Thought and Language

Thought and Language In the field of linguistic theory, the relation between thought and language is still an emerging topic of discussion. Different linguists and psychologists stand on different views and continued their argument to define this relation whether they are interdependent or independent. Broad categories of views are present and converging theories are yet to be gained. The two extreme thought school concerning the relationship between language and thought are commonly referred to as Mould theories and Cloak theories. According to the mould theory, language constructs our thought and they are interwoven in such a way that all people are equally being affected by the confines of their language. People can be considered as mental prisoners as they are unable to think in any other way which the language he speaks does not support. The cloak theory casts a different view and described language as a cloak conforming to the customary categories of though of its speaker. In this theory, language considered only as a media to express our thoughts just like the way we can use our physical movement to represent what we are feeling. Language do not control our way of perceiving things and we imagine our world in the way we like to. There is also a middle stand between this two which also popular in the linguistic theory. Without following the extreme, this view explains that language and thought is related but a flexible sense. Sometimes language drives our thought process and again sometime we construct the language with our thoughts. The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis, named after the American linguist Edward Sapir and Bejamin Lee Whorf is classified as mould theory of language. In 1929, Sapir presented his belief that the possible range of human behavior is controlled by the language he speaks. It is totally dependent on the vocabulary exist in the specific language we are part of. This hypothesis is known as the strong form of Sapirs Hypothesis. It also mentioned that as different languages have different structures, barrier free communication between cross-cultural groups is impossible as they will never able to think in the same way as they are bounded by different language. After reviewing the two extreme theories of linguistic reality, I stand somewhere between the two .I think, the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis cannot be totally denied but cannot be accepted fully. There are numerous arguments which support Sapir and also cross out the hypothesis. With a deep analysis of the different views and considering the examples from real world around me, I came to the conclusion that the relation between the language and thought is a continued process. Language instructs our thought and we often directed by the way our language constructs perceive the world. For example, in our country when we say the word Pohela Boishakh, it automatically spells a magic of festivity in everyones mind. It is the Bengali New Year and now this language construct evolved in such a way that it is now motivating the thought process of the people of our country. We are getting bound to think by this word. But it is also true in the other way around. The creative minds come out with thousan ds of innovative ideas and directing the language evolution. People growing up in the same surrounding and speaking the same language can possess different thoughts and communicate different ideas which contradict with Sapirs Hypothesis. So, I am more influenced by the theory that language and speech can be though of as two intersecting circles. In their overlapping parts, thought and speech coincide to produce what is called verbal thought. Verbal thought, however, does not by any means include all forms of thought or all forms of speech. There is a vast area of thought that has no direct relation to speech. The thinking manifested in the use of tools belongs in this area, as does practical intellect in general. Furthermore, investigations by psychologists of the Wrzburg School have demonstrated that thought can function without any word images or speech movements detectable through self-observation. While discussing about the topic with my group mates Dana Satriya and Sharad, I encountered different fabrics of thought in them. Dana came from Indonesia and Sharad from India. In Danas opinion thought is an act of verbal. He seems to support Sapirs Hypothesis and mentioned that we the media informatics students came from different parts of the world. Though in Germany, we can be considered as a community but we have distinct thought process and it will eventually act as a barrier while we communicate with each other. And this distinct thoughts are somewhat influenced by the different language constructs we belong to. In some stage, I will not be able to express my inner feelings to Dana in a full sense as his language construct does allow him to think and follow my thoughts. Sharad being as an Indian got an opportunity to experience wide range of cultures and community in his country. He also agreed that language has some influence over the people as he has seen different concepts and views among the people using different language. In my opinion, it is necessary to take into account the close relationship which exists between language and thinking. Most commonly accepted idea about language and speech is that they are the way of expressing the internal thought process of an individual. People express what they feel with the means of language and speech. However, the construction of language is not evolved in a uniform way among all the people. Living in different context makes people from different parts of the world to perceive reality in different manner. The social and environmental context influence their way of living and thought. Due to perceiving the context in different ways, their use of words depends on that particular context. From generation to generation, the language is evolved while keeping the relation with social