Evaluate the claim that biometric technology is a viable and effective Essay

Evaluate the claim that biometric technology is a viable and effective alternative to traditional security methods - Essay Example Experts suggest that biometric technology is the most viable and efficient security measure compared to traditional methods, therefore, the paper aims to validate this claim. Discussion Biometric is the automatic person identification depending on the behavior or physiological attributes of that person. This authorization strategy identifies and verifies a person based on who he is before giving him access permission. The quest for increasingly reliable method of authorization to protect company information has called for biometric revelation and various companies and businesses have shown increased interest in the method. Commonly used physical biometrics is fingerprints, geometry of palms, characteristics of the face and retina, (Schuckers, 2010, p.89). Similarly, behavioral attributes are things such as voice recognition, patterns of keystroke, peoples’ signatures and gait and these technologies, voice recognition and signature are highly developed. Biometric security metho ds are indeed most effective authentication method compared to traditional methods such as smart cards and PINS or both. ... Technical support managers may have difficult time offering instructions to PIN users who have challenges with more basic associated technologies of signing in to certain network. Therefore, biometric technologies are more promising because they solve such problems and relieve the company of such expensive cost of hiring technical support staff, because in a system that uses one log in, biometric technology will be efficient in user authentication. Increasing number of organizations are recognizing biometric method efficiency in various applications, for example, in hospitals traditional methods are being replaced with biometric methods for authentication of users to ensure patients information privacy and confidentiality. Traditional methods such as swipe cards and passwords can be lost or stolen, and bad password management has left users writing passwords on papers and other materials or choosing general and possible works for faster remembrance, an activity that expose such pins to fraud and intruders. Biometric technologies, on the other hand, can be viable and efficient methods in solving these problems because they have strong techniques of authorization and authentication that can assure users of excellent security, (United States, 2004). Similarly, because biometric techniques uses user’s behavioral and physiological attributes in authentication and authorization, it is easy to detect and trace fraud and intrusion, (Ratha and Jain, 2005, p.85). Unlike traditional methods of authentication based of known characteristics – such as passphrases, smart cards – biometric techniques utilize distinct human traits such as voice recognition and prints of fingers that cannot be misplaced, forgotten, or lost. This is because human

Law - Roe vs. Wade Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Law - Roe vs. Wade - Term Paper Example Background Roe v. Wade arose because women were being deprived the right to choose what they wish to do with their bodies1. This is because abortion was illegal in all the states in the United States. There were strict laws, which forced many women into bad situations in any case they carry out an abortion illegally. In some instances, a number of women died as a result of unsafe abortion. Some women even tried to terminate their pregnancies themselves. Some other women chose to relocate to other countries to have safe, legal abortion. However, in the United States it was noted that a large number of women could not afford to move to other countries where abortion is legal to have their pregnancies terminated. A group of women in Texas was not happy with the situation. They argued that every woman should be allowed to choose what happened to her body. They therefore started advocating for change of law so that they could be given the right2. In 1970, the women hired two lawyers to re present them in their quest to have abortion legalized. The two lawyers presented a suit in Texas court challenging the abortion law. In the process, they found a young woman who intended to terminate her pregnancy and were willing to represent all the other expectant women in Texas who also wanted to have abortion. In order to protect her identity she was nicknamed Jane Roe3. The case was given a node and proceeded all through to the Supreme Court. Attorneys for the state of Texas however were conservative and wanted the law to remain as it was. They bear the opinion that a pregnant mother should give up her rights since the fetus rights are more important4. To counter this, the Jane Roe’s lawyer argued that women had a right to privacy, which included choosing to terminate pregnancy. The case has proved to be among the most controversial in the United States history, and many people still debates it to date. Many years after Roe, Americans still remain divided over the abor tion rights. Data on opinion polls show majority Americans in support if some aspects of abortion rights with regard while others are still of the view that the decision should be overruled and abortion remain illegal5. Subject Proponents ABC News-Washington post poll conducted thirteen years after the case of Roe v. Wade indicates that 57 percent of respondents polled stated the that abortion should remain legal. A Gallup opinion poll of 2011 showed that 49 % of those polled identified themselves with Roe6. Some proponents of Roe case especially led by women feminist argue that a woman’s right to choose abortion is a fundamental right enshrined in the constitution7. Therefore, it is the prerogative of a woman to choose what to do with her body. As a result, the constitution has a right to protect the fundamental rights to privacy of women. The feminist movement and other proponents of Roe argue that fetus is not a human being. As such, abortion is a matter of terminating pre gnancy and not killing a baby. They say that there is no biological proof to show that personhood starts at conception. To them a personhood starts when a person is born8. The proponents also say that fetus is not capable of feeling pain when terminating pregnancy. They cite a research carried out by Stuart Derbyshire, PhD, Senior Lecturer at the University of Birmingham who found out that a fetus is not capa

