Religion and Psychology: The Power of Prayer
Current mood: curious
Category: Religion and Philosophy

The Power of Prayers and Spirituality

Are there links between mind, body, and spirit to the well being of physical and psychological health?  I am examining evidence that strongly suggests there are health benefits to religiousness and spirituality. My research examines how religion and spirituality can affect the physical health as well as the mental health of an individual. The cases being examined is how religion can enhance the well being of terminal ill patients with cancer along with the findings  and how it can be integrated into the field of science to form a holistic medical care program for patients who are not  only suffering physically, but mentally as well from their traumatic experience of a terminal illness.

The research of Rosebaum (2002) suggested that the symptoms comprising post traumatic stress disorder that is caused by a traumatic experience may be the result of conflicted belief systems. Victims of the trauma can draw on their religious beliefs to integrate the traumatic experiences and reconstruct a new schema, thus eliminating their PTSD symptoms.

Furthermore, many researches on methods of psychological treatments with a spiritual or religious background have shown that it is more effective than secular treatment on treating stress and PTSD symptoms and has a positive effect on the overall health of an individual as a whole (Wachhotlz & Pargament,2005).

                     RELIGION AND PSYCHOLOGY

            Religious philosophies and ideologies are the cornerstones of all societies in the world. Individuals within these societies are influenced by their religious ideologies and often make important  decision  about life events based on their religious views. Psychology and religion were at odds with one another during the time in which psychology was in the process of becoming an established science. The actual foundation of psychology was not science, but rather various philosophical world views, such as those of determinism, secular humanism, behaviorism, existentialism, and even evolutionism. However, psychological theories in the modern era which describe human behavior can indeed be scientific if the findings have an established background of research behind it. The common argument that still exists today as it did before is that the medical doctors treat the body, the minister treats the spirit, and the psychologist treats the mind and emotions. However, for patients confronting a terminal illness, such as cancer, religion can be an important factor influencing their quality of life. Integrating all three domains of the treatment as a holistic healing process could not only prolong the survival lengths of the terminally ill, but also improve their quality of life while they are still living.

            As the science of psychology evolve and advances, it recognizes the importance of spirituality and religion for the well being of physical and mental health. The field of psychology has taken the initiative in researching the power of religion in combating illnesses, and the importance of faith in the prevention and recovery from a physical and emotional illness. Research on stress and the affect it has on health suggests that an individual's health can be positively or negatively affected by how they react to the stressors. When confronted with a stressful situation, an individual will draw on their coping skills, or cognitive framing, to help them deal with the stressor (Chen, 2005). Stress causes a variety of physiological changes in the body, including increased cortisol levels, increased anaerobic cellular activity, increased heart rate and blood pressure. Over time these repeated actions produce permanent negative consequences on health (Wachholtz & Pargament, 2005).

           How well an individual cope with stress will determine the status of their overall psychological and physical health. Coping strategies vary between individuals according to their age, socio-demographic, race, gender and religious backgrounds (Van Ness et al., 2003). The specific coping styles examined in this research are those that draw on religious beliefs or practices during a time in which an individual is dealing with a terminal illness.

            Coping is defined as the process through which individuals try to understand and deal with significant personal or situational demands in their lives (Rowe & Allen, 2004). How individuals cope with terminal illnesses is very important to functioning and quality of life. When confronted with traumatic events in life, the fundamental beliefs of that individual, concerning the meaning of life and existence itself, are called into question. The individual may feel overwhelmed by the experience when the new information does not fit into their current schema. In order to process the information and makes sense of the trauma, they will attempt to integrate the new information regarding the traumatic experience through the processes of assimilation, accommodation, or over-accommodation; which is also known as cognitive reframing (Falsetti, Resick, & Davis, 2003).