reality. As an example, in my country, Bangladesh, the landscape is flat and people live on farming. Therefore, large part of the thought process is based on the agricultural activitie s and have special part of language constructs generated to explain this process. Eventually, the new generations grow up with the special language constructs related to agriculture which influence their thought process according to Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, describing the process of language influencing the thought process. However, I think it is not in that strong way according the hypothesis that language constructs the thought. It is clearly evident that Sapir-Whorf hypothesis was built on a partially viewed concept. Whorf analyzed several examples of Native American Language, Hopi, to support his hypothesis, which state that thought is strongly based on language. According to Whorf, the Hopi language does not contain any words, grammatical constructions, or expressions that refer to the English concept of time. He goes on to explain that it is possible in the Hopi language to express the world or reality in ways other than what many languages refer to as time. The Hopi view of reality is specific to the language and can only be best expressed if one is familiar with the language. In this example where Whorf feels language strongly influences thought, he is often criticized with circularity because he infers cognitive differences between two speakers from an examination of their respective languages, (Hopi and English). His proof of cognitive differences is only based on reiteration of the linguistic differ ences. But several other studies were done which supports the hypothesis including the research on perception of color in English compared with a small tribe from Papua New Guinea called Berinmo. However, I personally contradict to some extent with the basic idea of Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. It is not entirely ignorable that language has some influence on the thought process, although it is not the only mean which drive our thoughts. It can only be considered a little part of a much bigger paradigm. As an example, we can consider the example of infants, who is yet to talk. However, it is widely accepted that children go through thought process before they even learn to talk. According to Piaget, every child has two different thought processes which are directed and undirected. Piaget says, Directed thought is conscious, i.e., it pursues an aim which is present to the mind of the thinker; it is intelligent, which means that it is adapted to reality and tries to influence it; it admits of being true or false (empirically or logically true), and it can be communicated by language. Autistic thought is subconscious, which means that the aims it pursues and the problems it tries to solve are not present in consciousness; it is not adapted to reality, but creates for itself a dream world of imagination; it tends, not to establish truths, but to satisfy desires, and it remains strictly individual and incommunicable as such by means of language. On the contrary, it works chiefly by images, and in order to express itself, has recourse to indirect methods, evoking by means of symbols and myths the feeling by which it is led. Therefore, this autistic thought is not influenced by languages and is evolved separately by the complex mental process. Same inference can be drawn for the physically retarded groups who can not speak and hear, but have their own thought process development of which is not blocked by any linguistic constructs. Language is not the driver of thoughts but thought can eventually result in language. Poets and laureates often enrich us with new and innovative language constructs to materialize their thoughts. So, in this case they are generating language with their thoughts. But there is always the other side of the coin. Language often acts as the catalyst for thought. If someone says a bitter word in a language which I dont know, it will not affect me. But if I am familiar with the word, it will certainly scatter some effect on my thought process and I will react over it. So, there are obviously many thought processes in individual which can only be motivated and initiated by the linguistic reality and not in any other way. In this context we can refer to George Lakoffs argument that language is often used metaphorically and that different languages use different cultural metaphors that reveal something about how speakers of that language think. For example English employs metaphors linkening time with money, whereas other languages may not talk about time in that fashion.So absence of language construct inhibiting the way of their thinking about time in the same way as English people do. So, the basic idea we infer from the above discussion that language and thought continuously move back and forth from thought to language and language to thought. Language helps us to think with a specific point of view and thought again develop the language. And thought is not only being expressed in words, it also comes into existence through them. Every thought relates one object to another and it moves, grows and develops, executes function and solves problem. This flow of thought occurs as inner movement which can be based on language and can also be without language. Bibliography Lev Vygotsky (1986) Thought and Language (newly revised and edited by Alex Kozulin) Ekkehart Malotki (1983) Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs 20 Hopi Time Thomas Tsoi The Relation between Language and Thought http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_relativity http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/language/whorf.html http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/whorf.html http://www.angelfire.com/journal/worldtour99/sapirwhorf.html http://www.usingenglish.com/speaking-out/language-thought-sapirwhorf.html http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/piaget.htm !Content ends here!>

