Globalization And Its Impact On Malaysia Media Essay

Globalization And Its Impact On Malaysia Media Essay In 1985, the term of globalization was first used by Theodore Levitt. He characterizes the vest changes that had taken places in the international economy over last two to three decades. The rapid and pervasive economic and financial changes had taken place in production, consumption and investment globally. Globalization can generally refer as a process or widening economic integration. Thus globalization increase the economic openness and growing economic interdependence between countries around the world economy. Furthermore, the process are involves the increment of peoples movement, goods, capital across the national borders and services. All of this has been made possible by revolutions in communications, information and other technologies as well as important political changes. In other word, globalization typically refers to the process by which different economies and societies become more closely integrated, and concurrent with increasing worldwide globalization. Globalizations can generate wealth to the country and it definitely can bring the economy of the country to the highest points. Furthermore, globalization draws peoples closer together, and offers many of us choices. It also enables us to produce more efficiently, effectively and it allows us, at least some of us to improve the quality of life. However, if globalization can generate wealth, for sure it can take it back. For sure, not everyone is happy about globalization because it brings the negatives impact to country as well. Globalization allows rich and powerful outside business interests to intrude into the local culture and they are attend to overrides local traditions and for sure it has threatens a way of life. The cultural and religious of the society has effected and threatens because of globalization. In industrialized and developing countries, many people have felt threatened and they are threatened by the globalization. A globalized economy presents a myriad of challenges for the peoples such as in the form of protecting local cultures and environment as well as local jobs. Globalization also tends to impact the national security of the world. This close integration of the countries in the world in the global system has wide implications or ramifications toward national security. The effects of the globalization on national security is the world has created a new international law which were stripped the nation-state from its sovereignty and also made the neutrality moot, political and economic integration. Because of this, it tends to increase the tension in the international system as neither geography nor national policy offers much protection. With this, national security question has created because of the globalization. In addition, the globalization also can impact the human work for the whole world. The most important factor that effect the changing in work is technological, so the changes due to the world-wide and wholesale introduction of new information technologies (NIT) is particularly important impacts when promoting and speeding up globalization, in part of recurrently influencing work settings. However, world-wide changes in technology not only induce changes in work places but occupational structure and the professions in company have dramatic changes too. The process of globalization is one of the most critical developments that will affect the evolution of national economies. Since, globalization offers participating countries a new opportunities for accelerating growth and development, unfortunately, at the same time, it also poses challenges to and imposes constraints on policy makers in the management of national, global economic systems and also regional. So, globalization may impact the worlds poor and making the people of the world become very poor which are making the world unbalanced. At last, we know that the greatest challenge we have face today is to ensure that globalization becomes a positive forces which can helps the worlds people, instead of leaving billions of them behind in squalor. Inclusive globalization must be built on the great enabling force of the market, but market forces alone will not achieve it. It requires a broader effort to create a shared future for worlds people based upon our common humanity in all its diversity. Section 2 : Discuss Current Key Issues (Lee Tsun Chieh 1071113009) Differential aspects of globalization Economy After Malaysias independence, Malaysia has been one of the most globalized developing countries. Globalization is one of the major factors to Malaysias phenomenal economic development and growth. In addition, Anwar lbrahim had said that globalization has done us a good service and especially in the economic sector. [1] In 1992, Malaysia had offered to reduce the tariffs on 79% of imports ,however, non-tariffs has converted into tariffs, mainly for import licenses involving approval permits(APs). With this, Malaysia has benefited from increased manufactured exports and consumer welfare has been improved. On the other hand, Malaysias Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio has increased, the trade liberalization decreasing, and indicating the increase in economic liberalization year by year. In facts, the globalization has directly improving the economics of Malaysia. Similarly like what Stiglitz said (2009), who defined globalization as closer integration of countries and people of the wor ld and the growing importance of internationally active corporation moving capital, goods, and technology across borders.[2] Economic liberalization has in indirectly made the economy increasingly susceptible to external shocks, and undermined the expansion of domestic industrial capacity and capability. Malaysia has incurring trading losses from RM 809 million in 1961 to RM 53,691 million in 1997, this will led to a decrease in the export purchasing power, and also will reduced the quantity of imports into Malaysia. Method of Communication From the angle of technology, the technological innovation lead to a lot of convenient especially the communications technologies, such as fiber optics, electronic mail and also particularly satellite communications, all these discover made their life easier and they be able to communicate all around the world because of the revolutionary innovation. On the other hand, it enable cost saving for internal communication and reduce the travelling costs. By internet, the able to support the business online and reduce the capital expenses and also the maintenance costs. Technology Technology always is