Result, Methods, And Intro Essays - Mental Processes, Memory, Schema

Result, Methods, And Intro 12/8/00 Introduction, Methods, and Results Memory Recall Adianice Correa Memory Recall There are many questions to how people process information. Many have understood that people remember and learn components of a passage more easily when particular elements of the passage are subjectively considered to be important than when it's not. Systems such as story schemata produce organized descriptions of the substance of a text. Thus, drawing attention to particular parts of a story. However, there is no definite answer as to what makes such element s important, and therefore making such components become easily retrieved. This paper will list possible explanations for what makes specific text important. Findings from prior research give special consideration to evidence that seem to maintain dissimilarities between encoding and retrieval. The schemata theory has been used for the present experiment. In this theory, components of a schemata are slots or variables which may be defined as events or elements that are remembered better because there is a structure or framework laid down beforehand. Such theories, which try to explain how schemas work are recognized as the ?attention-directing theory? or the ?slot theory.? Schema theory provides an instant annotation on the dominance in the recollection of important information. In the ?attention-directing? hypothesis the schema singles out important elements. Therefore, more attention is devoted to these elements than to less important ones, and so they more likely to be learned. Another hypothesis is the ?ideational scaffolding? hypothesis in which the schema is most likely going to contain a slot for important text elements where the information gets stored specifically because there is a function for it. Ways of processing information are based upon individual differences, in which there may or may not be slots for both important and unimportant elements. Several investigators (Bower, 1977; Mandler Pichert & Anderson, 1977) have contemplated that a schema might provide a retrieval arrangement. The idea is that memory search comes from the generic knowledge integrated in the schema to the particular information stored when the text was read. A second possibility is that schemata guide ?output editing.? This would require suggesting that a schema includes within itself an indicator of significance, which in conjunction with the demand characteristics of the recall causes the person to establish a response condition. A final possible retrieval process is ?inferential reconstruction? (Spiro, 1977). Suppose that a participant was attempting to recall a story about going to a movie theatre. He or she might not remember whether popcorn had been eaten, but since there is a slot in his or her schema for popcorn being eaten during movie- watching. And so, the popcorn may be reconstructed, and assumes that soda was a most likely beverage to be drunk during the move session, being produced as a plausible guess. Therefore, the abstract apparatus of the schema will be biased toward reconstructing important elements. There is a repeated finding that important elements persist to emerge in recall code of behavior after a retention period, whereas the appearance of unimportant elements decreases overwhelmingly (cf. Bower, 1976; Newman, 1939). In the present study, college students were read stories from either of two directed perspectives or from no directed perspective. The passage had to do with a subject named Spike, who was trying to get out of a situation, being bound and had been accused of doing something wrong. The situation was described to be in a closed tight space with a confinement description of his surroundings. Different groups rated the importance of the elements in the story from three points of view: the viewpoint of wrestler, the viewpoint of a convict, or a non- directional perspective. The purpose of the experiment described in this paper was to attempt to offer a foundation for the process in text recall of retrieval methods separate from storage mechanisms. Within a schema framework, it can be argued that people may store information when reading a text, which they fail to produce when recalling that same information. After the subjects had been read the Spike passage, all attempted to recall the story after being presented with a distraction test. One third of the subjects were directed to one perspective, that is, from wrestler, to convict, to a