Measuring Public Attitudes to Reality TV | Methodology

Measuring Public Attitudes to Reality TV | Methodology 1. Outline the considerations you would make in deciding between using the Thurstone, Likert or Osgood method. Highlight the particular context and conclude with a clear decision about which of the three methods you would chose. The three social research methods of attitudinal measurement are appropriate for use in this experiment as they all give statistical evidence to support the questions relating to various attitudes taken from a general consensus of people. However, each has its own merits to be considered. The Thurston, Likert and Osgood methods can give a representation of social attitudes toward Big Brother, however, which is the most ideal requires some consideration of their procedural processes. The nature of measurement and descriptive qualities in each method was considered before a test was decided and questionnaire constructed. Thurstone was one of the primary social scaling theorists. He used the average rankings of a set of attitudinal statements based upon a given topic to determine a set of agree/disagree responses. He formulated three different methods that all worked upon a uni-dimensional scale. These were the method of equal-appearing intervals, the method of successive intervals, and the method of paired comparisons (Thurston, 1928). The three methods crucially differed in how the scale values for each item were constituted from their base source. However, in all three cases, the resulting scale was rated the same way by respondents. This labour-some method did not take into account any indifference towards the statements or the degree to which negative and positive attitudes could vary. In questionnaire format it relies upon closed questions to gain its data and measure attitude. Furthermore, it indicates a mean average as its descriptive data between that of agreeing and disagreeing in each state ment category,which does not capture the nature of the deviation or sway of general trends in attitude. Neither does it allow for a consideration of word connotation within the statements. Due to these considerations this method of measuring attitude was rejected for this experiment. The Likert technique was developed after the Thurstone scale. With this method to social research a set of attitudinal statements were also presented to subjects. Subjects were asked to express agreement or disagreement according to a five point or seven point scale measuring the variance of attitude towards the statements (Likert, 1932). Each degree of agreement or disagreement was given a numerical value from one to five / seven rather than being defined as a closed agree or disagree category. A total numerical value was then to be calculated from the total number of responses. This method is suited to our experiment as it can be applied to established attitudinal theories such as Ajzen’s Theory of planned behaviour as a way of drawing out not only attitude but intention and concepts that help shape our attitudes. Essentially, the Likert method can be broken down into segments pertaining to the theory of planned behaviour to reveal a more sophisticated set of results that in dicate a fuller relationhip than that of the Thurstone method. However, one more method that relates to the Likert method should be considered before moving on. The Osgood method was developed in conjunction with the Likert technique. Using the scale as the basis for the measurement of attitude, Osgood concerned himself with the significance of meaning, and in particular connotation of words. Typically subjects would be given a word or concept, such as race, and would subsequently be presented with an array of adjectives in which to describe that word / concept (Osgood, 1957). The adjectives would then be represented at either end of a five point / seven-point scale similar to the likert scale. Due to this, Osgood was able to contrive a map or model of peoples connotations for given concepts from which attitudes could be understood. However, there are problems for using this method for our experiment. Firstly, there is the problem that this map depends entirely on the presumption that all adjectives mean the same to everyone. Because of this, the method itself becomes contradictory as it begins from the general assumption that peoples connot ations for certain cocepts differ. However, it also depends upon the assumption that, for certain words at least, they do not differ. And secondly, there is nothing in this test that attempts to negate the onset of socially desired responses from participants. For this reason, the Osgood test for connotational attitude was dropped as the method for this experiment in place of the five category Likert test. 2. Provide a detailed description of the steps you would need to take at each stage of scale construction, using your chosen method. In the first stage of developing the Likert method for this experiment, relevant attitudinal