Essays on Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard Essay Example for Free

Essays on Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard Essay At first filled with shame, his officious father soon realizes just how profitable his son’s supposed spirituality can be. His mother, meanwhile, finds in the orchard relief from traditional Indian family life and middle-class respectability by devoting herself to creating increasingly exotic curries. All goes well until the local monkeys start to drink. Plans to rid the orchard of their unwanted hullabaloo multiply and eventually go completely awry, but not before Sampath is released from the endless cycle of demands. Transformed into a guava, he is last seen being carried towards the sacred Himalayas by the hungry monkeys. This story, by the daughter of novelist Anita Desai, works best when the pacing is as fast as the author’s touch is light, as it surely is in the final thirty or so pages. When it drags, stylistic tics become annoyingly apparent, the narrative too slender to support even a novel this short, and this talented author’s indebtedness to other writers, from Narayan and Salman Rushdie to Italo Calvino, Jerzy Kosinski and Gabriel Garcia Marquez the sign not of postmodern play but of youthful derivativeness.

Scams in India Essay Example for Free

Scams in India Essay Everything seems to be dank and dark today. Every political party is being exposed in corruption issues, some small, some large, some beyond comprehension. Inflation is rampant, IIP is down, GDP growth is shrinking, reforms seem to be in cold storage, the sovereign ratings of the country head south, the rupee is struggling, FDI inflows come down to a trickle. There is nothing to cheer about, it seems. Yes, there is, if you look hard enough. Take the case of former BMC chief Subodh Kumar and his attempt to take a post-retirement job with Essel group. Hindustan Times, in a news report, linked Kumar to an approval that was sought by the Essel group, using his discretionary powers. That was the end of that. The Subodh Kumar episode demonstrates that, in today’s environment, there is little that will escape scrutiny by media. It might be a small, insignificant episode, but it is a pointer of the state of the nation and the nation’s attitude towards corruption. There is no more ‘respect’ for the ‘sanctity’ of the office of the prime minister, as has been proven by the attempts to gherao his residence as if he were no different from the manager of a factory in West Bengal in the Left agitations in the 1970s. As far as media is concerned, there is no holy cow any more. News media, in all forms, does not hesitate to name wrongdoers and alleged wrongdoers, starting with the lowliest of government servants and rising to the office of the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister himself. It is only a CAG who can fearlessly interrogate the government. That is why the founding fathers of the Constitution have provided that the CAG cannot be removed and he has to be impeached in the same manner as a Supreme Court judge,† says former Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam in The Hindu. Institutions of government, too, have no fear of politicians and those in positions of power. It is now normal and routine for the government (central and state) to be pulled up by the CAG, by courts at every level, by news media, by social activists and ‘RTI’ activists. There is no more ‘respect’ for the ‘sanctity’ of the office of the prime minister, as has been proven by the attempts to gherao his residence as if he were no different from the manager of a factory in West Bengal in the Left agitations in the 1970s. Each of these developments point to an India that will be forced to become more accountable and less corrupt. Attempts by some sections, such as the BJP, to jump on to the anti-corruption bandwagon and project themselves as an honest alternative to the Congress have come to naught, with both activists and the media bracketing the BJP with the Congress when it comes to corruption. Social media is playing a significant role as well, in amplifying the reach of the critics of the political classes. A constantly biased news media is close to impossibility – critics can reach millions of their followers in milliseconds, who in turn, spread the anti-establishment messages and debunk the official spin. No political party is safe. As far as the business community is concerned, the Adarsh scam, the 2G scam and Coalgate all send telling signals. Corrupting politicians and bureaucrats is no longer a guarantee for quick and easy licenses and profits. The scams are exposed with regularity, and we see, increasingly, ill-founded decisions being reversed – which reverses the fortunes of the corrupter. We’ve seen this is the Adarsh scam and the 2G scam – and we’ll doubtless see this in Coalgate. The frenetic pace of change, beginning with Anna Hazare’s fast in April 2011, has caught the political establishment off-guard. They’re unused to the intense and unrelenting scrutiny, in misdemeanors large and small. The last few months, beginning with Coalgate, have underlined that this is the new state of affairs. Wrongdoing will be caught, sooner or later. There is nothing and no one that is sacred and out of bounds. The toothpaste is out of the tube, and it cannot be put back. This heralds a new India. Even without the Lokpal, the corrupt (in the large cases of corruption) are being exposed and brought to book. More will be exposed and more will be caught. This means that we will see more of such headlines, more politicians exposed and more of the corrupters finding themselves tangled in the web. It’ll mean months of pain – perhaps even years of pain. But, in the end, we will see India becoming less corrupt and we will see politicians more accountable. It may seem dank and dark today, but the thought that, as a result of all that is happening today, we could see a brighter and more prosperous India, is a spectacular sliver lining.