Organizational behavior concepts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Organizational behavior concepts - Essay Example Managers are able to develop an understanding of what motivates employees to learn, train and perform optimally as individuals through the use of organizational behavior concepts. Managers realize there are many dynamics behind working within a group and the importance of group behaviors and communicating is a key link to empowering and controlling conflicts a group. Overall, in order for managers to be successful and effective they must utilize and develop the use of organizational behavior concepts that will enhance not only there own abilities but also there employees. Inexorably, the general movement in this country toward protecting both individual and group rights and sensitivities has spawned a number of innovative ideas and control mechanisms. These range from what might be subsumed under political correctness to particular penalty devices in criminal justice. Although not concerned with the rather complex social and political forces that have led the country through turbulent rights adjustments culminating in the criminalization of hate, it is important to have some understanding of the background. Fortunately, that understanding is widespread, thanks to the advanced state of public communications media, and requires little explication here. It is, perhaps, sufficient to note that the very concept of hate crime is of relatively recent origin and can best be understood in the context of what has been happening in this country in regard to changing and expanding notions of individual, group, and minority rights. The concept of hate crime does not encompass hatreds in general. One will not find hatred of either Republicans or Democrats, of either Bostonians or New Yorkers, or even of either criminals or noncriminals, in any way proscribed by the criminal law. Usually, it is only when hatred focuses on race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or s exual preference that the criminal law comes into play. Furthermore, hatred in one of those areas, by itself, is not criminal. It is only when some traditionally established crime, such as assault, vandalism and theft can be legally shown to have been motivated by hate against restrictively specified groups does the punitive hate crime mechanism become active. It is difficult to precisely trace the origins of an evolutionary process but certainly the activities of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith must be regarded as seminal in regard to notions of hate crime. The League has been tracking one kind of hate crime, anti-Semitic vandalism, since 1960. In 1979, it first started to publish an annual "Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents." These audits, from the beginning, revealed an alarming trend of increasing anti-Semitic vandalism and violence. The League responded by making greater efforts in terms of education, public exposure, and demands for law enforcement support. In 1981, the League's legal affairs department drafted a model hate crimes legislative bill, and the League continues to hold a leadership position in promoting hate crime statutes. (Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith 1988a) Other organizations, notably Afro-American groups, have also played a leadership role in pursuing hate crimes

Marketing and Marketing Strategy Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing and Marketing Strategy - Coursework Example The first product that I choose was an automobile. This was a high involvement purchase. This is because the product was expensive and would have a significant impact on my life. Moreover, this was a product that I had to spend a considerable amount of time and also effort searching for. This was also so because there were significant differences between the brands that were available at the time in terms of their performance and quality ("Indmedica - CyberLectures - High Involvement Purchase Decisions", n.d., p. 2). However, the second product that I chose, newspaper, was a low involvement purchase since the product was that which is habitually purchased and therefore the decision of choosing it required very little effort. It was also a low involvement purchase because the newspaper had insignificant effect on my lifestyle and was not that an important investment. 1st Product: Automobile The following are the 5 buying decision process that I followed in buying this product. a) Prob lem recognition This is the stage I realized that I actually needed a car. I would want to conveniently travel to my job place every morning but could not do so as I did not have a convenient means of transport. b) Information search This is where I started looking for what could solve my transport problem. I looked for information on the convenient means that I could use to travel to my workplace and concluded on buying a car. c) Evaluation of alternatives Here, I took into consideration all the car models that were available and which one of them would best fit my needs. I also considered the alternatives that were available for me including their prices and the shops selling them. d) Purchase decision After all the considerations and consultations, I decided to buy a model of my choice. This is where I also walked to the shop that I had chosen and actually paid for the car. e) Post-Purchase evaluation This I did after the purchase. I evaluated the car that I had bought; its impor tance and how convenient having it would be. I also confirmed that I had made the right choice. 2nd Product: Newspaper I only followed two processes for my second low involvement purchase. a) Problem recognition This is where I discovered my need for the newspaper and decided to buy one. b) Purchase evaluation Here, I went straight to the nearest and easily accessible shop and bought the newspaper that I wanted. Question 2 My first purchase was a high involvement purchase and this meant that I had to follow all the processes of consumer purchase. I had to make sure that I had put into consideration all the facts and information concerning the product that would make me chooses the right one. Unlike the first one, the automobile was very expensive and therefore there was no room for mistake in my purchase. This required me to carefully evaluate all the then available alternatives and make a solid decision based on facts considerations. In buying this high involvement product, automob ile, I had to first look for information after identifying my problem. I also had to evaluate all the possible alternatives before making my final purchase. Contrary to this, for the second low involvement purchase, newspaper, I did not have to do a lot. This was a product that I usually bought so I knew what I needed. The only thing that I wanted was a shop that was nearby and a place where I could easily; conveniently and quickly buy the newspaper. For these reasons, unlike

