How to Read Body Language free essay sample

About the Authors Other Books by Joe Navarro with Marvin Karlins Credits Cover Copyright About the Publisher See What You’re Thinking Marvin Karlins, Ph. D. T he man sat stoically at one end of the table, carefully crafting his replies to the FBI agent’s inquiries. He wasn’t considered a major suspect in the murder case. His alibi was believable and he sounded sincere, but the agent pressed on nevertheless. With the suspect’s consent, he was asked a series of questions about the murder weapon: â€Å"If you had committed this crime, would you have used a gun? â€Å"If you had committed this crime, would you have used a knife? † â€Å"If you had committed this crime, would you have used an ice pick? † â€Å"If you had committed this crime, would you have used a hammer? † One of the weapons, the ice pick, had actually been used in the commission of the crime, but that information had been kept from the public. We will write a custom essay sample on How to Read Body Language or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Thus, only the killer would know which object was the real murder weapon. As the FBI agent went down the list of weapons, he vii   observed the suspect carefully. When the ice pick was mentioned, the man’s eyelids came down hard and stayed down until the next weapon was named. The agent instantly understood the significance of the eyelid behavior he had witnessed, and from that moment forward the â€Å"minor† suspect became the primary person of interest in the investigation. He later confessed to the crime. Chalk one up for Joe Navarro, a remarkable human being who, in addition to unmasking the ice-pick killer, is credited with catching scores of criminals, including â€Å"master spies,† in a distinguished twenty-fiveyear career with the FBI. How was he able to do this? If you asked him, he quietly would say, â€Å"I owe it to being able to read people. Joe, it turns out, has spent his entire professional life studying, refining, and applying the science of nonverbal communications—facial expressions, gestures, physical movements (kinesics), body distance (proxemics), touching (haptics), posture, even clothing—to decipher what people are thinking, how they intend to act, and whether their pronouncements are true or false. This is not good news for criminals, terrorists, and spies, who, under his careful scrutiny, usually give off more than enough nonverbal body signals (â€Å"tells†) to make their thoughts and intentions transparent and detectable. It is, however, very good news for you, the reader, because the very same nonverbal knowledge Joe relied on to become a master â€Å"Spycatcher,† â€Å"human lie detector,† and instructor at the FBI is what he will be sharing with you so you can better understand the feelings, thoughts, and intentions of those around you. As a renowned author and educator, Joe will teach you how to observe like an expert, detecting and deciphering the nonverbal behaviors of others so you can interact with them more successfully. For business or for pleasure, this knowledge will enrich and magnify your life. Much of what Joe will be sharing with you in this book was not even recognized fifteen years ago by the scientific community. It is only through recent advances in brain-scan technology and neural imaging that scientists have been able to establish the validity of the behaviors Joe will be describing. Drawing from the latest discoveries in psychology,   viii neurobiology, medicine, sociology, criminology, communication studies, and nthropology—plus his quarter century of experience using nonverbal behavior in his work as an FBI Special Agent—Joe is uniquely qualified to help you succeed in your understanding of nonverbal communications. His expertise is recognized and sought worldwide. Besides being interviewed regularly on programs such as NBC’s Today Show, CNN Headline News, Fox Cable News, and ABC’s Good Morning America, he continues to conduct seminars on nonverbal communication for the FBI and the CIA, as well as for other members of the intelligence community. He is a consultant to the banking and insurance industries as well as to major law firms in the United States and abroad. Joe also teaches at Saint Leo University and at various medical schools throughout the United States, where his unique insights into nonverbal communication have found a receptive audience among many, including physicians desiring to assess patients with greater speed and accuracy. Joe’s combination of academic skills and occupational credentials—coupled with his masterful analysis of nonverbal communications in reallife, high-stakes situations—has placed him apart and in the forefront of nonverbal expertise, as you will discover in this book. After working with Joe, attending his seminars, and putting his ideas to work in my own life, I firmly believe that the material in these pages represents a major advance in our understanding of all things nonverbal. I say this as a trained psychologist who got involved in this writing project because I was excited by Joe’s pioneering work in harnessing the scientific knowledge of nonverbal communications to achieve professional objectives and personal success. I was also impressed by his reasoned, careful approach to the topic. For example, while observing nonverbals allows us to get an â€Å"accurate read† on many kinds of behavior, Joe warns us that using body language to detect deception is a particularly difficult and challenging task. This is a significant insight—rarely recognized by laypeople or by the law enforcement community—and serves as a critical and poignant reminder to be very careful before you declare a person to be honest or dishonest based on his nonverbal behaviors. ix Unlike many other books on nonverbal behavior, the information presented herein is based on scientific facts and field-tested findings rather than on personal opinion and armchair speculations. Further, the text highlights what other published works often ignore: the critical role played by the limbic system of the human brain in understanding and using nonverbal cues effectively. The silent language of the body can be yours to master. Whether you are studying nonverbals because you want to get ahead in your job or simply want to get along better with friends and family, this book is designed for you. Gaining proficiency will require a careful examination of the chapters that follow, plus a commitment to spend some serious time and energy learning and applying Joe’s teachings in your daily routines. Reading people successfully—learning, decoding, and utilizing nonverbal behavior to predict human actions—is a task well worth your attention, one that offers ample rewards for the effort expended. So plant your feet firmly on the floor, turn to the next page, and get ready to learn and watch for those all-important nonverbal behaviors that Joe will be teaching you. It won’t be long before you discover, with just a glance, what every body is saying.   When I started writing the early drafts of this book, I realized that this project had been long in the making. It did not start with my interest in reading about nonverbal behavior, nor in pursuing it academically, nor in the FBI. Rather, in a real sense, it started with my family many years earlier. I learned to read others primarily from the teachings of my parents, Albert and Mariana Lopez, and my grandmother, Adelina Paniagua Espino. Each in his or her own way taught me something different about the significance and power of nonverbal communications. From my mother, I learned that nonverbals are invaluable in dealing with others. A subtle behavior, she taught me, can avert an awkward situation or can make someone completely comfortable—a skill she has performed effortlessly all of her life. From my father, I learned the power of expression; He is a man who commands respect, just by being. And from my grandmother, to whom I dedicate this book, I learned that small behaviors have great significance: a smile, a head tilt, a gentle touch at the right time can convey so much; it can even heal. These things they taught me every day, and in so doing, prepared me to observe more aptly the world around me. Their teachings as well as those of many others are found in these pages. While I was at Brigham Young University, J. Wesley Sherwood, Richard Townsend, and Dean Clive Winn II taught me much about police work and observing criminals. Later, in the FBI, people such as Doug Gregory, Tom Riley, Julian â€Å"Jay† Koerner, Dr. Richard Ault, and David G. Major taught me the subtle nuances of counterintelligence and espionage behavior. To them I am grateful for sharpening my peoplewatching skills. Similarly, I have to thank Dr. John Schafer, former FBI agent and fellow member of the bureau’s elite Behavioral Analysis Program, who encouraged me to write and allowed me to be his coauthor on multiple occasions. Marc Reeser, who was with me in the trenches catching spies for so long, also deserves my recognition. To my other colleagues, and there were many in the National Security Division of the FBI, I thank you for all your support. Over the years, the FBI ensured we were taught by the best, and so at the hands of professors Joe Kulis, Paul Ekman, Maureen O’Sullivan, Mark Frank, Bella M. DePaulo, Aldert Vrij, Reid Meloy, and Judy Burgoon I learned about the research on nonverbal communications directly or through their writings. I developed a friendship with many of these individuals, including David Givens, who heads the Center for Nonverbal Studies in Spokane, Washington, and whose writings, teachings, and admonitions I have taken to heart. Phil Quinn at the University of Tampa and to Professor Barry Glover, at Saint Leo University, for their years of friendship and willingness to accommodate my busy travel schedule. This book would not be the same without photographs, and for that I am grateful for the work of renowned photographer Mark Wemple. My gratitude also goes out to Ashlee B. Castle, my administrative assistant, who, when asked if she was willing to make faces for a book, merely said, â€Å"Sure, why not? † You guys are great. I also want to thank Tampa artist David R. Andrade for his illustrations. One of the first things I noticed was that students or teachers who genuinely liked me would raise (or arch) their eyebrows when they first saw me walk into the room. On the other hand, those individuals who weren’t too friendly toward me would squint their eyes slightly when I appeared—a behavior that once observed is never forgotten. I used this nonverbal information, as so many other immigrants have, quickly to evaluate and develop friendships, to communicate despite the obvious language barrier, to avoid enemies, and in nurturing healthy relationships. Many years later I would use these same nonverbal eye behaviors to solve crimes as a special agent at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (see box 1). Based on my background, education, and training, I want to teach you to see the world as an FBI expert on nonverbal communication views it: as a vivid, dynamic environment where every human interaction resonates with information, and as an opportunity to use the silent language of the body to enrich your knowledge of what people are thinking, feeling, and intending to do. Using this knowledge will help you stand out among others. Squinting (as in the case with my classmates, described above) and closing or shielding our eyes are actions that have evolved to protect the brain from â€Å"seeing† undesirable images and to communicate our disdain toward others. As an investigator, I used eye-blocking behaviors to assist in the arson investigation of a tragic hotel fire in Puerto Rico that claimed ninety-seven lives. A security guard came under immediate suspicion because the blaze broke out in an area where he was assigned. One of the ways we determined he had nothing to do with starting the fire was by asking him some very specific questions as to where he was before the fire, at the time of the fire, and whether or not he set the