Semantics And The Structure Of Sentence

Semantics And The Structure Of Sentence Semantics is the study of meaning. It typically focuses on the relation between signifiers, such as words, phrases, signs and symbols, and what they stand for. Linguistic semantics is the study of meanings that humans use language to express. Other forms of semantics include the semantics of programming languages, formal logics, and semiotics. The word semantics itself denotes a range of ideas, from the popular to the highly technical. It is often used in ordinary language to denote a problem of understanding that comes down to word selection or connotation. This problem of understanding has been the subject of many formal inquiries, over a long period of time, most notably in the field of formal semantics. In linguistics, it is the study of interpretation of signs or symbols as used by agents or communities within particular circumstances and contexts. Within this view, sounds, facial expressions, body language, proxemics has semantic (meaningful) content, and each has several branches of study. In written language, such things as paragraph structure and punctuation have semantic content; in other forms of language, there is other semantic content. The formal study of semantics intersects with many other fields of inquiry, including lexicology, syntax, pragmatics, etymology and others, although semantics is a well-defined field in its own right, often with synthetic properties. In philosophy of language, semantics and reference are related fields. Further related fields include philology, communication, and semiotics. The formal study of semantics is therefore complex. Semantics contrasts with syntax, the study of the combinatory of units of a language (without reference to their meaning), and pragmatics, the study of the relationships between the symbols of a language, their meaning, and the users of the language. In international scientific vocabulary semantics is also called semasiology. LEXICAL CONCEPTUAL SEMANTICS This theory is an effort to explain properties of argument structure. The assumption behind this theory is that syntactic properties of phrases reflect the meanings of the words that head them. With this theory, linguists can better deal with the fact that subtle differences in word meaning correlate with other differences in the syntactic structure that the word appears in. The way this is gone about is by looking at the internal structure of words. These small parts that make up the internal structure of words are referred to as semantic primitives. LEXICAL SEMANTICS A linguistic theory that investigates word meaning. This theory understands that the meaning of a word is fully reflected by its context. Here, the meaning of a word is constituted by its contextual relations. Therefore, a distinction between degrees of participation as well as modes of participation are made. In order to accomplish this distinction any part of a sentence that bears a meaning and combines with the meanings of other constituents is labeled as a semantic constituent. Semantic constituents that can not be broken down into more elementary constituents are labeled a minimal semantic constituent. COMPUTATIONAL SEMANTICS Computational Semantics is focused on the processing of linguistic meaning. In order to do this concrete algorithms and architectures are described. Within this framework the algorithms and architectures are also analyzed in terms of decidability, time/space complexity, data structures which they require and communication protocols. Many companies use semantic technologies to create commercial value. The fundamental point is that you cannot create much value from content that you do not understand. Once you understand, then you can interrogate more effectively, create explicit relationships between content around topics and issues, inform contextual advertising and product placement, and build a standard method of sharing structured data between publishers. Halliday (1987) describes some syntactic and semantic differences between the spoken and written modes of communication. Hoey (1986), Van Valin (1984) and Winter (1977) describe the syntax and semantics of clause connection, focusing largely on several English registers According to the traditional grammar, sentences consist of words, but not every string of word constitutes a sentence as we can see in the following example: Lion cage this less in dangerous is the. A possible analysis is that if we look at this example we know the meaning of the individual words, but the sequence as a whole does not make sense, so we cannot consider this structure a sentence. Thus, we can affirm that if a sequence of words is to constitute a sentence, it must he meaningful, for instance: The lion is less dangerous in this cage. The network of relations between the words of a sentence is called its structure. There are many different aspects that influence the structure of a sentence. A very important one is word order. The different order of the words in a sentence can bring by a difference in its meaning, as in the following example: Did he say who he was?= Who did he say he was? But a difference in word order does not always imply a difference in meaning. Sometimes it simply entails a difference in emphasis: John ran away //A way ran John . In relation with the words, the structure of the sentence also depends on the individual meaning of the words or word-groups making up the sentence; in the following example the difference of structure is not due to word order but to the relationship between the words: Peter was waiting for seven friends. //Peter was waiting for seven minutes. Then this kind of Grammar deals with the concept of Ambiguous sentences and explains that the structure of sentences is not always unambiguously derivable from overt marks like word order, lexical items etc Sometimes we come across sentences to which more than one structure can he assigned, having therefore, more than one meaning. This type of sentence receives the name of Ambiguous Sentence, as in the following examples: George likes Susan more than Joan // Visiting relatives can be boring. Only through the context in which these sentences may appear can we know which of the two possible meanings is intended. According to the Transformational Grammar, it deals with the idea that a sentence has a syntactic structure, and it follows this term in order to develop its theory. The first important point deals with the idea that the evidence for claiming that sentences have a syntactic structure in language comes from the native speakers intuition about the structure of sentences in his language. These structural intuitions which native speakers have about the Syntax of their languages are two types: 1. The constituents: intuitions about how sound-sequences in sentences are structured into larger structural units. 