            When information that is contrary to an individual's belief system is assimilated, it is proposed that the individual changes the information to fit the schema. An example of assimilation would be a woman whose cancer schema consists of stereotypes about cancer; such as most cancer patients are smokers and are not visiting their doctors regularly for  check-up. If she is diagnosed with cancer, she may then assimilate this new information by attempting to change the information to fit into her schema by rationalizing the fact that she is a non-smoker who routinely visits her doctor for check ups; therefore her disease must be something else rather than cancer. Conversely, if she were to accommodate the new information, she might believe that it is possible to get cancer despite taking all the precautionary measures to prevent it. The third process take into account the traumatic nature of the information which leads the individuals to over-accommodate the information related to the trauma. They may believe that cancer is inevitable and everyone will get it no matter what they do (Resick, Schnicke, & Markway, 1991).

                                         COPING STYLES

Pargament (1997) outlines three different style of religious coping; the self-directing, the collaborative and the deferring coping. According to Pargament, those who use self-directing coping styles to deal with stressors are the least dependent on God than the other two styles for their problem solving. They rely on themselves rather than God to deal with problems or stressors; they would agree that God will only help those who help themselves. The collaborative style of religious coping may negotiate an exchange of good behavior for God's solution to their stressor and view God as an active partner in coping with stressors. They believe in the system of award and punishment in accordance to their actions. The final coping method is called the deferring style of coping; which gives all of the problems for God to solve. This group believes that all things happen for a reason and the problem is beyond their control.

            During stressful and traumatic times in their lives, individuals will draw on their coping resources (such as coping styles and coping strategies) to buffer the harmful aspects of stressors.

                       A STUDY ON PTSD AND RELIGION

           Chen (2005) conducted a research on written emotional expressions of religion to examine the effects it had on depression. The research examined religion as a mental framework that might facilitate adaptive cognitive processing of traumatic experiences. The premise was that religion can act as a source from which meaning and insight may be derived during the process of writing about traumatic experiences when individuals interpret the traumatic event from a religious or spiritual perspective that best reflected their own belief systems.

The association between religion and well-being is also affected by other psychosocial variables such as gender, ethnicity, age, education level, occupation, marital status, and socio-economic backgrounds; all of which were also used in the analysis process. Chen (2005) acknowledged that individuals vary greatly in their beliefs, therefore the study was modified in order to encourage participants to process traumatic experiences from perspectives that reflected their individual views about religion and spirituality.  These measures were taken to account for the various degrees of religious involvement as the participants entered the study. Using point system scales, researchers also measured depressive symptoms in the participants as well. The participants were instructed to write about traumatic experiences from their own religious or spiritual perspective. The traumas in which the participants wrote about included history of rape, molestation, witnessing a murder or death, physical abuse, abortion, and terminal illnesses in the family (Chen, 2005).

Chen (2005) concluded from this research that the written emotional expression of trauma from a religious perspective can have an augmenting effect on emotional distress. The analysis shows a significant reduction of depression symptoms in students after the experiment. The study suggested that women, non-Whites, and the elderly were found to be more religious and benefited more from religion than men, Whites, and younger individuals. The research also suggested that religious and spiritual beliefs may serve as resources from which individuals derive meaning from psychological trauma and thereby augmenting effects on distress; and further investigation of the religious possibilities may contribute to the understanding in the processes through which religion and spirituality may be integrated within interventions aimed at reducing the adverse effects of trauma.

A STUDY ON RACE AND RELIGION

Another study of religion, race and women with breast cancer by Van Ness, Kasl, & Jones (2003) examined other co-variables that may contribute to the well being of cancer patients, besides their religious beliefs; such as biomedical factors, the individual's behavior, medical treatment and medical coverage. The research suggested that the concentration of the health benefits of religiousness were most prevalent among African-Americans due to the possibility that religion may be the primary resource for dealing with adversities in a population group that have relatively low income, education, and occupational rank. The lack of resources may lead them to turn to religion as a mean to compensate for the poor health care they are receiving.

The main focus of this particular research was to examine if there was a positive correlation of religiousness to the survival length of cancer patients once they were diagnosed with cancer. What the research discovered was that women with breast cancer who had a religious background survived 4.39 times longer than those who had no spiritual background or weak religious affiliation (Van Ness et al., 2003). The study also suggested that women with no religiousness as regards to their identity, beliefs, or affiliations were at greater risk of death once diagnosed with breast cancer. This research shows a positive correlation between the general well being of terminally ill patients and their religiousness.