fire. After each question I observed his face for any telltale signs of eye-block behavior. His eyes blocked only when questioned about where he was when the fire started. Oddly, in contrast, he did not seem troubled by the question, â€Å"Did you set the fire? † This told me the real issue was his location at the time of the fire, not his possible involvement in setting the fire. He was questioned further on this topic by the lead investigators and eventually admitted to leaving his post to visit his girlfriend, who also worked at the hotel. Unfortunately, while he was gone, the arsonists entered the area he should have been guarding and started the fire. In this case, the guard’s eye-blocking behavior gave us the insight we needed to pursue a line of questioning that eventually broke the case open. In the end, three arsonists responsible for the tragic blaze were arrested and convicted of the crime. The security guard, while woefully negligent and burdened with tremendous guilt, was not, however, the culprit. A suspect in the case was brought in for questioning. His words sounded convincing and his story was plausible. He claimed he hadn’t seen the victim and while out in a field had gone down a row of cotton, turned left, and then walked straight to his house. While my colleagues jotted down notes about what they were hearing, I kept my eyes on the suspect and saw that as he told the story about turning left and going home, his hand gestured to his right, which was exactly the direction that led to the rape scene. One of the fascinating things about an appreciation for nonverbal behavior is its universal applicability. It works everywhere humans interact. Nonverbals are ubiquitous and reliable. Once you know what a specific nonverbal behavior means, you can use that information in any number of different circumstances and in all types of environments. In fact, it is difficult to interact effectively without nonverbals. If you ever wondered why people still fly to meetings in the age of computers, text messages, e-mails, telephones, and video conferencing, it is because of the need to express and observe nonverbal communications in person. The problem is that most people spend their lives looking but not truly seeing, or, as Sherlock Holmes, the meticulous English detective, declared to his partner, Dr. Watson, â€Å"You see, but you do not observe. † Sadly, the majority of individuals view their surroundings with a minimal amount of observational effort. Such people are oblivious to subtle changes in their world. They are unaware of the rich tapestry of details that surrounds them, such as the subtle movement of a person’s hand or foot that might betray his thoughts or intentions. In fact, various scientific studies have demonstrated people to be poor observers of their world. For example, when a man dressed in a gorilla suit walked in front of a group of students while other activities were taking place, half the students didn’t even notice the gorilla in their midst (Simons Chabris, 1999, 1059–1074)! Observation-impoverished individuals lack what airline pilots refer to as â€Å"situational awareness,† which is a sense of where one is at all times; they don’t have a solid mental picture of exactly what is going on around them or even in front of them. Ask them to go into a strange room filled with people, give them a chance to look around, and then tell them to close their eyes and report what they saw. You would be astounded by their inability to recall even the most obvious features in the room. I find it disheartening how often we run into somebody or read about someone who always seems to be blindsided by life’s events. The complaints of these individuals are nearly always the same: â€Å"My wife just filed for divorce. I never had a clue she was unhappy with our marriage. â€Å"The guidance counselor tells me my son has been using cocaine for three years. I had no idea he had a drug problem. After all, as we grow from children to adults, we’re never instructed on how to observe the nonverbal clues of others. There are no classes in elementary school, high school, or college that teach people situational awareness. If you’re lucky, you teach yourself to be more observant. If you don’t, you miss out on an incredible amount of useful information that could help you avoid problems and make your life more fulfilling, be it when dating, at work, or with family. Fortunately, observation is a skill that can be learned. We don’t have to go through life being blindsided. Furthermore, because it is a skill, we can get better at it with the right kind of training and practice. If you are observationally â€Å"challenged,† do not despair. You can overcome your weakness in this area if you are willing to devote time and effort to observing your world more conscientiously. What you need to do is make observation—concerted observation—a way of life. Becoming aware of the world around you is not a passive act. It is a conscious, deliberate behavior—something that takes effort, energy, and concentration to achieve, and constant practice to maintain. Observation is like a muscle. It grows stronger with use and atrophies without use. Exercise your observation muscle and you will become a more powerful decoder of the world around you. By the way, when I speak of concerted observation, I am asking you to utilize all your senses, not just your sense of sight. Whenever I walk into my apartment, I take a deep breath. If things don’t smell â€Å"normal† I become concerned. One time I detected the slight odor of lingering cigarette smoke when I returned home from a trip. My nose alerted me to possible danger well before my eyes could scan my apartment. When trying to understand nonverbal behavior in real-life situations, the more you understand the context in which it takes place, the better you will be at understanding what it means. For example, after a traffic accident, I expect people to be in shock and to walk around looking dazed. I expect their hands to shake and even for them to make poor decisions like walking into oncoming traffic. (This is why officers ask you to stay in your car. ) Why? After an accident, people are suffering the effects of a complete hijacking of the â€Å"thinking† brain by a region of the brain known as the limbic system. The result of this hijacking includes behaviors such as trembling, disorientation, nervousness, and discomfort. In context, these actions are to be expected and confirm the stress from the accident. During a job interview, I expect applicants to be nervous initially and for that nervousness to dissipate. If it shows up again when I ask specific questions, then I have to wonder why these nervous behaviors have suddenly presented again. Commandment 3: Learn to recognize and decode nonverbal behaviors that are universal. Some body behaviors are considered universal because they are exhibited similarly by most people. For instance, when people press their lips together in a manner that seems to make them disappear, it is a clear and common sign that they are troubled and something is wrong. This nonverbal behavior, known as lip compression, is one of the universal tells that I will be describing in the chapters to follow (see box 4). The more of these universal nonverbals you can recognize and accurately interpret, the more effective you will be in assessing the thoughts, feelings, and intentions of those around you. I passed a note to my client, warning him that this particular clause in the contract was contentious or problematic and should be revisited and discussed thoroughly while we were all still together. By confronting the issue then and there—and focusing on the details of the clause in question—the two negotiators were able to hammer out an agreement face-to-face, which ended up saving my client 13. 5 million dollars. The negotiator’s nonverbal signal of displeasure was the key evidence needed to spot a specific problem and deal with it immediately and effectively. The better you know an individual, or the longer you interact with him or her, the easier it will be to discover this information because you will have a larger database upon which to make your judgments. For example, if you note your teenager scratches his head and bites his lip when he is about to take a test, this may be a reliable idiosyncratic tell that speaks of his nervousness or lack of preparation. No doubt this has become part of his repertoire for dealing with stress, and you will see it again and again because â€Å"the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. When you interact with others, try to establish their baseline behaviors. In order to get a handle on the baseline behaviors of the people with whom you regularly interact, you need to note how they look normally, how they typically sit, where they place their hands, the usual position of their feet, their posture and common facial expressions, the tilt of their heads, and even where they generally place or hold their possessions, such as a purse (see figures 1 and 2). You need to be able to differentiate between their â€Å"normal† face and their â€Å"stressed† face. A stressed face is tense and slightly contorted, eyebrows are knitted, and the forehead is furrowed. his or her â€Å"starting position† at the beginning of your interaction. Establishing a person’s baseline behavior is critical because it allows you to determine when he or she deviates from it, which can be very important and informative (see box 5). Commandment 6: Always try to watch people for multiple tells—behaviors that occur in clusters or in succession. Your accuracy in reading people will be enhanced when you observe multiple tells, or clusters of behavior body signals on which to rely. These are behaviors that reveal what a person is about to do and provide the competent observer with extra time to prepare for the anticipated action before it takes place. One personal example of how critical it is to watch for changes in people’s behavior—particularly when the changes involve intention cues— involves an attempted robbery of a store where I worked. In this particular situation, I noticed a man standing near the cash register at the checkout counter, a behavior that caught my attention because he seemed to have no reason to be there; he wasn’t waiting in line and he hadn’t purchased any items. Moreover, the entire time he stood there, his eyes were fixed on the cash register. If he had just remained quietly where he was, I eventually would have lost interest in him and focused my attention elsewhere. However, while I was still observing him, his behavior changed. Specifically, his nostrils starting flaring (nasal wing dilation), which was a giveaway that he was oxygenating in advance of taking some action. I guessed what that action was going to be about a second before it occurred. And a second was all I had to sound a warning. I yelled to the cashier, â€Å"Watch out! as three things happened at once: (a) the clerk finished ringing up a sale, causing the cash drawer to open; (b) the man near the register lunged forward, plunging his hand into the drawer to grab some cash; and (c) alerted by my shouted warning, the cashier grabbed the man’s hand and twisted it, causing the would-be robber to drop the money and run out of the store. Had I not spotted his intention cue, I am sure the thief would have succeeded in his efforts. Incidentally, the cashier was my father, who was running a small hardware store in Miami back in 1974. The human body is capable of giving off literally thousands of nonverbal â€Å"signals† or messages. Which ones are most important and how do you decode them? The problem is that it could take a lifetime of painstaking observation, evaluation, and validation to identify and interpret important nonverbal communications accurately. Fortunately, with the help of some very gifted researchers and my practical experience as an FBI expert on nonverbal behavior, we can take a more direct approach to get you on your way. I have already identified those nonverbal behaviors that are most important, so you can put this