2. Categories: intuitions about whether structural units belong to the same category or not. So, the following example is going to illustrate this fact: To analyze the concept of sentence we can do the following analysis: words are grouped into lower constituents. For example à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"incredibly modifies intelligentà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ , so the sequence [incredibly intelligent] is a phrasal constituent of the sentence. Also, following the analysis, this modifies pupil, so the sequence [that pupil] forms a single structural unit, a constituent of the sentence. The same happens in the sequence [that teacher]. But furthermore also the sequence [to that teacher] is another constituent. To the transformational grammar, the phrases [incredibly intelligent] and [to that teacher] both modify seemà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ , then the whole sequence [seem incredibly intelligent to that teacher] is also a constituent. Thus, all this information can he represented as we see before in diagrammatic form, that is a tree diagram. Each point in the tree is called a node, and each node represents a constituent. But, however, since nodes are predictable, later they were suppressed in subsequent tree-diagrams. But a tree-diagram does not provide any representation of our intuitions about which constituents are constituents of the same type. The traditional way of describing the similarities and differences between constituents is to say that they belong to categories of various types. And the same happens with the phrases. Finally, to this type of grammar, the whole sequence [that pupil must seem incredibly intelligent to that teacher] is a special type of constituent traditionally termed a clause or sentence. 3. Conventions to Be used in the analysis of a sentence, the constituents aNd its levels Every sentence can he analysed at four distinct form levels: the word-level, the phrase-level, the clause-level and the sentence- level. And this is called the rank scale. Later, after the explanation of the constituents of a sentence we will see the different levels and how they can he analysed following the same example. Thus, a diagram as this provides a visual presentation of the categorial constituent structure of the sentence. It shows us how sentence is structured out of its constituent phrases, and how each of the phrases is structured out of its component words, and also it provides a visual presentation of the phrase structure of sentence. The type of labelled tree- diagram used here is referred to as a Phrase-marker (P-marker) because it marks the hierarchical grouping of words into phrases, and phrases into sentences. Another method of visual display used in the linguistic literature is to make use of labelled bracketing. Within this system, we could represent the categorial status of the words in the structure mentioned before as in the following example: [D This] [N pupil] [M must] [V seem] [Adv incredibly] [A intelligent] [P to] [D that] [N teacher] We could use this system of labelled bracketing to represent the fact that [this pupil] and [that teacher] are noun phrases, that [to that teacher] is a prepositional phrase. That [incredibly intelligent] is an adjective phrase, that [seem incredibly intelligent to that teacher] is a verb phrase, and that [this pupil must seem incredibly intelligent to that teacher] is an S = clause. As follows: [S [NP [D this] [N pupil]] [M must] [VP [V seem] [AP [ADV incredibly][A intelligent]] [PP [P to][NP [D that] [N teacher] ] ] ] ] Then the two diagrams represented here contain the same information. Many linguists prefer tree-diagrams as a form of visual representation of syntactic structure because they are easier to read, and the reason for that is that the information they contain is less condensed. Thus, diagrams like these provide a virtually complete representation of the syntactic structure of the sentence. Also we can find partial tree-diagrams or partial labeled bracketing: for instance if we take the sentence mentioned before, we can see that it contains three major constituents: CONCLUSION According to grammarians, it can be said that there is a hierarchical order. That is to say, sounds are the constituents of words, words are the constituents of the phrases and phrases are the constituents of sentences or clauses. Then as a conclusion to this point, we can say that sentences are not just unstructured sequence of sounds; rather they have a hierarchical constituent structure in which sounds are grouped together into words, words into phrases, and phrases into sentences. On the other hand, it is important to point out the main features of the different categories although they have not been explained in this assignment. That is to say, when we talk about sentences, it is absolutely necessary to know the features of the categories as constituents of the own sentence. In a nutshell, it can be said that Radfords book, Ouhalla ´s work and the linguistics dictionaries are a useful guide for the student in the sense that they make easier the comprehension of grammar. It is due to the fact that they give us (as students) clear information by using simple examples.

