Monday, December 23, 2019

Creativity And The Mad Genius - 1765 Words

Creativity and the Mad Genius On July 2, 1961, Ernest Hemingway put a gun to his head. Seventy-one years earlier, on July 29, 1890, Vincent van Gogh shot himself in the abdomen while painting a wheat field. Robin Williams hung himself on August 24, 2014, less than two centuries after Vincent van Gogh. Along with Ludwig von Beethoven, who died of natural causes in 1827, four of the greatest creative minds each suffered from bipolar disorder, depression, or epilepsy, usually suffering from other physical ailments as well. Ernest Hemingway was the only one to seem to have a genetic disposition towards mental illness. None of these men led similar lives. Van Gogh only saw one of his paintings sold, while Beethoven was an acclaimed composer by the age of twenty-nine. Hemingway was friends with some of the greatest literary minds of the day, and Robin Williams was one of the most successful comedians to date. The common link, besides their mental illnesses, is the idea that each of these men were searching for somethin g more within their respective arts. Four fields of fine arts that require the constant creation of something new claimed the lives of four men who gave it all they had, some losing, and some finding themselves along the way. Over the past sixty years, facts about depression and the reality of it have come to light; however, there are still negative stigmas concerning the mental illness and how people ought to endure through the pain. Despite these negativeShow MoreRelatedI Am A Mad Genius982 Words   |  4 PagesA mad genius: a person that has an extraordinarily high IQ, and is often overly â€Å"eccentric†. Scientists, and historians have been debating for years if there is a link between madness, and intelligence. Many Scientists have been proclaimed as a â€Å"mad genius.† This list includes Nicola Tesla, who is â€Å"the man that created the 20th century.† While he may be extremely intelligent, â€Å"he suffered from an extreme case of OCD, and germephopia. He also would refuse to touch anything round† (Bayne) . Tesla isRead MoreA Brilliant Madness about John Forbes Nash Essay1458 Words   |  6 Pagescreative genius. Indeed, research has proven that the two conditions o f psychology display similar characteristics, both behaviourally and genetically. Unfortunately, this subject remains quite ambiguous, and science may never fully grasp the concept (Griffith 626; Ludwig 5; Simonton; Neihart). Although it lacks in hard facts, many compelling theories arise from this field of study: a little madness may bolster creative genius, but too much madness can overpower the creativity and kill the genius. TheRead More Alice in Wonderland Essay1250 Words   |  5 PagesAlice takes from both sides, now able to change her size when she wants. She goes to a house in the woods and the Duchess gives Alice her baby. Outside, the baby turns into a pig and runs away. The Cat sitting on the branch tells her where to find a Mad Hatter and a March Hare. Alice joins them for tea and time stands still. During the tea party, the mouse falls asleep while telling a story and they are all rude to Alice, so she leaves. A beautiful garden is before her and it is the Queenâ€⠄¢s croquetRead MoreThe Correlation between Creativity and Madness1594 Words   |  7 Pageslies a link between creativity and madness and the association stems from the need of an unconventional thought process to spark creativity and biological factors surrounding the brains of both creative individuals, and mentally ill patients. Could it be Madness? A correlation between a more creative individual and a mentally ill patient exists, and it is highly likeable that the former could be the latter. The issue of whether great mental abilities, whether it’s creativity in crafts such as artsRead MoreAnalysis Of Allen Ginsberg s Howl1745 Words   |  7 Pagesshock audiences. It presents views of insanity and madness as both tragically victimizing the talented young minds of America, causing the straight-cut society to oppress and restrain their creativity in psychiatric hospitals; but also as a sort of liberation, allowing the artist to connect to their creativity in a way that the ‘sane’ are unable to. In Howl, the lines between true madness, inspired madness, and drug-induced madness, are significantly blurred. Ginsberg lived to shock the masses throughRead More Creativity and Mental Illness Essay2384 Words   |  10 PagesCreativity and Mental Illness Men have called me mad, but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence--whether much that is glorious--whether all that is profound--does not spring from disease of thought--from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect. Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night - Edgar Allen Poe When you are insane, you are busy being insane - all the time...Read More The Bipolar Brain and the Creative Mind Essay1434 Words   |  6 Pagesand had housed many great poets and singers. Did the hospital specialize in poets and singers, or was it that poets and singers specialized in madness? ... What is it about meter and cadence and rhythm that makes their makers mad? (1) The link between madness and creativity is one that has been hotly debated in both medical and literary circles for a long time. The two most common types of mental illness theorized to be an influence on creative people such as writers, artists, and poets were schizophreniaRead MoreInferno - Dan Brown1253 Words   |  6 PagesBrown’s intelligence in which way he relates these true facts to his thriller that will grab you from page one and not let you go until you’re done with the book! The book opens with the suicide of famous genetic engineer Bertrand Zobrist, a scientific genius who jumps to his death from a historical building in Florence. After a few days, eminent Harvard Symbologist, Robert Langdon awakes in a hospital bed in Florence, with mild amnesia, no recollection of where he is or how he got there. A killer immediatelyRead More Eccentric Artists and Mad Scientists Essay5055 Words   |  21 PagesCreativity and Irrational Forces: Eccentric Artists and Mad Scientists Men have called me mad, but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence--whether much that is glorious--whether all that is profound--does not spring from disease of thought--from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect. Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night - Edgar Allen Poe Imagination is moreRead MoreThe Raven By Edgar Allan Poe964 Words   |  4 Pagesbefore† this represents opium use, as opium is a dark purple, heavy-scented addictive drug.. In â€Å"Soldier Poe† (p. 329), Philip Beidler points out that â€Å"In biographical legend Poe is remembered as a tortured aesthete, a solitary, unrecognized, romantic genius, adrift in a cash-and-carry society; less flatteringly he is recalled as a drunkard, an opium addict, a wastrel, a philanderer.† Opium causes hallucinations, which caused Poe to believe that the raven was talking to him and taunting him. Also, opium

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Do Personality Traits Predict Behaviour Free Essays

Do personality traits predict behaviour? The trait approach to personality is focused on differences between individuals. After type theorists such as Sheldon, who focused on body parts to determine temperament, and lexical researchers such as Galton who provided the first dictionary of words to describe behaviour, the principles underpinning trait theory were first outlined by Gordon Allport (1937). He found that one English-language dictionary alone contained more than 4,000 words describing different personality traits and suggested that it is how the traits come together that produces the uniqueness of all individuals. We will write a custom essay sample on Do Personality Traits Predict Behaviour? or any similar topic only for you Order Now Rather than relying on intuition or subjective judgement as did Freud and many other neo-Freudians, trait theorists used objective measurements to examine their constructs. The use of factor analysis was a major breakthrough in the trait approach and Raymond Cattell was the first to make the use of this to reduce the lists of traits to a smaller number. This marked the beginning of the search to discover the basis structure of personality. This essay will discuss the issues surrounding the use of personality measures such as Eysencks personality questionnaire (EPQ) and Costa and Mc Crae’s Big Five model (NEO-PIR) to predict behaviour. Cattell’s 16PF hasn’t had much of an impact but personality measures that followed such as Eysenck’s personality questionnaire, who claimed that 3 types/ supertraits, Extraversion, Neuroticism and Psychoticism, make up the basic structure of personality, and Costa and mc Crae’s Big Five Model measuring Openness, Conscientious, Extraversion, agreeableness and Neuroticism, have received a high level of support. The personality factors are found cross-culturally, in children as well as adults and specifically for Eysencks model in identical twins raised apart, evidence which seems to demonstrate that the observed personality differences are stable across time and have a genetic basis, although the underlying heritability estimate used in studies has been questioned by Plomin. Nevertheless, trait measures have great practical applications; they have been embraced by psychologists from almost every perspective and used by professionals working in a wide variety of settings, such as in the workplace and the education system etc, and are used to make important judgements about an individual’s behaviour in different situations. Employers have used scores from personality tests to make hiring and promotion decisions for many years (Roberts and Hogan, 2000). The methodology used to identify the dimensional structure of personality traits, factor analysis, is often challenged for not having a universally-recognized basis for choosing among solutions with different numbers of factors. More than one interpretation can be made of the same data factored the same way, and factor analysis cannot identify causality. However, some of the most common criticisms