Which person, then, is the real wall-builder? Looking at it from a different perspective, the building of walls, both literal and figurative, mark the very foundation of society. Figuratively, rules and laws are walls; justice is the process of wall-mending. The ritual of wall maintenance highlights the dual and complementary nature of human society: The rights of the individual are affirmed through the affirmation of other individuals’ rights. In this way the neighbor’s need for wall-mending seems justified.

The Decisive Role Of Humour In Advertising English Language Essay

The Decisive Role Of Humour In Advertising English Language Essay Humour plays a decisive role in our daily life and it is also a subject of interest of numerous disciplines such as linguistics, popular culture, psychology, mass communications, marketing and some others. The discussion of what humour is can be traced back to Aristotle and Plato. The complexity of this phenomenon has been an intrigue for many researches. Humor is a universal human activity found among all cultures and throughout all of recorded history (Alden, Hoyer, and Lee 1993). Humour is widely used in advertising as a form of communication in order to persuade customers to purchase products and services since it is generally believed among advertisers that making us laugh will encourage positive thoughts and feelings toward their products and brands and put us in a receptive mood for their sales messages (Beard 2008: 2). Cook said that advertising is always a handy and useful mirror if we want to reflect on the way we behave socially (Cook 1992:5). However, the use of humour in advertising remains very controversial as its presence in advertising can cause both positive and negative effects. Response to a humorous ad can be different as individuals have different sense of humour. Therefore humour is very individual and subjective but at the same time it is universal. According to Raskin responding to humor is part of human behavior, ability, or competence, other parts of which comprise such important social and psychological manifestations of Homo sapiens as language, morality, logic, faith, etc. Just as all of those, humor may be described as partly natural and partly acquired (Raskin 1985: 2). Throughout its history there were many attempts to define humour but none of the definitions accounts for all its possible types thus underlying its complexity. Humour can be broadly identified as a form of communication in which a created stimulus may act to provide pleasure for an audience (Gulas and Weinberger 2006: 95). Attardo states that linguists, psychologists, and anthropologists have taken humor to be an all-encompassing category, covering any event or object that elicits laughter, amuses, or is felt to be funny (Attardo 1994:4). It is very important to distinguish between humour and laughter as humour has been often identified with laughter  [1]  which seems to be wrong as humour a mental phenomenon while laughter is rather a neurophysiological reaction to it. 1.2 Aim and scope The objective of this thesis is to contribute to further understanding of one of the numerous strategies employed by advertisers, namely humour. However, this thesis does not set out to provide a theoretical framework for humour in spite of the fact that the following chapters make frequent reference to the academic and scientific literature. The overall aim of the study is not only to provide a better understanding of humour in print advertising and give an insight into different linguistic theories of humour as well as its different types but also to describe different linguistic features which advertisers use to incorporate humour and illustrate this by means of empirical material gathered from a variety of sources. Under this point humour will be divided into two groups: pun-based humour and non-pun humour. We deal with pun humour when the advertiser uses elements of language to create new meanings that result in humour. My supposition is that this is the type of humour which mos t often occurs in print advertising. In this regard such linguistic devices will be described as polysemy, homonymy, idiomatic expressions, neologisms and nonce formations, and antonyms. However this would be just mere identification of a certain type of humour in advertising and its enabling factors. Therefore the extent of the study is to look how different types of humour vary across different products and services advertised in magazines. Since it is generally believed that the best media suited to the use of humour are radio and TV, lots of studies exploring the use of humour and its effectiveness were conducted mostly in this field. Therefore this thesis is focused on the advertisements presented in print media and does not feature ads that appear on the television, radio, internet, and cinema. There has always been a great debate over whether humorous print advertisements work and of course there is no need to say that they do. We just have to remember that humour print invol ves a more intimate relationship. Graham Warsop, the only creative director to have judged the big four international advertising awards, once said: Print humour gets someone to smile inwardly rather than outwardly (Aitchison 2004:). This states again that not everybody will laugh at the same things. It should be noted that headline and body copy of an advertisement will not be the crucial means of attraction since most advertisements are humorous only due to the interplay of text and image. The picture often functions as an eye-catcher in the ad whereas its meaning differs from the meaning of the text. Cook considers pictures to be a part of advertising discourse as they are used to convey a central idea in the ad (Cook 2003:6). Thus, both pictures and headlines will be seen as equivalent and will be considered together as their interplay contributes to the overall meaning of the text.  [2]  Advertising in its turn will be seen in the thesis as a communication process. 1.3 Outline As shown in the table of contents, this thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One is the introduction in which the purpose and the research questions are stated. It starts by providing a background of the subject of the thesis, and then moves on to description of material and methods and ends by introducing the advertising terminology. Chapter Two is dedicated to a more detailed delimitation of the concept of humour, with an overview of the major humour theories which are necessary for introducing the operational definition of humour that will be used in this study. Chapter Three presents humour types. It discusses numerous existing taxonomies of humour types and offers a new classification which subdivides humour types into two main groups: pun based humour vs. non pun humour. The structure of this chapter is centered on this taxonomy with the corresponding analysis of the advertisements. Chapter Four is a research part of the thesis which analyzes the incidence of the identifie d humour types across various products and services and presents the collected empirical data as well as the results and findings. Chapter Five functions as a summing-up in which the research questions are answered and the conclusions are drawn. A bibliography and appendix will conclude the thesis. 1.4 Material and Method As stated above this thesis is focused on the advertisements presented in print media and does not feature ads that appear on the television, radio, internet, and cinema. The selected material consists of a total of sixty two humorous advertisements chosen from the range of around two hundred English-speaking magazines published between the years 2006 and 2010. Popular lifestyle magazines have been mainly used as they are directed toward a general audience and have a high content of ads which advertise a wide range of products and service. I used so wide range of magazines because one and the same ad have been found in numerous magazines as well as in different issues of one and the same magazine. For this thesis I have mainly used such glossy magazines as Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, In Touch, Chat, OK, In Style, Self, The Economist and some others. No gender issues will be put forward in this thesis as well as no differentiation will be made between humour in British and US magazine s as it would give this thesis a whole new dimension. As a first step in the selection procedure, I looked for any ads that displayed humorous context. The selection was relatively wide as this resulted in around 100 ads which I considered to be humorous. It should be noted that when browsing through numerous magazines it is very difficult to determine whether the ad is humorous or not as certain subjectivity is always involved into the process of decision making. That is why the subjectivity is inevitable. Despite the fact that such procedure of selection is often employed by many researches, I tried to avoid making decisions without consideration of opposing opinions and different points of view. For this purpose one interview was conducted the aim of which was to exclude prevailed subjectivity in my selective procedure and to explore two basic questions: which advertisements will be still considered as humorous according to the interviewees and how they will determine the type of humour in case the ad proves to be humorous. A remark should be made under this point that anyway it will be to a certain degree the so called unilateral decision as in the long run it is me who decided which ads would be included and which would be left out. It is also worth of mentioning that the interview is not the main purpose of this study and that is why its presence in the thesis will be limited by the short description of its procedure and results. Coming back to the interview procedure, it should be noted that the interview was conducted in a small group consisted of twelve participants. The length of the interview was two hours. Around one hundred fifty different ads were presented to the participants chosen on the assumption that all of them were humorous. In order to ensure that the results would not be biased, the participants were not informed about this fact as well they did not know what the study was exactly about. The participants were asked to have a look at each advertisement and to determine whether they consider it to be interesting or boring, creative or not creative and humorous or