Managing Conflict & the Negotiation Process Essay

Managing Conflict & the Negotiation Process - Essay Example In managing conflict, it is important to determine who are involved, what they think, andthe context or the environment of the conflict. One would best map out the conflict to determine its scope and all basic information so that one can match an effective response to it. Part of this is determining the options available and the costs and benefits accruing from them. Often, a great deal can be learned from similar experiences of the past which can also yield ideas about what things are likely to happen. Efforts must be made to look into who would be affected by the conflict especially those that are silent and have not yet become vocal. Disputes often times have histories which may explain the feelings of others on the issue. When people speak, they may be able to give hints on how the current situation can be resolved. At times, disputes may be related to others disputes and this deserves some attention as they may affect the outcome of the earlier conflict. As supposed survivors, we were faced with a common enemy [the possibility of not being able to survive] and so we were one. What each one of us were, was quickly forgotten as we had to be united to get us out of the problem. We had to work as a team and explore an uncharted territory. As time went on, thoughts were turned to our individual selves as dwindling supplies and security from the unknown stared us in the face. We had to think of strategies, yet have our personal needs met. In trying to communicate with each other, there was the trend wherein some members preferred to direct communication first to one's buddy in the group, then eventually to the emergent leader. In the process, the quiet one seemed not to be included with the team. Communication was bridged only with the emergent leader shifting back and forth between the non-talking parties. I can see that one needs to be alert, to be on top of their game, and agile enough to respond quickly and effectively to changes. Exercises like this can be very helpful for the mind. Where before, I had only myself to dictate how I moved, here, I was forced to act from a perspective wider and bigger than myself. It seemed that I had taken on a personality bigger than that of my old self. (2) Describe how the events that happened relate to our studies. I am amazed to see that the mix of different personalities and levels are counted critical to the success of the activity. First, we do not have the same experiences and the same capacity for understanding concepts involved in the exercise. Second, we didn't know each other that close until after the exercises. Third, we were forced to think quickly. A common problem bound us all: the need to survive. The mind maps had encouraged equal participation from each one of us. The game actually begins when we, as strangers, are left in a rough terrain. There is no opportunity for planning before the game begins. We scramble to gather whatever supplies we can grab. We trek across rugged terrain in search of a campsite. Exhausted, hungry and in the middle of no where, we work

America Behind Bars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

America Behind Bars - Essay Example The attitude of society towards criminals makes it difficult for them to change their ways and lead normal lives once they have been released from prison. This increases the number of repeat offenders who go back in to prisons. Stricter laws and longer prison sentences have also contributed to the problem. If offenders spend longer times in incarceration for smaller offences, the chances of their being sent to prison again increases leading to a vicious cycle. The California's prisons hold twice the number of people as they can and this has given to rise to awful living conditions inside the prisons for the inmates. This results in physical and psychological abuse of the already mentally troubled criminals. According to Building Blocks for Youth, a Juvenile-advocacy alliance in Washington, children in adult facilities are five times as likely to be sexually assaulted and twice as likely to be beaten by the correctional staff as children in juvenile facilities. A prison gang may be defined unofficially as any gang activity in prisons and correctional facilities. These gangs are responsible, not only for providing protection to their members in the prison, but also for drug, alcohol and tobacco handling inside the prison. Robert Walker, an expert on prison gangs, defines a gang as "a group of three or more persons who: Share a common identity, usually through a gang name Typically adopt and use certain signs, symbols and/or colours and, Who individually or collectively engage in criminal activity " Most studies have focussed only on street gangs. However studies were conducted based on data from the Bureau of Prisons by Gerald G. Gaes et al in 2001 to evaluate the contribution of prison gang affiliation to violence and other forms of misconduct within prisons. The authors of this study also examined the level of commitment exhibited by gang members and how this commitment linked up to the degree of violence perpetrated by such members. Rick Ruddell et al in their 2006 study Gang Intervention in Jails had as survey respondents 134 jail administrators in 39 states. This study dealt with the prevalence of gang members in their facilities. When asked about the problems that these inmates caused in their facilities, respondents reported that while gang members were less

Adam smith vs Karl marks philosophy economics contribution Essay Example for Free

