How Is the Power of Dreams and Dreaming in the Novel of Mice and Men Essay Example for Free

How Is the Power of Dreams and Dreaming in the Novel of Mice and Men Essay The idea of moving from one place to another, working hard and trying to raise the quality of life for you and your loved ones is known as The American Dream. Steinbeck invites us to understand how having this dream keeps them going despite the challenging life that each character faces. Throughout the novel, Steinbeck makes this dream the main focus of the story for both the reader and characters. George’s dream is to have independence and to go into town and get whatever I want but most importantly he dreams of being somebody. On the other hand, Lennie aspires to be with George and to tend the rabbits. Ultimately, George and Lennie both wanted to have a little house and couple of acres an a cow and some pigs however, George only tells Lennie about their dream to comfort Lennie. This is shown when Lennie says No You tell it. It aint the same if I tell it. Go on George. How do I get to tend the rabbits. It is only after they all realised that together, this thing they never believed in was coming true Even though the dream is very important to George as well, Steinbeck portrays Lennie as someone who wants the dream a lot more. This is shown through Lennies angry or upset feelings when he feels like he has done something that would jeopardise their dream. George uses this to his advantage to threaten and control Lennie by blackmailing him, If you do, I wont let you tend the rabbits. Consequently, Lennie tries to please George and to gain his approval as much as possible. Another way in which Steinbeck shows the power of dreams and dreaming in the novel is through how much they want it. Steinbeck portrays each character’s desperation through their lifestyle. The dream that each character has reflects what is missing from their life. George and Crooks are both very desperate about this dream because they both want their current lives to be like their past. This is shown when, for a second, George loses track of the present and says â€Å"we’d keep a few pigeons to go flyin’ around the win’mill like they done when I was a kid† which is referring back to his childhood. Similarly, Crooks wants to return to his past. â€Å"The white kids used to play at our place, an’ sometimes I went to play with them. † This shows that Crooks used to be well respected and equal within his community. After all, Crooks â€Å"ain’t a southern negro†; however, he is not treated well at the ranch, therefore, the dream provides comfort for Crooks. Although George wants to return to his childhood, there is a deeper meaning to his dream. George wants to â€Å"just say the hell with goin’ to work† because unlike Candy, George doesn’t want to stay at the ranch too long so he would get ‘canned’. For George, the dream means that â€Å"nobody could can us† Furthermore, George doesn’t want to have to keep moving because he would â€Å"jus live there† and â€Å"belong there. There wouldnt be no more runnin round the country and gettin fed by a Jap cook. † This suggests that he’ll be his own boss. A result of being a migrant worker, no one at the ranch has any friends, which is why Crooks was surprised to hear that Lennie had George. For George and Lennie, the dream of having their own land provides a stable home that will eventually gain them friends and family. On the other hand, Crooks is very pessimistic about the possibility of a dream becoming a reality because he has been segregated in the ranch for as long as he can remember. His cynicism has led him to believe â€Å"Its just in their head. Theyre all the time talkin about it, but its jus in their head. This suggests that his past experiences have affected his power to dream. Steinbeck reinforces the power of dreaming within the novel, as he shows every character’s reaction when they all realise that there is a possibility of George and Lennie’s dream becoming reality. â€Å"They looked at each other, amazed. This thing they had never really believed in was coming true. Once they believed that the dream is a possibility, the tension is ramped up. Suddenly there is something to lose and something to fight for. This massively enhances the power that the dream has over each character and for a while the feeling of doom is lessened. The reader wants to know if each character can escape the curse they seem to be under and reach their goals. For Lennie and candy the dream would provide an exciting opportunity, as both characters are not worth mu ch in the real world. The dream would provide them a chance of appreciation. To Lennie, the dream is an antidote to disappointment and loneliness, and he often asks George to recite the description of the farm to him for comfort. Like a child, he loved the hear George telling him to â€Å"tend the rabbits† correspondingly for Candy it would make him feel more important as he can â€Å"cook and tend the chickens and hoe the garden some† Even though Curley’s Wife was the reason that the dream fell apart, she had big dreams to be in â€Å"pitchers† Unsatisfied by her surly husband, she constantly lurks around the barn, trying to engage the workers in conversation. However, although she may come across as very flirtatious, she only flirts with the men for attention. Which is what her dream would have provided her if she didn’t marry Curley. Shes so lonely, and so desparate for the attention of the men at the ranch that she even flirts with Lennie as she leans â€Å"closely† at him to â€Å"see if she was impressing him† To look in more detail about how Steinbeck shows the power of the dreams, take each individual character and how they all act to their dreams ending. For example, Steinbeck has made Curley very bitter after the realisation of his dreams ending when Candy’s wife is killed by Lennie. His bitterness shows how much the dream meant to him and how he needed it because he is old and disabled so he will probably get ‘canned’ soon, He shuffles out of the barn which that he has given up all hope, almost given up on life.