non-humorous. The two supplement questions besides the question about the presence or absence of humour in the ad were introduced only with the purpose of trying to avoid some potential disadvantages which are directly connected with an interview. This is the so called participant reflexivity, which means that the person being intervi ewed (interviewee) tells the interviewer only what s/he wants to hear. Then, since many people often expect from a humorous ad to make them burst into laughing and such an attitude would bias the results of the interview I decided to ask them to rate (in case they think the advertisement is humorous) how humorous it was on a five-point-scale. Rating an advertisement as 5 meant that they considered it to be very humorous, 3 indicated that it was a moderate representative of humorousness whereas 1 suggested that it was a very poor example of a humorous ad and should be probably excluded from the list. The results drawn after the evaluation of twelve questionnaires were surprisingly consistent. The agreement was particularly high for the identification of the given advertisements to be humorous or non-humorous. As for rating is concerned the results were not similar, better to say they were very inconsistent and that proves again that humour is always being judged individually and subj ectively. After that all the ads were sorted out to determine which ads would be fruitful for a qualitative analysis. The advertisements which were considered by most of the participants as not humorous at all were excluded from the list of candidates for future analysis. 1.5 Advertising terminology No need to say that advertising hat its own terminology. I am not going to list all the terms you can find in the field of advertising. Thus, the terminology will be limited to a few terms which are frequently used in this thesis. I will follow Cooks definitions which he presents in his Discourse of Advertising (2003). According to him Headline Phrase(s) found at the top of an ad. Caption Phrases (s) found in close proximity to an image. Body copy A piece of smaller text, often containing the main (or copy) information. . CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Introduction As was mentioned in the introduction, humour is by no means homogenous. Since there is no general acceptance in classifying humour, there is no ideal theory of humour which can cover all its factors and embrace all its peculiarities. Most of the existing humour theories are mixed and it seems to be impossible to incorporate such a huge phenomenon as humour into a single integrated theory. As a starting point it can be asserted that humour is triggered by particular mechanisms (Spotts, 1987). Spotts states that these mechanisms can be grouped into three main categories: the cognitive theory, superiority theory, and the relief theory (Spotts et al. 1997:20). The chapter that follows is dedicated to some of the main threads of the theories of humour that have emerged although it is important to notice that not all humour theories ever proposed will be presented in it and it will not be attempted to make a comprehensive survey of all these ideas. Only those theories will be discussed which play a significant role for working out an operational definition of humour for this thesis. 2.2 Incongruity and Incongruity-Resolution Theory Incongruity can be called in other words inconsistency or contradiction. The incongruity theory goes back to Francis Hutchesons Reflections Upon Laughter published in 1750. Later on it was revisited and represented by Kant, Schopenhauer and Kierkegaard. Incongruity theories are considered to be cognitive in their nature. This is the group of theories which dominates humour research. According to McGhee (1979) humour is as reaction to incongruity and he defined incongruity as the relationship between components of an object, event, idea, social expectation and so forth. When the arrangement for the constituent element of an event is incompatible with the normal or expected pattern, the event is perceived as incongruous. The existing theories of incongruity have a difference based on the question whether incongruity is a necessary condition for humour to be produced and if yes, whether it is sufficient or probably there are other conditions needed to cause humour. Based on this fact tw o schools of thought about incongruity theories appeared: the so called one-stage incongruity theories and two-stage incongruity-resolution theories. One-stage incongruity theorists like many representatives of some psychological theories propose that we often laugh when we see or hear something unexpected. In terms of this theory it can be said that we cognitively process (or think about) the message in a single stage that includes three parts interruption (whats that?), perceptual contrast (theres something incongruous and unexpected here!), and playful confusion (whats it mean) (Speck, 1987:7). Other theorists like Jerry Suls and Thomas Schultz, the opponents of the two-stage incongruity resolution theory, postulate that it is not sufficient for a message to be funny by itself and they insist on the overlapping of meanings of the incongruous parts and on the presence of a second stage, namely