Adam smith vs Karl marks philosophy economics contribution Essay To begin with, Smith came up with the concept of the ‘invisible hand’ (Communist (1848)). This concept was to explain that seeking self interest is not necessarily bad but it sought to explain the reality that people tend to act in their own self-interests. When individuals pursue their self interests, they promote without their knowledge the good of the community at large and so it can be said that an individual who wants to maximize their revenue maximizes the revenue of the society too. This liberty to customers to buy freely what they want and for the producers to produce what they want without any pressure enables the market to settle on a product distribution and prices that are beneficial to all individual members of the community. This liberty to both producers and consumers and the greed to maximize their interests, drives them into a behavior that is beneficial to all in that particular community. Due to this, producers are forced to employ methods of production that are efficient with an aim o maximize their profits. This leads to low prices that are meant to out do their competitors and this forces investors to go for firms that wants to maximize their profits and hence this works as mechanism of balancing. The invisible hand concept acts as the root of modern economics. A good example is the general equilibrium which states that if the economic forces are balanced in the absence of external influences, then the economic variables will not change. This requires that everything in the market beginning with pricing to production be controlled by the players in the market but not by other forces. These external forces may include among others the regulations that are imposed by the government or other organizations that may have a say on the market. According to the general equilibrium, when the prices are very low, then there is surplus supply and when the prices are very low, then there’s a shortage in supply. As a result of this, the situations tend to control themselves without the need for any regulator from outside. These outside forces in the market slow the rate at which the economy grows and they also lead to infancy in the division of labor. As a result of that need for self improvement, efficient division of labor is realized as well as improved efficiency in the economy. This concept is very much in use even in today’s economy . The modern market structure borrows greatly from the earlier ideas of natural monopoly by Adam Smith.( The Poverty of Philosophy human nature) The division of labor Division of labor is a clear indication of qualitative step towards increased productivity and so it acts as an engine that drives towards realization of economic progress. Smith realized that labor division and for that matter labor specialization would improve greatly on the concentration of workers on the duties they perform. This concentration would come as a result of doing a single task many times or repetitively. The need for improvements in productivity of the work force is said to be the root cause for labor division. According to Smith, labor division can lead to increased productivity. This productivity from the workers can be attributed to specialization in one task since specialization leads to greater skill on their particular subtasks compared to what would be accomplished by the same number of workers performing a broad task. For maximum productivity from workers, skills that they have should be matched with the corresponding equipments.   Most of today’s increase in productivity can be attributed to the matching of technological, human and physical capital and mostly in the manner in which they are organized. This means that laborers need to be equipped with the right skills so as to be effective in what they do compared to when there would be no job specialization and hence anybody could perform any job. Todays economics has borrowed greatly from these ideas from Adam smith. Many organization have realized the need to equip their employees and some even hire unskilled ones but pay for their acquisition of skills. Another outcome of labor division according to Adam smith is minimization of time that is wasted by employees when moving from one task to the other. A lot of time is wasted when people keep on relocating and this proves expensive to the company in the long run because they have to pay the employees. Through labor division, this time wastage is minimized . The modern concept of scientific management borrows greatly from Adam Smiths ideas .Scientific management emphasizes on the connection between activities and the transformation that occurs within the process. This is also supported by William Petty who notes and demonstrates its importance in the construction of Dutch ships. He admits that people with a particular task to perform had discovered new ways of doing their work which were later observed and justified by political writers on economy. (An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) specialisation) The wages of labor Wages of labor are dictated by mostly by the availability of job vacancies and also by the availability of workforce. When there are many workers and the available vacancies are few, the amount of money the workers are paid usually fall. Likewise, when employers compete against one another and the labor supply is limited, the wages paid to the employees usually rises but its worthy noting that this process is made possible by unity among laborers and masters. This kind of unity enables laborers to come together and stop biding for jobs against each other hence making the employers increase the wages paid to them. Likewise when employers come together in unity and stop binding against each other, the wages fall. However, in places where the amount of labor is more compared to the amount of the amount of revenue that can used to