the important impact of the globalization, and technological innovation also part of promoting and speeding up globalization, it also used to recurrently influencing work settings. Nowadays the technological advances occur rapidly and all around the world, some of the industry has responded by forming joint ventures, overseas research and development organization and etc. All the new organization will speed up the world technological innovation and help them own county develop to globalization and this interaction will continue. To make sure the technological innovation keep going on and without influence the working setting, our country try the best to globalization it. Examples transfer of technology through licensing, creation of new business and also joint ventures. All these interactions had been done to increased the number of subsidiaries of the multinational corporations and have created new strategic alliances. In the twentieth century, which machines have increasing rapidly and replaced the skills of workers nowadays. In a production process in which science and technology are central, knowledge and not skill defines the process.[3] Now most of the university employees spend few hours in a day in front of the computer screens. They linked to their colleagues through internet services to find out their needs. National Security The impact of globalization on nationals security is complex. Furthermore, it could be affecting the political and economic conditions within the states. However, the impact of globalization is not necessarily negative. Some of the participants have argued that some ways the forces of globalization have brought about greater stability in the region. For example, Johor-Riau-Singapore triangle in Southeast Asia, these countries have reduced the conflicts between them and they have give some cooperate between each of them. Nevertheless, the impact on globalization on the national security environment is not fully positive. Globalization may actually serve to aggravate long-standing tensions. This is the challenges to the whole world and many of these are represent long-term threats which have traditionally fallen outside the realm of foreign policy. In fact, in the last 11 years, the US interference in Malaysia economy had threats of economic sanctions under the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) on the PETRONAS. This issue is to pressure Malaysia to tow along the line set by its foreign policy in the New World Order.[4] In addition, the foreign interference that increased in Malaysias internal affairs had demonstrated by the Anwar. However, USA-led was tried to inflame the Anwar-Mahathir conflict in order to erode the confidence of international community on Malaysias political stability in the Malaysias internal affairs. [1] With this, we know that the economic interdependence has a political price which is either delegating some nation authority to a common international institution like World Bank and IMF or increased the vulnerability. Cultural For the cultural aspect, globalization means the changes in term of the way of living among people in the community. Hallak (2000) [5] in this regard states that globalization has produced two discrepant phenomena; standardization and diversification. Standardization refers to similarity in eating habits, clothes, and cultural products whereas diversification is more about encouragement in accessing the multiple nature of world heritage. The process of cultural globalization would not be smooth without the help of advanced communication technologies. Scientific and advanced technology of communication plays a vital role in disseminating a certain culture throughout the world. Mohamed and Musa (1999) [6] noted that the communication media, especially television and the Internet, are the tools to spread out diverse cultures and lifestyles which mostly come from Western societies. The society is exposed to the Pepsi lifestyle, McDonalds, Hollywood and Bollywood movies. Globalization, in short it creates similarities and differences in the cultural. Mobility Mobility can be characterising into tourism and migration. For past, to travelling world-wide is hard to accept because of the travel fee is too expensive. But nowadays, the international tourism has become one of the target and fastest growing business sectors in many countries. The cheap air travel and enticing tourist infrastructures have made it possible and interesting also for that low income population to make vacation far away from here. Example AirAsia airline always comes out with a lot of offer and package for us with affordable price, with that kind of promotion, the low income family have the chance to do more vacation. Section 3 : Case Study and Discussion (Tan Jin Sheng 1071113007) From our questionnaire survey, there are 50 students have participated. There are 25 students are male and another 25 students are female. There are 45 students are Malaysian and 5 students are non Malaysian. All of the students that participated are at the range of age at 18-29. All of them are single and none of them are in married. There are 39 students doing their degree and 11 students doing their diploma. There are 30 students are from FET, 10 students are from FBL and another 10 students are from FIST. From the pie chart above, we found out that there 66% of students are understood about the meaning of globalization. Most of the students believe that the globalization will bring benefits to them and also our countries. Part of the students does not know well the meaning of globalization because they seldom access to the media, and also internet. For the students who know because they learn it from the syllabus of studies and the access to the media frequently, like reading newspaper or access to internet every day. On the other hand, they also able to list out the impact of globalization and important of it toward Malaysia. Example, globalization enables fast growth in economic and decentralization of production, rapid development of urban centres, and etc. Of course globalization also bring us a lot negative impact like increasing inequality and poverty, negative use of labour flexibility particularly for easy hire and fire, and etc. For further improvement, our government need to take action to minimize the negative impact due to globalization. From the pie chart above, we found out that most all students are think that the technology, economy and the method of communication will have impact in Malaysia. Mostly all of them think that the impact will come in the positive form for example we invented new technology, we have more convenience way to