Ibm Case Essay Example for Free

Ibm Case Essay History By the 1950’s, IBM became the dominant vendor in the computer industry with the release of the IBM 701 along with many other series of mainframes, which are large central processors. Then in the1960’s and 1970’s, the company had to diversify to get on the same level as smaller companies, such as Digital Equipment Corporation, who were introducing microprocessors. This threatened IBM’s position in the computer industry. Their response was coming put with a personal computer, software, and services. In 1981, IBM officially introduced the IBM PC with a compatible hardware platform. This was a large accomplishment for the company. A few years later, on May 1st, 2005, IBM sold its PC division to the Chinese company Lenovo for $655 million in cash and $600 million in Lenovo stock. Then on January 25, 2007, IBM sold their printing systems division for $725 million to Ricoh and created a new Ricoh subsidiary called InfoPrint Solutions Company. Ricoh will now own a 51% share and IBM will own a 49% share. Also in 2007, IBM’s yearly revenue was $98. 8 billion and they had a net income of $10. 8 billion dollars. IBM is run by about 427,000 employees. There are three main people who keep the business running smoothly. The most important one is Samuel J. Palmisano, who is the Chairman, President, and CEO. Another important associate at IBM is Mark Loughridge, who is the SVP and CFO. And lastly, Douglas Elix, who is another SVP, a Group Executive, and is in charge of Sales and Distribution. These three men are vital to the company’s success. Besides them, most of the employees at IBM are IT Specialists, Application Services Consultants, and Managing Consultants. Every company has to have competitors. Competition makes a healthy industry. Some of the top competitors IBM runs against are EDS (Electronic Data Systems Corporation), Hewlett Packerd, and their biggest competitor, Microsoft, whom they are ranked right behind in second place in their industry. IBM has many recent accomplishments within that last few years. One of the major ones was the development of the world’s tiniest nanophotonic switch, which is a device for routing light on a chip scale. Another project they have completed wasweb 2. security concerns with â€Å"SMash,† which is one of their development tools. Another very large project they completed was the design of the microprocessor for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii. All three of those were a good addition to the list of products they already design. This opened up their age range of consumers as well since a lot of children play these video systems. Besides recent accomplishments in their elec tronic field, IBM also had many of their employees win multiple awards for their achievements. They have had three of their employees win Nobel Prizes, which are achievements in either physics, chemistry, literature, peace, economics, medicine and physiology; four have received a Turing Awards, which are awards for technology; five have National Medals of Technology; and five more have received National Medals of Science. These are all very big accomplishments that IBM is very proud of. IBM is currently working on many projects. One of its big ones is Eclipse, which is a platform-independent, Java based software framework. Another is developerWorks, which is a website run by IBM for software developers and IT professionals. It contains large numbers of how-to articles and tutorials, software downloads, code samples, discussion forums, podcasts, blogs, wikis, and other resources. Then there is alphaWorks which is IBM’s source for emerging software technologies. They are also working on more semiconductor designs and manufacturing for them. Open client offering is another project they are working on. It is to run on Windows, Linux and Apples. Used for word processing, presentations, Lotus Notes, instant messaging, blogging, etc†¦ UC2: Unified Communications and Collaboration is an IBM and Cisco joint project. It will offer numerous Eclipse applications developers a unified platform for an easier work environment. Examples of this would be click-to-call and voice mailing. SWOT on Management IBM holds more patentsthan any other U. S. based technology company. IBM’s Project Management Center of Excellence, or PM COE, is first-rate. PM COE is considered IBM’s â€Å"Think Tank†. It is a program that has been set up to define the steps needed to strengthen IBM’s project management capabilities. PM COE combines external industry trends and directions with IBM business, organizational, geographic requirements and insight. Using PM COE, IBM has developed project management policy, practices, methods, and tools (Wikipedia, 2008). For someone to be considered for a management position, they must complete IBM certification or accreditation. To be accepted in to the certification or accreditation process an individual must have done the following. Successfully passed PMI exam (i. e. be a certified PMP). Verifiable documentation and approval for mastery/expertise in a well-defined set of PM skills. Several years of PM experience spanning at least 3 verifiable projects within the immediate 5 years (including specific role, team size, and budget requirements). Verifiable documentation and proof of at least one area of specialty. Demonstrated the use of IBMs Worldwide Project Management Method (_WWPMM_). Completed extensive classroom and online education and testing. To become a Junior Project Manager, you must