of trait theory centre on the fact that traits are often poor predictors of behaviour. While an individual may score high on assessments of a specific trait, he or she may not always behave that way in every situation. This was highlighted by Walter Mischel (1968, 1973) who stimulated a huge debate that raged until the early 1980s, concerning whether personality traits predict behaviour. At the heart of this debate was the questioning of the stability of traits across situations, known as the ‘personality paradox’. He demonstrated with his CAPs model that there is a complex interaction between situations and enduring individual personality differences, however the effects of many variables still have to be examined. Mischel criticised how personality measures were interpreted and used, demonstrating that on average personality measures statistically account for only around 10% of the variance observed in behaviour, therefore 90% is due to something other than the effect of personality. This reflects the fact that many factors contribute to any one piece of behaviour, such as: the characteristics of the specific situation, the person’s mood at that time, competing goals, etc. However an argument in trait theories defence is in regard to the . 30, . 40 correlation co-efficient. How high does a correlation have to be before its considered important? Research by Funder and Ozer (1983) looked at social psychological findings often cited for their â€Å"important† findings and found that they had similar co-efficient of . 36 and . 42. In their defence trait theorists argue that researchers often fail to provide a strong link between traits and behaviour is because they don’t measure behaviour correctly, only measuring one behaviour. As an alternative researchers can aggregate data, one study looked at trait measures of aggression and the number of aggressive acts students preformed, not only on one day but over the course of two weeks and found a correlation of . 1 between the aggregated measure and the trait score (Wu and Clarke, 2003). Burger (2008) states that when all the complex influences on our behaviour are taken into account we probably should be impressed that personality psychologists can explain even 10%. Mischels criticism has had beneficial effects in work settings, with the use of multiple measures of p ersonality such as, psychometric assessments, interviews, individual and group tasks used together as an assessment package to prevent overreliance on the psychometric tool. Furthermore, Mischels views led researchers to look very critically at their methodologies, admitting that measures were often weak and the selection of which traits to study was sometimes inappropriate (Funder, 1999,2001). Today most psychologists agree that the person and the situation react to determine behaviour ( Maggnusson, 1990) and Swan and Seyle (2005) conclude their review on Mischels work by saying that there are still instances where it is helpful to make distinctions between personal and situational determines of behaviour. How to cite Do Personality Traits Predict Behaviour?, Papers

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Foundations of Management Accounting †Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Describe about the Foundations of Management Accounting. Answer: Introduction: Management accounting is the process which measures and reports information about economic activity within the organisation. The process of management accounting is helpful for managers, as it helps in planning, evaluating and exercise of operational control. Planning, evaluating and operational control, can be explained by the following sub-points: Planning Planning is required for deciding what to make, when to make and where to make it in regards to a product. Planning is also helpful for determining the materials, labour that is necessary to realise desired output. Evaluation of performance Performance evaluation is required to evaluate the profitability of the product and its product line. The contribution of managers of the organisation. Operational control Operational control is necessary to get an idea of how much work is in progress on the factory floor. Operational control is also helpful in maintaining a smooth flow of production. The assignment attempts to evaluate the concept of financial accounting and its key facts. The study further determines on the system of product costing under activity-based costing (ABC). Moreover, a direct material budget plan and schedule of expected cash disbursement have been formulated to justify the research subject. Part A Difference between Financial Accounting and Management Accounting: Management accounting is explained according to Nixon and Burns (2012) as the preparation of management reports and accounts that provide accurate information, both financial and statistical, to the managers which help them take important day-to-day decisions. Financial accounting can is defined as the process of summarising, reporting and recording the transactions of an organisation and its operations over a period. Hal (2011) states that