communication and more people will become rich. In facts, when our county has good economy, it definitely will make the people rich, when we are rich, we can have better live and quality life. In addition, they think that we will have a good way or convenience way to communication with each other when globalization in Malaysia has growth fast likes others country. Technology are the one of the main impact of globalization, it development in science and technology in order to fast growth in technology sector. Technological innovation is the part of promoting and speeding up globalization, it also going to replace the skills of workers nowadays. So, from this survey, we found out that most of the students can understand what is globalization is, however they wish that our country can be globalized and become more developed country in Asia as well as in the world. Furthermore, we also can see that most of the students can only see the appearance impact when Malaysia is globalized, in facts, there are more aspect that will impact in Malaysia when Malaysia are globalized. So, these kinds of information are importance to the people of Malaysia in order to be a developed country in the world. Section 4 : Conclusion and suggestion for Improvements (Kishok nair a/l vijaya seharan 1071118515) Suggestion for Improvements Globalization in general humanitarian sense must be understood as creating a situation where people nations all over the globe come closer and closer with lesser lesser conflict and greater greater prosperity. During globalization, there are a lot of impact occurs within our nation, there have positive and also negative impacts which will bring a lot of benefit and also disadvantages to our life and country. So, we as the nation of Malaysia play an important role to minimize the bad impact. Example, we need to have ethical behaviour to treat or serve everything around us, not just being ethical behaviour but we need to put effort to do it also. The government also the important role, government need come out a lot of action like promote by advertisement, do campaign and etc. All the action taken by the government will make the nation aware of their attitude and they will review themselves if they found it wrong. Besides that, government also can come out certain plan to archive Ma laysia ideal achievement, examples like Tenth Malaysia Plan on Globalization. The related ideas in the plan was leveraging on our diversity internationally, nurturing, attracting and retaining top talent, supporting effective and smart partnerships and etc. Currently Malaysia are using the critical discursive strategies like mimicry, hybridity, representation and orientalism, this has been able to selectively appropriate fragments of modernity via its embrace and successful prosecution of the free market laced with an Asian cultural flavour enabling it to portray itself as a successful Asian market economy.  In so doing, it has allowed Malaysia to transform itself from a relatively passive object into an active subject broaching issues of pan-Islamic practices and thought, global inequalities, human rights, the environment and social, cultural and political representations of developing countries and/or the third world.[7] Conclusion As the spread of globalization, globalization has increasingly become a specific economic strategy pursued for many of the countries in the world in order to re-exert their position and influence over those other countries. However, in Malaysia, we should know about the globalization maybe will gives us the positive impact and also the negative impact. Then what we want to do is to ensure that globalization can bring us more positive impact instead of negative impact. So, we should improve or to achieve the 10th Malaysia plan on globalization in order to be a fully globalized country. At last, globalization may become a key to success or a key to become a developed country; however, it may also become a key to failure the country when the country cannot manage it well.

Essays --

â€Å"Nurses eat their young.† It is an aged saying in nursing which describes the hazing and lateral violence which frequently occurs in the workplace. The victims of this bullying are usually new graduate nurses or nursing students. New graduates start their careers at the bottom of the proverbial totem pole; spending much of their time trying to learn the ropes and gaining experience as nurses. To the more experienced nurses they may appear to be easy targets with their â€Å"deer in the headlights† faces; believing the newbies are too frightened to fight back. Certain nursing schools, which will remain anonymous, use similar boot camp- like mentality while training their student nurses. The students at these schools remain fearful of their nursing instructors at all times. This instinct is required to survive their harsh reality of nursing boot camp. These students remain fidgety throughout their time in nursing school and this same shell-shocked behavior carries ov er to the early months or even years of their nursing careers. Nursing is supposed to be a field of compassion, the general belief being that most nurses are compassionate, caring human beings. So why are new nurses being hazed instead of nurtured by more experienced nurses and nursing instructors? Does this hazing really exist? If so, why? Is there anything being done to stop this lateral violence subjected upon new graduates? Is there more that can be done to prevent future victimization of new graduate nurses? To investigate these questions a preliminary interview and survey of several new graduate nurses, younger nurses with 2-8 years of experience, highly experienced nurses with 15 or more years of nursing experience, as well as nursing instructors and nursing precept... ...Most nurses chose the field because they are compassionate people and may need to remind themselves they were once new graduate nurses. Another remedy may call for older, savvier nurses, to stick up and defend the new nurses who are being picked on. Even with all the efforts suggested, â€Å"Nurses eating their young† will take time to cure and future study of other possible remedies towards lateral violence will be required. Whether if it is due to stress, burnout, attempt to educate newer nurses, or someone just trying to build their own confidence; these behaviors have existed for many years. It is an obvious problem with documented detrimental effects on young nurses. A true solution will only arise through continued education on the subject, greater enforcements, a little bit of self-reflection, and combined efforts from ALL medical staff members and school staff.