go through self assessment and get supervisors authorization to be accredited. Becoming a Senior Project Manager requires going through the rigorous IBM certification process, which involves Candidate preparing a detailed package with proof of above requirements. Package review, approval, and support by at least two levels of Senior Management. Package review and re-verification by PM COE expert. Personal interviews with the PM COE Certification board. Candidates whose experience, skills, knowledge and education are deemed valid, verifiable and accurate, are certified by the board as either Certified Senior Project Manager (CSPM) or Certified Executive Project Manager (CEPM). Senior Project managers must validate their skills and expertise against IBM’s worldwide standards. It is a deliberately long process with multiple checkpoints designed to ensure the integrity, fairness and legitimacy of the certification. This helps IBM maintain customer confidence in their products (Wikipedia, 2008). Since IBM is such a large, diversified, and established company they do not have many weaknesses. One weakness is they have a tendency to â€Å"strong arm† clients that are highly dependent on IBM products (Bradley, 2004). In the future this reputation could lead companies to be hesitant to rely on IBM’s merchandise. This reputation could also create bad enough relationships with current clients to make them transfer to a competitor’s product. IBM has also been known to â€Å"over promise† (Bradley, 2004). Since they are such a large corporation, with many capabilities, they tend to promise unrealistic deadlines to their customers. Businesses don’t like losing money, and opening later then planned is a good way to do that. These delays in their customers start-ups, could also lead to unfavorable relationships that could cause clients to move their business elsewhere. IBM is constantly looking for new opportunities to expand their share of the market, or start a new market. IBM is looking into revolutionizing the prevention of traditional and online fraud and Identity thefts. They are working on a comprehensive anti-fraud program that is going to help banks protect themselves and their customers, while continuing to offer their products and services (IBM, 2006). IBM is also conducting case studies for the automotive industry. The case studies are going to help them change the industry, and become more innovative (Lunani, 2006). Hopefully, the innovations will alleviate some of the stress the industry is under. Management Practices ; Theories SWOT analysis is a very important part of finding out a lot of information pertaining to current management functions within the company. However, it is what the management does after they find their strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats that are the most relevant part of determining a company’s success. The theories and practices the company uses to take advantage of their strengths, try to combat their weaknesses, use opportunities to their best interest, and to defend themselves from threats are the key determinant on what the company’s future looks like. IBM as one of the top companies in the world clearly knows what they are doing. They have taken into careful consideration their SWOT analysis and their management theories and practices are derived from their analysis. Being involved in competitive global competition, the company’s workforce is an essential part to IBM’s success. In knowing of this, IBM has created a list of seven key core workforce capabilities. These capabilities include: Understanding the demographics and capabilities of the workforce, predicting future labor supply and demand, utilizing social networks to increase the visibility and application of knowledge across the organization, enabling individuals to perform work regardless of location, facilitating collaboration across traditional organizational boundaries, driving the rapid development of skills and capabilities to meet changing business conditions, and evaluating employee performance and providing appropriate feedback. IBM has implemented these guidelines so their workforces can constantly adapt to the ever changing global business environment. In addition, workers are paid incentives for their input to keep the employees with a sense of involvement which is important to keeping them excited about IBM. At IBM, the managers believe and in a workforce that is diversified. According to Ron Glover, VP for Global Workforce Diversity at IBM, focuses on what it means to retain a true culture of diversity is IBM’s greatest competitive advantage. From all the way back to World War I, IBM has romoted workforce diversity when they hired disabled veterans to work for the company. Even when no one was using diversity IBM was. Way back in 1953, CEO at the time Thomas Watson sent out a very controversial stating that IBM needs to hire the best people, regardless of their race, ethnic origin, sex. In addition, the company added sexual orientation in 1984. He knew that this would give IBM a competitive advan tage because IBM would then be able to hire talented people the it’s competitors would turn down. (hrmreport. com, 2008) Another way IBM tries to get the best workers is using their program called Extreme Blue. This is an internship program for graduate and undergraduate students. This internationally known program is great for getting students prepared to work for IBM. IBM believes this will give students interested in working for a IBM a realistic perspective on what it would be like to work for them. IBM runs this diverse workforce under a classical management perspective. Money is assumed to be the primary motive and have a traditional compensation plan. The main forms of pay to employees are base pay and valuable other forms of benefits such as retirement plans and insurances. According to the company’s website, â€Å"cash compensation opportunities include base pay, commissions, performance bonuses, awards and other forms of earnings. † In addition to these forms of pay, IBM also offers generous paid vacation and holidays. There are also some benefits to relieve stress and just get away from the company for a little while. These benefits include reduced-prices, cooking lessons, and fitness centers. This management style has worked for them and we think they