pay for waged labor, the competition among the employees in greater than the competition between the employers. Smith argues that the amount of revenue must keep on increasing constantly compared to the amount of labor so that wages may remain high. Profits of stock too have an impact on the wages because the more money is spent on compensating labor; little is left for personal profit. This is clearly shown in countries where competition amongst employees is great compared to competition among employers, profits will be much higher. Due to these views, Smith attacks people who are politically aligned and try to use their political influence to manipulate the government and other powers into their bidding. Smith feared that people of this class could form a powerful block and take advantage of their closeness with the authorities into manipulating the state into enforcing certain regulations meant to serve their interests against the general interests. These would maker other players vulnerable and have no say in the way businesses were being conducted. According to other people the level of specialization brought about by division of labor was externally determined but in the contrary, Smith argued that it was the dynamic engine towards economic progress. Surprisingly, Smith himself criticizes the division of labor arguing that it leads to mental mutilation of the workers hence rendering them ignorant and insular because their lives are limited only to doing a single task many times. These ideas by Smith are incorporated into today’s discussions on economic issues. Human capital is one of the discussions in which Adams Smiths ideas are used. Human capital is one of the four types of capital that were identified by Adam as being important for the success of a company. As argued by Smith previously, human capital and the productive ability of the labor force is both dependant on the division of labor. It’s worthy noting that human capital includes skills, dexterity, and the ability to make the right decisions and human capital can be acquired through informal schooling and on the so called on-the-job training. These acquisitions of skills aimed at improving the effectiveness of the workforce are still practiced today by ma ny companies. (An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) productivity) Adam Smith vs Karl Marx Both Adam Smith and Karl Marx shared a common idea and this common idea was their praise for capitalism .These two early pioneers of modern economics agreed that capitalism was the key in unleashing the productive powers. This argument stated that for the employees to be more productive, they needed to be subject to their bosses or seniors. If the employees were left to work at their own leisure these two men agreed that their productivity would be minimal and as a result, their employers would incur big losses. This created the need for competition among both the employers and the employees as well since this would keep these two parties on their feet through out. But despite these similarities in their in their views, there was differences in their ideas as well. Marx and Smith both seem to agree that capitalism is the ultimate driving force in profit maximization .New profits and value added, they seem to agree came as result of the employers paying the workers the exact value that is in the market for their labor capacity. But the sad thing was that in most cases, the market value of the goods which the workers produced exceeded that market value. This clearly means that the employers were making maximum profits while paying little to their workers. Both Marx and Smith agree that     there are different types of capital and they play different roles during production. Production Capitals include things like land, natural resources or raw materials and lastly technology. All the above named different classes of capital were dependant on each other in production. These two men seemed to agree also that social relations of production should not only be made up of relationships between individuals but rather should be between large groups of people or certain classes of people. These two men had the same idea of a free market. They described a free market as a market in which all prices of the goods that are on offer are decided by mutual consent between sellers and buyers   and also one   that did not mislead both the sellers as well as the buyers. They both argued that these two major people in the market, the buyer and the seller, should not be forced into making decision by an external party. The relationship between these two players should not be manipulated by any one but to the contrary, it should be left to obey the natural law of supply and demand. The difference between free and controlled markets is that   controlled markets are controlled by external forces These forces mostly refers to governments which may directly or indirectly try to have control of prices or the supplies in the market. One area where these two men seem to differ is their idea of job specialization. Smith advocates for specialization for jobs among workers. He argues that laborers who were assigned too many different duties were less productive than those who were assigned a specific task to perform day in day out. He says that this leads to efficient usage of time and it seeks to save time that is usually wasted by workers when moving from one task to another. But to the contrary, Karl Marx disapproves this idea arguing that job specialization could result to workers with more poor overall skills. This, as he says would be brought about by tendency of people to resist change. He also says that when people perform one task repeatedly, it may lead to boredom and make them less enthusiastic about their work. He