questions would have to be established and drawn up. Based upon the preliminary research into certain perceived attitudes towards Big Brother, these questions should be drawn up and applied to a five point scale ranging from strong agreement through to strong disagreement. These should be comprised into sets of varying attitudinal question types that relate to the different categories apparent in the Theory of Planned behaviour. These sets should consist of questions relating to social norms, attitudes and perceived behavioural control (Ajzen, 1991). For example, the first two sets of questions should be taken into account, that is the subjective norm and the attitude, and categorised as one set. For example, based upon the measurement method of the likert five category system, typical questions relating to these sets could be ‘do you think Big Brother is valid?’ and ‘do yo ur friends tink big brother is valid?’. These provide us with indicators of varying attitudes from which behaviour could be measured as an outcome. For instance, questions then asking ‘would you watch Big Brother?’ or ‘is it your intention to watch Big Brother?‘ would give us an indication of the strength and nature of the forces creating the attitudes towards Big Brother. A third set of questions relating to the perceived behavioural control could then tell us of how people perceive the viewing of Big Brother and how that affects their attitudes and intentions towards watching the show. According to the theory of planned behaviour, these three attitudinal variables inform the intention from which behaviours can be understood (Ajzen, 1988, 1991). By taking the findings of this questionnaire through the method of the Likert scale, we are providing ourselves with a technique which can register, incorporate and analyse the findings of a limitless amount of subjects and find trends in the different ways that people have formed attitudes towards Big Brother. It is with the Likert model that an attitudinal questionnaire based upon the theory of planned behaviour was constructed to answer the main question put forward by this experiment. An example of the three sets of questions based primarily upon the theory of planned behaviour and developed at this stage are as follows: I like to Watch Big Brother? Strongly Agree / Agree / Indifferent-Unsure-Never Seen It / Disagree / Strongly Disagree. My Friends Think People Should Watch Big Brother? Strongly Agree / Agree / Indifferent-Unsure-Never Seen It / Disagree / Strongly Disagree. It is Morally Acceptable to Watch Big Brother? Strongly Agree / Agree / Indifferent-Unsure-Never Seen It / Disagree / Strongly Disagree. The next stage should be firstly concerned with eliminating ambiguous or leading questions such as those involving the terms ‘hate‘ and ‘love‘ or ‘nice‘ and ’kind of’ etc. This can be done where confusion is noticeable manually or where indicated on the results of pilot studies. This stage should then be concerned with content validity. This can also be done via a pilot test; by using the questionnaire to test a group whose attitudes are well established. For example, you would expect members of a Big Brother fan club or groups that promote Big Brother to score positively on attitudinal questions relating to Big Brother. However, if the results show that they did not score positively then this can be taken as an indication that there is something wrong with the questionnaire. Conversely, if they do score positively then the pilot test can be deemed valid. Alternatively, a professional or expert in matters of attitudinal tests could be consultd for clarity. After these questions have been arranged according to category and the pilot test and/or expert has given sufficient content validity, a sample group should be targeted and asked to participate. On defining that target group, an introduction giving them the required and ethical briefing should be performed, and on their completion a debriefing and contact address should be disclosed. On retrieval of the results, an appropriate measurement should be carried out to establish the descriptive and inferential statistics of the likert test. The procedure for the Likert does not involve mean averages as these merely convolute the sway of the attitudinal range. Rather, median and modes are better equipped to give descriptive data as the significant range is concerned with general trends rather than precise measures. Bibliography Ajzen., I. (1988) Attitudes, Personality and Behaviour, Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Ajzen, I., (1991) The Theory of Planned Behaviour. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 50, 1-33. Osgood, C, E., Suci, G, J., Tannenbaum, P, H., (1957) The Measurement of Meaning. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Thurston, L, L., (1928) Attitudes can be Measured. American Journal of Sociology, 33, 529-544. Likert, R., (1932) A Technique for the Measurement of Attitudes. Archives of Psychology, 140, 1-55.