unique knowledge to immediate use. We have also developed a paradigm or model that makes reading nonverbals easier. Even if you forget exactly what a specific body signal means, you will still be able to decipher it. As you read through these pages, you will learn certain information about nonverbal behavior that has never been revealed in any other text 18 W H AT E V E R Y B O D Y I S S A Y I N G on body language (including examples of nonverbal behavioral clues used to solve actual FBI cases) Some of the material will surprise you. For example, if you had to choose the most â€Å"honest† part of a person’s body—the part that would most likely reveal an individual’s true feeling or intentions—which part would you select? Take a guess. Once I reveal the answer, you’ll know a prime place to look when attempting to decide what a business associate, family member, date, or total stranger is thinking, feeling, or intending. I will also explain the physiological basis for nonverbal behavior, the role the brain plays in nonverbal behavior. On a fateful date in 1963, in Cleveland, Ohio, thirty-nine-year veteran Detective Martin McFadden watched two men walk back and forth in front of a store window. They took turns peeking into the shop and then walking away. After multiple passes, the two men huddled at the end of the street looking over their shoulders as they spoke to a third person. Concerned that the men were â€Å"casing† the business and intending to rob the store, the detective moved in, patted down one of the men, and found a concealed handgun. Detective McFadden arrested the three men, thus thwarting a robbery and averting potential loss of life. In this book, we will be concentrating on the limbic system of the brain (the part MacLean called the mammalian brain), because it plays the largest role in the expression of our nonverbal behavior. However, we will use our neocortex (our human brain or thinking brain) to analyze critically the limbic reactions of those around us in order to decode what other people are thinking, feeling, or intending (LeDoux, 1996, 184–189; Goleman, 1995, 10–21). It is critical to understand that the brain controls all behaviors, whether conscious or subconscious. This premise is the cornerstone of understanding all nonverbal communications. From simply scratching your head to composing a symphony, there is nothing you do (except for some involuntary muscle reflexes) that is not governed or directed by the brain. By this Fig. 3 Corpus Callosum Neocortex Thalamus Hypothalamus Hippocampus Amygdala Reptilian Brain Cerebellum Diagram of the limbic brain with major features such as the amygdala and the hippocampus. It is from there that signals go out to various other parts of the brain, which in turn orchestrate our behaviors as they relate to emotions or our survival (LeDoux, 1996, 104–137). These behaviors can be observed and decoded as they manifest physically in our feet, torso, arms, hands, and faces. Since these reactions occur without thought, unlike words, they are genuine. Thus, the limbic brain is considered the â€Å"honest brain† when we think of nonverbals (Goleman, 1995, 13–29). These limbic survival responses go back not only to our own infancy, but also to our ancestry as a human species. They are hardwired into our nervous system, making them difficult to disguise or eliminate—like trying to suppress a startle response even when we anticipate a loud noise. Therefore, it is axiomatic that limbic behaviors are honest and reliable behaviors; they are true manifestations of our thoughts, feelings, and intentions (see box 7). The third part of our brain is a relatively recent addition to the cranial vault. Thus it is called the neocortex, meaning new brain. This part of our brain is also known as the â€Å"human,† â€Å"thinking,† or â€Å"intellectual† brain, because it is responsible for higher-order cognition and memory. In reality, the way animals, including humans, react to danger occurs in the following order: freeze, flight, fight. If the reaction really were fight or flight, most of us would be bruised, battered, and exhausted much of the time. Because we have retained and honed this exquisitely successful process for dealing with stress and danger—and because the resulting reactions generate nonverbal behaviors that help us understand a person’s thoughts, feelings, and intentions—it is well worth our time to examine each response in greater detail. The Freeze Response A million years ago, as early hominids traversed the African savanna, they were faced with many predators that could outrun and overpower them. For early man to succeed, the limbic brain, which had evolved from our animal forebearers, developed strategies to compensate for the power advantage our predators had over us. That strategy, or first defense of the limbic system, was to use the freeze response in the presence of a predator or other danger. Freezing your movement can often make you nearly invisible to others, a phenomenon every soldier and SWAT team operator learns. Thus, the freeze response has been passed from primitive man to modern man and remains with us today as our first line of defense against a perceived threat or danger. In fact, you can still see this ancient limbic reaction to large felines in the theaters of Las Vegas where big cats are part of the show. As the tiger or lion walks onto the stage, you can be sure that the people in the first row will not be making any unnecessary arm or hand gestures. They will be frozen in their seats. These people were not issued memos to remain still; they did so because the limbic brain has prepared the human species to behave that way in the face of danger for over five million years. In our modern society, the freeze response is employed more subtly in everyday life. You can observe it when people are caught bluffing or stealing, or sometimes when they are lying. When people feel threatened or exposed, they react just like our ancestors did a million years earlier; they freeze. Not only have we, as humans, learned to freeze in the face of observed or perceived danger, but others around us have learned to copy our behavior and freeze their behavior also, even without seeing the threat. This mimicry or isopraxism (same movement) evolved because it was critical to communal survival, as well as social harmony, within the human species (see box 8 on next page). This freezing action is sometimes termed the â€Å"deer-in-the-headlights† effect. When suddenly caught in a potentially dangerous circumstance, we immediately freeze before taking action. It was amazing to see how we all reacted with â€Å"hands flash frozen† at precisely the same moment. It turned out that the visitor was my sister who had forgotten her keys. But of course we didn’t know it was her ringing the bell. It was a beautiful example of the hardwired communal response to perceived danger, and of the first limbic reaction, which is to freeze. Soldiers in combat react the same way. When the â€Å"point man† freezes, everyone freezes; nothing needs to be said. with the palm of his hand, before turning around and heading back to his apartment to turn off the stove. That momentary stop is enough for the brain to do some quick assessing, whether the threat comes in the form of a predator or of a thought remembered. Either way, the psyche must deal with a potentially dangerous situation (Navarro, 2007, 141– 163). We not only freeze when confronted by physical and visual threats, but as in the example of the late-night doorbell, threats from things we hear (aural threats) can also alert the limbic system. For instance, when being chastised, most people hold very still. The same behavior is observed when an individual is being questioned about matters that he or she perceives could get them into trouble. The person will freeze in his chair as if in an â€Å"ejector seat† (Gregory, 1999). A similar manifestation of the limbic freeze occurs during interviews when people hold their breath or their breathing becomes very shallow. Again, this is a very ancient response to a threat. It is not noticed by the interviewee and yet it is quite observable to anyone watching for it. I have LIVING OUR LIMBIC LEGACY 29 ften had to tell an interviewee to relax and take a deep breath during the middle of an interview or deposition, as he was unaware of just how shallow his breathing had become. Consistent with the need to freeze when confronted by a threat, people being questioned about a crime will often fix their feet in a position of security (interlocked behind the chair legs) and hold that position for an inordinate period of time. When I see this type o f behavior, it tells me something is wrong; this is a limbic response that needs to be further explored. The person may or may not be lying, since deceit cannot be directly discerned. But I can be assured from their nonverbal behavior that something is stressing them; therefore I will pursue the source of their discomfort through my questioning or interaction. Another way the limbic brain uses a modification of the freeze response is to attempt to protect us by diminishing our exposure. During surveillance of shoplifters, one of the things that stands out is how often thieves will try to hide their physical presence by restricting their motions or hunching over as if trying to be invisible. The â€Å"turtle effect† (shoulders rise toward the ears) is often seen when people are humbled or suddenly lose confidence. The Flight Response One purpose of the freeze response is to avoid detection by dangerous predators or in dangerous situations. A second purpose is to give the threatened individual the opportunity to assess the situation and determine the best course of action to take. When the freeze response is not adequate to eliminate the danger or is not the best course of action (e. g. , the threat is too close), the second limbic response is to get away by use of the flight response. Therefore, to this day, we expedite our exit from a deplorable party, distance ourselves from a bad relationship, or lean away from those who are deemed undesirable or even with whom we strongly disagree (see figure 5). Just as a man may turn away from his date, an individual in negotiations may shift away from his counterpart if he hears an unattractive offer or feels threatened as bargaining continues. Blocking behaviors may also be manifested; the businessperson may close or rub his eyes, or place his hands in front of his face (see figure 6). Eye blocking is a very powerful display of consternation, disbelief, or disagreement. world, however, acting on our rage may not be practical or even legal, so the limbic brain has developed other strategies beyond the more primitive physical fight response. One form of modern aggression is an argument. Although the original meaning of the term argument relates simply to a debate or discussion, the word is increasingly used to describe a verbal altercation. An overheated argument is essentially â€Å"fighting† by nonphysical means. The use of insults, ad hominem phrases, counterallegations, denigration of professional stature, goading, and sarcasm are all, in their own ways, the modern equivalents of fighting, because they are all forms of aggression. If you think about it, civil lawsuits can even be construed as a modern and socially sanctioned type of fight or aggression in which litigants aggressively argue two opposing viewpoints. While humans probably engage in physical altercations far less now than in other periods in our history, fighting is still a part of our limbic armory. When one country intrudes into the space of another, it often results in economic sanctions, severing of diplomatic relations, or even wars. Obviously, it is easy to recognize when someone uses the fight response to commit a physical assault. What I want to identify for you are the not-so-obvious ways in which individuals exhibit some of the more subtle behaviors associated with the fight response. Just as we have seen modified expressions of the freeze and flight limbic reactions, modern decorum dictates that we refrain