should stick with the classical approach to management and not move to a behavioral perspective. IBM uses an analyzer strategy which most large companies use. An analyzer strategy is a strategy in which the firm attempts to maintain its current businesses and to be somewhat innovative in new businesses. They use this strategy because they want to produce some new product opportunities while protecting their base of operations. (Griffen, 2007) Management Structure â€Å"The management structure that IBM maintains is an effective internal control structure. This structure has clearly defined lines of responsibility, as well as comprehensive systems and control procedures. This structure is beneficial because it assures customers that their transactions are put through correctly and efficiently. â€Å"(http://sec. edgar-online. com) An important part of IBM’s management structure is a good internal audit program. IBM takes a good amount of time to train its workers correctly. Each employee receives written policies and procedures to ensure that each employee knows exactly what to do under any circumstance or problem that may arise. By doing this everyone is on the same page and everything is done the way they want it done. IBM is now thinking about cutting 13,000 jobs most of which should be mostly in Europe and other headquarters around the world. Ethics With all of the diversity that exists within the company it would be hard for IBM to conduct any work without ethics on their minds. As in any large company there is some sort of unethical behavior going on, however these behaviors have not been detrimental to the company thus far. So far it is obvious that IBM wont make any large scale unethical decisions such as the like of Enron. The ethics are very important in the business process and will be discussed more in an interview with a former employee. Interview With a Former Employee Flat or tall management structure? â€Å"The structure tends to be taller than most companies, especially within the consulting group. † Management Style? â€Å"The managers take a very classical by the book style to their decisions. Everything that had happened before was documented and later considered protocol, if there was success. † What ethics does IBM use in decision making? â€Å"IBM has well defined guidelines on many ethical issues, and it is required that all new employees review these guidelines. Employees are also required to take an annual review test to comply with IBM corporate policy. In my experience IBM relies on individual managers to make judgment calls on grey areas, and the managers I worked with all took ethic approaches to handling the issue. † What are the areas for improvement? â€Å"IBM has had difficulties integrating its consulting division, since the acquisition of Price Waterhouse Coopers consulting in 2002. Much effort has been focused on getting full value from this acquisition, and at least initially the purchase was viewed as a misstep. With changes over the last few years, the consulting division has become the bulk of IBM revenue, but there are still opportunities to better leverage the consulting division in light of other IBM business units. IBM has also been severally criticized for its outsourcing practices, and has taken very proactive measures to combat this public criticism. † Any alliances? â€Å"IBM has numerous alliances with companies, all the way from suppliers to working with competitors. The number of alliances in likely in the thousands. † What makes IBM so successful? The ability to solve large scale business problems, especially in the IT sector, by combining various internal specialties and partnerships to create and implement end to end solutions. † Have you witnessed any unethical behavior throughout the company? â€Å"I have not personally witnessed any unethical behavior, but have spoken to a former VP who was put in a position to take an unethical action by someone who wa s very senior in the organization. † Hiring procedures? Promotions procedures? â€Å"Hiring is done at the group level, based upon target numbers that are established at the top of the organization. Final hiring decisions are made at the senior manager level. Promotion decisions occur annually with promotions and compensation based upon the outcome of the decision. Promotion is granted if the employee can show sufficient evidence that he/she is operating at the intended promotion level, and that the results are sustainable (ie. , results must be shown for a relatively long time and consistent time period, in various situations) . The implementation of the corresponding compensation typically occurs six months after promotion decisions are made. The timing of promotions and compensation increases are an area which many employees feel needs to be corrected, and IBM has stated it intends to reduce the total time of the process. † Relationship between managers and subordinates? â€Å"Varies greatly based upon individual relationships. IBM offers many channels to discuss issues, but the design of the promotion/compensation/staffing structure makes it imperative to have a successful working relationship with direct and next level management. † Is there a lot of management restructuring? Yes, at the lower levels, especially in consulting, management roles are very fluid and change frequently in comparison with other companies. Some of this is based on market changes, some on promotions/exits, and some on business results. † What kind of fringe benefits do workers receive? â€Å"Discounts with partner companies, cell and broadband reimbursement, 401k contribution, pension (eliminated in 2006), corporate educatio n, annual bonus (consulting division), extensive health care coverage at low rates. † Is there a lot of communication between the different headquarters? Conclusion It is obvious that IBM is successful because their values and the way they conduct business. This is a direct reflection upon their management structure, style, and practices. They will surely stay on the same track of success for many years to come. As they push forward in their business they are becoming one of the most well known businesses whether it be for technology or consulting around the world. No matter what kind of work a person is in one thing is for certain, everyone can learn from the way IBM conducts their business.