Will the European Union Survive? :: European Union Essays

"Europe must prevent Greece from becoming an out-and-out catastrophe and make sure that the same fiscal 'remedy' is not applied to other weak economies" -- Franziska Brantner. The EU (European Union) has gone thru many changes. For some countries it has been a blessing and a huge success. For others adapting to a single currency and marketplace has been quite a struggle. The EU hopes to expand even further with the introduction of more states and become one of the largest marketplaces in the world. But will the EU survive in the long term? Is it really of benefit to its members? The EU was established in 1993. It was the EEC (European Economic Community) before that in 1967 and the ECSC (European Coal and Steal Community) in 1951. Its main focus has been for the economic development of its members. Now it seems to be more focused on government, social and legal issues. But the primary reason for the EU was to create a united states of Europe. The objective for this union is to create free trade among member states creating a more competitive market place thus developing competition and in doing so giving a better standard of living for its people. This could be said true for one of its members, Ireland. Ireland has been a textbook case for the EU. Obviously each country in the EU has its different experiences with membership. Ireland has been quite the model EU member in its ability to adapt to the concept of the EU and has seen its GDP almost double in size. Currently Ireland holds the presidency for the EU and will play host to the introduction of the newer members this summer. But has Ireland really benefited from its membership or is its success due to its nearest neighbor west, America. Since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1940 Ireland has had to establish its own economy independent from British rule. Prior to this time being a part of the British Empire guaranteed commercialism for ones country. Although it could be said to be one-sided the British Empire relied on its colonies for trade. In some respects Ireland was not an industrialist nation and was predominantly an agricultural country. In order to succeed and further develop itself she had to change its way of doing business. One of the first orders of business was to introduce a better educational system.

Herman Melville Essay -- Biography

Many American novelists appeared during the harsh times that slavery existed. Herman Melville was one of them. Dying as one of the most unknown authors, his works came again and had major success. Despite not gaining major success during Melville’s time and receiving harsh criticism as well, Herman Melville remains one of the most important American novelists for his use of reoccurring themes and discrete symbols within his works. Born in New York in August 1819 (Szumski 13), Melville was full of imagination and his father’s treasures added to his creative mind (Robertson 33). Melville’s father was extremely successful, therefore giving Melville an advantage in life at an early age (Szumski 14). When his father passed shortly after the downfall of his company, Melville got multiple jobs to provide for his poor family (Szumski 14). Melville was just 12 when his father had passed away (Szumski 13). He felt even more pressure due to his older brother’s achievements as he already struggled with the desire to gain acceptance (Robertson 34). Herman Melville attended a strict New York Male High School and, ironically, struggled at a young age to read and write (Bengtsson). He had difficulty gaining approval of family members and his father once said, â€Å"Your little protà ©gà © Herman, although a monitor at the High School, is rather indisposed this evening.† (Robertson 35). Regardless of the negative feedback towards Melville himself, he never gave up trying to win the acknowledgement and acceptance of his family (Padilla). At just 20 year old, Melville went on his first journey across the sea; this was the start of his significant inspiration for years to come (Robertson 34). Sailing from New York to Liverpool would begin t... ...layed out in his lifetime (Spark notes). Some say that Benito Cereno is expressing Melville’s apprehensiveness on the topic of slavery and slavery itself (Spark notes). People overall felt great rigor in his works with the way Melville presented his characters and the motives of those characters (Bloom 33). They had a good idea that the readers of Melville were represented as the lawyer in Benito Cereno. Many of his readers noted that many of the characters had multiple sides to themselves which made it difficult to follow along. Although some found it hard to keep up with, they still pointed out many uses of Melville as a hidden symbol (Bloom 34). Although Melville went through troubling times and received harsh criticism, his works will remain some of the best novels ever written because of their unique structure, basis, and inspiration for his stories.

Essay --

At this point in time, seniors at Mira Costa feel trapped, as if they can't get out of Mira Costa and Manhattan Beach soon enough. Imagine being physically trapped in their city, surrounded by nothing but a big concrete wall holding them hostage. The Berlin Wall kept half a city hidden behind, what was known as, the iron curtain. The wall was â€Å"...a symbol of oppressive and divisive government, not only to the East Germans it contained, but to the rest of the world as well.†("Transitional Justice.") The people of Germany were separated from their jobs, their loved ones, and were forced to live under communist rule. Before the wall was built, the city was split, given no notice on Sunday, and â€Å"overnight brutally severed streets† (Heilbrunn) became known as ‘Stacheldrahtsonntag’, barbed wire Sunday. Shortly after, the creation of the concrete wall began. During the construction of the wall, there was outrage in West Berlin over the new barbed wire wall that ran through their city. There was outrage in East Berlin as well but it was quickly controlled by their secret police who made many arrests for any who did not want to follow the communist rule and spoke out about it. Unlike other walls built around the world to keep enemies out, this wall was designed by communists to keep people in. 11-13 feet high and was a total of 28 miles long the wall encircled East Berlin. Surrounded by â€Å"towers, guards, and dogs stood watch over a barren no man's land. A pipe, too large in diameter for a climber's grip, ran along the top of the wall.†(â€Å"Newseum:Berlin Wallâ₠¬ ) Aside from the wall construction, there was other damage to East Berlin, â€Å"Buildings...were demolished, and the wide open area became known as "no man's land" or the "death strip," wh... ... the concrete prison. Soon after the wall fell, most of the East Berlin cabinet resigned and the remaining member were removed. East Berlin and West Berlin were finally reunited and renamed, The Federal Republic of Germany. â€Å"The world watched the celebrations on television. After 28 years, the Berlin Wall had fallen.† ("NEWSEUM: Berlin Wall.") The people of East Germany finally saw the light on the other side of the wall, and escaped the concrete nightmare. Imagine, literally being trapped inside of your hometown, behind the iron curtain of communism. Thousands of people lived that way for twenty-eight years, forced to live unseen and unheard. Some were born directly in the East side and some died, never to see the curtain lift from them. Life in the 1980’s in America was guided by the truth of real life, which real life was taken away from those trapped in Berlin.