Counselling Psychology Essay

During the history of psychology and counselling a wide range of attitudes and approaches have been developed in order to provide individuals with the ability to explore his or her inner world through varied strategies and modes of interaction. The aim was to increase the level of awareness as well as the level of motivation and changes (Sarnoff, 1960). According to Stefflre & Burks (1979), Counselling doesn’t just occur between two people, â€Å"it denotes a professional relationship between a trained counsellor and a client. This relationship is usually person-to-person, although it may sometimes involve more than two people†, it also focuses upon the stimulation of personal development in order to maximize personal and social effectiveness and to forestall psychologically crippling disabilities (p.14). For this assignment the Psychoanalytic Theoretical approach to Counselling will be examined, along with its theorist Sigmund Freud and the therapeutic techniques assoc iated with this theoretical approach. Before one can begin to explore techniques of psychoanalysis, it is important to briefly review Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, the developmental personality and his stages of psychological development. Psychoanalytic theory and its practice originated in the late nineteenth century in the work of Sigmund Freud. According to Sarnoff (1960), psychoanalytic theory is considered to be the historical foundation of therapy. It describes the â€Å"mechanisms of ego defence which serve to protect the individual against external and internal threat† it also offers a distinctive way of thinking about the human mind and how it responds to psychological distress (p. 251). This theory has evolved into a complex, multifaceted and internally fractured body of knowledge situated at the interface between the human and natural sciences, clinical and counselling practice and academic theory. Therefore the term psychoanalysis refers to both Freud’s original attempt at providing a comprehensive theory of the mind and also the associated treatment (Wachtel & Messer, 1997, p.39-42). Freud viewed human nature as dynamic, that is, he believed in the transformation and exchange of energy withi n the personality. These dynamic concepts consist of instincts, libido, cathexis, anticathexis and anxiety and are related to the way one distributes psychic energy (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2007). In attempting to account for why human beings behave as they do, Freud invented the topographic and structural models of personality. The topographical model or â€Å"iceberg† of the mind was intended to help analysts understand how patients repress wishes, fantasies, and thoughts. In the topographical model, the mind is divided into conscious, preconscious, and unconscious systems (Passer & Smith, 2007, p.443-445). The conscious system includes all that we are subjectively aware of in our minds. The preconscious includes material that we are capable of becoming aware of, but do not happen to be aware of currently. According to Freud (as cited in Passer & Smith, 2007, p.444), the metaphor of â€Å"the psyche is like an iceberg† was proposed. Like an actual iceberg only the upper ten percent of it is visible or conscious and the rest is submerged and unseen below the water’s surface. So likewise, most human behaviour results from unconscious motivation, hence the unconscious system includes material that we have defensively removed from our awareness by means of repression and other defence mechanisms. So when unconscious materials attempt to enter the conscious level, a â€Å"censor† function (repression) pushes it back or lets it through in a disguised form (Ewen, 1992). As a result, counsellors try to move unconscious material to the preconscious and then to the conscious mind, to increase the patient’s self-awareness. With this model Freud realized that their was certain explanatory limitations, such as the model’s inability to account for certain forms of psychopathology and as a result developed an alternative that explained normal and abnormal personality development. This alternative is known as the structural model (Brammer, Shostrum & Abrego, 1989). According to Freud (as cited in Gladding, 2000, p.187-188), the structural model for psychoanalysis consists of three psychic structures the id, ego and superego, which differ in terms of power and influence. These parts symbolise the different aspects of a person’s personality. The id and superego are confined to the unconscious and the ego operates mainly in the conscious but also interacts with the preconscious and unconscious of the topographical model. The id which develops within the next three years of an individual’s life is the source of ones motivation, and includes sexual and aggressive drives. Sigmund Freud’s theory believed that both the sexual and aggressive drives are powerful determinants of why people act as they do; it involves an analysis of the root cause or causes of behaviour and feelings by exploring the unconscious mind and the conscious mind’s rel ation to it. This id demands the satisfaction of the antisocial instincts and obeys an inexorable ‘pleasure principle’. The id is viewed as not having any logic, values or ethics, for example the id wants whatever feels good at a certain time (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2007). Therefore Freud saw that it was urgent to control the pleasure principle and he postulated that there must be a ‘super-ego’ to control the id. The ego can be viewed as the executive of personality; it consists of a group of mechanisms such as reality-testing, judgment and impulse control. It incorporates these techniques so it is able to control the demands of the id and of other instincts, becoming aware of stimuli, and serving as a link between the id and the external world (Pervin, Cervone & John, 2005). As an individual’s ego develops so does the perception of reality and a wider view beyond, the pleasures of subjective gratification, is attained. Therefore the pleasure principle that was devel oped by Freud was replaced by the reality principle (Garcia, 1995). As described by the psychoanalytic theory, the psychological conflict that the ego faces, in respect to dealing with the demands of the superego and the id, is an intrinsic and pervasive part of human experience. For example, if an individual is under pressure and the balance is tipped too far towards one element, thus creating excessive anxiety, the ego is forced to take extreme measures to relieve the pressure, by incorporating what is know as defence mechanisms (Passer & Smith, 2007, p.444-445). These principle defences consists of