Descartes and the Existence of God Essay -- essays papers

Descartes and the Existence of God Once Descartes has realized that he can know with certainty that â€Å"I exist† is true, he continues to build on his foundation of truths. The truth about the nature of God, proof of God’s existence, and the nature of corporeal objects are considered, among others, after Descartes proves his existence. Descartes’ principal task in the Meditations was to devise a system that would bring him to the truth. He wanted to build a foundation from which all further philosophical inquiry could be built. It was essential that his beliefs were sound. If any one of them were at all in doubt, then it put the credibility of the whole structure of knowledge in jeopardy. I will discuss a few of the topics Descartes analyzes after his epiphany of existence. Throughout the essay, I will raise some doubts that I have pertaining to Descartes’ conclusions as well. In his second meditation, when Descartes pushes the method of doubt to its fullest extent, several truths survive; since these cannot be doubted Descartes must know them. The first of these is that â€Å"I exist.† The second truth, when Descartes asks â€Å"what am I?† caught my attention. I found it odd that he tests potential answers by asking whether he can doubt them. The test appears strange because one’s ability to doubt something doesn’t normally show that it is false. If I can doubt that I have the hairiest legs at West Virginia University, does it follow that I do not? It is later when Descartes rephrases his answer, and so his question, in terms of â€Å"what is inseparable from my nature,† that I realized that the question was special. When he proceeds to say â€Å"I am now admitting nothing except what is necessarily true,† I finally saw that the apparent... ...a cause, and since I am imperfect, the idea has to have been originated from a perfect source or God.† In Descartes’ Cosmological Proof of God, I understand that the cause of an idea must have as much formal reality as the objective reality of the idea. I also understand that the idea has infinite objective reality. However, I am not fully convinced that it is impossible for a mortal, finite person to take the idea of a finite being and continually think â€Å"upward,† forming the idea that there is a being that is supreme to themselves. Descartes’ epiphany of â€Å"I exist, I am† was the catalyst for the exploration of the issues he discusses in Meditations. Although I find problems in some instances of his reasoning, I realize that he has provided answers through his Method of Doubt that have endured the ages and allow us to continue to ponder their truth today.

Heart of Darkness as Social Protest Essays -- Heart Darkness essays

Heart of Darkness as Social Protest Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad, is an intriguing and extremely disturbing portrayal of man's surrender to his carnal nature when all external trappings of "civilization" are removed. This novel excellently portrays the shameful ways in which the Europeans exploited the Africans: physically, socially, economically, and spiritually. Throughout the nineteenth century, Europeans treated their African counterparts savagely. They were beaten, driven from their homes, and enslaved. Heart of Darkness is no exception. In the first section of the novel, Marlow is disgusted by the condition of the Africans at the First Station. His encounter with the chain gang sickens him to the point where he is forced to wait for them to pass. He even takes a separate path to avoid encountering them again. While avoiding the chain gang, Marlow stumbles upon the object of their work-"a vast artificial hole...the purpose of which I found it impossible to divine." Apparently, to keep them occupied and thus "out of trouble," the natives are forced to do meaningless, pointless exercises. Marlow is shocked by this total subjugation of the Africans and the completely pointless work which they are forced to perform. Prior to 1807, the Europeans directly enslaved the Africans. After 1807, Britain, and eventually most European countries, banned the slave trade. However, this did not stop the Eldorado Exploring Expedition, whose members Marlow described as "reckless without hardihood, gree... ...heads of the natives he killed, those "heads on the stakes" with their faces turned toward the house, to show his complete and total dominance over their lives. After this, the natives could not but help view him with a supernatural aura. He also forced anyone approaching him to crawl on all fours and grovel at his feet. This, coupled with the fact that he did not allow very many people to see him, reinforced his god-like authority. In the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, the Europeans shamelessly exploited the Africans. Conrad, who had been to Africa, makes no effort to gloss over the gross abuses of power of the Europeans and their inhumane treatment of the natives. Taken in this light, Heart of Darkness serves as an excellent novel of social protest.

Habits and Explanation Essay -- Psychology Science Papers

Habits and Explanation Habits form a crucial part of the everyday conceptual scheme used to explain normal human activity. However, they have been neglected in debates concerning folk-psychology which have concentrated on propositional attitudes such as beliefs. But propositional attitudes are just one of the many mental states. In this paper, I seek to expand the debate by considering mental states other than propositional attitudes. I conclude that the case for the autonomy and plausibility of the folk-psychological explanation is strengthened when one considers an example from the non-propositional-attitude mental states: habits. My main target is the radical eliminativist program. As regards habits, eliminativists could argue in two distinct but related ways. They can either abandon the concept "habit" altogether or retain the folk-psychological term "habit" by reducing it to the causal chain of the observed behavior pattern, as is sometimes done in social theory. I contend that both of these strategie s are defective. The correct way to talk about habits is in terms of manifestations and activating conditions, not in terms of causal chains. Hence, if eliminativists take up either of the two arguments given above, they will not succeed. Correspondingly, by the added generality gained through the consideration of habits, the case for folk-psychology is strengthened. If you do something often and in a way which appears settled, you are normally described as having a habit. We assume we have habits as parts of skills, habits of social behaviour, and also deeper ones, like habits of thought. Even those who are good at using Ockham's razor confess sometimes their acceptance of habits. Hume admits that we all have a habit of j... ...s folk science, and belief versus opinion', in: The Future of Folk-Psychology: Intentionality and Cognitive Science, ed. J.D. Greenwood, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 135-148. Jackson, F., and Pettit, P., 1990, 'Program Explanation: a general perspective', Analysis, vol. 50, pp. 107-117. Pettit, P., 1993, The Common Mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Stich, S.P., 1983, From Folk-Psychology to Cognitive Science: The Case against Belief, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press. Terrence, H., and Woodward, J., 1985, 'Folk psychology is here to stay', The Philosophical Review 94, reprinted in: The Future of Folk-Psychology: Intentionality and Cognitive Science, ed. J.D. Greenwood, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 149-175. Turner, S., 1994, The Social Theory of Practices: Tradition, Tacit Knowledge and Presuppositions, Oxford: Polity Press.