Operation Managenent Essay Example for Free

Operation Managenent Essay After completing this chapter, you should be able to: 1. Define the term operations management. 2. Identify the three major functional areas of organizations and describe how they interrelate. 3. Identify similarities and differences between production and service operations. 4. Describe the operations function and the nature of the operations managers job. 5. Summarize the two major aspects of process management. 6. Explain the key aspects of operations management decision making. Briefly describe the historical evolution of operations management. . Characterize current trends in business that impact operations management. Chapter 2 Competitiveness, Strategy, and Productivity After completing this chapter, you should be able to: 1. 2. 3. 4. List the three primary ways that business organizations compete. Explain five reasons for the poor competitiveness of some companies. Define the term strategy and explain why strategy is important. Discuss and compare organization strategy and operations strategy, and explain why it is important to link the two. 5. Describe and give examples of time-based strategies. 6. Define the term productivity and explain why it is important to organizations and to countries. 7. Provide some of the reasons for poor productivity and some ways of improving it. Chapter 3 Forecasting: 1. List the elements of a good forecast. 2. Outline the steps in the forecasting process. 3. Evaluate at least three qualitative forecasting techniques and the advantages and disadvantages of each. 4. Compare and contrast qualitative and quantitative approaches to forecasting. 5. Describe averaging techniques, trend and seasonal techniques, and regression analysis, and solve typical problems. Explain three measures of forecast accuracy. 7. Compare two ways of evaluating and controlling forecasts. 8. Assess the major factors and trade-offs to consider when choosing a forecasting technique. Chapter 4 – Product and Service Design: 1. Explain the strategic importance of product and service design. 2. Identify some key reasons for design or redesign. 3. Recognize the key questions of product and service design. 4. List some of the main sources of design ideas. 5. Discuss the importance of legal, ethical, and sustainability considerations in product and service design. 6. Explain the purpose and goal of life cycle assessment. 7. Explain the phrase the 3 Rs. 8. Briefly describe the phases in product design and development. 9. Name several key issues in manufacturing design. 10. Recognize several key issues in service design. 11. Name the phases in service design. 12. List the characteristics of well-designed service systems. 13. Assess some of the challenges of service design. Chapter 5 Strategic Capacity Planning for Products and Services: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Summarize the importance of capacity planning. Discuss ways of defining and measuring capacity. Describe the determinants of effective capacity. Discuss the major considerations related to developing capacity alternatives. Briefly describe approaches that are useful for evaluating capacity alternatives. Chapter 6 Process Selection and Facility Layout: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Explain the strategic importance of process selection. Describe the influence that process selection has on an organization. Compare the basic processing types. Explain the need for management of technology. List some reasons for redesign of layouts. Describe the basic layout types, and the main advantages and disadvantages of each. Chapter 7- Work Design and Measurement: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Explain the importance of work design. Compare and contrast the two basic approaches to job design. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of specialization. Explain the term knowledge-based pay. Explain the purpose of methods analysis and describe how methods studies are performed. 6. Compare four commonly used techniques for motion study. 7. Discuss the impact of working conditions on job design. 8. Define a standard time. 9. Describe and compare time study methods and perform calculations. 10. Describe work sampling and perform calculations. Compare stopwatch time study and work sampling. 12. Contrast time and output pay systems. Chapter 8 Location Planning and Analysis: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Identify some of the main reasons organizations need to make location decisions. Explain why location decisions are important. Discuss the options that are available for location decisions. Give examples of the major factors that affect location decisions. Outline the decision process for making these kinds of decisions. Chapter 9 – Management of Quality: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Define the term quality as it relates to products and as it relates to services. Explain why quality is important and the consequences of poor quality. Identify the determinants of quality. Distinguish the costs associated with quality. Compare the quality awards. Discuss the philosophies of quality gurus. Describe TQM. Give an overview of process improvement. Describe and use various quality tools. Chapter 10 – Quality Control: 1. List and briefly explain the elements of the control process. 