repression, projection, reaction formation, displacement, regression, rationalization, denial and identification, these are used to defend the ego and are known in therapy as denial or repression. Therefore the way in which a person characteristically resolves the instant gratification versus longer-term reward dilemma, in many ways comes to reflect on their â€Å"character† (Kleep, 2008). In contrast to the id is the superego, which is developed at around age five. It is the internalized representation of the traditional values, ideas and moral standards of society and strives for perfection (Pervin et al., 2005). Counsellors who use the structural model commonly focus on helping patients handle conflicts that occur between these three mental agencies by assessing the level of functioning of the client’s id, ego, and superego, the specific areas of weakness and strength in each (Garcia, 1995). For example, counsellors usually diagnose a patient as psychotic if his or her ego suffers a severe impairment in reality-testing. Freud believed that human social and personality development occurs through his psychoanalytic theory of development. This theory consists of five stages the oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. These are characterized by a dominant mode of achieving libidinal pleasure and by specific development tasks. An individual’s personality according to Freud has been shaped by the age of five and he believes this tim e is the most critical for an individual (Hergenhahn & Olson). During these years if an individual is able to successfully negotiate these stages, then healthy personality develops. However, if through â€Å"over-gratification† or â€Å"under-gratification†, conflicts are not resolved adequately specific traits and characters develop and continue through to adulthood. Therefore, Freud believed that the three early stages of development often brought individuals to counselling because there were not properly resolved (Pervin et al., 2005). According to Gladding (2000),†Counsellors who work psychoanalytically should understand at which stage a client is functioning because the stages are directly linked to the plan of treatment† (p.189). Children experience conflicts in different stages of development. In each stage, conflict centers on a different theme. In Freud’s oral sensory stage, which occurs from birth to one year, conflict at this point centers on feeding. Children in this stage want to eat things that the Ego tells them is not good for them. Freud believed that some individuals do not pass this stage successfully and remained dependent and overly optimistic. Such people also find it hard to make intimate friends with others and fear loss which may be accompanied by ‘greed’ (Passer & Smith, 2007, p.443-445). Individuals who are considered to have an oral personality are usually narcissistic which means according to the DSM IV-TR â€Å"enduring pattern[s] of inner experience and behaviour† that are sufficiently rigid and deep-seated to bring a person into repeated conflicts with his or her social and occupational environment† (Barlow & Durand, 2005, p.445). In other words the individual is characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, need for admiration, extreme self-involvement, and lack of empathy for others. However, this disorder is only diagnosed when these behaviours become persistent and very disabling or distressing (Barlow & Durand, 2005). In the second stage which is known as t he anal stage and occurs in the second year of life, conflict centers on bowel training. In counseling this stage involves two phases, one is an aggressive phase. This allows the client to share information that was stored up. The other phase is the retentive phase, where clients may hold on to their negative beliefs and attitudes until they are ready to release them. The reason for such behavior by clients is because they may find some pleasure in resisting and withholding this information (Garcia, 1995). The controversial â€Å"Oedipal complex† for boys or â€Å"Electra complex† for girls occurs in the phallic stage and happens around three to five years. This stage is seen by counselors as the phase of initiation and transition. According to Garcia (1995), â€Å"Counselors may act as initiators by providing appropriately challenging experiences within the scope of each individual’s potential for mastery† (p.499). Freud proposed children at this stage compete with the same sex parent for the affection of the opposite sex parent for example boys desire to have their mother but are prevented by the presence of their father (see Appendix 1). Fear of punishment forces repression of such desires and consequently the superego is developed. To unsuccessfully go through this stage is believed to be associated with obsessive compulsive behaviours (Passer & Smith, 2007, p.446-447). Psychoanalysts pointed out several reasons why the Oedipal complex seem unreal to individuals. Firstly, individuals are unable to comprehend their own Oedipal complex when they were children and what was comprehended was energetically repressed almost as soon as individuals became aware of it. Secondly, individuals gradually accept their culture’s perception for their sexual and aggressive life (Klepp, 2008). In the Caribbean for example boys have more freedom than girls and they learn that they must become like their father, who is stereotypically aggressive, ambitious, powerful, and in direct contrast to his mother, who is stereotypically passive, obedient and nurturing and according to societal norms girls should also possess such traits. T herefore because of societal perspectives on an individual’s life, it is considered as the norm and is accepted for a man to possess more than one female. However it is unorthodox and frowned upon for females to behave in this manner. The fourth stage which is known as the Latency occurs from age six years until puberty. In this stage sexual instincts are repressed and superego is fully developed. At this time clients may be initiating and cultivating new and transitional alliances outside of the helping relationship (Garcia, 1995). The fifth and last stage which is known as the genital stage begins with puberty and continues for the rest of adult life. Mature sexuality is the theme of this stage. This stage is also known as the definitive phase of the counseling process and marks the end of the counseling process and the beginning of its outcome which would be demonstrated over time (Garcia, 1995). Freud suggested strongly that personality was essentially established when the Oedipus and Electra complexes were successfully resolved (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2007, p.40-43). Patients usually get