the summarization of financial statements includes the balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement, which provides the companys performance over a period. Differences between Financial and Management accounting can be explained as follows: Financial accounting is the branch of accounting, which deals with the financial aspects and information of the concerned business. On the other hand, management accounting is the branch of accounting that deals with both fiscal and non-financial aspects of the firm. Financial accounting is viewed and assessed by both internal management and as well as external parties concerned. Management accounting, on the other hand, is determined and considered only by the internal administration of the business. Financial accounting reports are meant for the public, for them to assess the businesses financial viability. Management accounting report is intended for the internal management and is treated confidentially. Financial accounting follows a predetermined format, whereas management accounting has no such prescribed format. Financial accounting deals with providing information about the financial status to its shareholders. On the other hand, management accounting helps the managers in evaluating the business performance, which will help them make better-informed decisions in the future. Financial accounting is done for a specified period (1 Year). On the contrary, management accounting is done when the managers are in need of it. (Quarterly, half yearly, etc.) For the purpose of auditing, financial accounting is of paramount importance and is mandatory in any company. Whereas management accounting is not that necessary and is done voluntarily. Analysis of Fixed and variable Cost of Company X and Company Y: According to Eriotis et al. (2011), the case study states that Company X incurs less fixed cost compared to its variable cost and Company Y incurs less variable cost compared to its fixed cost. From this statement, an inference can be drawn that Company Y will realise a higher profit in case the sale increases. According to the appendix below, where the sales in units increase by 10%, for both company X and Y, it is seen that company Y will realise more profit. In other words, due to an increase of one percent of units of sales of company X, the profit of X increases by 1.429% and similarly due to an increase of one percent of units of sales of company Y, the profit of Y increases by 1.882%. From the appendix below it is also observed that the total contribution for company X and Y is 10%. It is because company Y incurs a small variable cost compared to its fixed cost. As a result company Y earns a profit of 18.82%. In the case of company X, it incurs a variable cost much higher than that of company Y. Thus, from the above context, it can be explained that company Y enjoys the benefit of operating leverage over company X. Concluding the above explanation, company Y will realise the greatest increase in profit. It is due to two main factors that are; company Y enjoys the benefit of operating leverage over company X, and it incurs a less variable cost and more fixed cost compared to company X. As a result company, Y will earn more profit. Explanation of processes of product costing under an Activity Based Costing: An accounting method that identifies the activities of a firm that performs and assigns indirect costs to products is known as activity-based costing. Activity-based costing (ABC) is majorly applied in the manufacturing industry, as it improves the dependability over cost data and provides a better classification of expenses incurred during the production process of a company. This system targets product costing, product line profitability analysis, service pricing, etc. According to Fei and Isa (2010), the system can be used for reduction of overhead cost. A complex environment is best for application for ABC. The following steps can further explain Activity-based costing: Cost Identification Identifying the costs that need to be allocated, is the first and the most important step in the total process. As wastage of time is not preferred with a large project scope. For proper allocation of time and cost right factors need to be identified to avoid wastage of time. Secondary cost pools Cost pools are created for those costs which are incurred to provide services. Primary cost pools Primary cost pools are designed for those costs which are directly connected to the production of goods and services. A separate cost pool for each line of product is beneficial as costs are likely to arise at this level. A separate cost pool should be allocated for marketing and distribution of the product. Activity cost driver The factor that contributes to the expense of business operations is known as activity cost drivers. Few of the cost drivers are labour cost, maintenance cost and other variable expenses. On the other hand more technical activity cost drivers are machine hours, customer contact base, inspections, etc. Management chooses cost drivers as the base for distributing manufacturing overhead. It is not mandatory