Verbal Aggression Essays - Behaviorism, Aggression,

Verbal Aggression Verbal aggression is message behavior which attacks a person's self-concept in order to deliver psychological pain.(Infante, 1995) Studies of verbal aggression have focused primarily on children and adolescents in educational and social settings. Very few studies were found to examine verbal aggression in adults in the workplace.(Ebbesen, Duncan, Konecni, 1974) The consequences of verbal aggression in the workplace can lead to social isolation, job related stress, health related problems, as well as problems in career advancement. It therefore should be considered important, for the individual and management, to identify and address the causes of verbal aggression. This program attempts to understand verbal aggression by 1) identifying the various functions of verbal aggression. 2) identifying the antecedent conditions of verbal aggression. 3) Avoiding the antecedent conditions of verbal aggression. Method Subject The subject, Shirley J., is a 49 year old African American female. Shirley J. has several advanced degrees and is employed as a school psychologist in a metropolitan school district. She is married with two adult children. The subject readily agreed that the target behavior, verbal aggression, is a problem as it interferes with her relationships with others. She was enthusiastic in her desire to reduce, if not eliminate, this behavior. It would seem that self-monitoring for verbal aggression and antecedent control would be valuable as it would allow for consistent avoidance of verbal aggression. As a school psychologist the subject was very familiar with the basic principles of applied behavioral analysis and frequently offered programmatic suggestions. A behavioral contract was developed jointly between the therapist and subject. The contract outlined the target behavior, success criteria, and individual responsibilities of the therapist and subject. (see Appendix A) Apparatus A basic checklist was used to document the frequency of verbal aggression on a daily basis. The checklist was designed to track only the occurrence of the behavior. It was felt by the therapist that the content of the verbally aggressive message would be too open for subjective interpretation and that no meaningful data would be gained from such documentation. In addition the subject made frequent comments of significant success or failure in avoiding verbal aggression for discussion with the therapist. The weekly discussions were used to evaluate the appropriateness of the procedures used and make any necessary adjustments to the program. Procedure For the first two weeks of the program no intervention was applied. Given that the subject self-reported that verbal aggression was a problem it was important to determine if the frequency of the behavior merited intervention. Therefore, the subject documented the daily frequency of verbal aggression. The results of the baseline period revealed a high rate of verbal aggression. (see Appendix B) Given the results of the baseline data as well as the demanding, often stressful, nature of the subjects job, it was mutually agreed that reducing verbal aggression would be the focus of the program. Verbal aggression was defined as cursing, yelling, and screaming at others. The agreed upon goals of the program was to decrease verbal aggression by 75% of baseline for four consecutive weeks. Treatment would consist of identifying and avoiding the antecedent conditions to verbal aggression. Avoidance of the antecedents is considered less restrictive, more proactive, and most effective. During the initial consultation it was determined that the antecedent conditions included, but was not limited to: work stress, time of day, verbal behavior of others (ie. tone of voice, inflection of voice and content of conversation, etc.), and non-verbal behavior of others (ie. facial expression, body posture, eye contact, etc.). In addition, the subject was required to self monitor for the following antecedents: clenched fists, tight jaw, rapid heart beat, and the emotions of anger, frustration and disappointment. Lastly, it was suggested by Infante (1995) that appropriate strategy must be taken to prevent verbal aggression from escalating. Successful avoidance of the antecedent conditions consisted of removing oneself from stressful situations, when possible, as well as not responding verbally when provoked. Weekly consultation revealed that verbal aggression was most often used to: 1) Escape demand situations. 2) Avoid demand situations. 3) Relieve job stress. The subject was to document the frequency of verbal aggression and record the circumstances of significant success or failure during the work week for discussion at weekly consultation sessions. A schedule of