Environmental Scanning: Identifying Threats and Opportunities

Organizational environment consists of both external and internal factors. Environment must be scanned so as to determine development and forecasts of factors that will influence organizational success. Environmental scanning refers to possession and utilization of information about occasions, patterns, trends, and relationships within an organization’s internal and external environment. It helps the managers to decide the future path of the organization. Scanning must identify the threats and opportunities existing in the environment.While strategy formulation, an organization must take advantage of the opportunities and minimize the threats. A threat for one organization may be an opportunity for another. Internal analysis of the environment is the first step of environment scanning. Organizations should observe the internal organizational environment. This includes employee interaction with other employees, employee interaction with management, manager interaction with othe r managers, and management interaction with shareholders, access to natural resources, brand awareness, organizational structure, main staff, operational potential, etc.Also, discussions, interviews, and surveys can be used to assess the internal environment. Analysis of internal environment helps in identifying strengths and weaknesses of an organization. As business becomes more competitive, and there are rapid changes in the external environment, information from external environment adds crucial elements to the effectiveness of long-term plans. As environment is dynamic, it becomes essential to identify competitors’ moves and actions. Organizations have also to update the core competencies and internal environment as per external environment.Environmental factors are infinite, hence, organization should be agile and vigile to accept and adjust to the environmental changes. For instance – Monitoring might indicate that an original forecast of the prices of the raw m aterials that are involved in the product are no more credible, which could imply the requirement for more focused scanning, forecasting and analysis to create a more trustworthy prediction about the input costs. In a similar manner, there can be changes in factors such as competitor’s activities, technology, market tastes and preferences.While in external analysis, three correlated environment should be studied and analyzed — †¢immediate / industry environment †¢national environment †¢broader socio-economic environment / macro-environment Examining the industry environment needs an appraisal of the competitive structure of the organization’s industry, including the competitive position of a particular organization and it’s main rivals. Also, an assessment of the nature, stage, dynamics and history of the industry is essential. It also implies evaluating the effect of globalization on competition within the industry.Analyzing the national e nvironment needs an appraisal of whether the national framework helps in achieving competitive advantage in the globalized environment. Analysis of macro-environment includes exploring macro-economic, social, government, legal, technological and international factors that may influence the environment. The analysis of organization’s external environment reveals opportunities and threats for an organization. Strategic managers must not only recognize the present state of the environment and their industry but also be able to predict its future positions.