from acting on our primitive inclinations to fight when threatened. In general, I advise people to refrain from using aggression (verbal or physical) as a means of achieving their objectives. Just as the fight response is the act of last resort in dealing with a threat—used only after the freeze and flight tactics have proven unworkable—so too should you avoid it whenever feasible. Aside from the obvious legal and physical reasons for this recommendation, aggressive tactics can lead to emotional turmoil, making it difficult to concentrate and think clearly about the threatening situation at hand. When we are emotionally aroused—and a good fight will do that—it affects our ability to think effectively. This happens because our cognitive abilities are hijacked so that the limbic brain can have full use of all available cerebral resources (Goleman, 1995, 27, 204–207). One of the best reasons for studying nonverbal behaviors is that they can sometimes warn you when a person intends to harm you physically, giving you time to avoid a potential conflict. On the other hand, when we feel distressed (discomfort), the limbic brain expresses nonverbal behavior that mirrors our negative state of being. Just watch people at the airport when a flight is canceled or delayed. Their bodies say it all. Therefore, we want to learn to look more closely at the comfort and discomfort behaviors we see every day and use them to assess for feelings, thoughts, and intentions. In general, when the limbic brain is in a state of comfort, this mental and physiological well-being is reflected in nonverbal displays of contentment and high confidence. When, however, the limbic brain is experiencing discomfort, the corresponding body language is characterized by behaviors emblematic of stress or low confidence. Knowledge of these â€Å"behavioral markers† or tells will help you determine what a person may be thinking, or how to act or what to expect when dealing with other people in any social or work context. In most instances, if she is using her right hand on her suprasternal notch, she will cup her right elbow with her left hand. When the stressful situation is over or there is an intermission in the uncomfortable part of the discussion, her right hand will lower and relax across her folded left arm. If the situation again becomes tense, her right hand will rise, once again, to the suprasternal notch. From a distance, the arm movement looks like the needle on a stress meter, moving from resting (on the arm) to the neck (upright) and back again, according to the level of stress experienced. I have a friend (as I am sure we all do) who can talk a mile a minute when nervous or upset. Some behaviors combine tactile and auditory pacification, such as the tapping of a pencil or the drumming of fingers. Excessive Yawning Sometimes we see individuals under stress yawning excessively. Yawning not only is a form of â€Å"taking a deep breath,† but during stress, as the mouth gets dry, a yawn can put pressure on the salivary glands. The stretch of various structures in and around the mouth causes the glands to release moisture into a dry mouth during times of anxiety. If they are doing leg cleansing, you will normally see the upper arm and shoulder moving in conjunction with the hand as it rubs along their leg. In my experience, I find the leg cleanser to be very significant because it occurs so quickly in reaction to a negative event. I have observed this action for years in cases when suspects are presented with damning evidence, such as pictures of a crime scene with which they are already familiar (guilty knowledge). This cleansing/pacifying behavior accomplishes two things at once. It dries sweaty palms and pacifies through tactile stroking. Everything was going well until, toward the end of the interview, the candidate began talking about networking and the importance of the Internet. The employer complimented him on this comment and made an offhand remark about how most college graduates used the Internet to network in a destructive way, using sites like Facebook to post messages and pictures that would prove to be an embarrassment later in the person’s life. At that point, the employer noticed that the candidate did a vigorous leg cleansing with his right hand, wiping it along his thigh several times. The employer said nothing at the time, thanked the young man for the interview, and walked him out of the office. He then returned to his computer—his suspicion aroused by the candidate’s pacifying behavior—and checked to see if the young man’s profile was on Facebook. Sure enough, it was. And it was not flattering! (see figure 17). This ventilating action is often a reaction to stress and is a good indicator that the person is unhappy with something he is thinking about or experiencing in his environment. The agent instantly understood the significance of the eyelid behavior he had witnessed, and from that moment forward the â€Å"minor† suspect became the primary person of interest in the investigation. He later confessed to the crime. Chalk one up for Joe Navarro, a remarkable human being who, in addition to unmasking the ice-pick killer, is credited with catching scores of criminals, including â€Å"master spies,† in a distinguished twenty-fiveyear career with the FBI. How was he able to do this? If you asked him, he quietly would say, â€Å"I owe it to being able to read people. Joe, it turns out, has spent his entire professional life studying, refining, and applying the science of nonverbal communications—facial expressions, gestures, physical movements (kinesics), body distance (proxemics), touching (haptics), posture, even clothing—to decipher what people are thinking, how they intend to act, and whether their pronouncements are true or false. This is not good news for criminals, terrorists, and spies, who, under his careful scrutiny, usually give off more than enough nonverbal body signals (â€Å"tells†) to make their thoughts and intentions transparent and detectable. It is, however, very good news for you, the reader, because the very same nonverbal knowledge Joe relied on to become a master â€Å"Spycatcher,† â€Å"human lie detector,† and instructor at the FBI is what he will be sharing with you so you can better understand the feelings, thoughts, and intentions of those around you. As a renowned author and educator, Joe will teach you how to observe like an expert, detecting and deciphering the nonverbal behaviors of others so you can interact with them more successfully. He is a consultant to the banking and insurance industries as well as to major law firms in the United States and abroad. Joe also teaches at Saint Leo University and at various medical schools throughout the United States, where his unique insights into nonverbal communication have found a receptive audience among many, including physicians desiring to assess patients with greater speed and accuracy. Joe’s combination of academic skills and occupational credentials—coupled with his masterful analysis of nonverbal communications in reallife, high-stakes situations—has placed him apart and in the forefront of nonverbal expertise, as you will discover in this book. After working with Joe, attending his seminars, and putting his ideas to work in my own life, I firmly believe that the material in these pages represents a major advance in our understanding of all things nonverbal. I say this as a trained psychologist who got involved in this writing project because I was excited by Joe’s pioneering work in harnessing the scientific knowledge of nonverbal communications to achieve professional objectives and personal success. I was also impressed by his reasoned, careful approach to the topic. For example, while observing nonverbals allows us to get an â€Å"accurate read† on many kinds of behavior, Joe warns us that using body language to detect deception is a particularly difficult and challenging task. Following the Ten Commandments for Observing and Decoding Nonverbal Communications Successfully Reading people successfully—collecting nonverbal intelligence to assess their thoughts, feelings, and intentions—is a skill that requires constant practice and proper training. To help you on the training side, I want to provide you with some important guidelines—or commandments—to maximize your effectiveness in reading nonverbals. As you incorporate these commandments into your everyday life and make them part of your routine, they soon will become second nature to you, needing little, if any, conscious thought. It’s a lot like learning to drive. Do you remember the first time you gave that a go? If you were like me, you were so concerned with operating the vehicle that it was difficult to track what you were doing inside the car and concentrate on what was happening on the road outside at the same time. It was only when you felt comfortable behind the wheel that you were able to expand your focus to encompass the total driving environment. That’s the way it is with nonverbal behavior. Once you master the mechanics of using nonverbal communication effectively, it will become automatic and you can focus your full attention on decoding the world around you. Commandment 1: Be a competent observer of your environment. This is the most basic requirement for anyone wishing to decode and use nonverbal communications. Imagine the foolishness of trying to listen to someone with plugs in our ears. We couldn’t hear the message and whatever was said would be lost on us. Thus, most intent listeners don’t go around wearing earplugs! The problem is that most people spend their lives looking but not truly seeing, or, as Sherlock Holmes, the meticulous English detective, declared to his partner, Dr. Watson, â€Å"You see, but you do not observe. † Sadly, the majority of individuals view their surroundings with a minimal amount of observational effort. Such people are oblivious to subtle changes in their world. They are unaware of the rich tapestry of details that surrounds them, such as the subtle movement of a person’s hand or foot that might betray his thoughts or intentions. In fact, various scientific studies have demonstrated people to be poor observers of their world. For example, when a man dressed in a gorilla suit walked in front of a group of students while other activities were taking place, half the students didn’t even notice the gorilla in their midst (Simons Chabris, 1999, 1059–1074)! Observation-impoverished individuals lack what airline pilots refer to as â€Å"situational awareness,† which is a sense of where one is at all times; they don’t have a solid mental picture of exactly what is going on around them or even in front of them. After all, as we grow from children to adults, we’re never instructed on how to observe the nonverbal clues of others. There are no classes in elementary school, high school, or college that teach people situational awareness. If you’re lucky, you teach yourself to be more observant. If you don’t, you miss out on an incredible amount of useful information that could help you avoid problems and make your life more fulfilling, be it when dating, at work, or with family. Fortunately, observation is a skill that can be learned. We don’t have to go through life being blindsided. Furthermore, because it is a skill, we can get better at it with the right kind of training and practice. If you are observationally â€Å"challenged,† do not despair. You can overcome your weakness in this area if you are willing to devote time and effort to observing your world more conscientiously. What you need to do is make observation—concerted observation—a way of life. Becoming aware of the world around you is not a passive act. It is a conscious, deliberate behavior—something that takes effort, energy, and concentration to achieve, and constant practice to maintain. Observation is like a muscle. It grows stronger with use and atrophies without use. Exercise your observation muscle and you will become a more powerful decoder of the world around you. By the way, when I speak of concerted observation, I am asking you to utilize all your