Even with increasing data from researches supporting the theory that religion may offer health benefits, there are still limited researches as to how religiousness actually facilitates the well being in individuals besides the cognitive reframing theory of religion's affect on trauma. Reading (2004) examines how religion can give individuals who are suffering from a terminal illness a sense of hope. The research investigates the process of hope and how its generation and loss can shape human behavior. Reading (2004) argues that hope came from the evolution of human cognition as individuals learned to take information about the past and present and weave it together projecting what the future might hold. Hope is then an anticipation of emotion based on a belief that they can, through their own actions, make something turn out better than would otherwise be expected. Religion is vital in providing hope by finding meaning in negative events such as a terminal illness; this will give the individual a sense of control over the stressor and thereby augmenting the dangerous effects of stress.

Reading (2004) also distinguished pain from suffering as the temporal experience of unpleasant sensations; and suffering as the product of an individual's construal of the meaning of the traumatic events. Given this distinction, the research concludes that science can relieve pain, but not suffering; religion on the other hand, can relieve suffering, but not pain. The two discipline thus join together to produce hope for decreased pain and finding meaning in the pain that the individual experience; which can be categorized as a holistic healing process of mind, body and spirit.

             HOLISTIC APPROACH TO HEALTH CARE

Holistic approaches to health care focus upon the relationships between a patients mind, body, and spirit as necessary components of well-being. According to the supporting researches, it is vital to explore the relationship between spirituality and the ability to cope with terminal illness and trauma in order to develop useful interventions. Patients with chronic illnesses often face an array of difficulties and the inability to resolve internal conflicts may then lead to greater psychological distress, such as depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses ( Fabricatore, Handal, & Fenzel, 2000).

Considering a patients religion or spiritual beliefs as a clinical variable can have a strong benefit within medical environments. Addressing such issues has been normally viewed as the domain of hospital chaplains or a patient's own religious leader. In this context, systematic assessment has usually been limited to identifying a patient's religious preference; responsibility for management of apparent spiritual distress has been focused on referring patients to the chaplain service. Although health care providers may address such concerns themselves, they are generally very ambivalent about doing so, and there has been relatively little systematic investigation addressing the physician's role.  Acknowledging the role of all health care professionals in spirituality will allow health care professionals to deliver spiritual care consistent with their knowledge and skills (Grant, 2004).

            Results from these researches support the possibility that spiritual coping is one of the most powerful means by which patients draw on their own resources to deal with a serious illness such as cancer; however, patients and caregivers may be reluctant to raise religious and spiritual concerns with family members and their health care providers because many people still view science and religion as separate domains of healing (Grant, 2004, p. 2). Increased spiritual well-being in a terminally ill population is linked with lower anxiety and depression; therefore the importance of religion and spirituality to patients should be used to integrate systematic assessment of such needs into medical care. The development of better assessment tools will make it easier to discern which aspects of religious and spiritual coping may be important in a particular patient's adjustment to illness. It is also equally important to consider how and when to address religion and spirituality with patients and the best ways to do so in different medical environments. Although addressing spiritual concerns is often considered an end-of-life issue, such concerns may arise at any time after diagnosis. Acknowledging the importance of these concerns and addressing them at diagnosis may facilitate better adjustment and well being for the patients throughout the course of treatment.

            The results from these studies may have some practical implications to healthcare professionals helping individuals cope with chronic illnesses; especially for those who provide patient education, counseling, and those who provide support groups. Any strategy or coping method that can help patients find a sense of purpose in life and meaning to their trauma has the potential to improve the quality of life and satisfaction for those who are coping with a terminal illness. Clearly, spirituality has a significant impact on well being and healthcare professionals are in a position to help patients to better cope with terminal illnesses through the development of spirituality for the healing ....

benefits.  In this way, the domains of religion and science may no longer be separated, but finally integrated as a holistic healing process.