Drug Abuse

Table of contents Introduction and purpose of research Literature review Data collection sources Presentation, discussion and analysis of data Conclusion, limitations and recommendations Bibliography Appendices Introduction and purpose of research Drug abuse is a very prevalent and widespread problem in Trinidad and Tobago. It is the cause of many illegal activities in the country. This study is geared towards finding the causes and effects of drug abuse in teenagers in Rio Claro. The purpose of this study is to determine the causes and effects of drug abuse in Rio Claro.In this project the following research questions would be asked: 1. What is drug abuse? 2. What are the causes and effects of drug abuse? 3. What are the strategies that could be implemented to curb drug abuse? This topic was chosen because the prevalence of drug abuse in my community is very high and it is of my special interest because I would like to explore and understand the topic more. I am currently studying s ciences at school and it is my hope that studying this topic would further educate me about drug abuse as I would like to peruse a career in pharmacy.After this study is completed it is my hope that the research can be used to benefit the members of my community and other researchers to help prevent drug abuse. Some of the terms used in this research project are: 1. Drug abuse- substance abuse   use of a substance that modifies mood or behavior in a manner characterized by a maladaptive pattern of use. 2. 3. Literature review Drug abuse is th Data collection sources Primary data was obtained from the questionnaire. The process of distributing this questionnaire was done by simple random sampling. 00 % of the questionnaires were given to people that were teenagers on Saturday 10th December 2012 at the Rio Claro community centre. The questionnaire was an excellent means of obtaining data as the data collected was first hand and there was no third party handling the data so there was less room for tampering. The disadvantages of using this were that people may be dishonest and some may not return questionnaire. Thirty people were asked to answer a questionnaire that consisted of 17 questions and thirty questionnaires were obtained at the end of the research. All the data was quantative.Secondary data was obtained via the internet, newspaper and books. The information obtained from the internet was used to obtain background information about the topic and to further answer the research question. Books were used to get proper definitions and to get the biological perspective of drug abuse. The data was helpful at it helped me to better understand the topic of drug abuse. Both sources contributed to a better understanding of the topic as knowledge was gained about the problem from both sources. Presentation, interpretation and discussion of findings 1. Do you go to church/mosque/temple? Often O Sometimes O Not at all OGraph 2 showing types of families that the can didates lived in The graph above shows the types of families that the candidates live in. more than half the candidates lived in single parent families, Graph 3 showing weather candidates go to church/mosque/temple Conclusion, limitations and recommendations Appendix 1 Questionnaire A pleasant good day. My name is Shenell Lal and I go to cowen Hamilton secondary school. For my Caribbean studies internal assessment I am studying drug abuse and its causes and effects in my community of Rio Claro. Your participation in answering the following questionnaire is greatly appreciated.The information collected is strictly confidential. Thank you in advance. Please tick the appropriate boxes and answer in the spaces provided. 1. How old are you? 10- 15 O 16-23 O 2. Gender: Male O female O 3. Religion : Hindu O other O Muslim O Christian O 4. What type of family do you live in? Single parent O Nuclear O Extended O Other O 5. Do you go to church/mosque/temple? Often O Sometimes O Not at all O 6 . To what ethnic group do you belong? African descent OIndian descent O Chinese descent O Mixed descent O 7. Do you participate in community activities? Yes O no O If yes please state what 8. Do you play sports/ musical instruments? Yes O no O If yes please state what 9. Do you think that the lack of an education can be one of the major causes of drug abuse? Yes O No O 10. Do you think that the schools, youth groups, clubs†¦.. tc, is making a positive impact in trying to stop the levels of drug abuse? SCHOOLS – Yes: very much O Little O No, none at all O Yes: much O Very little O YOUTH GROUPS – Yes: very much O Little O No, none at all O Yes: much O Very little O CLUBS – Yes: very much O Little O No, none at all O Yes: much O Very little O 11. What do you think are the level of which drugs are used in your village?Low O Medium O High O None at all O 12. How effective are the police in dealing with drugs in your village? Very much O Much O Little O Very lit tle O 13. What age group uses drugs the most in your village? 14 – 25 O 26 – 35 O 36 – 45 O 46+ O 14. Which one of the following would you say can be the main cause of drug abuse in your village? Peer Pressure from friends O Poverty O Parents not setting good examples O Lack of a proper education O 15.In your village please state in a percentage how many of the youths you think are affected by drugs compared to those who are not? 5 – 24% O 25 – 50% O 51 – 75% O 75 – 100% O 16. How does drug abuse affect the youths of your district in terms of causing fights and gang warfare? Yes: Badly O Very bad O No: Not really O Not at all O 17. Have you ever used drugs? Yes O No O BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. http://medical-dictionary. thefreedictionary. com/drug+abuse 2.