2. Explain how control charts are used to monitor a process, and the concepts that underlie their use. Chapter 11 Aggregate Planning and Master Scheduling: 1. Explain what aggregate planning is and how it is useful. 2. Identify the variables decision makers have to work with in aggregate planning and some of the possible strategies they can use. 3. Describe some of the graphical and quantitative techniques planners use. 4. Describe the master scheduling process and explain its importance. Chapter 12 – MRP and ERP: 1. Describe the conditions under which MRP is most appropriate. 2. Describe the inputs, outputs, and nature of MRP processing. 3. Explain how requirements in a master production schedule are translated into material requirements for lower-level items. Discuss the benefits and requirements of MRP. 5. Explain how an MRP system is useful in capacity requirements planning. 6. Outline the potential benefits and some of the difficulties users have encountered with MRP. 7. Describe MRP II and its benefits. 8. Describe ERP, what it provides, and its hidden costs. Chapter 13 – Inventory Management: 1. Define the term inventory, list the major reasons for holding inventories, and list the main requirements for effective inventory management. 2. Discuss the nature and importance of service inventories. 3. Explain periodic and perpetual review systems. 4. Explain the objectives of inventory management. 5. Describe the A-B-C approach and explain how it is useful. 6. Describe the basic EOQ model and its assumptions. 7. Describe reorder point models. 8. Describe situations in which the singleperiod model would be appropriate. Chapter 14 – JIT and Lean Operations: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Explain what is meant by the term lean operations system. List each of the goals of a lean system and explain its importance. List and briefly describe the building blocks of lean. Identify the benefits of a lean system. Outline the considerations important in converting a traditional mode of operations to a lean system. 6. Point out some of the obstacles that might be encountered when converting to a lean system. 7. Describe value stream mapping. Chapter 15 – Supply Chain Management 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Discuss the key issues of supply chain management. Name the recent trends in supply chain management. Summarize the motivations and risks of outsourcing as a strategy. State some of the complexities that are involved with global supply chains. List some of the strategic, tactical, and operational responsibilities of supply chain management. Give examples of some advantages of e-business. Explain the importance of supplier partnerships. List the requirements of an effective supply chain. Name some of the challenges in creating an effective supply chain. Chapter 16 Scheduling 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Explain what scheduling involves and the importance of good scheduling. Describe scheduling needs in high-volume and intermediate-volume systems. Describe scheduling needs in job shops. Use and interpret Gantt charts, and use the assignment method for loading. Give examples of commonly used priority rules. Summarize some of the unique problems encountered in service systems, and describe some of the approaches used for scheduling service systems. Chapter 17 – Project Management: 1. Discuss the behavioral aspects of projects in terms of project personnel and the project manager. 2. Explain the nature and importance of a work breakdown structure in project management. 3. Give a general description of PERT/CPM techniques. 4. Construct simple network diagrams. 5. List the kinds of information that a PERT or CPM analysis can provide. 6. Describe activity crashing and solve typical problems. Management of Waiting Lines After ompleting this chapter, you should be familiar with waiting line terminology, be able to solve typical problems using the models presented in this chapter, and answer these questions: 1. Describe what imbalance does the existence of a waiting line reveal? 2. Explain what causes waiting lines to form, and why is it impossible to eliminate them completely? 3. Describe what metrics are used to help managers analyze waiting lines? 4. Explain what are some psychological approaches to managing waiting lines, and why might a manager want to use them? 5. Explain what very important lesson does the constant service time model provide for managers?