                                             SUMMARY

Reviews of these studies have found that religiousness and spirituality methods of coping can be effective in buffering the negatives effects of stressors. These researches have found a positive correlation in religious practices and beliefs to having a better psychological and physical health; this may be because religion directly affects health by regulating individual lifestyles and healthy behaviors (Pearce et al., 2002). Researchers have also shown that religious people are better able to cope with stress, live longer, and have healthier lives.

            The scientific researches on the health benefits of religion have yielded similar results each time it is conducted. A review examining the link between physical health and religion or spirituality found little overall support for the hypotheses that religion or spirituality impact cancer progression or mortality. However, studies examining their impact on the quality of life and adjustment are decidedly mixed. While the scientific attention to this issue has expanded, there continue to be methodological and measurement concerns that prevents firm conclusions about health and adjustment benefits. The biggest challenge that many studies on religion encountered was the manner in which religious coping was conceptualized and measured. Examining this issue is complicated because of the multiple definitions of the concepts of religion and spirituality; and the lack of sophisticated psychometric tools.

            One of the major criticisms in this type of research is due in part to the way researchers measured religiousness. Many studies used the same survey method in which participants self discloses their religiousness, and researchers rate them using scale models. Due to the subjective nature of religion, it is almost impossible to determine with certainty what role spirituality play in disease, adjustment, trauma, or the quality of life in cancer patients. However, the connection between mind, body, and spirit cannot be denied because of the findings from these researchers. There are very strong indications that mental attitude, physical fitness, proper diet, the avoidance of stress, and spirituality can help in prolonging life and prevent opportunistic infections. Cancer patients, who keep physically fit, take their vitamins, eat nutritious, well-balanced meals, get out of self-destructive behaviors, and make time every day for their own spiritual well-being tended to be the people who are long-term survivors of cancer.

            Although religious ideas and practices are formally separated from science, the influence that religion has in everyday lives of individuals are undeniable. It would be most beneficial to medical institutes to include and implement programs aimed at engaging patients' minds in the healing process, teach non-secular meditation techniques, and consider their religious history when treating a patient with a terminal illness. 

.. ..

(References will not be posted; however, you may request to see them via messaging for further examination in this area).

3:40 AM - 44 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

God and the Problem of Evil
Current mood: amused
Category: Religion and Philosophy

FROM:

We now come to one of the central problems (and it is a problem for theologians) of systematic theology: if God is all good and omnipotent, why is there evil in the world? By the word "evil" it is meant all kind of calamities that can befall humans and all living creatures such as natural disasters (earthquakes, storms, floods) and the existence of vast amount of suffering and misery (in famines, poverty, crime).

Theologians have tried many sophistries to get out of this predicament (no, they are not worried about getting rid of evil, they are more worried about theologically squaring away the existence of evil with the existence of a good God). The problem of evil, as it confronts Christian theologians, is very aptly summarized by the brilliant nineteenth century skeptic, Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891):

• Defence 1: Evil as a Means to an Ultimately Good End
• Defence 2: Evil as a Natural Consequence of Free Will
• Defence 3: Evil as a Mean to Increase Moral Urgency
• Defence 4: Evil as Punishment for Sins
• Defence 5: Evil as an Illusion
• Conclusions on the Problem of Evil

5:13 PM - 37 Comments - 51 Kudos - Add Comment

?
Current mood: contemplative
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Why?