the resolution of the incongruity. Incongruity becomes stronger only when it follows a resolution process and is understood and accepted by its audience (Gulas and Weinberger 2006: 23à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ 26). Attardo considered incongruity theories to be cognitive in their nature and were often associated with linguistic theories of humour. To summarize the ideas, it can be added that incongruity theory is based on the idea of a contrast between two overlapping scripts whereas incongruity-resolution theory requires the presence of two stages: incongruity as derivation from expectation and incongruity understood in resolution which in its turn results in amusement. Incongruity is seen by many researches as a humour type. I prefer to see it as a condition needed to produce humour. 2.3 Superiority Theory The second branch of the main humour theories is presented by theories of superiority. These theories have gone by lots of names such as disparagement, criticism, hostility, aggression, malice, degradation, and derision. This group of humour theories is based on the ideas of Aristotle, Quintillian, Plato, and later Thomas Hobbes (seventeenth century) and it is directly connected with the social function of humour which cannot be said about the incongruity theories which consider humour as an individual phenomenon. Superiority theory is a theory of mockery. In terms of this theory humour is pointed against something or somebody thus making us to believe that something or somebody is superior to somebody else. In other words we laugh from feelings of superiority over other people, from suddaine Glory arising from suddaine Conception of some Eminency in our selves, by Comparison with the Infirmityes of others, or with our owne formerly (Critcheley, 2002: 3). It is suggested that people joke about things that make them feel unsure and/or uncomfortable as a way of releasing feelings of tensions (Gulas and Weinberger 2006: 28). 2.4 Release Theories Release theories as well as superiority theories have numerous names such as arousal theory  [3]  , freedom theory  [4]  , and tension-release theory  [5]  . This group of theories describes how people respond emotionally to humour. It was put forward by Herbert Spencer in the nineteenth century but it was better explained and thus it is better known from Freuds analysis of humorous utterances given in his book Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious (1905). Freud proposed that jokes provide us with a release from the constant need to repress our natural aggressive and sexual desires, and are thus experienced as pleasurable. Like dreams, jokes come from the unconscious, bur are first transformed into less explicit forms, thereby providing a socially acceptable way of breaking taboos (Ventola, Guijarro 2009: 79). The release theory has rather to do with the physiological function of humour. It is based on the notion of homeostasis, which means that humans regulate their inner environment on the physiological level in order to ensure certain stability in response to strain, tension, and anxiety. Morreall (1983) talks about the biological function of laughter and insists on the possibility of coexistence of relief theory with other theories discussed above: incongruity (relief through resolution) and superiority (relief through triumph.  [6]   2.5 Linguistic Theories of Humour Since all the existing theories of humour are based on the notion of incongruity there is no theory about which it can be definitely said that it is a purely linguistic one. Linguistic in this case is rather a conditional name. Nevertheless, the first step into this direction was put forward by Raskin, who suggested a script-based semantic theory developed for verbal humour. Viktor Raskins Script-Based Semantic Theory of Humour was presented in his book Semantic Mechanisms of Humor (1985) which was a great contribution to all of the humour theories ever proposed and a first attempt to describe humour from a linguistic perspective. Raskin set his goal as following: Ideally, a linguistic theory of humour should determine and formulate and the necessary and sufficient linguistic conditions for the text to be funny (Raskin, 1985: 47). The script-based semantic theory of humour was designed as a neutral theory which takes in account all the three theories discussed above. According to Raskins theory, verbal or written communication is considered to be a joke if the text is fully compatible with two different but at the same time opposite scripts. Script in this case presents a large chunk of semantic information. This is the main hypothesis of his theory: A text can be characterized as a single-joke-carrying text if both of the conditions are satisfied. i) Th e text is compatible, fully or in part, with two different scripts ii) The two scripts with which the text is compatible are opposite in a special sense (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦). The two scripts with which the text is compatible are said to overlap fully or in part on this text (Raskin 1985: 99). Raskin introduces the notion of the trigger or a punch-line, which switches the listener from one script to another thus creating the joke (Raskin, 1985: 36). Raskins theory can be interpreted within the terms of incongruity ­-resolution school of humour. Although his theory was primarily developed for verbal humour it proves to be effective for many types of humorous advertising, both for verbal and for visual. It should be noted that there is also a revisited version of the SSTH called The General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH). This theory was a result of collaboration of Raskin and Attardo. The main aim of the GTVH was to broaden the scope of Raskins SSTH in order to apply it to any humorous text.  [7]  Attardo comments about it as following: Whereas the SSTH was a semantic theory of humor, the GTVH is a linguistic theory at large that is, it includes other areas of linguistics as well, including, most notably, textual linguistics, the theory of narrativity, and pragmatics (Attardo 1994: 222). Attardo postulates that resolution does not exclude the presence of incongruity; they coexist and accompany each other so that any humorous text will contain an element of incongruity and an element of resolution (Attardo 1994: 144). 2.5.2 Operational Definition An operational definition of humour will have to encompass all the above listed theories as all of them are important for the analysis of the advertisements in this thesis. Under this point I would fully agree with Raskin when he said that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the incongruity-based theories make a statement about the stimulus; the superiority theories characterize the relations or attitudes between the speaker and the hearer; and the release/relief theories comment on the feelings and psychology of the hearer only. (Raskin 1985: 40) The operational definition of a humorous advertisement will be worked out in terms of Raskins SSTH. The question arises why no I do not follow the GTVH. There are reasons for that. First, the GTVH adopted the main hypothesis of the SSTH. Second, the broadenings introduced, are not of much importance for a current analysis. The third reason is that the GTVH is still under development and not all the problematic issues have been resolved yet. So the advertisement will be considered to be humorous if it fulfills the following conditions: the advertisement has two overlapping scripts which cause the incongruity these two scripts are in the opposite relation to each other. The first condition alone would not be enough for the advertisement to be humorous as the overlapping of two scripts may have a non-funny text as a result as well. CHAPTER 3. HUMOUR TYPES 3.1 Introduction Since there is no universal definition of humour, there are many ways to classify it and there is no universally accepted classification of humour types. Taxonomies of humour types are very different and not homogeneous. There have been many attempts to classify humour according to different criteria. Kelly and Solomon (1975), for example, classified humour according to techniques used in order to produce humorous effect and presented seven types such as a pun, an understatement, a joke, something ludicrous, satire, irony and humorous intent whereas Goldstein and McGhee talked about three types: nonsense, sexual and aggressive. An overview of some main classifications is presented in Table 2  [8]  , which proves the fact that the typologies of humour types are diverse and mixed as well as terminology used for different types of humour: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Raskin) The classification of humour types presented in this thesis is based on the taxonomy offered by Catanescu and Tom (2001) which in its turn used Reicks practitioner-oriented classification system as a basis. Catanescu and Tom adopted five types from this classification and added two new types which resulted in seven following humour types: comparison, personification, exaggeration, pun, sarcasm, silliness, and surprise. As the study they conducted was not only devoted to homour in print advertising, not all humour types presented in their taxonomy could be included into classification for this thesis. Thus, such category as surprise had to be left out despite several examples of using this technique in a print advertisement which could be found during the analysis of selected material. The reason for that was the fact that the operational definition did not work with this humour type as some other mechanisms were involved in such advertisements which were beyond the current analysis. To avoid the mixture of devices, types and techniques about which Raskin spoke, all these types were divided into two main categories, namely pun humour and non-pun humour each of them was subdivided into several sub categories. In such a way polysemy, homonymy, nonce-formations and idiomatic expressions fell under the category of pun humour and such types as comparison, personification, exaggeration, sarcasm and silliness under the category of non-pun humour correspondently. The goals of this chapter are: a) to introduce some definitions of a pun to frame the discussion, b) to give an insight into some types of pun taxonomies, c) to develop pun taxonomy for the current analysis and to describe the nature of the linguistic phenomena involved in puns illustrating it with the help of gathered material, d) to offer a taxonomy of non-pun humour taking into account the occurrence of each type in the advertisements collected from the magazines. 