senses, not just your sense of sight. Whenever I walk into my apartment, I take a deep breath. If things don’t smell â€Å"normal† I become concerned. One time I detected the slight odor of lingering cigarette smoke when I returned home from a trip. My nose alerted me to possible danger well before my eyes could scan my apartment. When trying to understand nonverbal behavior in real-life situations, the more you understand the context in which it takes place, the better you will be at understanding what it means. For example, after a traffic accident, I expect people to be in shock and to walk around looking dazed. I expect their hands to shake and even for them to make poor decisions like walking into oncoming traffic. (This is why officers ask you to stay in your car. ) Why? After an accident, people are suffering the effects of a complete hijacking of the â€Å"thinking† brain by a region of the brain known as the limbic system. The result of this hijacking includes behaviors such as trembling, disorientation, nervousness, and discomfort. In context, these actions are to be expected and confirm the stress from the accident. During a job interview, I expect applicants to be nervous initially and for that nervousness to dissipate. If it shows up again when I ask specific questions, then I have to wonder why these nervous behaviors have suddenly presented again. Commandment 3: Learn to recognize and decode nonverbal behaviors that are universal. Some body behaviors are considered universal because they are exhibited similarly by most people. For instance, when people press their lips together in a manner that seems to make them disappear, it is a clear and common sign that they are troubled and something is wrong. This nonverbal behavior, known as lip compression, is one of the universal tells that I will be describing in the chapters to follow (see box 4). The more of these universal nonverbals you can recognize and accurately interpret, the more effective you will be in assessing the thoughts, feelings, and intentions of those around you. That way I could more closely watch the corporate negotiator for any nonverbals that might reveal information helpful to my client. I’ll pass you a note if I spot something that needs your attention,† I told my client and then settled back to watch the parties review the contract clause by clause. I didn’t have long to wait before I saw an important tell. When a clause detailing the outfitting of a specific part of the vessel was read—a construction phase involving millions of dollars—the chief negotiator from the multinational corporation pursed his lips, a clear indication that something in this part of the contract was not to his liking. I passed a note to my client, warning him that this particular clause in the contract was contentious or problematic and should be revisited and discussed thoroughly while we were all still together. By confronting the issue then and there—and focusing on the details of the clause in question—the two negotiators were able to hammer out an agreement face-to-face, which ended up saving my client 13. 5 million dollars. The negotiator’s nonverbal signal of displeasure was the key evidence needed to spot a specific problem and deal with it immediately and effectively. Learn to recognize and decode idiosyncratic nonverbal behaviors. Universal nonverbal behaviors constitute one group of body cues: those that are relatively the same for everyone. There is a second type of body cue called an idiosyncratic nonverbal behavior, which is a signal that is relatively unique to a particular individual. In attempting to identify idiosyncratic signals, you’ll want to be on the lookout for behavioral patterns in people you interact with on a regular basis (friends, family, coworkers, persons who provide goods or services to you on a consistent basis). The better you know an individual, or the longer you interact with him or her, the easier it will be to discover this information because you will have a larger database upon which to make your judgments. For example, if you note your teenager scratches his head and bites his lip when he is about to take a test, this may be a reliable idiosyncratic tell that speaks of his nervousness or lack of preparation. No doubt this has become part of his repertoire for dealing with stress, and you will see it again and again because â€Å"the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. When you interact with others, try to establish their baseline behaviors. In order to get a handle on the baseline behaviors of the people with whom you regularly interact, you need to note how they look normally, how they typically sit, where they place their hands, the usual position of their feet, their posture and common facial expressions, the tilt of their heads, and even where they generally place or hold their possessions, such as a purse (see figures 1 and 2). You need to be able to differentiate between their â€Å"normal† face and their â€Å"stressed† face. Not getting a baseline puts you in the same position as parents who never look down their child’s throat until the youngster gets sick. They call the doctor and try to describe what they see inside, but they have no means of making a comparison because they never looked at the child’s throat when he or she was healthy. By examining what’s normal, we begin to recognize and identify what’s abnormal. Even in a single encounter with someone, you should attempt to note. A stressed face is tense and slightly contorted, eyebrows are knitted, and the forehead is furrowed. his or her â€Å"starting position† at the beginning of your interaction. Establishing a person’s baseline behavior is critical because it allows you to determine when he or she deviates from it, which can be very important and informative (see box 5). Commandment 6: Always try to watch people for multiple tells—behaviors that occur in clusters or in succession. Your accuracy in reading people will be enhanced when you observe multiple tells, or clusters of behavior body signals on which to rely. Your son’s deviation from his previous behavior suggests that something negative might have occurred between him and his uncle since their last meeting. Perhaps it was a simple disagreement, the awkwardness of youth, or a reaction to the uncle’s preferential treatment of others. Then again, this behavior might indicate something much more sinister. The point is that a change in a person’s baseline behavior suggests that something might be amiss and, in this particular case, probably warrants further attention. A child who is exhibiting giddiness and delight at the prospect of entering a theme park will change his behavior immediately upon learning the park is closed. Adults are no different. When we get bad news over the phone or see something that can hurt us, our bodies reflect that change immediately. Changes in a person’s behavior can also reveal his or her interest or intentions in certain circumstances. Careful observation of such changes can allow you to predict things before they happen, clearly giving you an advantage—particularly if the impending action could cause harm to you or others.

Free Essays on Greek Art

During the classical period, Athenian Dominance greatly affected architecture. The war between the Greek city-states and Persia (499-480 BCE) interrupted almost all temple building for a generation while the Greeks concentrated on restoring their defensive walls, civic buildings, and the fleet. Athens emerged as the leader, controlling the war chest of the Delian League, Panhellenic league; the city initiated extravagant program to rebuild the sanctuary of Athena on the Acropolis. The Parthenon, Propylaea, Temple of Athena Nike, and the Erechtheum were built entirely of marble and elaborately decorated with carved moldings and sculpture.The architects were Callicrates and Iotinus, and the chief sculptor was Phidias. A large school of builders and sculptors developed in Athens during the second half of the fifth century BCE. Most of these craft workers were freed slaves from the eastern Mediterranean. Perhaps as a consequence there developed in Attica a unique blend of the Doric and Ionic orders seen in the fortified sanctuaries as well as in Athens. The Corinthian order resulted from long civil wars during the fifth century BCE (Classical period). The Ionian cities recovered more quickly from the civil war under Persian sovereignty. The colossal sixth century BCE temples and altars were replaced on a grander scale. Several Ionian cities were rebuilt on a grid plan that has been credited to Hippodamus of Miletus. The rise of Macedonia and the conquests of Alexander the Great heralded the Hellenistic period. Old building types became more complex: altars, gate buildings, council houses, stoas with two or three levels, and theaters with large attached stage buildings. Many new building types were introduced, including the nymphaeum, monumental tomb, columned hall, choragic monument, clock tower and light house. Many of these structures were decorated with dramatic marble sculpture. Hellenistic architects ma... Free Essays on Greek Art Free Essays on Greek Art GREEK ART Ancient Greece: A Comparative Essay Ancient Greece 950 BCE was a culture that took great pride in perfection, excellence and overall greatness. The people weren’t what today’s society would consider modern, but of their time they were. The Greeks essentially molded the creative world with their intelligence in art, architecture, and astronomy for many cultures to come. The Romans, who claimed the Greeks developments as their own, destroyed many of their ideas and art forms. Even though so much of the Greeks culture has been destroyed, much of it still remains within society today. So many aspects of modern day life have been in some way, influenced by the Greeks. The Greeks were a culture that strived for perfection, and harmony. They were fascinated with the human form, and this is revealed in most of their artwork. The Greeks were the first to glamorize the perfection of the human body during the archaic period. Using balance and proportion they sculpted what they considered to be the perfect male and female forms. They called the male the Kouros. He was considered to represent Apollo (a Greek God) or the perfect male athlete. The Kouros was always depicted nude in a contrapposto position, meaning one foot in front of the other, and facing forward. He had braided hair, no eyeballs, (Greeks believed that the eyes were the windows to the soul) and an archaic smile. The female figure was called the Kore; she was a freestanding fully clothed figure, usually depicted draped in jewelry. The Kore was much more youthful looking than the Kouros. She also had no eyeballs and the infamous archaic smile. These two forms of Greek sculpture along with others can be related to our society today. The Kouros and Kore served as antique models. What the Greeks considered to be ideal body types have influenced our own views. Men should be muscular and strong, and women youthful and well dressed. The Kore was depicted more full fi... Free Essays on Greek Art During the classical period, Athenian Dominance greatly affected architecture. The war between the Greek city-states and Persia (499-480 BCE) interrupted almost all temple building for a generation while the Greeks concentrated on restoring their defensive walls, civic buildings, and the fleet. Athens emerged as the leader, controlling the war chest of the Delian League, Panhellenic league; the city initiated extravagant program to rebuild the sanctuary of Athena on the Acropolis. The Parthenon, Propylaea, Temple of Athena Nike, and the Erechtheum were built entirely of marble and elaborately decorated with carved moldings and sculpture.The architects were Callicrates and Iotinus, and the chief sculptor was Phidias. A large school of builders and sculptors developed in Athens during the second half of the fifth century BCE. Most of these craft workers were freed slaves from the eastern Mediterranean. Perhaps as a consequence there developed in Attica a