12:06 AM - 105 Comments - 43 Kudos - Add Comment

Imprinting and Evolution
Current mood: curious
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Newly hatched goslings and ducklings will follow and become socially bonded to the first moving object they encounter under certain conditions known as imprinting. Imprinting is defined as a process that causes the newly hatched precocious birds to become rapidly and strongly attached to social objects such as parents or parental surrogates. Ethologists and psychologists have been observing the formation of the social bonds in young precocious birds and concluded through their observations that the behavior developed as a result of the interaction between genetic and environmental influences. The genetic side of imprinting is innate; instinctive behaviors which are genetically programmed to ensure that the hatchlings stay in close proximity to their parents for their security. The learning behaviors are shaped by the environment when the hatchlings use cues from their environment to determine who their parents are and who they should follow (it is always the first moving object they see). As a result, imprinting is thought to be a product of evolution that has a survival value for the hatchlings. For many years, ethologists believed that the innate instinctive behaviors of imprinting are species- specific characteristics of precocious birds, however, ethologists today believe that all species are born with distinctive innate behavior for imprinting that is species-specific exclusively to their species. These characteristics would allow them to be distinguished from any other species, including human beings. A moral question of "What is distinctive about man?" was proposed by the scientific community in response. The question that has sparked much debate is, "What are the distinctive characteristics of man that would allow us to separate ourselves from animals? "

Konrad Lorenz was known as the father of modern ethology due to his work on imprinting. His ideas contributed to an understanding of how behavioral patterns may be traced back to an evolutionary past. In 1935, Lorenz described the learning behavior in young ducklings and goslings when he observed that at a certain critical stage soon after hatching, the birds learn to follow the first moving object it sees.  Lorenz called this process "stamping-in". Although imprinting was first studied by Douglas Spalding in the 19^th century, Lorenz was credited with having been the first to study it with a wider implication. He implied that during a gosling or duckling's first encounter with a moving object, the image of the object is somehow stamped irreversibly on the nervous system, and for many years this was the accepted conception of the process. Lorenz's work provided evidence that there are critical periods in life where a definite type of stimulus is necessary for normal development. Lorenz thought that imprinting is the result of an instinct that is genetically predetermined in response, and is only released by a limited set of stimuli from the environment; the most effective stimuli being those that are represented in adults of a given species. Additionally, he claimed that there are critical periods for which imprinting can occur, and that it is extremely restricted to the animals very early in life. These conclusions were based on a number of observations made by Lorenz in naturalistic settings. However, recent studies today have shown that the traditional view of imprinting held by Lorenz and his followers might be incomplete or even incorrect. Researchers today have been examining imprinting in a more rigorously controlled context of a laboratory where eggs can be incubated and hatched in the absence of any natural parents.

The objective of this approach is to study the role of special forms of learning, such as visual recognition in memory that operate in the imprinting process. These investigations have shown that imprinting is neither rapid nor irreversible, and also not restricted to a critical period, as was claimed by Lorenz. It has also been discovered that imprinting occurs in other species, and that learning behavioral components are more important than previously thought. There is evidence that this cumulative process entails the release of endorphins in the brain, therefore, it has been hypothesized by some researchers that the imprinting stimuli provide a comforting feedback by the release of endorphins, thus forming the association. Researchers today understand that to be an appropriate target for social bonding, an object has to provide stimulation that is pleasurable and comforting to the baby. This will happen when some aspect of the object (for example, its shape or its texture or motion) has the capacity to innately stimulate the production of endorphins. When a new hatchlings or a human baby is exposed to such an object, it is immediately comforted and endorphins are produced due to the comforting interaction. Once this bonding formation has occur, the object will be a familiar source of comfort for the baby, and as a result, it will continue to be comforting when development has proceeded to the point when any unfamiliar object will elicit a competing fear reaction. When viewed in this fashion, it becomes clear that the critical period is merely the period in development prior to the onset of any fear and anxiety capacity. This would mean that for subjects that are beyond the critical period, any unfamiliar object would have to provide sufficient exposure to the subject for it to serve as a potential target for social bonding.

Ethology considered the critical period to be a period in which a pathway awaits specific instructional information in order to continue normal development. These specific instructions must occur during imprinting if it is to take place at all. This concept has now been replaced by the term sensitive period; in which certain types of learning are most likely to occur and will occur most easily. All animals have this critical periods in which their innate genetic make-up will guide them into a normal develop within their given environment if appropriate experience is gained. If appropriate experience is not gained during the critical period, the development never attains the ability to process information in a normal fashion, and as a result, the perception or behavior is permanently impaired. If inappropriate experience is maintained during the critical period, the pathway sustains adaptive changes permanently which can lead to abnormal development. This is also true for human development.