Free Essays on Positive Aspects Of Capital Punishment

â€Å"Not the physical act, but the social meaning of murder distinguishes robbery from taxation, murder from execution, a gift from theft† (Leone 233). This quote defines the exact reason why capital punishment is an ethical form of justice. Although capital punishment may seem like an unfair form of justice, it is actually the most logical way to punish criminals who commit the most serious of serious offenses. It serves as an effective deterrent and provides an excellent form of retribution. If used in the right way, capital punishment would be more cost efficient and effective than life in prison. Capital punishment has been in use in the United States since the beginning of its history. Among the first to be put to death from crimes in the colonies were the so-called witches. The best known was the Salem Witch Trials, where a total of twenty witches had been sentenced to die by the time the trials were over. Through most of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there wa s much discussion over capital punishment. In the eighteenth century several hundred offenses were punishable by death, but in the late 1880’s the government restricted the number of crimes punishable bye death to three: treason, murder and rape. Between 1880 and 1917 there was much flip-flopping in many states over capital punishment. From 1977 to 1995there have been 300 executions in the United States. As of 1995 only twelve states did not have the death penalty. These days the argument is over the electric chair, and whether or not it is constitutional. Just recently the Supreme Court ruled it constitutional. Bryan Stevenson said: â€Å"This will continue to be an issue that plagues the administration in capital cases until the method of execution has changed† (â€Å"High Court†). Even the nations of the world have had the death penalty for long periods of time, even if they are abolished today. Ninety-six nations currently enforce the death penalty or have c arri... Free Essays on Positive Aspects Of Capital Punishment Free Essays on Positive Aspects Of Capital Punishment â€Å"Not the physical act, but the social meaning of murder distinguishes robbery from taxation, murder from execution, a gift from theft† (Leone 233). This quote defines the exact reason why capital punishment is an ethical form of justice. Although capital punishment may seem like an unfair form of justice, it is actually the most logical way to punish criminals who commit the most serious of serious offenses. It serves as an effective deterrent and provides an excellent form of retribution. If used in the right way, capital punishment would be more cost efficient and effective than life in prison. Capital punishment has been in use in the United States since the beginning of its history. Among the first to be put to death from crimes in the colonies were the so-called witches. The best known was the Salem Witch Trials, where a total of twenty witches had been sentenced to die by the time the trials were over. Through most of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries there wa s much discussion over capital punishment. In the eighteenth century several hundred offenses were punishable by death, but in the late 1880’s the government restricted the number of crimes punishable bye death to three: treason, murder and rape. Between 1880 and 1917 there was much flip-flopping in many states over capital punishment. From 1977 to 1995there have been 300 executions in the United States. As of 1995 only twelve states did not have the death penalty. These days the argument is over the electric chair, and whether or not it is constitutional. Just recently the Supreme Court ruled it constitutional. Bryan Stevenson said: â€Å"This will continue to be an issue that plagues the administration in capital cases until the method of execution has changed† (â€Å"High Court†). Even the nations of the world have had the death penalty for long periods of time, even if they are abolished today. Ninety-six nations currently enforce the death penalty or have c arri...

The Jamestown Fiasco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Jamestown Fiasco - Essay Example Following the way the Spanish had dealt with the Indians, Smith used force to make Powhatan leave the lands, and he actually achieved that. Smith saw Indians in the English Virginia as slaves. Smith tried his best to encourage the English settlers to grow their own, but the settlers fancied the way Indians lived without much work, and many escaped to join the Indians. Smith had limited authority until the end of 1608 when most of the influential council members had either resumed for England or had died. Using the added authority that he gained after that, he forced the settlers to work by proposing that those of them that only those of them would get food that worked. Smith continued assaults on the Indians, but did not feel like killing them. Smith’s treatment of Indians was not consistent with the type of relationship the Virginia Company had aspired to develop with them, so the returning council members claimed that Smith had been unnecessarily rude towards the Indians. Th e council members were also granted a charter because the conciliar government had not been able to adequately control the settlers. Therefore, the company chose a governor that gained advice from the council but made independent decision. This improved the government in Virginia and the laws for all kinds of corruption were well-defined. The military discipline made the colonists work in an organized manner. The Lawes also formulated special rules that defined how the Indians were to be dealt with. The company aspired to make certain Indians part of the company, though they had generally even become more ruthless towards the Indians than Smith had been. Despite that, the colonists were short of corn and continued to retrieve it from the Indians even after ten years of military government. Lack of equal distribution of profits among the shareholders and private enterprises generated a disincentive for the colonists to work hard enough to grow the corn. The trend of independent farmi ng surfaced between 1609 and 1614. Meanwhile, Gates and Dale proceeded to develop the land all through James up to Henrico. Virginia was being rapidly developed. Gentlemen in Virgina became six times as many as they were in England. Gentlemen were knowledgeable people meant for strategic planning, not for menial jobs. Gentlemen were much more in number than the laborers, due to which the productivity suffered. Virginia needed more craftsmen than gentlemen. The company thought that there was a lot of steel, gold and silver to be found in Virginia, so it demanded workers skilled in their exploration. But the author thinks that the settlers would have faced an increasingly challenging time had the company received workers belonging to diverse vocations as it aspired. Having little to do in their respective professions in Virginia, many would resort to becoming gentlemen rather than joining the laborers in the fields. The company wanted the colonists not to spend their whole effort and time on farming, because it wanted precious things like silk, sugar and wine to be sent to England rather than grains, but there were hardly any riches to be transported to England in the early years. This discouraged both the leaders and the workers. Finally, the Virginia Company was able to cultivate tobacco and send it to England, but the original goal remained unachieved. I was convinced by the author’s arguments since most of them are supported with the original pieces of