in contact with a psychoanalytic counsellor when defences have failed and anxiety has developed. Therefore, the primary goal of counselling, within a psychoanalytic frame of reference, is to make the unconscious conscious. By doing so any material that is repressed is brought to the conscious level and can be dealt with (Wachtek & Messer, 1997). According to Freud (as cited in, Pervin, Cervone & John, 2005, p. 74-82), unhealthy individuals are unaware of the many factors that cause their behaviour and emotions and as a result these unconscious factors have the potential to produce unhappiness, which in turn is expressed through a score of distinguishable symptoms, including disturbing personality traits, difficulty in relating to others and disturbances in self-esteem or general disposition. The counsellor employs a variety of techniques to tap into a patient’s unconscious such as free association, dream analysis, analysis of transference, analysis of resistance and interpretation. All these methods have the long-term goal of strengthening the ego (Gladding, 2000, p.192-194). Free association is a method that replaced hypnosis in Freud’s therapy. It consists of a patient speaking about any subject matter one basically abandons his or her customary conscious control over one’s behaviour and gives free verbal expression to every thought, feeling or impulse of which one becomes aware. Conclusions are then based on what was said and by doing this the counsellor is hoping that the client will abandon all normal forms of censoring, or editing their thoughts (Rieber, 2006). An example of the use of free association is lying on a couch, in dim light and in a peaceful room, the patient produces the following free association: â€Å"I am thinking of the fluffy clouds I seem to see with my very eyes. They are white and pearly. The sky is full of clouds but a few azure patches can still be seen here and there†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Ewen, 1992, p.57). Colby (1960) pointed out that, this technique often leads to some recollection of past experiences and at times a release of intense feelings such as catharsis that have been blocked but resistance may occur during free association (p.54-58).. This means that the patient is unable to recall traumatic past events. Therefore, one task of the counsellor would be to overcome resistance. Blocking or disruptions in associations serve as cues to anxiety arousing material. According to Grà ¼nbaum (1986), free association is not a valid method of accessing the patients’ repressed memories because there is no way of ensu ring that the analyst is capable of distinguishing between the patients’ actual memories and imagined memories constructed due to the influence of the analyst’s leading questions (p. 226). Another type of technique that is related to free association is transference. Pervin et al., (2005) stated that, â€Å"transference refers to a patient’s development of attitudes towards the counsellor based on attitudes held by that patient toward earlier parental figures† (p.129). In other words it is the client’s unconscious shifting to the counsellor of feelings and fantasies that are reactions to significant others in the patient’s past and present (Stefflre & Burks, 1979). This process is encouraged by the client reclining vulnerably on a couch, with the counsellor out of sight and remaining a â€Å"blank slate† as much as possible. At this time a parent child relationship is developed among client and counsellor and therefore transfers the patient’s old emotions with his or her actual parents unto the counsellor. This makes for an extremely difficult situation in which the counsellor has a huge amount of influence, which is necessary but requires care and restraint (Sue & Sue, 2007). Freud initially believed transference was a hurdle in counselling. However, he eventually recognized that transference is a universal phenomenon and also occurs outside of the counselling session. But in order for the counselling section to produce change the transference relationship must be work through. Work through occurs after transference in the case of most learning, the insights gained through psychoanalytic counselling must be practiced to integrate them in one’s life. It other words it allows the client to understand the influence of the past on his or her present situation, to accept it emotionally as well as intellectually, and to use the new understanding to make changes in present life. By doing this the client will also learn to avoid repressing the material (Schaeffer, 1998; Ewen, 1992). Ewen (1992) pointed out, several disadvantages to the transference technique. Firstly, this technique can not be effectively applied to group counselling. Secondly, â€Å"it is possible for the transference to become extremely negative as when powerful distrust or obstinacy is displaced from a castrating parent to counsellor† and the counsellor must be very careful not to aggravate deserved love or hate which would give the client a valid excuse for refusing to recognise and learn from the transference technique (p.59). Warwar & Greenberg (2000) discussed recent changes in psychoanalytic theory. Rather than presenting a problem, countertransference currently is considered to be a fundamental, useful component of the psychoanalytic counselling process, because it provides the counsellor with useful information about the counselling relationship (p.571-600). Countertransference occurs when the counsellor begins to project his or her own unresolved conflicts unto the client. While transference of the client’s conflicts unto the counsellor is considered a healthy and normal part of psychoanalytic counselling, the counsellor’s job is to remain neutral as not to breech any of the ethical codes of counselling (Rosenberger & Hayes, 2002). Individuals are seen as being motivated by their past and present relationships, rather than by biological urges when this technique is in use, therefore the counselling relationship is seen as real. Thus client’s behaviour is not seen primarily as transference, but as responses in a current relationship. In addition, change is understood to be the result of the constructive emotional experience of the counselling relationship, rather than the result of insight. This new emphasis on the reality and importance of this type of relationship appears to be integrated into other approaches to counselling as well (Sue & Sue, 2007). Some criticisms of countertransference are that it can be damaging if not proper ly managed. With proper monitoring, however, some sources show that counter-transference can play an important role. Counsellors are encouraged to pay close attention to their feelings in respect