            Researchers such as Maria Montessori described critical periods for certain aspects of human development to be a very sensitive period in which language and sensory development must have external stimuli from the environment in order to development. For example, her teaching method focuses on sensory stimulations between the ages of one to five years old. She expressed the importance of sensory input during this period for children, because the exposure to multi sensory input would enhance their development. A related sensitive period described by Montessori is that for language development, occurring between the ages of three and five months. During this stage, children are sensitive to sounds and able to discriminate between them and should be given auditory stimulation to stimulate successful language development. The concept of the critical period appears to be supported by the studies of the "wild" or feral children who were deprived of human society for an extended period. These children have shown to be unable to recover their full language development when they missed the necessary sensory and auditory stimulation during the critical period.

Many philosophers have questioned over what is the species-specific characteristic exclusive to the human being that would allow for man to be distinguished from all other animals. In the late 18^th century a child of about twelve years old was captured, who had been seen completely naked in the Caune Woods in France many times before, seeking acorns and roots to eat. The boy was given the name Victor and is often referred to as the Wild Boy of Aveyron. Victor became a scientific interest and was taken to Paris for further studies. This gave researchers the opportunity to see the theories of Jean Rousseau in practice (Rousseau believed that a child will develop different capacities at different stages of growth which must be protected from the influences of society so that the child can grow up as Nature intended him to be). What they saw was a degraded being, human only in shape, but was inarticulate and made only grunting sounds like a beast. He personified an animal-like existence whose only concern was to eat, sleep and escape the attentions of people around him (Ward, 2003. para. 19). Some researchers dismissed the boy as a fake and claimed that he was an incurable psychotic. However, they failed to explain how a mentally defective person could have been able to fend for himself in the wilds for any length of time. Victor was assigned to a doctor who tried to teach him to do things ordinary human beings do, including speaking and reading. The doctor described Victor's senses as very apathetic because when a pistol was fired near him, it hardly provoked any response, however, the sounds of cracking a walnut would cause him to turn around. He was also able to pick up a potato from a boiling pot of water without flinching.

There are many documented stories of feral children who were raised in the wilds, however, there are also many cases of children who were raised or kept in extreme isolation. One such story is that of a girl named Genie who was found in California in 1970. Genie was thirteen when she came to the attention of authorities. She was born a normal baby to a psychotic father and a blind mother. Her father kept her in a restraining chair he had designed, from the age of twenty months until the time she was discovered by authorities. Genie was kept in a small room all her life. The father forbade her mother from speaking to her, but was allowed to feed her milk and baby food during that time. When the Genie was found, she weighed 59 pounds and could not straighten her arms or legs. She did not know how to chew or control her bladder and bowels, nor could she recognize words or speak at all. Over the next six years, Genie had plenty of interactions with the world, as well as training and testing by psychologists. She eventually gained some language comprehension, but could only speak at the level of a two or three year old. She was able to get from one place to another, such as a candy counter in a supermarket, which researchers implied that it was proof that she was able to construct a mental maps of space.

The cases of the feral children seem to provide evidence that human beings are born with innate instinctive behaviors just like all other animals for their development, however, the imprinting process in human beings are different from the other animals because human beings are born very underdeveloped and need much more time to mature and grow than any other species. The documented cases of the feral children have proven that without the necessary stimulation for normal development, human beings are merely just an animal. Ashley Montagu was a famous English anthropologist who stated that "no such creature is really human until it exhibits the behavior characteristics of a human being. While every creature that is classified as a Homo sapiens is considered to be man, the essence of being human must be learned.

8:43 PM - 12 Comments - 13 Kudos - Add Comment

Sesquipedalism
Current mood: amused
Category: Quiz/Survey

We all know people who attempt to impress with words more than the meaning of words. Oh yes, sesquipedalism is the use of long words. I have seen too many of them here on MySpace and in real life. As if using big words means you are an Einstein. So anyway, I came up with a way to poke fun at the subject. See if you could translate these sequipedalistic sentences into a common everyday saying. It's easy, c'mon.  