describes this whole process as a kind of alienation. According to him, the more workers become specialized and do the same thing over and over, they later become totally alienated. Marx goes ahead to argue that division of labor brings with it spiritual depression to the workers. This means that the workers perform their duties feeling as if they are being forced other than doing out of their own will .This greatly lowers the morale of the workers and as a result lower their productivity. Physical tiredness or fatigue can be brought about by job specialization as Marx goes ahead to argue since they no longer feel like human beings but they feel more of machines. Contrary to the idea of Smith, Marx believes that fullness of production is very essential to human liberation goes on to say that he would accept the idea of a strict division of labor as a temporary necessary evil. These views can be said to be in total contrast to those expressed by Smith. Smith on his part believed that any business was a collection of inter related tasks that were aimed at solving a particular issue. So as to effectively do this, Smith argued that the workload should be divided into simple sets of tasks which could be done effectively by workers who were equipped with special skills for doing that particular job. It’s worthy noting that Smith, despite his advocating for division of labor, he does not advocate for achievement of labor division at all costs. It’s worthy noting that in contrast to Smith’s view which were only limited to functional domain only and were made up of activities that were direct in sequence as far as the manufacturing process is concerned, modern processes are very inclusive. It was as a result of his ideas that labor division was adopted. Today, we can clearly say that much of today’s practices in the job markets have bor rowed greatly from the ideas of Smith. In all organization, there is job specialization. This has led to the rise of departments in many organizations and each department is allocated certain workers who are in most cases equipped with certain skill to enable them perform specific duties .The sense in this whole exercise as argued by Smith is that it saves a great deal of time that could be wasted by employees when moving from one task to another. This proves very essential since no employer will want to waste his money employees without maximizing their productivity. However, it is good to note that Smith admits that seeking self interests is not always good. All he tried to do was trying to reverse believe that self interest is generally bad. He also intended to bring to the light the idea that wile human motives are selfish and greedy; the out come of these human behaviors would bring benefits to the whole community at large. This is the direct opposite of the ideas that Marx had .In his arguments; Marx says that the major struggles are always between the producers and those who work in the industries. Another of his greatest contribution to modern economics was his sharp distinction between the two types of division namely social and economic division of labor .If these two labor divisions are conflated, it might look as if labor division is inevitable rather than being constructed socially and influenced by power. (Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776) Karl Marx, The Poverty of Philosophy). References Edwin G. West, (1976)The Man and His Wor

Photography is an art

Photography is an art Photography is an art that took many years and efforts of many individuals to perfect. Many different people in many different fields contributed to this light writing. Chemists, artists, inventors, and engineers all lending a crafting hand to the art. Photography can be defined as the art of producing images of objects on photosensitive surfaces. It is both an art and a science. As an art it expresses personal vision, and as a science it relies on technology. The word photography came from the Greek word phos, meaning light and graphos, meaning writing, which literally means light writing. Light writing is an emerging form of stop motion animation wherein still images, captured using the technique known as light painting or light drawing, are put in sequence thereby creating the optical illusion of movement for the viewer. In order to get started in creating light writing you will need a DSLR( Digital Single Lens Reflex ) camera, an ordinary DSC( Digital Still Camera ) will not do b ecause light writing requires a camera that can be placed in the B bulb shutter position, a remote shutter release and a tripod. All you need to get started is your camera and an understanding of how to control shutter speed. Light writing demands longer exposures of anywhere from several seconds to many minutes. Another technique is to use the multiple exposure features on a camera and shoot a series of 30 seconds to many minutes. A tripod will help you compose the shot and keep the camera still, and one or more lights will add to the fun. Light writing photography is a form of stop motion animation which requires the user to find a place, set the camera, and to take the picture. To create light writing, you or a friend will stand in front of the camera with a light in a dark room or place. The place should be dark otherwise the essence of light writing is useless. It is your choice on whether to bring a friend or not because the purpose on bringing a friend is to hold the camera for you, but if you have a tripod you can do it by yourself. In order to set the camera into its rightful position you need to find a place where in the camera will not move, the best places are on a still table, chair or anything that is stable, but to get the best results you need to place the camera on a tripod. After which you