to this technique, and to seek peer review and supervisory guidance as needed. Rather than eliminating counter-transference altogether, the goal is to use those feelings productively rather than harmfully (Schaeffer, 1998). The basic method of psychoanalysis is interpretation. Brammer, Shostrum & Abrego (1989) states, â€Å"interpretation is an attempt by the counsellor to impart meaning to the client. Interpretation means presenting the client with a hypothesis about relationships or meanings among his or her behaviours† (p.175). In psychoanalytic counselling the counsellor is silent as much as possible, in order to encourage the patient’s free association and to interpret resistances and repressions that the client has not yet understood, but is capable of tolerating and incorporating, s o as to better understand the unconscious conflicts that are interfering with daily functioning, such as phobias and depression (Clark, 1995). Interpretations by the counsellor appear to be the critical variable in counselling success, along with client insight about underlying motivations, in order to achieve client goals. Therefore the goal of interpretation is to enable the ego to assimilate new material and to speed up the process of uncovering further unconscious materials (Wachtel & Messer, 1997). According to Clark (1995) Interpretation was rejected by critics as a valid technique because, â€Å" it was perceived as undermining the counsellors relationship, minimizing or subverting client responsibility and restricting the counselling process to an intellectual endeavour† (p.486). Freud (as cited in Passer & Smith, 2007, p.170-172) saw dreams as the major source of insight into the unconscious and as very important. Dreams are seen as the â€Å"royal road to the unconscious† and are not literal in nature but symbolic. Dreams also consist of two levels of content the latent and manifest. Dream Analysis is a very imperfect science, as there are many levels of distortion between the patient’s unconscious and the counsellor’s interpretation, bearing in mind, according to Freud, dreams are interpreted in terms of phallic meanings (Hergenhahn & Olson, 2007). For example it is amazing how many ordinary items can be interpreted as being a penis such as chair legs or a vagina such as purses. Each fragment of a dream leads quickly to the disclosure of unconscious memories and fantasies and then unto associations of other topics. Another technique that is involved in the psychoanalytic process of counselling is Analysis of resistance. Although a client may feel the need to change and truly desire help for themselves through the counsellor many things can enter the picture to alter this change; these things are referred to as resistance. Resistance refers to any idea, attitude, feelings or action which can be conscious or unconscious that fosters the status quo and gets in the way of change. For example: missed or being late for appointments, rambling on about the economy or politics, any type of distraction that seems to keep the client from actually focusing on the real issues is considered resistance (Sue & Sue, 2007,p.98). According to Gladding â€Å"a counsellor’s analysis of resistance can assist clients gain insight to their situation and other behaviours (p.193). Psychoanalytic theory has been applied to counselling in terms of the assessment of personality. This theory is the underlining factor of the performance based or projective tests used in psychoanalytic counselling. These assessments assist counsellors in the analysis of individuals’ unconscious thoughts, motives, feelings, conflicts and repressed problems from early childhood. These types of test generally have an unstructured response format, meaning that respondents are allowed to respond as much or as little as they like (free association) to a particular test stimulus, which is normally ambiguous (Pervin et al., 2005). The most common type of test used in this area includes the Rorschach Inkblot test. This test is a method used in psychological evaluation; it can be administered to children as young as three, adolescents and adults. This assessment tries to probe the unconscious minds of clients. The counsellor will show the subject a series of ten irregular but symmetrical inkblots and ask the client to identify the inkblot. As the patient is examining the inkblots the counsellor writes down everything the patient says or does, no matter how trivial the subject’s responses. These responses are then analysed in various ways noting not only what was said but the time taken to respond and which aspect of the drawings was focused on. At this time if a client consistently sees the images as threatening and frightening the counsellor might infer that the subject may be suffering from paranoia. Major criticisms of this test include a lack or reliability and validity. Individuals who benefit the most from psychoanalytic counselling are those middle aged clients who are searching for a meaning to life (Pervin et al., 2005). The principal concepts of psychoanalytic counselling can be grouped as structural, dynamic, and developmental concepts. This theory is a method for learning about the mind and insights into whatever the human mind produces. It is a way of understanding the processes of everyday mental functioning and the stages of development (Sue & Sue, 2007). Freud’s approach is subject to several criticisms. Firstly, it is too time consuming, expensive and generally ineffective to those who seek help from a psychoanalytic counsellor who has less disruptive developmental or situational problems and disorders. Secondly, techniques involved in psychoanalysis, such as Freud’s ideas on the interpretation of dreams and the role of free association, have been criticized. For instance, one counsellor may observe one phenomenon and interpret it one way, whereas another counsellor will observe the same phenomenon and interpret it in a completely different way that is contradictory to the first psychoanalyst’s interpretation (Stefflre & Burks, 1979). Despite the weaknesses of psychoanalysis, there are many strengths of the theory that are extremely significant. It offers an empathetic and non-judgemental environment where the client can feel safe in revealing feelings or actions that have led to stress or tension in his or her life. It also lends itself to empirical studies and provides a theoretical base support for a number of diagnostic tests (Gladding, 2000, p.194-195).Therefore, the psychoanalysis is a theory that should not be disregarded. Although it was developed a long time ago it is still applicable and an effective method of treating mental disorders such as paranoia, schizophrenia and obsessive compulsive reactions