1. A mobile section of petrified matter agglomerates no bryophytes.

2. Desist from enumerating your fowl prior to their emergence from the shell.

3. Scintillation is not always identification for an auric substance.

4. A plethora of culinary specialists has a deleterious effect upon the quality purees, consommé,  and other soluble pabulum.

5. A chronic disposition to inquiry deprived the domestic feline carnivorous quadruped of its vital quality.

6. It is in the realm of possibility to entice an equine member of the animal kingdom to a source of oxidized hydrogen; however, it is not possible to force him to imbibe.

7. If John persists without respite in a constant prolonged exertion of physical or intellectual effort, he will develop into a youth slow and blunted in perception and sensibility.

7:21 PM - 11 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

Noam Chomsky and Language Acquisition
Current mood: cultured
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Language is the most sophisticated cognitive skill that humans possess, and one of the most apparent differences between the human species and other animal species. It is with language that we can express the thoughts in our mind. Language has a strong influence on the way its speakers understand and interprets the world. There are many theories on language acquisition; however, the most influential theory comes from Noam Chomsky's hypothesis on Universal Grammar (UG).

            Chomsky proposed that humans are born with the instinct or innate facility for acquiring language. Within our brain, is a postulated organ called the Language Acquisition Device (LAD) that is supposed to function as a congenital device for learning symbolic language. The Language Acquisition Device contains a Universal Grammar, which is basically a built in storehouse of rules that apply to all humans, out of which all human languages later developed. The Universal Grammar is an intricately structured system, but one that is partially wired up. Experience is required to activate the system. Support for Chomsky's theory comes from the fact that all of the world's languages have similarities. Furthermore, humans have specialized areas of the brain that serves in language processing, such as the Broca's and Wernicke's area. This theory integrated biological based factors and environmental factors which constitute the cognitive model of language acquisition.

            The cognitive model suggests that children acquire language through the LAD, going through developmental stages, and continued exposure to the language during critical periods. The developmental stages proposed by Maria Montessori, suggests that the critical periods for language development is from birth to 4 years of age. If the child is exposed to two languages during this period, they will master both languages. Once the critical period has passed for language development, the child will have much difficulty learning languages. However, researchers today believe that although an optimal period of brain lateralization exists, an age cut off for language competence does not exist. Support for this new theory comes from a case involving a feral child named Genie who was kept in isolation through abuse from her parents from the time she was 10 months old until she was found by authorities at the age of 13. Nobody spoke to Genie during her whole ordeal, causing her to miss a critical period in language development. However, through intervention and help from psychologists, she was able to acquire a few vocabularies and comprehension of language. This would suggest that the capacity for humans to learn language is still possible, even if the critical periods for language development have past.

            It has been known that different regions of the brain have specialized functions. The areas associated with language acquisition is not fully known, however, researchers have confirm that the left hemisphere typically performs most aspects of language processing while the right hemisphere interprets a message's emotional tone, decodes metaphors, and resolve ambiguities of language. Furthermore, studies have shown that the brain of monolinguals and bilinguals works differently in language processing. They think that bilinguals store their primary language on the left side of the hemisphere, while the second or third language is stored on the right side of the hemisphere. Support for this theory comes from a case of bilingual aphasia in Russia. This is the story of a Polish man who suffered a war injury which damaged his brain. This individual had worked in Berlin, but spent his army time in Russia. He had learned some Russian while living there. He received a bullet wound to the head, which damaged his left hemisphere. For ten months after he suffered this injury, he could not understand any language. Finally, he began to speak some Russian. The hospital staff encouraged him, and taught him more Russian. He claimed to have forgotten Polish, but he was able to still comprehend it. His ability to speak German was gone. This case supports right hemisphere representation of second language.