Life Span Development

The study of lifespan development grew out of Darwin’s desire to understand evolution. The first study of children was published by G. Stanley Hall. Hall’s book introduced norms and adolescence to scientists (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Lifespan is the period of time from conception extending to death. This paper will define the development of humans throughout the lifespan and describe the characteristics of the lifespan perspective. Human development domains and periods will be identified and contemporary concerns as related to lifespan development will be identified. Lifespan Development Defined Lifespan development is a process beginning at conception that continues until death. The progression initiates with the emergence of a fetus from a one-celled organism. As the unborn child enters the world the environment in which the child exists begins to influence the child’s development (WGBH Educational Foundation, 2001). Lifespan development can be defined as a methodical, intra-individual change associated with progressions corresponding to age. The development progresses in a manner implicating the level of functioning. According to Levinson the life cycle consists of four 25 year eras. The main developmental periods are child and adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood. Each era’s transition involves a necessary change in the character of the individual’s life and sometimes takes up to six years to complete the change (Smith, 2009). The study of human development began with Darwin and other evolutionists. Darwin thought if he studied human development he could further prove his theory of evolution (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Characteristics of the Lifespan Perspective The lifespan perspective argues that significant modifications take place throughout development. The lifelong perspective consists of a development of humans that is multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual. The development involves growth, maintenance and regulation. Changes that occur should be interpreted in a manner that considers the culture and context of the occurrences. Through the perspective comprehensions of the modifications of adulthood have gained as much importance as those occurring in childhood; an understanding from other disciplines in turn have increased importance in human development. According to Paul Baltes, humans have the capacity of plasticity or positive change to environmental difficulties throughout life. Baltes additionally contributed to the understanding of the positive characteristics of growing old such as learning ways to compensate and overcome (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Human Development Domains The domains of development are categories used by scientists. The categories include, physical, cognitive and social domains characterize human development. The physical domain is characterized by how humans grow and change physically, specifically during childhood and adolescence. This domain includes how humans view the world as development progresses as a result of developing vision. Adjustments in the way the world is viewed as the body develops are also included in this domain. The cognitive domain is concerned with how learning occurs and why memory deteriorates during old age. The social domain contains adjustment in variables within social situations such as personality research, social skills and developing relationships. All the domains operate together and are affected by each other (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Human Development Periods Human development periods span the lifetime from conception to the end of life. These periods are as follows, prenatal, early, middle and late childhood. As the child grows and approaches adulthood the periods are adolescence, early, middle and late adulthood. Numerous theories about the periods of development and the movement from one period to the next exist. Various theories attempt to define how movement from one level to the next level of development occurs. The three major families include psychoanalytic, learning and cognitive theories (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Contemporary Concerns in Lifespan Development Nature versus nurture is one of the many contemporary concerns in lifespan development. Additional concerns in the area of development include continuity and discontinuity. Nature and nurture concerns surround the basis of development. The issue lies in determining the weather genetics or environment influence development. The concern of continuity and discontinuity’s impact on development lies in relationship development. â€Å" The question is whether age-related change is primarily a matter of amount or degree (the continuity side of the debate) or more commonly involves changes in type or kind (the discontinuity side)† (Boyd & Bee, 2006, p. ). Conclusion Development of the lifespan began with Darwin and continues to intrigue psychologists and scientists today. An understanding of how humans develop consists of the domains of physical, cognitive and social advances. The domains occur throughout prenatal, childhood and adult development. As the field expands the controversy of nature versus nurture and continuity and discontinuity continue to perplex those within the field. Freud advanced a theory of personality development that centered on the effects of the sexual pleasure drive on the individual psyche. At particular points in the developmental process, he claimed, a single body part is particularly sensitive to sexual, erotic stimulation. These erogenous zones are the mouth, the anus, and the genital region. The child's libido centers on behavior affecting the primary erogenous zone of his age; he cannot focus on the primary erogenous zone of the next stage without resolving the developmental conflict of the immediate one. A child at a given stage of development has certain needs and demands, such as the need of the infant to nurse. Frustration occurs when these needs are not met; Overindulgence stems from such an ample meeting of these needs that the child is reluctant to progress beyond the stage. Both frustration and overindulgence lock some amount of the child's libido permanently into the stage in which they occur; both result in a fixation. If a child progresses normally through the stages, resolving each conflict and moving on, then little libido remains invested in each stage of development. But if he fixates at a particular