in today’s societies. In addition, a good theory, according to many philosophers of science, is falsifiable, able to be generalized, leads to the development of new psychological theories and hypotheses. Psychoanalysis meets many of these criteria (Klepp, 2008). References Barlow,D., & Durand, V. (2005). Abnormal psychology: An integrative Approach (4th Ed). Belmont: Wadsworth. Brammer, L.M., Shostrum, E. L., & Abrego, P. J. (1989). Therapeutic psychology: Fundamentals of Counseling and psychotherapy (5th Ed). Prentice Hall. Clark, J. A, (1995). An examination of the technique of interpretation in counseling. Journal of Counseling and Development, 73 (5), 483-489. Colby, K. M. (1960). An Introduction to psychoanalytic research (1st Ed). New York: Basic. Ewen, B. R. (1992). An Introduction to theories of personality (4th Ed). Psychology Press. Garcia, L. J, (1995). Freud’s psychosexual stage conception: A developmental metaphor for counsellors. Journal of Counseling and Development, 73 (5), 498-502. Gladding, T. S, (2000). Counseling: A Comprehensive profession (4th Ed). Prentice Hall, Inc Grà ¼nbaum, A. (1986). Prà ©cis of The foundations of psychoanalysis: A philosophical critique. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 9, 217-284. Hergenhahn, R., & Olson, H. M (2007). An Introduction to Theories of Personality (7th Ed). Pearson Prentice Hall. http://myauz.com/ianr/articles/lect3freud07.pdf. Retrieved October 19th, 2009. Klepp, L. (2008). Meetings of the mind. The weekly standard, 13(42), 29-31 Passer, W. M., & Smith, E. R. (2007). Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behavior (3rd Ed). McGraw Hill. Pervin, A. L., Cervone, D., & John, P. O. (2005). Personality Theory and Research (Eds). John Wiley. Rieber, W. R. (2006), The Bifurcation of the self: the history and theory of dissociation and its Disorders (1st Ed). Springer. Rosenberger, W. E., & Hayes, A. J. (2002). Therapist as subject: A review of empirical countertransference literature. Journal of Counseling and Development, 80 (3), 264- 270 Sarnoff, I. (1960). Psychoanalytic Theory and social attitudes. Public Opinion Quarterly, 24(2), 251-279. Schaeffer, A. J. (1998). Transference and countertransference interpretations : Harmful or helpful in short-term dynamic therapy?. American journal of psychotherapy , 52 (1), 1- 17. Stefflre, B., & Burks, M. H (1979). Theories of Counselling (3rd Ed). McGraw-Hill. Sue, D., & Sue, M. D (2007). Foundations of Counseling and Psychotherapy: Evidence based practices for a diverse society (1st Ed ). John Wiley & Sons. Wachtel, L. P., & Messer, B. S. (1997).Theories of Psychotherapy Origins and Evolution (1st Ed). American Psychological Association. Warwar, S. & Greenberg, L. S. (2000). Advances in theories of change and counseling: Handbook of Counselling psychology (3rd Ed). New York: Wiley and Sons.

Tips to Improve Your French Pronunciation

Speaking French is more than just knowing the vocabulary and grammar rules. You also need to pronounce the letters correctly. Unless you started learning French as a child, youre unlikely to ever sound like a native speaker, but its certainly not impossible for adults to speak with a decent French accent. Here are some ideas to help you improve your French pronunciation. Learn French Sounds Basic French PronunciationThe first thing you need to do is understand how each letter is usually pronounced in French.Letters in DetailAs in English, some letters have two or more sounds, and letter combinations often make completely new sounds.French AccentsAccents dont show up on certain letters just for decoration - they often give clues about how to pronounce those letters.International Phonetic AlphabetFamiliarize yourself with the pronunciation symbols used in French dictionaries. Get a Decent Dictionary When you see a new word, you can look it up to find out how its pronounced. But if youre using a little pocket dictionary, youll find that many words arent there. When it comes to French dictionaries, bigger really is better. Some French dictionary software even includes sound files. Pronunciation Preparation and Practice Once youve learned how to pronounce everything, you need to practice it. The more you speak, the easier it will be to make all of those sounds. Here are some techniques that can help you in your French accent improvement project. Listen to FrenchThe more you listen to French, the better youll get at hearing and distinguishing between unfamiliar sounds, and the easier it will be for you to produce them yourself.Listen and RepeatSure, this isnt something youd do in real life, but mimicking words or phrases over and over is an excellent way to develop your pronunciation skills. My French audio dictionary has 2,500 sound files of words and short phrases.Listen to YourselfRecord yourself speaking French and then listen carefully to the playback - you might discover pronunciation mistakes that youre not aware of when you speak. Read Out LoudIf youre still stumbling over words with tricky letter combinations or lots of syllables, you definitely need more practice. Try reading out loud to get used to making all of those new sounds. Pronunciation Problems Depending on your native language, certain French sounds and pronunciation concepts are more difficult than others. Take a look at my page on pronunciation difficulties for lessons (with sound files) on some typical trouble spots for English speakers (and possibly others as well). Speak Like the Natives When you learn French, you learn the correct way to say everything, not necessarily the way the French actually say it. Check out my lessons on informal French to learn how to sound more like native speakers: Informal negationInformal pronounsInformal questions Pronunciation Tools Unlike grammar and vocabulary, pronunciation is something that you cant learn by reading (although there are some excellent French pronunciation books). But you really do need to interact with native speakers. Ideally, you would do this face to face, such as by going to France or another French-speaking country, taking a class, working with a tutor, or joining the Alliance franà §aise.If those truly are not an option, at the very least you need to listen to French, such as with these tools: French listening onlineFrench audio booksFrench audio magazinesFrench audio tapes and CDsFrench radioFrench softwareFrench TV The Bottom Line Getting a good French accent is all about practice - both passive (listening) and active (speaking). Practice really does make perfect. Improve Your French Improve your French listening comprehensionImprove your French pronunciationImprove your French reading comprehensionImprove your French verb conjugationsImprove your French vocabulary