need to adjust the setting, the exposure should be around 10-30 seconds or longer depending on the design you want to portray. Set the camera to about ISO 100, and close your aperture as much as possible. This prevents over exposure. If there is still too much light, you might have to use a filter for better results. In order to take the picture you need to find a source of light. Finding a source of light is easy, just about any light will work, but the best tolls have tight focused light that lets you create precise patterns. LED flashlights are among the best for light writing, for they are compact, super bright and come in all sorts of fun colors. Glow sticks are also perfect for light writing images. Before moving and waving the light you need to count off to your partner so that he/she will click on the capture button in the exact time you wave your light, but if you are using a tripod you will need to count off by yourself according to how many seconds you placed on the timer. Once the capture button is clicked begin moving or waving the light to draw shapes and patterns in the air. If you move too quickly enough, the camera will not record a person, only the patterns of light you leave behind. The camera may also record the background if it is spotlighted by other light sources, such as t he moon or a streetlight. I challenge everyone who is interested in light writing photography to create masterpieces in light, to go beyond the expected to create more designs or ideas, to keep on practicing until the perfect design is reached, and to share their knowledge to the people around them to continue the art of light writing. Now, after reading my essay, would you too be interested in light writing photography, to share and to have fun with the picture you make with your friends and family? I recommend people who take photography or to those who are interested in art to take light writing photography to the next level, to improve their skills and share it to other people so that the next generation will already have an idea on how light writing works and to continue the art of light writing.

huck finn Essay -- essays research papers

Huck Finn: America’s Fascination with the Bad Boy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the history of American Literature, the use of the ‘bad boy’ or the rebel in the literature has always fascinated readers. We may ask ourselves why would a bad person with typically bad morals and a bad attitude appeal to people in society? American society typically flocks toward certain characters in literature, based on their character. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, we are able to examine one of the most famous rebellious young men in the history of American literature. Huck reveals all the typical qualities of a ‘bad boy’, while retaining his inner compassion. Through analysis of Huck and other characters in American Literature, we can come to a conclusion that the ‘bad boy’ is usually a character that is non-conforming to society, such as in religion, school, and moral standards, while retaining their compassion inside. Although these rebellious boys may look tough and scary on the outs ide, on the inside they actually have a good heart and are able to have feelings such as remorse, regret, love, and compassion for others. In addition, there is a thin line between the American bad boy that we all know and love, and truly a bad person. Both come off tough on the outside, but it is the inner character that will separate ‘the men from the boys’. The rebellious boy we are fascinated boy has a good heart, while the other ‘bad boy’ is bad in all aspects. People are drawn to the inner moral fiber, not how bad people are on the outside. This is why Huck is so famous in literary history. It is evident that he has a tough outside, but a caring personality on the inside.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Foley 2 Huck is far from a typical child in all aspects of his character, life experiences, and maturity. Huck doesn’t conform to society whatsoever, and has his own opinion about everything. In a society as religious as his, he says a lot of cruel things about religion and what he thinks of it, especially when it comes to hell. â€Å"Then she told me all about the bad place, and I said I wished I was there. She got mad, then, but I didn’t mean no harm. She said it was wicked to say what I said; said she wouldn’t say it for the whole world; she was going to live so as to go to the good place.† (Twain 33). Huck clearly displays his thinking on religion throug... ...nbsp;  While Huck represents the ‘American bad boy’, Tom Sawyer is presented as a FOIL of Huck. Huck does the things he needs to do in order to survive, while Tom Sawyer is living in his own fantasy world. Everything in Tom’s life revolves around these fairytale adventures he reads about in books. Tom conforms to society, while Huck clearly does not. Tom has no worries though, as far as survival and having a place to go. He loves to make everything difficult, in order to do it ‘the way they do it in adventure books.’ The two boys are total opposites, in the form of character, goals and actions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  America has always had a fascination with the rebellious young boy, and it is very possible that the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, brought about this loving for this type of character. Huck’s character has both the noticeable bad Foley 6 boy attitude and tough outside, while also having a good heart and a caring personality. His character brings out the reader’s ‘id’ as Freud would say. It brings out the naughtiness inside the reader’s personality, while still making him lovable because he is really a good person on the inside.