stage, the method of obtaining satisfaction which characterized the stage will dominate and affect his adult personality. The Oral Stage The oral stage begins at birth, when the oral cavity is the primary focus of libidal energy. The child, of course, preoccupies himself with nursing, with the pleasure of sucking and accepting things into the mouth. The oral character who is frustrated at this stage, whose mother refused to nurse him on demand or who truncated nursing sessions early, is characterized by pessimism, envy, suspicion and sarcasm. The overindulged oral character, whose nursing urges were always and often excessively satisfied, is optimistic, gullible, and is full of admiration for others around him. The stage culminates in the primary conflict of weaning, which both deprives the child of the sensory pleasures of nursing and of the psychological pleasure of being cared for, mothered, and held. The stage lasts approximately one and one-half years. The Anal Stage At one and one-half years, the child enters the anal stage. With the advent of toilet training comes the child's obsession with the erogenous zone of the anus and with the retention or expulsion of the feces. This represents a classic conflict between the id, which derives pleasure from expulsion of bodily wastes, and the ego and superego, which represent the practical and societal pressures to control the bodily functions. The child meets the conflict between the parent's demands and the child's desires and physical capabilities in one of two ways: Either he puts up a fight or he simply refuses to go. The child who wants to fight takes pleasure in excreting maliciously, perhaps just before or just after being placed on the toilet. If the parents are too lenient and the child manages to derive pleasure and success from this expulsion, it will result in the formation of an anal expulsive character. This character is generally messy, disorganized, reckless, careless, and defiant. Conversely, a child may opt to retain feces, thereby spiting his parents while enjoying the pleasurable pressure of the built-up feces on his intestine. If this tactic succeeds and the child is overindulged, he will develop into an anal retentive character. This character is neat, precise, orderly, careful, stingy, withholding, obstinate, meticulous, and passive-aggressive. The resolution of the anal stage, proper toilet training, permanently affects the individual propensities to possession and attitudes towards authority. This stage lasts from one and one-half to two years. The Phallic Stage The phallic stage is the setting for the greatest, most crucial sexual conflict in Freud's model of development. In this stage, the child's erogenous zone is the genital region. As the child becomes more interested in his genitals, and in the genitals of others, conflict arises. The conflict, labeled the Oedipus complex (The Electra complex in women), involves the child's unconscious desire to possess the opposite-sexed parent and to eliminate the same-sexed one. In the young male, the Oedipus conflict stems from his natural love for his mother, a love which becomes sexual as his libidal energy transfers from the anal region to his genitals. Unfortunately for the boy, his father stands in the way of this love. The boy therefore feels aggression and envy towards this rival, his father, and also feels fear that the father will strike back at him. As the boy has noticed that women, his mother in particular, have no penises, he is struck by a great fear that his father will remove his penis, too. The anxiety is aggravated by the threats and discipline he incurs when caught masturbating by his parents. This castration anxiety outstrips his desire for his mother, so he represses the desire. Moreover, although the boy sees that though he cannot posses his mother, because his father does, he can posses her vicariously by identifying with his father and becoming as much like him as possible: this identification indoctrinates the boy into his appropriate sexual role in life. A lasting trace of the Oedipal conflict is the superego, the voice of the father within the boy. By thus resolving his incestuous conundrum, the boy passes into the latency period, a period of libidal dormancy. On the Electra complex, Freud was more vague. The complex has its roots in the little girl's discovery that she, along with her mother and all other women, lack the penis which her father and other men posses. Her love for her father then becomes both erotic and envious, as she yearns for a penis of her own. She comes to blame her mother for her perceived castration, and is struck by penis envy, the apparent counterpart to the boy's castration anxiety. The resolution of the Electra complex is far less clear-cut than the resolution of the Oedipus complex is in males; Freud stated that the resolution comes much later and is never truly complete. Just as the boy learned his sexual role by identifying with his father, so the girl learns her role by identifying with her mother in an attempt to posses her father vicariously. At the eventual resolution of the conflict, the girl passes into the latency period, though Freud implies that she always remains slightly fixated at the phallic stage. Fixation at the phallic stage develops a phallic character, who is reckless, resolute, self-assured, and narcissistic–excessively vain and proud. The failure to resolve the conflict can also cause a person to be afraid or incapable of close love; Freud also postulated that fixation could be a root cause of homosexuality. Latency Period The resolution of the phallic stage leads to the latency period, which is not a psychosexual stage of development, but a period in which the sexual drive lies dormant. Freud saw latency as a period of unparalleled repression of sexual desires and erogenous impulses. During the latency period, children pour this repressed libidal energy into asexual pursuits such as school, athletics, and same-sex friendships. But soon puberty strikes, and the genitals once again become a central focus of libidal energy. The Genital Stage In the genital stage, as the child's energy once again focuses on his genitals, interest turns to heterosexual relationships. The less energy the child has left invested in unresolved psychosexual developments, the greater his capacity will be to develop normal relationships with the opposite sex. If, however, he remains fixated, particularly on the phallic stage, his development will be troubled as he struggles with further repression and