Relationship Between Self-confidence and Sports Performance

Relationship Between Self-confidence and Sports Performance Self-confidence is probably the most regularly reported psychological elements considered to have an effect on athletic performance. For instance, as observed by Arkes and Garske (1982), researchers have well-known that the separating elementbetween high and low accomplishment motivation is self-confidence. Athletes who are self-confident and expecting to do well are generally the same athletes who do win. Self-confidence has been operationalized in numerous different ways.These include the constructs of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977, 1997), sport confidence (Vealey, 1986), perceived capability (Harter, 1982; Nicholls, 1984), outcome expectancies (Rotter, 1954), and movement confidence (Griffin Keogh, 1982). Anacknowledged description is the one proposed by Feltz (1988) who shows that self-confidence should be considered as: â€Å" the confidence that one can efficiently perform anexact natural process rather than a global trait that accounts for overall performance optimism. For in stance, one may experience a high point of self-confidence in one’s driving skill in golf only a low level of self-confidence in putting†. Self-confidence, as operationalized by Feltz, is essentially the same as self-efficacy, a construct defined by Bandura (1977). The theory of self-efficacy, which was originated within the structure of a social cognitive theory, has been one of the most widely used theoretical basic for assessing self-confidence in sport and exercise. Self-efficacy was originally projected as an account of the sort of interference procedures utilized in the discussion of anxiety, and has been employed in sport to explain the intervention of achievement behaviors. Granting to the theory, self-efficacy is determined as the cognitions that symbolize the sentences or beliefs that one can successfully accomplish a specific action to create a certain outcome rather than a global threat that account for overall performance optimism (Bandura, 1997). Self-effi cacy is not concerned with the skills of an individual, merely with the assessment of what he or she can get along with her/his expertise (Feltz, 1992; McAuley, 1992). In really simple conditions, self-efficacy represents a variety of situation specific self-confidence (Vealey, 1986). For instance, an individual may feel very positive in her/his ability to perform on the volleyball court, but be totally intimidated at the idea of public speech production. People’s opinion of their personal capabilities has been evinced to be an important determinant of choice of activity, how much effort is expended in those activities, persistence in the face of aversive stimuli, thought forms, and emotional reactions (Bandura, 1977, 1986, 1997). When confronted with stressful stimuli, low-efficacious individuals tend to break up, assign the failure internally, and have greater anxiety or depression (Bandura, 1982). Judgment of self-efficacy is based on four major sources of information: Past performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, persuasion, and physiological states (Bandura, 1977). Performance accomplishments are the most reliable and influential sources of efficacy information since they are founded on authentic mastery experiences. This notion is reflected in the hypothesis that mastery attempts that are perceived as a success will facilitate efficacy expectations, whereas attempts perceived as failures will result in lowered efficacy. Once strong feelings of self-efficacy develop through repeated successes, occasional failures will be of little effects.The influence that performance experiences have on self-efficacy depends on the perceived difficulty of the project, the attemptfinished, the quantity of physical leadership received, and the sequential patterns of achievement and disappointment (Bandura, 1986).Successes with difficult projects, tasks tried individually, and task s achieved early in understanding with only unexpecteddisappointment will increase self-efficacy more compared to easy tasks, tasks carried out with external aid, or projects in which repeated failures are seen early in the learning process. Vicarious experiences are sources of efficacy data derived through observing or imagining others engaging in the job to be done.Seeing similar others perform successfully can raise efficacy expectations, especially when the individual perceives similarities with the model in terms of capabilities or personal characteristics (Gould Weiss, 1981; McAuley, 1985). Persuasion is widely used by teachers and coaches in order to motivate people to think that they possess capabilities that will enable them to reach their goal (Gould, Hodge, Peterson, Giannini, 1989). Examples are verbal persuasion, self-talk, imagery, and other cognitive strategies. These techniques are effective when the heightened appraisal is within realistic bounds. Furthermore, persuasion determine by the believability, reputation, reliability, and knowledge of the inducer.Ultimately, one’s physiological state can provide efficacy information through cognitive evaluation of the arousal states. When an