unique blend of the Doric and Ionic orders seen in the fortified sanctuaries as well as in Athens. The Corinthian order resulted from long civil wars during the fifth century BCE (Classical period). The Ionian cities recovered more quickly from the civil war under Persian sovereignty. The colossal sixth century BCE temples and altars were replaced on a grander scale. Several Ionian cities were rebuilt on a grid plan that has been credited to Hippodamus of Miletus. The rise of Macedonia and the conquests of Alexander the Great heralded the Hellenistic period. Old building types became more complex: altars, gate buildings, council houses, stoas with two or three levels, and theaters with large attached stage buildings. Many new building types were introduced, including the nymphaeum, monumental tomb, columned hall, choragic monument, clock tower and light house. Many of these structures were decorated with dramatic marble sculpture. Hellenistic architects ma... Free Essays on Greek Art I Greek Art INTRODUCTION Greek Art and Architecture is the product of Greece and the Greek colonies from about 1100 BC to the 1st century BC. It has its roots in Aegean civilization, but its unique qualities have made it one of the strongest influences on subsequent Western art. Greek art is characterized by the representation of living beings. It is concerned both with formal proportion and with the dynamics of action and emotion. Its primary subject matter is the human figure, which is also the form of the divine; monsters, animals, and plants are secondary. The chief themes are from myth, literature, and daily life. Few undamaged originals of Greek architecture or large sculpture remain, and no large Greek paintings have survived. An abundance of pottery vases, coins, jewelry, and gems have survived, however, and along with Etruscan tomb paintings, these give some indication of the characteristics of Greek art. These treasures are supplemented by literary sources. Such travelers as the Roman author Pliny the Elder and the Greek geographer Pausanias saw many works that have since perished, and their writings give much information about the artists and their creations. Architecture, painting, and large sculpture up to about 320 BC had primarily a public function, being employed to produce religious objects and to commemorate important secular events, such as athletic victories. The major arts were used by private individuals only to decorate tombs. Decorative arts, however, were chiefly for private use. The average household contained a number of well-made painted terra-cotta vases, and some wealthier households had bronze vessels and mirrors. Many terra-cotta and bronze utensils incorporated small figures and reliefs. Greek architects usually worked in marble or limestone, using wood and tile for roofs. Sculptors carved marble and limestone, modeled clay, and cast works in bronze. Large votive statues were made of hammered... Free Essays on Greek Art Ancient Greek Art The art of the ancient Greeks and Romans is called classical art. This name is used also to describe later periods in which artists looked for their inspiration to this ancient style. The Romans learned sculpture and painting largely from the Greeks and helped to transmit Greek art to later ages. Classical art owes its lasting influence to its simplicity and reasonableness, its humanity, and its sheer beauty. The first and greatest period of classical art began in Greece about the middle of the 5th centuryBC. By that time Greek sculptors had solved many of the problems that faced artists in the early archaic period. They had learned to represent the human form naturally and easily, in action or at rest. They were interested chiefly in portraying gods, however. They thought of their gods as people, but grander and more beautiful than any human being. They tried, therefore, to portray ideal beauty rather than any particular person. Their best sculptures achieved almost godlike perfection in their calm, ordered beauty. The Greeks had plenty of beautiful marble and used it freely for temples as well as for their sculpture They were not satisfied with its cold whiteness, however, and painted both their statues and their buildings. Some statues have been found with their bright colors still preserved, but most of them lost their paint through weathering. The works of the great Greek painters have disappeared completely, and we know only what ancient writers tell us about them. Parrhasius, Zeuxis, and Apelles, the great painters of the 4th century BC, were famous as colorists. Polygnotus, in the 5th century, was renowned as a draftsman. Fortunately we have many examples of Greek vases. Some were preserved in tombs; others were uncovered by archaeologists in other sites. The beautiful decorations on these vases give us some idea of Greek painting. They are examples ...

Google Stock Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Google Stock - Term Paper Example The Google search engine uses PageRank, Algortihms, Link Measurement, and Profiling as part of its objective to deliver the most accurate and most relevant results to the searcher. Google also offers a very successful email product called Gmail. Gmail is unique in that it allows the email account holder much more free space (7GB) than the average free email client. In my experience, Gmail is an exceptional email client as it provides many more services than the standard email. Google Maps is another successful application in that it is not just an average web mapping system. This advanced mapping system offers satellite imagery of most urban cities in the US and around the world. It also can be integrated with many mobile phones, which allows for a GPS mapping system directly on the phone. These features allow its users to find information and easily share it to anyone in the world. With the amount of traffic Google receives on a daily basis, Google has to have some kind of strategy to generate its revenue. One of Google's main sources of revenue is advertising. In 2007, advertising accounted for 99% of Google's revenues. Google implements two main advertising products which are AdSense and AdWords. AdWords is Google's flagship advertising product and main source of revenue ($16.4 billion in 2007). AdWords offers pay-per-click advertising, and site-targeted advertising for both text and banner ads. The AdWords program includes local, national, and international distribution. Section 3: The macroeconomics Google competes to attract and retain relationships with users, advertisers and Google Network members and other content providers in different strategies. Google competes to attract and retain users of its search and communication products and services. Most of the products and services that Google offer to users are free, so they do not compete on price. Instead, they compete in this area on the basis of the relevance and usefulness of their search results and the features, availability and ease of use of their products and services. Google has been an outstanding company in the marketplace ever since its inception and it continues to be and deliver exceptional service to the global market. The move into public ownership brought about more benefits to its employees as well as present and future shareholders. The founders of Google felt that the standard structure of public ownership might jeopardize the independence and focused objectivity that has been apart of Google's past succe ss. Google's leadership team wanted to preserve this aspect of the organization, so they implemented a corporate structure that is designed to protect Google's ability to introduce and retain its most distinctive characteristics. In 2007 and 2008, cash from Google's financing activities totaled $403.1 million and $87.6 million (Google Inc. 2009). Cash from financing activities is cash flow that takes place between organizations and stockholders and includes loans from bondholders and other creditors (Financial Education 2007). According to Google's numbers, the company is under no risk since the company does not rely solely on outside sources to generate its cash flow. Cash flow from Google's investing activities negatively increased in 2008 as it

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Language and Literacy Programs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

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Climate Change and Socioeconomic Development Relationship

Climate Change and Socioeconomic Development Relationship Climate change has been discussed since over 200 years ago but has only gained relevance and been taken seriously in the 1950s (Harding, 2007). As states come to realize the possible disastrous consequences of global climate change and attempt to tackle it by implementing certain policies, they are invariably confronted with a dilemma. To prioritise climate change, states would have to reduce their focus on socio-economic development, at least in the short run. Many are hesitant to do so for fear that intra-generational inequalities would be exacerbated (Heil Selden, 2001). However, we believe that climate change should in fact be prioritised over socio-economic development as climate mitigation enables both intra and inter-generational inequalities to be addressed concurrently. Conversely, we might not achieve the same if we were to prioritise socio-economic development over climate change. It has been argued that the only way to reduce income disparity is to promote further economic growth. Unfortunately, this single-minded focus on improving a country’s global economic standing has resulted in large disparities between the rich and poor, be it within or between nations. This is because rich countries can afford to invest in machinery and labour to increase output and seize market shares while poorer countries lose out in such comparative advantage. However by taking charge of climate change, this inequality can be alleviated. To start off, organic agriculture could be adopted as a climate mitigation strategy. The various farming systems used in organic agriculture can diversify income sources and reduce the susceptibilities of agriculture to impacts of diseases and climate change such as higher frequencies of droughts or flooding. Additionally, it is able to improve soil water absorption and retention capacity which reduces soil erosion. Consequently, less CO2 and N2O would be emitted from less soil erosion and the non-usage of harmful farming system inputs fertilisers and pesticides (Muller, 2009). This effort can be further supported by implementation of free-trade movements (Carter, 2007), which enables consumers to buy products directly from the producers in less developed countries. This eliminates cash flow to middlemen and allows smaller farms from less developed countries to earn higher incomes. Not only are we mitigating climate change by encouraging more environmentally friendly methods of farming, we are actually also allowing producers, who would otherwise be disadvantaged due to their inability to gain comparative advantage, sustain their business. Hence, tackling climate change would allow to address both climate change and socio-economic inequalities concurrently which we would not be able to achieve should we only focus on socio-economic development. Moreover, pursuing socio-economic development would become counterproductive if the consequences of climate change, which will hinder socio-economic development, are disregarded. One increasingly pronounced consequence is ocean acidification the uptake of carbon dioxide in the oceans. This phenomenon reduces shellfishes’ abilities to form their carbonated shells and subsequently lowers their survivability (Fabry et al, 2008; Holman et al, 2004). These adverse effects are subsequently translated to economic losses in our marine fisheries which rely heavily on the harvests of these commercially valuable marine organisms (Gazeau et al, 2007). In addition, these effects combined with global warming are damaging and bleaching the reef-building corals which are homes to