defenses. Life Span Development The study of lifespan development grew out of Darwin’s desire to understand evolution. The first study of children was published by G. Stanley Hall. Hall’s book introduced norms and adolescence to scientists (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Lifespan is the period of time from conception extending to death. This paper will define the development of humans throughout the lifespan and describe the characteristics of the lifespan perspective. Human development domains and periods will be identified and contemporary concerns as related to lifespan development will be identified. Lifespan Development Defined Lifespan development is a process beginning at conception that continues until death. The progression initiates with the emergence of a fetus from a one-celled organism. As the unborn child enters the world the environment in which the child exists begins to influence the child’s development (WGBH Educational Foundation, 2001). Lifespan development can be defined as a methodical, intra-individual change associated with progressions corresponding to age. The development progresses in a manner implicating the level of functioning. According to Levinson the life cycle consists of four 25 year eras. The main developmental periods are child and adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood. Each era’s transition involves a necessary change in the character of the individual’s life and sometimes takes up to six years to complete the change (Smith, 2009). The study of human development began with Darwin and other evolutionists. Darwin thought if he studied human development he could further prove his theory of evolution (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Characteristics of the Lifespan Perspective The lifespan perspective argues that significant modifications take place throughout development. The lifelong perspective consists of a development of humans that is multidimensional, multidirectional, plastic, multidisciplinary, and contextual. The development involves growth, maintenance and regulation. Changes that occur should be interpreted in a manner that considers the culture and context of the occurrences. Through the perspective comprehensions of the modifications of adulthood have gained as much importance as those occurring in childhood; an understanding from other disciplines in turn have increased importance in human development. According to Paul Baltes, humans have the capacity of plasticity or positive change to environmental difficulties throughout life. Baltes additionally contributed to the understanding of the positive characteristics of growing old such as learning ways to compensate and overcome (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Human Development Domains The domains of development are categories used by scientists. The categories include, physical, cognitive and social domains characterize human development. The physical domain is characterized by how humans grow and change physically, specifically during childhood and adolescence. This domain includes how humans view the world as development progresses as a result of developing vision. Adjustments in the way the world is viewed as the body develops are also included in this domain. The cognitive domain is concerned with how learning occurs and why memory deteriorates during old age. The social domain contains adjustment in variables within social situations such as personality research, social skills and developing relationships. All the domains operate together and are affected by each other (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Human Development Periods Human development periods span the lifetime from conception to the end of life. These periods are as follows, prenatal, early, middle and late childhood. As the child grows and approaches adulthood the periods are adolescence, early, middle and late adulthood. Numerous theories about the periods of development and the movement from one period to the next exist. Various theories attempt to define how movement from one level to the next level of development occurs. The three major families include psychoanalytic, learning and cognitive theories (Boyd & Bee, 2006). Contemporary Concerns in Lifespan Development Nature versus nurture is one of the many contemporary concerns in lifespan development. Additional concerns in the area of development include continuity and discontinuity. Nature and nurture concerns surround the basis of development. The issue lies in determining the weather genetics or environment influence development. The concern of continuity and discontinuity’s impact on development lies in relationship development. â€Å" The question is whether age-related change is primarily a matter of amount or degree (the continuity side of the debate) or more commonly involves changes in type or kind (the discontinuity side)† (Boyd & Bee, 2006, p. ). Conclusion Development of the lifespan began with Darwin and continues to intrigue psychologists and scientists today. An understanding of how humans develop consists of the domains of physical, cognitive and social advances. The domains occur throughout prenatal, childhood and adult development. As the field expands the controversy of nature versus nurture and continuity and discontinuity continue to perplex those within the field. Freud advanced a theory of personality development that centered on the effects of the sexual pleasure drive on the individual psyche. At particular points in the developmental process, he claimed, a single body part is particularly sensitive to sexual, erotic stimulation. These erogenous zones are the mouth, the anus, and the genital region. The child's libido centers on behavior affecting the primary erogenous zone of his age; he cannot focus on the primary erogenous zone of the next stage without resolving the developmental conflict of the immediate one. A child at a given stage of development has certain needs and demands, such as the need of the infant to nurse. Frustration occurs when these needs are not met; Overindulgence stems from such an ample meeting of these needs that the child is reluctant to progress beyond the stage. Both frustration and overindulgence lock some amount of the child's libido permanently into the stage in which they occur; both result in a fixation. If a child progresses normally through the stages, resolving each conflict and moving on, then little libido remains invested in each stage of development. But if he fixates at a particular