            Bilingual experts have defined bilingualism as the ability to use and understand two or more languages with equal frequency. There are four categories of bilingualism. The first is known as simultaneous bilingualism; which is when a person is learning two languages at the same time. The second is sequential bilingualism; acquiring a second language after mastering a first. The last two categories of bilingualisms are referred to as additive bilingualism; which is an acquisition of a second language without loss or weakening of the primary language, and subtractive bilingualism; the loss of primary language from acquisition of a second language. Researchers believe that subtractive bilingualism is a result of proactive interference of our semantic memory, in which our knowledge of the first language will interfere with us learning a second language.

            Researchers have studied how bilinguals store and process their languages. One model of bilingual language processing is known as the hierarchical model of bilingual memory. This model of bilingual memory emphasizes differential storage and processing. That is, bilingual memory is conceived as represented in separate but interconnected lexicons. This model's most critical assumption is that the lexical links differ in strength, and words in each language are linked to a general concept and to each other. For example, the word "love" in English can be applied to any general concept, while the word "amor", which means love in Spanish, is used with much reservation. The two languages draw separate conceptualized ideas from a conceptual store, which contains the abstract representation of the world. The conceptual store is linked to both the primary and secondary language; however, the link to the primary language is much stronger because that is the language that the individual usually process their thoughts in. The secondary would have to draw inferences from the primary language to distinguish the differences in conceptualized ideas between the two languages. Therefore, translation between the two languages would be more accurate and easier for the bilingual if they translated their second language to the first language rather than the other way around.

            There is a phenomenon known as code switching in bilinguals, during which bilinguals will switch from one language to another in the same conversation. Code switching not only fills a momentary linguistic need, but is also a very useful communication resource. It takes place unconsciously and speakers are often unaware that they are switching from one language to another. Their main concern is with communicating a message or intent, and they know the other person will understand them whether they use one or two languages.

There are debates in the psychology of language fields, as to whether children or adults are superior at acquiring a second language. It was believed that children are superior at acquiring a second language because studies have shown that children who learn a second language before the onset of puberty will have a fluent-like acquisition of that language, while adults will have a phonological accent. Johnson and Newport (1998) studied native Korean and Chinese immigrants to the USA and compared the acquisition of English of individuals between the ages of 3 and 39. Their data showed a clear advantage to early arrival versus later arrival in terms of successful acquisition of English. Those who had arrived later in life demonstrated better grammar skills than those who arrived later in their life. The conclusion made by researchers is most similar to the maturation state hypothesis, which states that humans have a linear relationship between language acquisition with respects to ability and age; as people age, their ability to successfully acquire language declines.

            There are specific things an individual can do to enhance their success in a second language acquisition. Researches have discovered a correlation between listening to music and language acquisition. For example, exposure to unfamiliar speech sounds is initially registered by the brain as undifferentiated neural activity. The neural activity is diffuse, because the brain has not learned the acoustic patterns that distinguish one sound from another. As exposure continues, the brain learns to differentiate among different sounds and short sequences of sounds that correspond to words or parts of words. Neural connections that reflect this learning process are formed in the temporal cortex of the left hemisphere. With further exposure, new connections will form among adjacent neurons to form circuits with other neurons in other regions of the brain that are associated with language acquisition. These connections give the sound of the word meaning. Researchers believe that music lessons are advantages if an individual's wishes to enhance their chances at successfully acquiring a second or even a third language.

5:13 PM - 14 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Affirmative Action in Crisis
Current mood: argumentative
Category: News and Politics

Affirmative Action in Crisis

            When the world looks back on the history of America, the most shameful component in the history of the United States is the racist legacy of this nation.  Today, racism and prejudices are still evident but in a less overt form held in beliefs, attitudes, and practices than they were in the past. The subtle forms of these racism is the main cause of discrimination practices in organizations that are denying minorities and women the opportunity for advancement in their careers and education. The Affirmative Action Act implemented during the Civil Rights Movement in 1964 is the only effective tool in fighting the existing problems of racism and sexism in the United States.

            Affirmative action has a long history in the United States that began thirty years prior to the Civil Rights Act. The Public Works Administration of 1934 required that city contractors