Thursday, December 13, 2007

Terrorism





Terrorism in the modern sense is violence or other harmful acts committed (or threatened) against civilians for political or other ideological goals. Terrorism has been used by a broad array of political organizations,both right-wing and left-wing political parties, nationalistic, and religious groups, revolutionaries and ruling governments. If we look at the list of terror acts, we'd see thousands terror acts and that means that no part of the world is safe from the effects of terrorism. International terorism is a serious threat for the security of each state.
Many opinions exist concerning the causes of terrorism. They range from demographic to socioeconomic to political factors. Demographic factors may include high growth rates. Socioeconomic factors may include poverty, unemployment, and land problems. Political factors may include disenfranchisement, ethnic conflict, religious conflict, territorial conflict, access to resources, or even revenge.
It is said that there is no personaliy of terrorists, but I can give you some words from coran: “Fight them, Allah will punish them by your hands and bring them to disgrace, and assist you against them and heal the hearts of a believing people”. As far as we know, most terrorists feel that they are doing nothing wrong when they kill and injure people, or damage property. Most seem to share a feature of a psychological condition known as anti-social personality disorder or psychopathic personality disorder, which is an absence of empathy for the suffering of others - they don’t feel other people’s pain. However, they do not appear unstable or mentally ill. The behaviour of Nezar Hindawi, a freelance Jordanian terrorist is very similar to that of those diagnosed with psychopathic personality disorder. In April 1986 he sent his pregnant Irish girlfriend on an El Al flight to Israel, saying they would be married when he joined her there. She apparently was not aware that Hindawi had hidden a bomb provided by the Abu Nidal Organization in her luggage. Hindawi's willingness to sacrifice his girlfriend and unborn child displays an exceptional lack of empathy. A common, but by no means universal feature of terrorists, is a type of simplistic thinking in which 'I am good and right. You are bad and wrong.' It is a very polarised thinking which allows them to distance themselves from opponents and makes it easier for them to kill people who are connected with their enemies, with apparently little or no sense of remorse or guilt. This is not a lack of intelligence however. Many terrorists are of above average intelligence. But in fact there is no evidence of any particular personality type of terrorists.
And finally I would like to give one example. The Moscow theater hostage crisis was the seizure of a crowded Moscow theatre on October 23, 2002 by about 40 armed Chechen Special Purpose Islamic Regiment (SPIR) militants who claimed allegiance to the separatist movement in Chechnya. They took 850 hostages and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and an end to the Second Chechen War. After a two-and-a-half day siege, Russian OSNAZ forces pumped an unknown chemical agent into the building's ventilation system and raided it. Officially, 39 of the terrorists were killed by Russian forces, along with at least 129 of the hostages (nine of them foreigners). Some estimates have put the civilian death toll at more than 200.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Psychology of creativity


The creative process is itself a source of joy for most people. And with new creative powers we're also better able to solve the little problems that beset us daily.
But the problem is that just a little part of all people enter to creativity.
The first reason that our creative potential is virtually shut down by early schooling. Teachers are the first to admit this.In the first grade the kids have to work all the time. There's no more time for fun, because there's so much they've got to learn. There's another reason why creativity seems to be in short supply: Myths about creativity are deeply fixated in our culture. When it comes to creativity, myths keep most people firmly shorebound. Only artists have creativity and creativity is rare, we're told. Creativity is mysterious and magical and divine, people say It's in your right brain.
But it's not true. We are all naturally creative and we all have something inside of us that is authentically ours, wanting to be expressed. Wheather this "something" is written, sung, painted, spoken, danced or bringing the idea to the world, our creativity is one of the most unique and precious aspects of who we are.
Yet we often feel blocked or stuck around our creative expression. We don't make time for creativity. We tell ourselves it's not important. We let other things get in the way and don't feel justified making creativity a priority in our lives. In this way, we lose touch with our natural creative gifts and also with that core energy that allows us to feel fully alive and connected to ourselves and others.
The basic philosophy at the creative arts is the belief that regular diet of creative self expresion is an important for psychological growth, learn fully trust and gain confident in your creative self.
Making time and room in your life for creativity expression can give your life greater meaning, regain your childlike joy and help you maintain greater flexibility in the face of many challenges.
In conclusion, creativity is just another word for play and playfulness keeps you young at heart, curious and open to life.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

GRAPHOLOGY


Graphology is the study of handwriting, especially when employed as a means of analyzing character. In the medical field, it is used to refer to the study of handwriting as an aid in diagnosis, and tracking of diseases of the brain, and nervous system. Real handwriting experts are known as forensic document examiners, not as graphologists.