stage, the method of obtaining satisfaction which characterized the stage will dominate and affect his adult personality. The Oral Stage The oral stage begins at birth, when the oral cavity is the primary focus of libidal energy. The child, of course, preoccupies himself with nursing, with the pleasure of sucking and accepting things into the mouth. The oral character who is frustrated at this stage, whose mother refused to nurse him on demand or who truncated nursing sessions early, is characterized by pessimism, envy, suspicion and sarcasm. The overindulged oral character, whose nursing urges were always and often excessively satisfied, is optimistic, gullible, and is full of admiration for others around him. The stage culminates in the primary conflict of weaning, which both deprives the child of the sensory pleasures of nursing and of the psychological pleasure of being cared for, mothered, and held. The stage lasts approximately one and one-half years. The Anal Stage At one and one-half years, the child enters the anal stage. With the advent of toilet training comes the child's obsession with the erogenous zone of the anus and with the retention or expulsion of the feces. This represents a classic conflict between the id, which derives pleasure from expulsion of bodily wastes, and the ego and superego, which represent the practical and societal pressures to control the bodily functions. The child meets the conflict between the parent's demands and the child's desires and physical capabilities in one of two ways: Either he puts up a fight or he simply refuses to go. The child who wants to fight takes pleasure in excreting maliciously, perhaps just before or just after being placed on the toilet. If the parents are too lenient and the child manages to derive pleasure and success from this expulsion, it will result in the formation of an anal expulsive character. This character is generally messy, disorganized, reckless, careless, and defiant. Conversely, a child may opt to retain feces, thereby spiting his parents while enjoying the pleasurable pressure of the built-up feces on his intestine. If this tactic succeeds and the child is overindulged, he will develop into an anal retentive character. This character is neat, precise, orderly, careful, stingy, withholding, obstinate, meticulous, and passive-aggressive. The resolution of the anal stage, proper toilet training, permanently affects the individual propensities to possession and attitudes towards authority. This stage lasts from one and one-half to two years. The Phallic Stage The phallic stage is the setting for the greatest, most crucial sexual conflict in Freud's model of development. In this stage, the child's erogenous zone is the genital region. As the child becomes more interested in his genitals, and in the genitals of others, conflict arises. The conflict, labeled the Oedipus complex (The Electra complex in women), involves the child's unconscious desire to possess the opposite-sexed parent and to eliminate the same-sexed one. In the young male, the Oedipus conflict stems from his natural love for his mother, a love which becomes sexual as his libidal energy transfers from the anal region to his genitals. Unfortunately for the boy, his father stands in the way of this love. The boy therefore feels aggression and envy towards this rival, his father, and also feels fear that the father will strike back at him. As the boy has noticed that women, his mother in particular, have no penises, he is struck by a great fear that his father will remove his penis, too. The anxiety is aggravated by the threats and discipline he incurs when caught masturbating by his parents. This castration anxiety outstrips his desire for his mother, so he represses the desire. Moreover, although the boy sees that though he cannot posses his mother, because his father does, he can posses her vicariously by identifying with his father and becoming as much like him as possible: this identification indoctrinates the boy into his appropriate sexual role in life. A lasting trace of the Oedipal conflict is the superego, the voice of the father within the boy. By thus resolving his incestuous conundrum, the boy passes into the latency period, a period of libidal dormancy. On the Electra complex, Freud was more vague. The complex has its roots in the little girl's discovery that she, along with her mother and all other women, lack the penis which her father and other men posses. Her love for her father then becomes both erotic and envious, as she yearns for a penis of her own. She comes to blame her mother for her perceived castration, and is struck by penis envy, the apparent counterpart to the boy's castration anxiety. The resolution of the Electra complex is far less clear-cut than the resolution of the Oedipus complex is in males; Freud stated that the resolution comes much later and is never truly complete. Just as the boy learned his sexual role by identifying with his father, so the girl learns her role by identifying with her mother in an attempt to posses her father vicariously. At the eventual resolution of the conflict, the girl passes into the latency period, though Freud implies that she always remains slightly fixated at the phallic stage. Fixation at the phallic stage develops a phallic character, who is reckless, resolute, self-assured, and narcissistic–excessively vain and proud. The failure to resolve the conflict can also cause a person to be afraid or incapable of close love; Freud also postulated that fixation could be a root cause of homosexuality. Latency Period The resolution of the phallic stage leads to the latency period, which is not a psychosexual stage of development, but a period in which the sexual drive lies dormant. Freud saw latency as a period of unparalleled repression of sexual desires and erogenous impulses. During the latency period, children pour this repressed libidal energy into asexual pursuits such as school, athletics, and same-sex friendships. But soon puberty strikes, and the genitals once again become a central focus of libidal energy. The Genital Stage In the genital stage, as the child's energy once again focuses on his genitals, interest turns to heterosexual relationships. The less energy the child has left invested in unresolved psychosexual developments, the greater his capacity will be to develop normal relationships with the opposite sex. If, however, he remains fixated, particularly on the phallic stage, his development will be troubled as he struggles with further repression and defenses.