increase in arousal is interpreted as an inability to hold away the tasks successfully, efficacy expectations will fall. However, when the individual interprets arousal as being psyched up and quick to perform, efficacy expectations will increase (Bandura, 1986). When discussing efficacy expectations, it is significant to differentiate between personal efficacy and response-outcome expectations (Bandura, 1997).Self-efficacy is a mind of one’s ability to perform at a certain stage, whereas outcome expectancy pertains to one’s judgement that certain behaviors will lead to desired results.For example, one may think that running a marathon in less than two hours will guide to social appreciation, cash, and self-satisfaction (outcome belief), but may uncertainty whether he can actually run that fast (efficacy belief).Bandura (1986) argues that self-efficacy beliefs predict performance better than expected results. Competitive State Anxiety Competitive sport anxiety is very usual in young athletes (Wilson, 2008). Anxiety is a pessimistic reaction that happens when individuals doubt their ability to cope with the situation that causes stress (Humara, 1999). Anxiety can delay an athlete’s ability to completely or normally react. According to Wilson (2008), increased pressure and stress can build up intoanxiety and affect a child’s manners and performance in a sport. Research has identified several possible causes of competitive anxiety. Anshel andDelany (2001) evaluated youth sports competitors, male and female, where the participants evaluated a list of potential origins of intense stress and anxiousness. The results indicated that the intense pressure of the sport, over competitiveness, and negative response increased stress for both males and females (Anshel Delany, 2001). A similar study by Peden (2007) explained that when a player becomes more and more uneasy in some positions due to the surroundings, negative automatic thoughts become more numerous and more negative, which can dominate thinking, wipe out confidence, and harm performance. There is a huge deal of learned inquiry into figuring out approaches that can be used for handling performance anxiety in athletes (Humara, 1999). Specific ways such as relaxation, cognitive restructuring, (Humara, 1999), and positive self-talk method (Peden, 2007) will be discussed in the Implications sections of this study. Multidimensional Anxiety Theory Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump, and Smith (1990) produced the Multidimensional Anxiety Theory (MAT), which concentratesspecifically on competitive sport anxiety. This particular theory expresses that competitive anxiety is consists of two anxiety state components: cognitive state anxiety and somatic state anxiety.Cognitive state anxiety is set like a fleeting condition of anxiety that contains of worry or an individual’s negative belief or worries about performance, as well as concentrationtrouble and lack of assiduity.Somatic state anxiety can be defined as a fleeting condition of anxiety that contains psychological response symptoms that pass in the soul.Symptoms of somatic state anxiety include extreme sweating, increased heart rate, wobbly, or tension (Martens et al., 1990). According to Martens and researchers (1990), somatic state anxiety may be categorized out as a vulgar reaction to opposition and can result in absolutely no needed problems to perform.However, a growth in cognitive state anxiety in an athlete can make awareness and concentration dysfunction and a mental growth process of worry and self-doubt.An absence of awareness and focus while taking part in sports can harmfully have an effect on entire performance. Possiblesituations of cognitive state anxiety are negative verbal feedback, insufficient of preparedness for competition, a bad attitude or mindset towards a past poor performance, or negative prospective of other individuals for example team members, family members, and coaches (Marten et al., 1990). Anxiety negatively affects an individual’s psychological and physical capabilities to accomplish (Hardy, 1996).A negative effect of competitive sport anxiety is distress (Selye, 1987).Distress happens when an individual is actually up against objectives that may happen in an improvement process of demand, and needs coping management, and reoccurring issue or difficulty with young athletes because of their lack of abilities, several overall performance mistakes, or failure to create away with tense circumstances (Peden, 2007). As an effect of enduring competitive anxiety resulting in burnout and other mental and physiological problems, drawback from the sport can become a standard escape for young and adolescents. Multidimensional Anxiety Theory shows that in relation to performance, cognitive anxiety knowledgeable within an individual will illustrate a negative linear relationship and somatic anxiety will prove and inverted ‘U’ relationship (Martens et al., 1990).The inverted ‘U’ relationship describes that in an individual’s somatic state, procedure should be bad at very low levels of somatic state anxiety, maximum at an advanced level of somatic state anxiety, and then become more and more worse as somatic anxiety increases past the optimal level (Perreault Marisi, 1997). The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) is a study based on the Multidimensional Anxiety Theory build to measure competitive state anxiety (Martens, Burton, Vealey, Bump, and Smith, 1990).The CSAI-2 investigates the present state of competitive anxiety of an athlete by calculating current anxiety states of cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence in athletes just before to competition (Martens et al., 1990).The CSAI-2 offered as the major instrumentation used for this questions. Past research are delivered to check out the estimations of the Multidimensional Anxiety Theory applying the CSAI-2 in addition to several revised types of the instrument.Chamberlain and Hale (2007) examined relationships between the amount as well as directional areas of competitive sport anxiety. The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2D (direction) was useful to assess the state anxiety intensity and direction of 12 experienced, basic male golfers starting in age from 20-22 years.The CSAI-2D is equal to the initial CSAI-2 apart from the seven-level degree which usually assess path.In parliamentary law to appraise both the negative linear and inverted ‘U’ relationship described in the Multidimensional Anxiety Theory, anxiety and performance rating from similar positioning duties carried out under three different anxiety-manipulated competitive conditions were utilized.Solutions suggested that cognitive anxiety intensity proven a poor linear relationship with performan ce and somatic anxiety intensity displaying a curvilinear relationship with performance.Multiple regression examinessuggested that course, which paid for 42% of the deviation, was an even better predictor of overall performance than intensity, which accounted for only 22% of the deviation. Findings decided with the original MAT hypothesis (Chamberlain Hale, 2007). The modified inventory contained of the three pre-existing subscales of the CSAI-2 (cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety, and self-confidence) but as an alternative of 9 items per scale it comprises of five items per subscale, ensuing in a 15-item scale.Researchers finished a confirmatory aspectevaluation of the CSAI-2C to assess the level to which the three-dimension model of competitive anxiety composed from the Multidimensional Anxiety Theory backed with regards to other designs (Stadulis et al., 2002).After evaluating 632 children ages 8-12 years old, internal consistency coefficients (i.e., Cronbach’s Alpha) for the three subscales were: Cognitive anxiety state, ÃŽ ±=.75; Somatic anxiety state, ÃŽ ± =.78; and state self-confidence, ÃŽ ± =.73. The entiretool internals consistency deducted in a value in.96 (Stadulis et al., 2002). Summary of the Chapter Professional football players as we know are elite football players that involves in a high level of sport competition. Sports offer players with organizations and programs from which they can help through skill development and enhanced self-confidence. Unfortunately, some professional players experience competitive sport anxiety, which can negatively affect their performance. Competitive sport anxiety can make athletes to lose focus, worry, and become anxious towards competition. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between self-confidence and competitive sport anxiety on Johor professional football players. This research can be helpful to coaches and officers of the professional football teams because it can detect the level of anxiety among players and if it related to self-confidence. The information may support coaches and officers of the professional football teams to take precautions such as modifying training programs and techniques, or coaching education on ways to help lower or prevent sport performance anxiety in professional football players.

21st Century Essay -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Alternatives to animal testing   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Imagine you are walking down the cosmetics isle at your grocery store. While picking up some deodorant or toothpaste, have you ever stopped to think if your favorite product has been tested on animals? You probably haven’t, but the chances are very high that it has been. Two of the main reasons why companies continue to use animals to test their products are to determine possible dangers to human health and to avoid product liability suits, but now there are many reliable tests that can be conducted to determine the safety of products without the use of animals. To better understand this important issue I will discuss how animal testing began, what companies do and do not test products on animals, some alternatives to animal testing, and the awareness and prevention that demands our help.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Experimentation on live animals began as early as the 17th Century. Philosopher Jeremy Bentham rejected Philosopher Rene Descartes’ theory that animals are not able to reason and therefore do not feel pain. Bentham’s philosophy on animals was: â€Å" The question is not can they reason? Nor, can they talk? but, can they suffer? â€Å". The practice of testing cosmetics on...