Essay --

Unit Title: THE ORGANISATION OF THE BODY Task: 1.1, B) Q) Discuss the major historical events, which led to the birth and the evolution of both the Light and Electron Microscope? History of Light Microscopes It is not clear who invented the microscope but it is said that in Circa 1000AD, an implement called a reading stone was discovered by an unknown inventor, this sphere shaped glass object magnified reading material when placed over it, this then began the birth of the microscope. In 1284 an Italian inventor named Salvino D’Armate was credited for inventing the first pair of wearable spectacles. It wasn’t then till 1590 that things developed with Dutch glassmakers, Zaccharias Janssen and his son Hans, experimented by placing multiple lenses in tubes, observing objects placed in front of the tubes they realised that the objects appeared massively larger, thus creating both the forerunner of the compound microscope invented about 1595 and the telescope. In 1609 a father of physics and astronomy, Galileo Galilei made a better instrument with a focusing device, by working out the foundations of the lenses after hearing rumours about the Dutch eyeglass makers. In 1674 a man called Antony van Leeuwenhoek made a simple but useful microscope using only one lens to look at other tiny objects such as insects, yeast and to examine blood cells. Antony van Leeuwenhoek back round, to others, he would have been seen as an unpromising candidate to become a scientist of his time, due to him having no fortune, higher education or university degrees, but with his endless curiosity and an open mind he successfully came to make some of the most important findings in biology history, discovering bacteria, protists, sperm cells and many mor... ...entify individual molecules of biological importance. The microscope does suffer from a serious flaw, as no living sample would be able to survive under its extreme vacuum, not being able to show the character of an actual living cell. Ernst Ruska received half a nobel prize in physics in 1986 for his invention, the other half was split between Heinrich Rohrer and Gerd Binnig for their invention of the Scanning Tunnel Microscope (STM) enabling scientists to see images in three-dimensional, allowing them to define surface roughness, defects and arrangements of molecules and collections on the surface of the sample. This powerful STM is the strongest microscope to date. http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/a/microscopes.htm http://www.ucmp http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1986/ruska-bio.htmlberkeley.edu/history/leeuwenhoek.html Essay -- Unit Title: THE ORGANISATION OF THE BODY Task: 1.1, B) Q) Discuss the major historical events, which led to the birth and the evolution of both the Light and Electron Microscope? History of Light Microscopes It is not clear who invented the microscope but it is said that in Circa 1000AD, an implement called a reading stone was discovered by an unknown inventor, this sphere shaped glass object magnified reading material when placed over it, this then began the birth of the microscope. In 1284 an Italian inventor named Salvino D’Armate was credited for inventing the first pair of wearable spectacles. It wasn’t then till 1590 that things developed with Dutch glassmakers, Zaccharias Janssen and his son Hans, experimented by placing multiple lenses in tubes, observing objects placed in front of the tubes they realised that the objects appeared massively larger, thus creating both the forerunner of the compound microscope invented about 1595 and the telescope. In 1609 a father of physics and astronomy, Galileo Galilei made a better instrument with a focusing device, by working out the foundations of the lenses after hearing rumours about the Dutch eyeglass makers. In 1674 a man called Antony van Leeuwenhoek made a simple but useful microscope using only one lens to look at other tiny objects such as insects, yeast and to examine blood cells. Antony van Leeuwenhoek back round, to others, he would have been seen as an unpromising candidate to become a scientist of his time, due to him having no fortune, higher education or university degrees, but with his endless curiosity and an open mind he successfully came to make some of the most important findings in biology history, discovering bacteria, protists, sperm cells and many mor... ...entify individual molecules of biological importance. The microscope does suffer from a serious flaw, as no living sample would be able to survive under its extreme vacuum, not being able to show the character of an actual living cell. Ernst Ruska received half a nobel prize in physics in 1986 for his invention, the other half was split between Heinrich Rohrer and Gerd Binnig for their invention of the Scanning Tunnel Microscope (STM) enabling scientists to see images in three-dimensional, allowing them to define surface roughness, defects and arrangements of molecules and collections on the surface of the sample. This powerful STM is the strongest microscope to date. http://inventors.about.com/od/mstartinventions/a/microscopes.htm http://www.ucmp http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1986/ruska-bio.htmlberkeley.edu/history/leeuwenhoek.html