remarkable numbers of marine animals (Phinney et al, 2006, Lumsden et al, 2007). With their disappearance, the productivities of fisheries are further reduced. For cities like New Bedford which depends greatly on fisheries revenues, the revenue losses would adversely alter its main economic activities and demographics, and worsen income disparities (Cooley and Doney, 2009) Coral reefs also provide coastal protection (Moberg and Folke, 1999) which buffer some of the highest global population densities and poorer populations located at the coastal regions from becoming environmental refugees of natural calamities (Shi and Singh, 2003). Moreover, severity and frequency of natural disasters such as droughts and floods have increased due to changing weather patterns, leaving Small island Developing states (SIDS) and least developed countries (LDCs) extremely susceptible to significant economic losses in productivity and expenditures in recovery (Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, 2009). Furthermore, changes in rainfall patterns and temperature rise may also alter current land use for food crops, resulting in novel plant pathogen or pest problems. This could potentially reduce global food supplies (Cannon, 1998; Coakley et al., 1999; Parker Gilbert, 2004) and worsen famines in developing countries. The temperature rise also encourages the spread of malaria and other diseases resulting in dire health problems. Hence, the consequences of climate change would hinder nations from achieving socio-economic development if one does not approach socio-economic development with climate change in mind. By prioritising socio-economic development in the name of alleviating intra-generational inequalities, we are then ignoring another form of equally important inequality and it is none other than inter-generational inequalities. As moral and rational human beings, we have the capacity to plan ahead and empathise with others. Therefore, since we are able to foresee the possible future of our descendants and empathise with their plight, we should definitely act on climate change rather than simply consider fulfilling our own current wants and depriving them of their future needs. There is sufficient and strong evidence that the globe is facing severe depletion in energy-producing resources (Hartmann, 2004). Furthermore, our indiscriminate use of Earth’s resources is contributing to climate change at an alarming rate (Halsnaes, 1996). Humans residing in Europe and Asia began burning coal for consumption after they unearthed it approximately 900 years ago. This marked the start of humans’ use of ancient sunlight, which is stored energy during ancient times, or around 400 million years ago. Later, humans also unearthed oil and it exponentially increased our ability to sustain life and consume as compared to before, where we could only survive on current sunlight, that is, energy stored in plants (Hartmann, 2004). These discoveries are particularly significant for the human race as it is through the use of ancient sunlight to sustain life that we are able to alter the environment for our other uses. Since then, we have been able to produce more clothes and food. This is because a lot of land that should have been used to trap current sunlight has now been converted for other purposes such as mass growing of cotton and food crops. All of this would not have been possible if humans had not discovered ancient sunlight that they could tap on (Hartmann, 2004). Humans’ ability to sustain life grew dramatically and so did the human population in terms of its sheer number. According to Hartmann, â€Å"In less than a tenth of a percent of the total history of humanity, we have experienced over 90 percent of the total growth of the human population† (2004). However, these finite resources would one day be depleted. Sources unanimously agree that the oil supply is draining at an extreme rate. In 1996, oil industry experts predicted that we have only an â€Å"almost† 45-year-supply of oil left. Other experts in the industry are way less optimistic. Furthermore, due to accelerated population growth in the Asia’s developing countries, global energy demand is expected to double by 2020 (Hartmann, 2004). Should we lose this important source of energy, we risk having seven billion starve in the 2050 (Hartmann, 2004). This highlights how dire the situation is and how imperative it is for us to address the problem. If we were to simply prioritise socio-economic development, there is almost no incentive for us to reduce our use of these resources. On the contrary, we might end up devising methods to better tap on them to increase economic growth. However, should we decide to place climate change at the fore, we would inevitably have to reduce our oil and coal consumption since using them would only contribute to climate change (Le Quà ©rà © et al., 2012). In other words, we would be addressing two problems just by giving one attention. While it is true that intra-generational inequalities are severe at the moment, inter-generational inequalities would be as well if we fail to address the issue of depleting resources and climate change. It definitely would not be fair for us to leave a globe that our future generations would not be able to enjoy living in with all the devastating climatic conditions and lack of resources. Therefore, climate change should be prioritised over socio-economic development before it is too late for us to. Socio-economic development is undeniably an important goal for all nations. However, if we ignore climate change and continue to use our resources in an unsustainable manner, the potential destruction of the environment and depleted resources would prevent us from moving forward in achieving socio-economic development for the present and the future. It is hence essential that nations collaborate and commit themselves in mitigating climate change. As mentioned by Pew Center (2002), â€Å"Climate mitigation is not the goal, but rather an outgrowth of efforts driven by economic, security, or local environmental concerns.†

The Shift in Abortion Policy in the 1800s Essay -- History Abortion Fe

The Shift in Abortion Policy in the 1800s "In 1800 no jurisdiction in the United Sates had enacted any statutes whatsoever on the subject of abortion... Yet by 1900 virtually every jurisdiction in the United States had laws upon its books that proscribed the practice sharply and declared most abortions to be criminal offenses" (Mohr p. VII). Societal Changes from the Early 1800s to the Mid 1800s During the early 1800s, abortion at the beginning of a pregnancy was neither immoral nor criminal. Common law held that before 'quickening,' the first perception of fetal movement by the mother, usually during the second trimester, the fetus was not alive or independent. After quickening abortion was a criminal offense, because the fetus had demonstrated the beginnings of independent life (Mohr p. 1). Since the point of quickening varied from woman to woman and depended upon her word, it was near impossible to prosecute criminal abortions (Mohr p. 2). Most of the laws of the early 1800s were aimed not at prosecuting women for obtaining an abortion, but rather to protect them from medical malpractice such as poisoning, physical harm, and unwanted abortions (Mohr p. 21, 28) (see mollie smith case link). Information on abortion was available to women primarily through home medical manuals and journals. Abortion information was usually available in two sections of home medical books: how to ?release obstructed menses? and ?dangers? to avoid during pregnancy. The latter section was a sort of how-to in reverse that could be effectively put to use by the reader. The most widely consulted work, Buchan's Domestic Medicine, advised emetics and a mixture of prepared steel, powdered myrrh, and aloe to ?restore menstrual flow.? Under caus... ...tives, sixth ed. Worth Publishers. 2001 Mohr, James C. Abortion in America: The Origins and Evolution of National Policy, 1800-1900. Oxford University Press: New York, New York. 1978. New York Times, Aug 23 1871, Aug 27 1871, Aug 30 1871, Aug 31 1871, Oct 29 1871. Shryock, R. H. Medicine and Society in America: 1660-1860. Ithaca, NY: Cornell. 1960 Starr, P. Medicine, "Economy and Society in Nineteenth century America," Journal of Social History. 1977. pp10, 588-607. Taverne, Dick. "The Huge Benefits of GM are being Blocked by Blind Opposition," The Guardian 3 Mar. 2004: 24. Wertz, R., and Wertz D. Lying-In: A History of Childbirth in America. New York: Free Press. 1997 Wilson, Richard K. "DNA: 50 Years Later," St. Louis Post 27 Feb. 2003: B7. Zeitz, Joshua M. "The Big Lie about the Little Pill," NEED NAME OF PAPER OR JOURNAL27 Dec. 2004: A17.

Musical Analysis on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was directed by Gore Verbinski and the music was composed by Hans Zimmer. Hans Zimmer is one of the most sought after film composers. He does an amazing job creating the score for this swashbuckling adventure. The movie begins with the interrupted marriage of William Turner and Elizabeth Swann. The music’s first role in this movie is to reflect emotion. In the opening scene, Elizabeth is kneeling at the altar where her wedding should have taken place. Rain is falling all around her and she is alone. Violins are playing a sad, slow melody. The viewer realizes that something awful has happened. Deeper strings start to play a fast marching beat and a male choir begins to sing. This signifies that the Royal Navy is approaching to arrest Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann. Lord Cutler Beckett had ordered the couple to be arrested and sentenced to death for aiding in Captain Jack Sparrow’s escape in the previous movie. Lord Cutler Beckett will only lift the charges in exchange for Jack Sparrow’s compass. William Turner is sent off to find Jack Sparrow. He is reluctant to leave his future bride behind in prison, but it is his only chance to free her. Jack Sparrow is a cursed pirate. He has made a deal with Davy Jones, the captain of the Flying Dutchmen. If Davy Jones would raise the Black Pearl from the bottom of the ocean, Jack Sparrow had thirteen years to captain it. After thirteen years, Jack Sparrow must give Davy Jones his soul. It has been thirteen years, and Davy Jones wants to collect. Davy Jones can only go on land once every ten years, so Jack Sparrow knows that land is the place where he will be safest. He sails his ship to the nearest island. Jack Sparrow has a very comedic leitmotif. He is constantly drunk and his theme is a drunken theme. The music sways and staggers like someone who is intoxicated, and the music has a count of three. The music really adds to the comedy that Jack Sparrow brings to the movie. Strings and a cello are used for this score, and they mimic his actions. This is also referred to as mickey-mousing. A perfect example of mickey-mousing is when Jack Sparrow walks down a flight of stairs and the music goes down the musical scale as he descends. Will needs to find Jack so that he can save Elizabeth and himself from the death sentence. He investigates and follows clues to Jack’s whereabouts until he finally finds Jack Sparrow’s ship uninhabited on an island. Further investigation into the island leads to William being captured by a tribe of cannibals. The good news is that he has found Jack Sparrow. Jack Sparrow is serving as the leader of the cannibals. The bad news is that the cannibals are going to eventually sacrifice Jack Sparrow. After a few escape scenes involving a lot of running, William and Jack Sparrow manage to return to the Black Pearl. The scenes involving the cannibals has music that creates the atmosphere of a cannibal island. Drums are very prominent throughout these scenes, along with humans yelling tribal chants. One scene that does not fit into this trend is a scene where William and the other crew members are trying to escape from a cage that is suspended in the air. The music plays against the action by playing a song one would expect to hear at a carnival during the escape. The