for the management to select cost driver. Management selects cost driver at its discretion. The selection is made by verifying the variables relating to the expense incurred. The methodology of product costing is associated with managerial accounting. The analytical recourses have made product costing a regular feature of manufacturing operations. In recent years product costing is involved with activity-based costing. ABC is based on the presumption that costs occur in various activities. According to the (Prates, 2014), ABC is based on the principle that production of products does not generate costs. The resources that are necessary to support the business activity generate costs. The activities generated from production consume costs. Part B Preparation of companys direct materials budget and schedule of expected cash disbursements for purchases of materials for each quarter in the upcoming fiscal year: General Corporation Direct Material Budget Particulars 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Forecasted production units 6,000 9,000 8,000 7,000 Raw materials required for forecasted production units (gm) 54,000 81,000 72,000 63,000 Cost of raw materials required for forecasted production units ($) (A) 64,800 97,200 86,400 75,600 Closing inventory requirement ($) (B) 19,440 17,280 15,120 19,440 Opening inventory requirement ($) (C) 0 19,440 17,280 15,120 Purchase to be made in current quarter (A)+(B)-(C ) 84,240 95,040 84,240 79,920 The schedule of expected cash disbursement for the purchase of raw materials in each quarter is depicted in the table below: General Corporation Cash Disbursements Particulars 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Opening Accts. Payable 3,880 33,364 37,144 33,364 Payment made for current quarter's materials 54,756 61,776 54,756 51,948 Payment made for previous quarter's raw materials 0 29,484 33,264 29,484 Total payment 54,756 91,260 88,020 81,432 Payment to be carried forward 29,484 3,780 -3,780 -1,512 Closing Accts. Payable 33,364 37,144 33,364 31,852 Preparation of the companys direct labour budget for each quarter in the upcoming fiscal year: General Corporation Direct Labor Overhead Particulars 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Production units 6,000 9,000 8,000 7,000 Labor Hrs per unit 0.30 0.30 0.30 0.30 Total hrs 1,800 2,700 2,400 2,100 Rate per hour 10.50 10.50 10.50 10.50 Amount ($) 18,900 28,350 25,200 22,050 Preparation of the companys manufacturing overhead budget for each quarter in the upcoming fiscal year: General Corporation Manufacturing Overhead Particulars 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Production units 6,000 9,000 8,000 7,000 DLH required 1,800 2,700 2,400 2,100 Variable Manufacturing overhead 3,150 4,725 4,200 3,675 Fixed Manufacturing overhead-Cash 84,000 84,000 84,000 84,000 Fixed Manufacturing overhead-Non Cash (Depreciation) 24,000 24,000 24,000 24,000 Total Manufacturing overhead 111,150 112,725 112,200 111,675 Here it is assumed that the depreciation is not included in the fixed manufacturing overhead of $84,000 per quarter. Conclusion: From the above content, it can be inferred that the assignment differentiates between the key properties of financial accounting and management accounting. The study also shows the effect of profit due to the change in variable cost and fixed cost of company X and Y. The assignment explains the process of product costing under the ABC system. The calculation of direct material budget, cash disbursements, direct labour budget and manufacturing budget tries to justify General Corporations forecasted profitability and viability for the upcoming fiscal year 2017. References: Eriotis, N.P., Frangouli, Z. and Ventoura-Neokosmides, Z. (2011) Profit margin and capital structure: An empirical relationship, Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR), 18(2). Fei, Z.Y. and Isa, C.R. (2010) Factors influencing activity-based costing success: A research framework, International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, 1(2), pp. 144150. Ghaemi, M.H. and Nematollahi, M. (2012) Study on the behavior of materials, labor, and overhead costs in manufacturing companies listed in Tehran stock exchange, International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, , pp. 1924. Hal, Z. (2011) Accounting system and financial performance measurements, European Financial and Accounting Journal, 2011(3), pp. 3865. Iwai, N. and Thompson, S.R. (2012) Foreign direct investment and labor quality in developing countries, Review of Development Economics, 16(2), pp. 276290. Nissen, B. and Smith, R. (2015) A novel way to represent and Reframe the interests of workers: The peoples budget review in st. Petersburg, Florida, Labor Studies Journal, 40(1), pp. 84102. Nixon, B. and Burns, J. (2012) Strategic management accounting, Management Accounting Research, 23(4), pp. 225228. Prates, G.A. (2014) METHODS OF COSTING - TARGET (TARGET COSTING) AND KAIZEN (KAIZEN COSTING) SUPPORTED BY QFD (quality function deployment) AS A TOOL FOR COST REDUCTION IN DEVELOPMENT PRODUCT AND PRODUCTION, Nucleus, 11(1), pp. 720.