A Study On The Political Obligation

A Study On The Political Obligation The following research paper deals with the concept of political obligation along with various theories of political obligation and a critical analysis of the same. Towards the beginning the paper explains the meaning of the political obligation with examples and towards the end it explains the various theories of political obligation and a critical analysis of each of them. To begin with one must know what the word political obligation means. To a lay man the word means To have a political obligation is to have a moral duty to obey the laws of ones country or state.1 In context of the subject politics, the word Political obligation is defined as When the authorising rule is a law, and the association a state, we call this political obligation.2 Political obligations have been in complete argument by the various political thinkers. The various questions such as the The number of people that can acquire political obligation? and Is it merely being the member of the state or something more than that? are the various questions that many thinkers have tried to answer but no one has been able to answer the question that could form a general consent. Political obligation is concerned with the clash between the individuals claim to self-governance and the right of the state to claim obedience. This was the statement given by one of the modern political thinkers Dudley Knowles. The statement does not bring out all the characteristics of political obligation but to some extent has been able to bring out some of them. Before moving on further to the theories of political obligation one must know all the characteristics of political obligation. To start with one must clearly understand that political science is not a branch that only stick to the topic which are political in nature but to all those that help in general good. Another characteristic that needs to be highlighted is that all political obligations involve the issue of legitimacy. It helps to ensure people that the existing institution that command obedience and obligation in the state are legitimate. To prove this one can take the example that the people should have faith in the institution that are maintaining the obligation work for the development of the state and serves for the best interest of the society. The third characteristic which is also one of the key characteristics of political obligation is that it is not only concerned with obedience of authority but is also concerned with resisting and opposing authority in special circumstances. This can be very well explained in the following lines, There are good grounds for accepting authority in general, but, there may be good grounds too for rejecting it in particular cases; if authority derives from a constitution, there would generally be good grounds for rejecting any exercise of it which was unconstitutional. Again, if its legitimacy depends on the way it is used, an invasion of a sphere where political authority is inappropriate might be grounds for disobedience or, in extreme cases, for resistance.3 From the above we can make an important note that political obligation holds an important place in state and that one needs to understand political obligation so as to understand the state better. Now as we have come across the characteristics of political obligation we must now move to another important aspect that is the theories that have evolved over a period of time. There have been many theories that have been developed over a period of time that have been developed by the various philosophical thinkers. They can also be classified under various categories that have been mentioned. To begin with there are various theories which support unlimited obligation to the state followed by the theories that support limited obligation and at last the theories that do not favour obligation i.e. they are against the political obligation. Refer book Social Principles and the Democratic State pg.308 by Benn Peters. The theories that justifies unlimited political obligation are 1.) The force theory or the doctrine of Force Majuere 2.) The divine theory 3.) The conservative theory. The force theory or the doctrine of Force Majuere states that the individual obeys the state because of the invincible and the absolute power that the state posses. The individual other than abiding to the state has no other option. According to the theory the political obligation is born out of the fear, force and compulsion. The state according to the theory cannot be challenged or resisted and therefore has put forward the concept of unlimited obligation. The theory cannot have a view that is based on fear and force and not on the consent and will of the people or the individual and therefore it cannot be regarded as an appropriate approach to the concept of the political obligation.4 The theory had not been widely accepted due to the following reasons. 1) It not based on any moral ground and only believes in the fact that might is right. 2) It does not give individual the right to inquire whether the law is right or not. 3) This theory does not secure the will of the political obedience of the individual. 4) Also, that it does not permit the individual to resist against any wrong decision or judgement. The next is the divine theory that states that political obligation is based in the principle of faith. As the theory explains the role of the god in the creation of the state, it suggests that the true source of the authority is independent of human choice and custom5 and the individual is obliged to obey the sovereign as the divine authority. The theory started losing its significance in the modern world and even King James I of England proved that even the rulers could be unjust, if the individual were not subjected to right to resist or rebel. The theory also started to lose significance due to the growth of democracy and also due to the separation of the church from the state.