Cognitive Linguistic Approach to Language Study

It has its origins in the sass as a conscious reaction to Chomsky linguistics, tit its emphasis on formalistic syntactic analysis and its underlying assumption that language is independent from other forms of cognition. Increasingly, evidence was beginning to show that language is learned and processed much in the same way as other types of Information about the world, and that the same cognitive processes are Involved In language as are Involved In other forms of thinking.For example, In our everyday lives, we look at things from deferent angles, we get up close to them or further away and see them from different vantage points and with efferent levels of granularity; we assess the relative features of our environment and decide which are important and need to be attended to and which are less important and need to be backgrounder; we lump information together, perceive and create patterns in our environment, and look for these patterns in new environments when we encounter them.As we will see in this volume, all of these processes are at work in language too. The two key figures who are associated with the inception of Cognitive Linguistics are George Alaska and Ronald Linebacker. Both, t should be remembered, started their careers as members of a group of young scholars associated with the radical new approach spearheaded by NOAA Chomsky. By the sass, however, both Alaska and Linebacker were becoming increasingly disaffected with the formalistic approach to syntax associated with the Chomsky school.Both scholars turned their attention, Instead, to semantic Issues, which had been relatively neglected within the Chomsky framework. Alaska raised fundamental questions with regard to ‘objectivism' SE antics that is, theories which maintained that entente meaning maps onto objectively verifiable states of affairs in the world. He argued, instead, that semantic content is mediated by how speakers construe and conceptualize the world. An important aspect of co nstrual is how we categorize the things in our environment.Taking up the notion of prototype category developed by cognitive psychologist Eleanor Roach, Alaska argued that words do not name classically defined categories, that Is, categories constituted by a set of necessary and sufficient conditions. Rather, entitles can be good, or less good, members of a category. In a crucial and highly influential move, Alaska then proposed that the a syntactic construction, might also be analyses in terms of a central, prototypical member, and a number of extended, or more peripheral senses.A noteworthy milestone here is the dissertation by one of Alaska s students, Claudia Bergman, on the polymers of the preposition (Bergman, 1981). Bergman argued that t he ‘central', ‘prototypical' sense combines the meanings of ‘above' and ‘across', as in The bird flew over the yard . Extended senses, related in virtue of some common shared features, include the ‘above' sense , as in the electric is hovering over the hill, the ‘across' sense, as in Sam drove over the bridge , the ‘covering' sense She spread the tablecloth over the table, the dispersal sense, as in The guards were posted all over the hill , and several more.Bargeman's thesis (presented in Alaska 1987: Case Study 2) not only inspired a plethora of -studies, it also provided a template for polymers studies more generally. La Coffs second main contribution was to id entity a number of ‘conceptual metaphors' that underlie our abstract concepts and the way we think about the world and ourselves (Alaska and Johnson 1980, 1999).For example, one of the most important conceptual metaphors is the idea that ‘good' or ‘active' things are ‘up' whereas ‘bad' or ‘static' things are ‘down', which allows us to say that we're feeling IoW or having ‘down time', that things are or that that they are ‘up and going' . This metaphor was taken to r eflect our basic experience with the world that we have as children; when we fall over we feel bad; when we lie down we are stationary, when we get up we are active, and when we are feeling good, we literally ‘stand tall'.As discussed in a later chapter, conceptual metaphor theory has come in for a good agree of