Friday, February 14, 2020

20th-Century Genius Award Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

20th-Century Genius Award Paper - Essay Example While most of you are cursorily familiar with Sigmund Freud, the extent and influence of his work is truly staggering. Through numerous published texts and consultation work Freud has influenced not just psychology, but nearly all disciplines within the liberal arts, and become a cornerstone of the modern vernacular. This essay considers Freud’s significant scientific and cultural contributions, in demonstrating why he was chosen for this prestigious award. Life Sigmund Freud was born in 1857 in the Moravian town of Pribor. At the time this region was part of the Austrian Empire, but has since become part of the Czech Republic. While Freud’s parent experienced significant poverty because of the economic climate, Freud was still able to attain a quality education. Freud excelled as a student and would go on to study under Darwinist Professor Karl Claus. During this period Freud widely read philosophy and came to understand many theoretical aspects that would later be inc orporated into his own work. While Freud was initially interested in law, this concern would soon shift to philosophy, and ultimately the emerging field of psychology. In 1885 Freud would begin his study of psychology in Paris under Jean-Martin Charcot. After completing his study he would go on to open his own medical practice. A year later he would marry Martha Bernays. Through Freud’s medical practice, he made great gains in terms of developing his psychological theories that would ultimately become articulated into psychoanalysis. Previously the main approach to psychological challenges had been hypnosis. Freud would begin his practice by implementing hypnosis, but would later abandon this for an approach he referred to as the talking cure. As Freud’s practice further developed he would begin to write a substantial variety of texts that would eventually form into a comprehensive psychological approach known as psychoanalysis. After a truly outstanding life, that inc luded bouts with cancer and an escape from Nazi Germany, Freud died in 1939. Survey of Contributions Sigmund Freud made a tremendous amount of contributions to the study of psychology. Freud developed a series of psychosexual stages of development that characterize the human development process from birth. As the child is born they enter the oral phase of development, and then subsequently progress into the anal, phallic, latency, and genital phases. The stages functioned to develop the sexuality of the individual, from one of polymorphous perversity to heterosexuality. It was Freud’s theoretical understanding that if difficulties were encountered in any of these stages that they would cause unconscious psychic dysfunctions later in life. At birth the child begins the oral stage of psychosexual development. This stage lasts until the individual is approximately two years old. As the moniker suggests, this stage of development is characterized by infantile fixation with the mo uth. Examples of this include thumb sucking, breast-feeding, and the placement of other various objects in the mouth. Freud’s concept of the Id is notable here, as he believed that the child in the oral stage is Id driven, as the ego and superego have not entirely developed; furthermore, as the child’s self-concept has not emerged, they are driven by the pleasure principle. It is during this stage that the child’s self-concept forms, as they recognize that they are a distinct entity the rest of their environment. The child also notably experiences weaning – that is, their first sense of abandonment – as their mother or parental guardian leaves them alone. Freud believed that this experience greatly contributed to ego formation. The next psychosexual stage is the anal

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Human Computer Interaction Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Human Computer Interaction - Essay Example From 1999 to 2010, the Yahoo website linked together a sequence of pages with Back/Next links. The developers created a parent page that links to all of the pages in this sequence, and allowed users to view them either in sequence or out of order. In this regard, the 1999 website was the most basic, and the 2010 version was the most advanced (Barrier 27). It is safe to say that all the Yahoo websites since 1999 to 2010 have been designed to support easy navigation by linking pages (Barrier 29). If a user clicks on a link and wants to go back to the parent page, there is a Back/Next link; if a user has gone back by mistake, for example, he/she can also go to the next page by clicking on the Next link. Visual Framework: From 1999 to 2010, the Yahoo website pages were designed to use the same basic layout, colors and stylistic elements, but give the design enough flexibility to handle varying page content. Going through the different versions, it is clear this aspect of design has been enhanced with time but it was a concept that was in use as early as 1999. When it comes to center stage, all the website versions from 1999 to 2010 put the most important part of the UI into the largest subsection of the page or window; cluster secondary tools and content around it in smaller panels. Context, size, color and headlines were applied in making the most important news and website sections stand out for easy recognition and identification by users. In terms of grid of equals, from 1999 to 2010, content items are arranged in a grid or matrix. Each item follows a common template, and each item’s visual weight is similar. Right/Left alignments are applied to good effect in all the website versions ranging from 1999 to 2010. Bullet points have been used from 1999 to 2010. However, their use was more prominent in earlier versions (1999-2003) than in 2005-2010. A good look would reveal that bulleted points are now used to highlight less important links, as compared to 1 999 when they were conspicuously placed and occupied a large section of the home page. Diagonal balance, collapsible panels, and module taps have been used to very good effect from 1999 to 2010, exemplifying good website design. They were less prominent in earlier versions (1999-2003) when compared to the 2005-2010 versions of the website. List patterns (thumbnail grids and list inlays) have been well designed and applied from 1999 to 2010, although they were less pronounced in the earlier versions (1999-2003). For instance, I looked at the button groups used in the 1999-2003 website versions and it was evident that due to their simple and primitive nature, they cannot be used in the 2010 version. Also, I examined the macros and progress indicators used in the 1999-2003 versions vis- a-vis the 2005-2010 versions. On a head-to-head matchup, the 1999-2003 macros and progress indicators seem even archaic when compared to the ones used in the 2005-2010 versions. This is understandable g iven that time and technological changes are very influential and inevitable. Thumbnail grids, list inlays, diagonal balance, collapsible panels, and module taps that are used in the 1999-2003 versions basically pale when compared to the 2005-2010 versions. These elements should be flexible, adaptable, comprehensive, and relevant as time changes, and although they may have