The Sword in the Stone of the Arthurian Legend Essay -- Arthurian Lege

The Sword in the Stone of the Arthurian Legend King Arthur and the knights of the round table belong to a long line of books and stories of the Arthurian legend. Merlin, Lancelot, The lady of the lake, King Arthur, and Excaliber are all very important in the Arthurian legend. In this essay we will talk about King Arthur, the knights of the round table, and Merlin in the famous story, The sword in the stone.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Sword in the stone is a book about an adopted child named wart. He is of royal blood and does not know this. One day when Wart is in the forest, he finds a magician named Merlin. Merlin comes home with Wart and agrees with Sir Ector, Wart’s guardian, to become Wart’s tutor. Merlin goes about educating Wart by Transforming him into different animals. Through each transformation Wart experiences different forms of power, each being a part of how he should rule as king.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first transformation takes Wart and Merlin into the castle’s moat as a fish. They then meet the largest fish in the moat, which is an alligator who is the ruler. The alligator takes what he wants because of his size. In a speech about power, he tells Wart that â€Å"Might is right,† and might of the body is greater than might of the mind. Because of the way the alligator rules, his subjects obey him out of fear for their lives. Wart experiences this firsthand when the gator tells him to leave. He has grown bored of Wart, and if Wart does not leave he will eat him. The king uses his size as his claim to power, therefore his subjects follow him out of fear.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Wart’s next transformation into a hawk, he soars into the castle’s mews. All the birds into the mews have a military rank. Their leader is an old falcon, who Sir Ector keeps just for show. The birds who rank below the falcon, hold her in the highest regard because of her old age. She applies her power over the other birds with no concern for their lives. In one instance, Wart is ordered to stand next to the cage of a crazy hawk who almost kills him. On the other hand, her seasoned age brings respect, since she had not been released once she outlived her usefulness as a hunter. This allows her to maintain a powerful grip over all the birds she rules through fear and respect.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Wart’s next make over Wart is transformed into an ant and posted within an ant colony. There is a single leader of the ant... ...ncelot killed the man responsible for this thievery he said, for shame that a knight not withhold or respect his high calling. Lancelot also showed his dedication to his knighthood and his King when he was tempted to sleep with Gwynevere but didn’t sleep with her by riding out and looking for adventure to prevent anything bad happening disrespecting King Arthur and his knightly standards by sleeping with her.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sir Lancelot is the best example of the loyalty of the Knights of the round Table in all of his actions. Lancelot did not let love get into any of his affairs and yet showed compassion and proved that he was not out to win personal gain. The Knights of the Round Table were noble in their actions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   That’s the story of how we know the story (or stories) today. King Arthur was raised and taught by the wise Magician named Merlin who has helped many kings before Arthur be great. Who created the Round Table and the Knights that sit around it and among those the famous Lancelot. Without Merlin there is no Arthur, without Arthur there is no Lancelot. So we now know that even though it’s called the Arthurian legend, all of them are big contributors to the legend.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Cassie Talaga :: essays research papers

Cassie, Do you honestly think I have no right to be angry or frustrated? For the past 3 frickin' years, I've stayed up all nights some nights thinking about you and us; and, working my ass off to show you that, though there's distance between us, that you can bet your life that my love is there and strong for you. I know what you feel when you say that you need someone and something to touch. I've finally gotten in touch with you in a way that I can hear your voice. Just as I was saying in my last email, there will be some fucking hard ass times, and then there will be worse ones. This is one of those times that is going to be hard, and I believe if there was any love there for me, you wouldn't just give up. I've always been skeptical about how you felt, that's just how I am, but then finally, in one email, after I called you for the first time you said, and I quote, "...before we had our talk, I mean.. yeah.. I liked you ALOT...". But then you went on to say that you finally knew in your heart that you truly loved me. I'm beginning to think you were just caught up in the moment. And to think, that was exactly a month ago. One frickin' month ago, you said you were sure, and now you aren't. I know for a fact that love is something you cannot all of a sudden gain, or lose. It will take time as in more than a couple weeks, but more like a couple months or years. I want you to know that, yes, I'm mad. But I am also mad about you. I feel like crying just like I did the night before you left. I had a dream a couple days ago, that ended with a phrase from no particular person saying, "Soon, your love will go through trials and tribulations, and intelligence and patience will fade as your frustration takes over; but, do not falter. Persevere in your true ways, and light will shine again!" I memorized that as I wrote that down after I woke up. That scared the shit out of me, because I spent that whole day thinking it was, in fact talking about you. I see now, maybe it is. Cassie Talaga :: essays research papers Cassie, Do you honestly think I have no right to be angry or frustrated? For the past 3 frickin' years, I've stayed up all nights some nights thinking about you and us; and, working my ass off to show you that, though there's distance between us, that you can bet your life that my love is there and strong for you. I know what you feel when you say that you need someone and something to touch. I've finally gotten in touch with you in a way that I can hear your voice. Just as I was saying in my last email, there will be some fucking hard ass times, and then there will be worse ones. This is one of those times that is going to be hard, and I believe if there was any love there for me, you wouldn't just give up. I've always been skeptical about how you felt, that's just how I am, but then finally, in one email, after I called you for the first time you said, and I quote, "...before we had our talk, I mean.. yeah.. I liked you ALOT...". But then you went on to say that you finally knew in your heart that you truly loved me. I'm beginning to think you were just caught up in the moment. And to think, that was exactly a month ago. One frickin' month ago, you said you were sure, and now you aren't. I know for a fact that love is something you cannot all of a sudden gain, or lose. It will take time as in more than a couple weeks, but more like a couple months or years. I want you to know that, yes, I'm mad. But I am also mad about you. I feel like crying just like I did the night before you left. I had a dream a couple days ago, that ended with a phrase from no particular person saying, "Soon, your love will go through trials and tribulations, and intelligence and patience will fade as your frustration takes over; but, do not falter. Persevere in your true ways, and light will shine again!" I memorized that as I wrote that down after I woke up. That scared the shit out of me, because I spent that whole day thinking it was, in fact talking about you. I see now, maybe it is.