criticism in recent years and the theory has been refined to take account of empirical psycholinguistic findings as well as more socio-cultural approaches to language, but the basic tenets remain the same: language tends to reflect our physical interactions with the world and abstract concepts are linked to physical experiences through metaphor. Linebacker's contribution is perhaps more fundamental than Lassoes .His Cognitive Grammar (Linebacker 1987, 1991, 2008) offers a radical re-think of basic issues concerning the nature of linguistic meaning and its relation to the surface form of utterances. He proposed a ‘minimalist' approach, whereby the only elements in linguistic description are (a) phonological representations, concerning the overt form of an expression (whether spoken, written, or signed), (b) semantic representations, roughly, meanings, broadly understood to include pragmatic, situational, and encyclopedic aspects, and (c) symbolic relations between elements of (a) and elements of (b).On this basis, a language comes to be characterized, quite simply, as an inventory of phonological, semantic, and symbolic units, and language acquisition is a matter of a speaker's increasing command of these units. Importantly, the units differ along a number of dimensions. Thus some units are internally complex, while others are schematic to some degree or other.For example, the expression can-opener is internally complex, while the component unit can is an instance of the more schematic unit Noun, the whole expression being an instance of the complex schematic unit [N V- ere] and its associated semantics (roughly: ‘ a device that can be used for V- ins Ins'). The schematic unit can sanction an open-ended set of instantiations; in this way, Cognitive Grammar is bled to handle syntactic and morphological generalizations.It should also be noted that the unit has other semantic values (think of examples such as dog-lover , which denotes a person, not a thing, and , where the initial noun designates the place where a person dwells); in other words, the unit is polygamous, Just like the words of a language. The mechanics of Cognitive Grammar are discussed in more detail elsewhere in this volume. Three aspects, however, may be singled out for special mention here: The first concerns the way in which ‘grammaticality (or ‘acceptability- cognitive insists see little reason to distinguish the two concepts) is to be understood.Grammaticality, namely, has to do with the extent to which an expression is sanctioned, or legitimated, by an already existing schematic unit, or possibly by several such units, in the langu age; the fit, needless to say, need not be perfect, neither will different speakers of the language always assess the matter in the same way. * The second observation concerns the idea that syntactic organization is inherently symbolic and therefore meaningful, and that syntactic structures – Just like individual words ND morphemes associate a form and meaning.An early indicative study concerned the passive construction in English (Linebacker, 1982). Rather than being seen as the result of syntactic transformations, the construction and its various components, such as the verb be the verbal participle, and the by phrase, were argued to have semantic content, which contribute cumulatively to the semantic and pragmatic value of the passive construction. Thirdly, the Cognitive Grammar approach is sympathetic to the notion that linguistic knowledge, rather than residing in a small number of very road, high-level abstractions, may actually be rather low-level and ‘surface or iented', consisting in multiple memories of already encountered usage and relatively shallow generalizations over these remembered instances.In practical terms, this means that linguistic knowledge will tend to be centered on individual lexical items and their idiosyncratic properties, concerning the syntactic environments in which they occur and their stylistic or pragmatic values. Similarly, the representation of syntactic and word-formation constructions will incorporate knowledge of the lexical items which typically occur in hem, in addition, once again, to information about the kinds of situations in which they are likely to be used.Although it represents a radical departure in some ways from many established ideas in linguistics (such as the formerly widely held view that syntax, semantics and pragmatics were largely independent of one another), the principles underlying Cognitive Linguistics resonated with many traditional concerns one thinks of classics such as Gustavo Steer 's Meaning and Change of Meaning (1931), C. S. Lewdest Studies in Words (1960), and various works by Stephan Almsman (e. G. , Almsman, 1964)