3.2 Oh! Thats a pun and I didnt mean it  [9]   Before talking about pun-based humour it seems to be of great importance to determine what will be understood under pun. Puns are said to be the most common basis for humour.  [10]  The management of humorous language is largely a matter of devising transfers the transfer from set to set, from scale to scale, from layer to layer, until the happy conclusion of a double vision is achieved. At the heart of this process of continual and multiple transference, an important process aping the shiftiness of thought itself, is the apparently frivolous device of pun; word-play is the lure, the spinning toy that draws up the lurking and fishy meaning. We take punning for a tawdry and facetious thing, one of the less profound forms of humour, but that is the prejudice of our time; a pun may be profoundly serious, or charged with pathos (Nash 1985: 137). As mentioned in the introduction, my supposition is that pun is the type of humour which most often occurs in print advertising despite qui te the opposite points of view when puns were criticized for their frustrating ambiguity and for representing a simple and less sophisticated form of humour. That is why many advertisers prefer not to include puns into advertisements believing that they have a low intellectual status. Nash defends the pun against such accusations offering his own list of puns and insisting on the fact that puns are common in the language of journalism (Nash 1985: 137). Sherzer provides another argument in defense of puns in advertising stating that puns are higly appropriate for advertising as they deliver two meanings for the price of one (Sherzer 1985). The same opinion shares Redfern: Advertising space is costly. Economy is essential, and puns are highly economical (two meanings for the price of one word or phrase), and in fact much more of a labour-saving device than many of the products they seek to promote. (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) Since the fundamental message of all advertising is known to everyone in advance, there is a need for diversification. Wordplay, with its distortions, bifurcations and re-creations, introduces variety and refreshment into saturation. Puns, the devious ones, are a way round those rather stuffy rules of the advertising watchdogs: adverts should be legal, decent and true. A recipe for mass-producted boredom. The words of adverts are double-talk, necessarily. If adverts told only the verifiable truth, they would be pedantic and tedious. And so they have to approximate; they have to say one thing and suggest another. Obliqueness is all. So why not make a virtue out of necessity, and a silk purse out of a sows ear? (Redfern 1982: 130-131). Redfern asserts that puns are well suited for advertising as they are usually delivered with the requisite ambivalent mixture of false apology and only too real aggression (Redfern 1982:275). Definitions of pun as well as definitions of humour vary greatly from researcher to researcher. Freud considered puns to be the lowest form calling them cheapest stating that they can be formed with the least effort.  [11]  Walter Redfern (1984) devoted a whole book to pun in which he said that pun can make an individual. (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) It can ruin lazy expectations; subvert the nature of language and thought (Redfern 1984: ). Sherzer defined it as a form of speech play in which a word or phrase unexpectedly and simultaneously combines two unrelated meanings (Sherzer 1978: 336). This the point (the presence of two senses) on which all linguistic and non-linguistic analyses agree. Following the rules of the incongruity-resolution theory a phenomenon of pun can be defined as two meanings incongruously combined in one and the same sentence. These two meanings cause ambiguity due to which a conflict arises between the two senses which is subsequently resolved by the surprising punchline (Ross 1998:8). Following the operational definition of a humorous advertisement, a pun-based humorous ad has to fulfill the following conditions: two meanings have to be semantically incompatible, i.e. opposed. This is the so called deliberate ambiguity in a pun which creates the incongruity. Then it must be followed by resolution leading to humorous interpretation. 3.3 Pun taxonomy There are numerous taxonomies of puns witch essentially differ from each other. Attardo criticized these taxonomies and attempts to explain the phenomenon of pun through its taxonomy. He tried to build the taxonomy of the taxonomies and distinguished four major types of pun classifications, namely: taxonomies by linguistic phenomenon, by linguistic structure, by phonemic distance, and eclectic (Attardo 1994: 112). Tanaka distinguished four categories of puns in advertising: nonsense puns, contextual puns, puns with sexual innuendo, and puns with two communicated meanings (Tanaka 1994: 64-80). I will keep to taxonomy based on linguistic phenomena as it is the most relevant one for this thesis. Taxonomies based o