music plays against the action, creating comedy for a normally unpleasant situation. After escaping from the cannibals, Jack Sparrow convinces Will Turner to climb aboard the Flying Dutchmen to try and receive the key that he has been searching for. If Will can find the key, Jack will give him the compass. William does not know about the deal that Jack has with Davy, and he does not know what he is getting himself into by boarding the ship. Davy Jones has a crew filled with undead crewmen, and Will is captured. The good thing about Will Turner being captured is the fact that he meets his long lost father, Bill Turner. Bill just happens to be a member of the crew. The music on the Flying Dutchmen is very sinister. The pipe organ is prominent throughout the scenes that involve the ship. A male choir also sings frequently. The beat gives three counts, and it gives the viewer a very uneasy feeling. Random sustained notes are also played with the cello to create a sense of suspense and nervousness. The pipe organ is also sometimes source music while on the ship. Davy Jones frequently plays a menacing looking pipe organ while his crew is slaving on deck. Elizabeth is not the type of girl that will sit around and wait for William to come and save her. Her father breaks her out of prison, and Elizabeth begins searching for Jack Sparrow and his compass. Elizabeth Swann finds her way to a bar in Tortuga, where she meets up with Jack Sparrow. This scene involves implied source music. Although the source of the music being heard on the screen is not seen, the viewer realizes that the music is being played in the bar. The tune is a fast, crazy tune that is played with an accordion and a fiddle. Accordions and fiddles are typical instruments that one would see in this type of saloon. Elizabeth also runs into an old friend at the bar, Commodore Norrington. Norrington wants to kill Jack Sparrow for making him lose his job. This leads to a bar fight. The source music gets louder and crazier during the fight. The fight is very wild and a lot of things are going on at one time. The music helps to add to the outrageous chaos. The special thing about Jack Sparrow’s compass is that it points to the thing that the person holding it wants the most. Jack Sparrow uses it to find the chest that he needs the key to open, even though he does not have the key yet. He arrives on the island where the chest is located and digs it up. Most of the music in this scene involves a fast paced melody played with strings and then short bursts of music from the cello and drums. It is an exciting time in the movie because Jack Sparrow has found the chest, and the music plays off of the excitement. Will Turner shows up at the island with the key that he has stolen from Davy Jones. Inside the chest is Davy Jones’s heart. The pirate legend is that Davy Jones was once in love with a woman. She betrayed him, and he could not tolerate the pain. He cut out his heart and put it in a chest. The only way to kill Davy Jones is to find his heart and stab it. Davy Jones has his own leitmotif. The theme is first introduced when it is being played on a music box that Davy Jones is holding. It continues to play in other scenes where Davy Jones is present. The melody is wishful and sad. A pipe organ is used for the melody. There are three people standing around the chest with three different motives. Jack Sparrow wants to use the chest to bargain with Davy Jones. He will return the chest to Davy, if Davy will release Jack from his debt. William Turner wants the chest so that he can kill Davy Jones, thereby freeing his father from serving on the Flying Dutchmen. Norrington wants to steal the chest and take it back to Lord Cutler Beckett. Lord Cutler Beckett would then grant Norrington full clemency. The three begin sword fighting over the chest, and Davy Jones’s crew arrives to steal the chest for Davy Jones. Elizabeth, Jack Sparrow, and Commodore Norrington are forced to work together to fight off Davy Jones’s men. Elizabeth joins in the fight as well. There is a lot of mickey-mousing in these scenes. The music starts when Jack pulls out his sword and points it at Will. It then quiets down and plays faintly in the background. When Will pulls out Elizabeth’s sword on Jack, the music suddenly gets louder. A note is then held out as it fades. When Norrington pulls his sword out, the music suddenly gets louder again. Then all three of the guys have their swords pointed at each other. The music flows underneath the dialogue and adds to the suspense. When the pirates start their sword fight, the music picks up and gets louder. It has a very adventurous feel to it. There is a continuous melody with short bursts of music also playing. The instruments used are a full orchestra and drums. Elizabeth is angry that the three men are acting so childish and fighting each other. There is a short pause in the music when Will tells Elizabeth to guard the chest. This creates an unspoken thought for Elizabeth. She pauses because she is shocked and angry that the guys are acting so juvenile. The music quickly starts up again as Elizabeth starts her rant. The music plays off of her angry outburst. As she yells at the guys there are short bursts of music that go up the scale as she gets more and more frustrated. There is also a continuous melody playing with strings. Elizabeth is not getting the men’s attention by yelling at them. She decides to try a different approach by pretending to faint. When Elizabeth fakes passing out from the heat, the music mickey-mouses her falling. A note is held out and then runs down the musical scale as she falls, completely stopping when she hits the ground. After falling, she notices two other pirates running off with the chest. There is sudden note played with strings that helps convey what she is feeling. It is a sudden burst of realization that they are stealing the chest. She gets up off of the sand and runs after the two thieves. Commodore Norrington has stolen the chest, and everyone else is back on the Black Pearl. Davy Jones has just sent a giant octopus, known as the Kraken, after Jack Sparrow. The Kraken is going to take down the whole ship, and everyone in it, until he gets Jack Sparrow. While everyone is abandoning ship, Elizabeth Swann tricks Jack Sparrow into staying on the ship by kissing him and then handcuffing him to the ship. As he is being handcuffed, a cello plays a deep melody. The melody gives off the feeling of betrayal. A full orchestra then joins the cello and continues the melody as Elizabeth abandons Jack Sparrow. As Jack Sparrow wiggles out of the handcuffs, the Kraken appears behind him. The Kraken has his own leitmotif. Hans Zimmer uses pipe organs and heavy bass lines to give a shadowy, underwater feel. Jack Sparrow turns around and the two are now face to face. Jack Sparrow bravely faces the Kraken with his sword ready, but he is no match for the beast. Jack Sparrow is swallowed up into the mouth of the terrible monster. As Jack Sparrow is swallowed up, an orchestra plays and a male choir sings solemnly. The movie ends with Commodore Norrington making his deal with Lord Beckett. Elizabeth is filled with guilt for sending Jack Sparrow to his death. Elizabeth, Will, and the rest of the crew are ready to sail to the end of the world to find Jack Sparrow. This may be how the movie ends, but not the story. The story continues on in the third movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

Reflective Essay- First day of school Essay

Approaching the intimidating building that holds the future of not only the rest of my high school career, but my entire life, I continue to feel a longing for my old school. I wish for my old friends who I know will recognize me and jump to greet me; my old routine that I grew so accustomed to. But none of that matters now. All that matters is that I currently feel like a â€Å"nobody† and I’m certain that is all that I’ll feel for the next two agonizing years of my life. see more:write about your first day at school Is it just my imagination, my insecurities flooding my brain, or is everyone staring at me as I walk down this hallway? I can feel eyes piercing me as â€Å"the new girl† nervously walks down the hall. I don’t know where to go, and even worse, I don’t know who to ask for help. I’ve always had tons of friends; I’ve always felt like I’ve had a place at school, but now everything has done a complete 180. My mom’s piece of advice was to â€Å"just think positive†, but I don’t find that possible while I’m roaming around in an unflattering, frumpy uniform feeling like a clueless fool. I don’t know if I want to cry to my parents and have them make it â€Å"all better†, or if I just have burning resentment toward them from yanking me from the school I really belong at. I never knew how much a simple smile from a stranger would mean to me until I felt completely lost. I began to wake up a little bit from my little pity party and actually notice that there are quite a few friendly faces around this place. I even made a few friends, I guess you could say. My mind continues to bring me back to thoughts of how much I miss my old friends and public school, but my mindset starts to shift a tiny bit once I get more familiar with the place and the people around me. The time of the day finally comes that I’ve been dreading the most†¦ lunch. I pictured myself as one of those loners who sits in the corner by themselves. What I really want right now is my old lunch table crammed with eight or so friends to be waiting to greet me, but instead I’ll have no one. â€Å"Hey, Grace! It’s Waffle Wednesday; remember? Let’s go get some waffles with extra whipped cream before it’s all gone!!† My old buddies and I never missed Waffle Wednesday at my old school. Well guess what? There are no more Waffle Wednesdays. There are no more old friends. There’s no more old school. I snap out of my daydream, grab my brown paper lunch bag, and shuffle toward the new cafeteria†¦ really slowly, hoping to procrastinate and waste a couple minutes. My stomach hurts after lunch, and you would never guess why. A couple of the friendliest and brightest faces came right up to me and welcomed to sit with them at lunch. They seemed so genuine, as if they actually wanted to get know me. That is the last thing I expected all day. I mean, I did come across a few nice people, but I never thought anyone would actually want to sit with the anonymous, shy, timid girl during lunch. As I was saying, my stomach hurt from laughing so much during lunch. A stomachache induced by a laughing fit is undeniably the best kind of stomachache. Not only was I invited to sit with some people, but they were extremely kind, and on top of that, they were hilarious. I can actually say that I made friends today who I plan to sit with at lunch every day from now on. I walked in with no friends today, and I can say that I ended the day with two. It may not seem like a lot, but it’s only day one and there are so many more days to get to know new people. My mom’s advice to â€Å"just think positive† didn’t seem too promising when there seemed to be a giant raincloud over my head. I was so self-absorbed in my own dread that I was much too consumed to look up and gain a new perspective of everything around me. When I was closed-off and had a pessimistic attitude, I cheated myself of so many good opportunities. I noticed that once I began to lighten up and exude a sense of optimism, I started to attract positive energy. I see this new school as more of an opportunity instead of a torture chamber. I can do anything with this opportunity that I want; I can make it an unpleasant and dreadful experience, or I can make it something fun and exciting, all depending on my attitude. I know what it feels like to feel lonely; so now I’m going to be that stranger who offers a kind smile and potentially brightens that person’s day. It’s only day one of my journey, so I have quite a while to make my impact. I still may have a tad bit of distaste for the frumpy uniforms, but at least I can say that I’m able to make the best of my days here.