How is love presented in Twelfth Night Essays

How is love presented in Twelfth Night Essays How is love presented in Twelfth Night Paper How is love presented in Twelfth Night Paper Essay Topic: Play Twelfth Night Shakespeares Twelfth Night is in essence a romantic comedy. The theme of love is implemented into both the main and sub plots throughout the endurance of the play; doing so from different perspectives and an array of forms. The other themes in Shakespeares play, such as madness and humour, all coincidentally have an inextricable link with one another. The emphasis of love in Shakespeares plots have been built upon the foundations of disguise and deceit; and as a result, enhances the humour and entertainment of the overall play. Shakespeare typically ends Twelfth Night like all his other romantic comedies, with love prevailing in the end with a marriage; or in this case, a series of marriages. The most glaringly obviously form of love in the play is romantic love, which interestingly enough is never taken from a realistic perspective from any of the leading characters contributing to the theme. For example, the play opens with a speech by the most powerful man in the play, Duke Orsino, who starts by saying If music be the food of love, play on. This basically establishes right from the opening of the play that Twelfth Night is based on love. Orsinos opening line is promptly contradicted in line 7 when he says Enough, no more; Tis not so sweet as it was before. This opening segment basically explains to the audience that they should not be surprised if a characters perspective of love is seen as fantasy like and differs from their own perspective. Orsinos character is the first to be exposed in the play, which Shakespeare has used to create an immediate impact on the audience. Orsino is obviously new to the emotion of love and his contradiction in speech supports this. He is ignorant to the feeling and therefore does not posses any knowledge of the significance of love as witnessed through his later actions. Although Orsino can be seen to be naive of what love entails, his character begins the line of a host of others who are similarly as ignorant and unaware as himself, but takes the aspect of love from a different perspective. Orsino defines love through a series of metaphors as opposed to a literal, face value narrative. For example, he personifies love as a predator like fell and cruel hounds, Eer since pursue me, and as a disease Methought she purgd the air of pestilence. The combination of these metaphors with his poetic form (whilst most of the other characters speak in prose), aid Orsino in disguising his ignorance of love to both the audience and the other characters of the play. The personification of love is used on various occasions in Twelfth Night, as well as a predator and a disease, love is personified as madness midsummer madness and the sea Recieveth as the sea. Orsinos self-indulgent love and fantasy like observation of love are confirmed through his arrogance. Although Orsino is an amiable character within the play, he stills holds up a stigma of arrogance, maintaining the confidence that has the ability to do anything he pleases. To pay this debt of love but to a brother; upon hearing that Olivia wished to be with no man for 7 years, Orsino finds optimism within the news. Instead of giving up on love that is unrequited by Olivia, he carried on his pursuit of her heart. There are no reservations, in his mind, that she will fall in love with him in the end. In light of all this insight into Orsinos character, it would not be an astonishment to learn that Orsino was not actually in love with Olivia but in love with the idea of being in love; and being of such high status in society, Orsino felt that he could never fall victim to defeat in anything, including love. Although Olivia does not return Orsinos love, she is also a target of self-love. Olivia persistently talks of her beauty throughout the endurance of the play. She also holds up part of an equilateral love triangle between herself, Orsino and Viola. She was in love with Cesario who was in love with Orsino who was in love with Olivia. The love between the three is all in conflict with one another, with other characters such as Sebastian and particularly Malvolio taking part in the angle. Olivia emphasises with Orsinos hurt and craving for love, although her love for Cesaio is somewhat repressed. Olivia and Viola also share common ground with the love of a sibling. This form of love is the only type of love in which the person loving has nothing to gain; the love is selfless. Olivia demonstrates this love in a very dramatic fashion as she will not behold her face at ample view; for 7 years, an eternity during Shakespeares time when life expectancy was much lower. With each day in the 7 years, she would cry With eye-offending brine. This vow that she made demanded much more than what she could handle. However, her vow was short lived as she revealed the picture to Viola soon after. This gives us the impression that Olivias attitude towards love should not be taken seriously. On the other hand, Viola mourns respectfully for her brother O my poor brother! and instead of dwelling over his death with the intention of living with that burden; Viola opts to move on with her life in Illyria. Violas love for Orsino has a direct humour correlation with Olivias love for Cesario. Both add the comedy aspect to the emotional situation of love. Olivia does not acknowledge the fact that Cesario is actually a woman, which provides humour in itself as the audience sees a man dressed as a woman fall in love with a man who plays a woman acting like a man. Violas love for Orsino entails the same humour, but the humour intensified by the fact that Viola continuously drops hints to Orsino that Cesario is a woman, in the hope he may recognise her riddles, I am all the daughters of my fathers house, And all the brothers too. The most obvious case of self-love in Twelfth Night came in the form of Malvolio, the dislikeable character of the play. Olivia describes Malvolio of being sick of self-love. Malvolio is a condescending, self-righteous, puritan type, character. Malvolio is immediately mesmerised with the idea of becoming Count Orsino and immediately believes Olivia loves him. However, the driving force behind his feelings for Olivia are clearly for his promotion up the ranks and lust. Malvolio becomes obsessed with the idea of sex when he completely abandons his beliefs as a puritan and aims sexual connotations towards Olivia, To bed? Ay sweetheart, and Ill come to thee. The whole scheme behind the gulling of Malvolio brings out humour and entertainment; whose self-love brought him down.

Analyzing the dispostion of female characters in the modern short Essay

Analyzing the dispostion of female characters in the modern short stories The Yellow Wall Paper by Charlotte Gilman and Rashmon by Akutagawa - Essay Example ess opportunities were scarce and yet women still often found it necessary to become the primary bread-winner of the family or their own only means of support. What people don’t always realize is that this was as common in the East as it was in the West, if not more so. These social conventions were not only held in place by the social restrictions on the gender, but also in the way that they were understood by outsiders. These concepts can be better understood by comparing two works such as Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s â€Å"Rashomon.† Neither story permits the female characters the individuality of a name, forcing them to become only a symbol for the entire gender, nor does the primary female have any choice for the conditions of her life. The woman protagonist in Gilman’s story is required to live an isolated life in the upper room of a very remote country house. Had she had any say in what might be best for her, she would have selected a downstairs room with flower vines growing up the wall and a door out to the garden. â€Å"I wanted one downstairs that opened on the piazza and had roses all over the window, and such pretty old-fashioned chintz hangings! but John would not hear of it. He said there was only one window and not room for two beds, and no near room for him if he took another.† The room she is confined to is much different, decorated with ugly peeling yellow wallpaper and with bars on the windows blocking out the scenery outside. It is significant that the room is thought to have been a nursery because the woman is treated like a young child, not an adult capable of making her own decisions. â€Å"He [John] is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction. I have a schedule prescription for each hour in the day; he takes all care from me.† With no options available to her other than to simply give in to the forces around her, the woman eventually comes