Personal Narrative- The Lonely Middle-Aged Woman :: Personal Narrative Writing

Personal Narrative- The Lonely Middle-Aged Woman I got off the bus, not knowing where I had to travel in the cold night. I had a rough idea, but I’ve been having terrible luck trusting my rough ideas lately. I thought I’d ask someone for details. The passengers that had gotten off the bus with me obviously knew where they were going, because their strides were purposeful and quick. Looking for someone to help, I turned to a middle-aged lady in smart business clothes and voiced my question. She looked at me strangely for a second, as though I was speaking a foreign language, then just as quickly she snapped out of it and told me the direction I had to walk. Then she added "But I have to go that way. I can give you a ride if you’d like." When she said that my mind traveled years back to primary school, when they would sit us all down on the floor and try to convince us not to do stupid things. Don’t light fires. Don’t play with guns. Don’t trust anyone wearing a trench coat. Don’t accept rides from strangers. I’ve broken most of these, except the trench coat one, so I decided that I should accept her offer. The situation, statistically speaking, was more dangerous for her than for me. Newspapers are hardly littered with stories about middle-aged women kidnapping and torturing innocent teenage boys. We walked to her car. She pointed it out to me, and I wasn’t surprised to see that it was a little red two-door BMW. She opened the door for me first and I slipped into the leather seats, running my hands along the wood dashboard that contained an elaborate stereo system. I pictured her zipping along the road, humming happily along to a Brahms concerto. Or maybe some jazz. I didn’t ask her. Sitting in her car I was consumed by warmth, not just from the heating, but because of her. If men use cars as penis extensions, this was the female equivalent. We kept talking. It was on a different level to small talk, but neither of us said what we were thinking. I felt her quiet desperation- she told me of her divorce; or rather she talked enough to let it slip. She talked about her sons and their jobs and wives. I’ve never experienced any of it but I had an idea how she felt.

Is Psychology a Science Essay

Psychology is commonly defined as ‘scientific’ study of human behaviour and cognitive processes. Broadly speaking the discussion focuses on the different branches of psychology, and if they are indeed scientific. However, it is integral in this to debate to understand exactly the major features of a science, in order to judge if psychology is in fact one. There must be a definable subject matter – this changed from conscious human thought to human and non-human behaviour, then to cognitive processes within psychology’s first eighty years as a separate discipline. Also, a theory construction is important. This represents an attempt to explain observed phenomena, such as Watson’s attempt to account for human and non-human behaviour in terms of classical conditioning, and Skinner’s subsequent attempt to do the same with operant conditioning. Any science must have hypotheses, and indeed test them. This involves making specific predictions about behaviour under certain specified conditions, for example, predicting that by combining the sight of a rat with the sound of an iron bar banging behind his head, a small child will learn to fear the rat, as is the case of Little Albert (1923). Also, empirical methods are used in scientific fields to collect data, relevant to the hypothesis being tested, as is the case in many psychological experiments, such as the use of brain scanning in Dement and Kleitman’s 1957 study. Science is meant to be objective and unbiased. It should be free of values and discover the truths about what it is studying. Positivism is the view that science is objective and a study of what is real. For example, schizophrenia, when diagnosed as being caused due to excess dopamine, is being studied in a scientific manner. The explanation does not take into account any cultural customs or individual differences that might lead to ‘schizophrenic’ behaviour. However, even in scientific research like this the person is doing the diagnosing has his or her own views, and may misinterpret behaviour because of his or her own subjective biases. For example, if someone talks about hearing voices, they may be referring to a spiritual experience, but a medical practitioner might well diagnose schizophrenia. So objective, value-free study is not easy, because the scientist has views and biases, and cultural or other issues are perhaps important factors. Some say that a truly objective study is not possible. In conclusion, it’s a science.