There are three main systems of graphology. In Holistic Graphology a persons profile is formed on the the basis of Form, Movement and Space. Integrative Graphology is constructed on the basis that specific stroke formations relate to personality traits. Symbolic Analysis is based on the analysis of symbols seen in the handwriting. Every system of graphology has its own vocabulary that makes the meaning those words different.

There are around 300 features how we can indicate the meaning of writing and now I will give u some examples:
First of all slant.
Right slant indicates a response to communication, but not how it takes place. For example, the writer may wish to be friendly, manipulative, responsive, intrusive, to sell, to control, to be loving, supportive, just to name some possibilities.
If the handwriting is generally upright, this indicates independence.
A left slant tendency shows emotion and reserve. This writer needs to be true to self first and foremost and can be resentful if others try to push for more commitment from them.
The second is size.
Handwriting is made up of three zones - or cases - middle, upper and lower. A basic average measure - or benchmark - by which size can be judged is 3mm per zone. This gives a benchmark for a non-remarkable full height of 9mm. More than this is large; less than this is small.
Large size handwriting can mean extravert and outgoing, or it can mean that the writer puts on an act of confidence, although this behaviour might not be exhibited to strangers.
Small size can, logically, mean the opposite. Small size handwriting can also indicate a thinker and an academic, depending upon other features in the script.
If the writing is small and delicate, the writer is unlikely to be a good communicator with anyone other than those on their own particular wavelength. These people do not generally find it easy to break new ground socially.
Third - word spacing.
The benchmark by which to judge wide or narrow spacing between words is the width of one letter of the person's handwriting.
Wide spaces between words are saying - 'give me breathing space'.
Narrow spaces between words indicate a wish to be with others, but such writers may also crowd people and be intrusive, notably if the writing lacks finesse.
Fourth - line spacing.
Handwriting samples are always best on unlined paper, and particularly for exhibiting line-spacing features.
Wide-spaced lines of handwriting show a wish to stand back and take a long view.
Closely spaced lines indicates that that the writer operates close to the action. For writers who do this and who have writing that is rather loose in structure, the discipline of having to keep cool under pressure brings out the best in them. Fith - page margins.
The sides of the page each have a meaning.
The left side margin shows the roots and beginnings/family.
The right side shows other people and the future.
The top is goals and ambitions.
The foot of the page shows energy, instincts and practicality.
Therefore margins are very informative.
If the writer has a wide left margin, the interest is in moving on. If it is narrow, caution and wanting to avoid being pushed before they are ready is indicated.
Narrow right margin shows impatience and eagerness to get out there and on with things.
Wide right margin shows that there may be some fear of the unknown.

Finally I'd like to say that we must be careful and don't take all these fact for absolutely true, because each of us is different and what fits for one person not necessary fits for other.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

SEXISM



Sexism is treating people differently because of the gender which they were born. We have no control over the gender we are. So, we can't discriminate people for them gender.
There are a lot of ways of sexism. First of all we can see sexism against females. Nowdays female are fighting for their rights, but in fact they still don't have as much rights as males. Sexism against females in its extreme form is known as misogyny, which is derived from the Greek for "hatred of females". Historically, in many patriarchal societies, females were and are viewed as the "weaker sex". Women's lower status is evident in cases in which females were not even recognized as persons under the law of the land. The feminist movement promotes women's rights to stop sexism against females by addressing issues such as equality under the law, political representation of females, access to education and employment, female victims of domestic violence, self-ownership of the female body, and the impact of pornography on women. While women sexism is known for many years, sexism against males only in recent years has such awareness begun to develop in public discourse.
Sexism against males in its extreme form is known as misandry, which is derived from the Greek for "hatred of males". It is often known as "reverse sexism." A related term is androphobia, which refers to the fear of males or masculinity.
Sexism against transsexes has also only been recently identified, and it has also yet to enter into the public discourse. Traditionally, transsexes are viewed as having psychological problem of gender identity disorder, or more recently viewed as simply being radically homosexual. Transsexuality refers to the condition of being self-identified with the opposite sex and the LGBT movement has actively fought sexism against transexes. The most typical forms of sexism against transsexuals are how many "women-only" and "men-only" events and organizations have been criticized for rejecting transfemales, and transmales respectively. Transsexed people are also often the target of hate crimes, as the traditional notion of masculinity and femininity is often perceived to be threatened by those who adopt a different sex later in life. In fact, in Lithuania people don't take transsexual, because they differ from us, and I believe that here we can see the biggest sexism. But on the other hand, maybe sometimes they express them too much and want to have even more rights than normal people.
The church and sexism
Like all institutions that are dominated by men, the church has been guilty of sexism. Women have had little to do with the power in the church, even though they have traditionally made up the majority of the members. God is assumed to be a man and still in most churches women cannot rise to the highest positions.
Over the last few years a new force has arisen in the Christian church which is sometimes called feminist theology.
In conslusion I would like to mention one idea, which I have found in one article: "All people whatever their gender were created by God and so all people are equal in the sight of God and should be treated as equal."

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Listening


Self-assessement of online listening to postcasts:
I've listened two postcasts. The first one was "Hunger: New Causes for Same Old Problem", and the second - "Musical Training Found Important for Communications Skills". The second text was more interesting for me, because there was as 3 text in one: how musical training is important for communications skills, about benefit of daily nap when you are tired and thin pretocted species.
The website adress of two postcasts is http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish. I think that the level of english was intermediate, because the postcasts were not hard. The rate of speaking was average, and in fact sometimes I wanted to hear faster speaking. The speaker's accent was American. I've listened them once for completely understanding, but also I've read the text, because I wanted to check if everything I understood right.
I self-asses my ability to understand authentic speech good, because for me it's not hard to understand what the reader is saying. But also I'm not sure if I'm ready for my exam listening paper, because I think that the more practice I get, the more I be sure about my performance in exam. I believe, that I can improve my listening skills by looking English films on TV and listening to podcasts as often as possible.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Psychology of laughter


What is laughter? Laughter is a form of outward expression of amusement, pleasure, mirth and at times, other emotions. It may ensue (as a physiological reaction) from jokes, tickling and other stimuli. Inhaling nitrous oxide can also induce laughter; other drugs, such as cannabis, can also induce episodes of strong laughter. Strong laughter can sometimes bring an onset of tears or even moderate muscular pain as a physical response to the act.



Laughter is a part of human behavior regulated by the brain. It helps humans clarify their intentions in social interaction and provides an emotional context to conversations. Laughter is used as a signal for being part of a group — it signals acceptance and positive interactions.
Modern neurophysiology states that laughter is linked with the activation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which produces endorphins after a rewarding activity: after you have a good meal, after you have sexual intercourse and after you understand a joke.

It has been shown that laughing helps protect the heart. Doctors say that with deep, heartfelt laughter, it appears that serum cortisol, which is a hormone that is secreted when we’re under stress, is decreased. So when you’re having a stress reaction, if you laugh, apparently the cortisol that has been released during the stress reaction is reduced.

Laughter can help to reach physical fitness. It has been estimated by scientists that laughing 100 times equals the same physical exertion as a 10 minute workout on a rowing machine or 15 minutes on a stationary exercise bike. Laughing works out the diaphragm, abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles.

In conclusion, laughter is not just emotional expression, but also free drug from diseases too.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Conflict of psychology

First of all, conflict is a state of opposition, disagreement or incompatibility between two or more people or groups of people, which is sometimes characterized by physical violence. Military conflict between states may constitute war.
A clash of interests, values, actions or directions often sparks a conflict. Conflicts refer to the existence of that clash. Psychologically, a conflict exists when the reduction of one motivating stimulus involves an increase in another, so that a new adjustment is demanded. The word is applicable from the instant that the clash occurs. Even when we say that there is a potential conflict we are implying that there is already a conflict of direction even though a clash may not yet have occurred. There are a lot of types of conflicts : intrapersonal conflict, interpersonal conflict, emotional conflict, group conflict, organizational conflict,community conflict, intra-state conflict, international conflict, environmental resources conflict, intersocietal conflict, intra-societal conflict, ideological conflict, diplomatic conflict, economic conflict, military conflict and religious-based conflict.
Emotional conflicts are related to psychology. So, what is emotional conflict? It is the presence in the subconscious of different and opposing emotions relating to a situation that has recently taken place or is in the process of being unfolded, accompanied at times by a physical discomfort and in particular by tension headaches. Situations which cause emotional conflicts can be every day occurrences which might seem at the time unimportant. These inner emotional conflicts can sometimes result in physical discomfort or pain, often in the form of tension headaches, the duration of which can range from a few minutes to days and in some cases even months, but would normally be a few hours. These tension headaches can be episodic or chronic, with episodic normally occurring less than 15 days a month, and chronic occurring 15 day or more a month and sometimes stretching over a few months. The pain associated with Tension headaches is normally mild to moderate, but can be severe.