What is the importance of understanding motivation and perception?

Motivation and perception are two psychological factors influencing human decision-making and behavior. Since they are at the root of human choices and behavior, there is great personal and social importance attached to understanding them. Also, since motivation and perception are psychological factors, they are complex in nature, and explanations for them have been developed by numerous schools of thought. Even so, there are uniform characteristics identified through each approach, making a basic discussion profitable.

Motivation
Motivation is influenced by inherent need and is defined as the desire to achieve a specific goal through goal-directed behavior. In a business setting, managers are successful when they have motivation to meet company expectations of production and growth. Managers can succeed when they can properly instill motivation in their employees to understand and achieve the tasks set before them relevant to production and growth. In a market setting, businesses can succeed if they understand consumer motivation and develop their brand and marketing to accord with it. These are some factors key in the importance of understanding motivation.

Perception
Perception determines how a person selectively attends to and organizes information. It is perception that drives motivation: if perception of task relevance is low, then the task will have low achievement priority; there will be low motivation to achieve the task. Perception is fluid, and each person selects information differently and organizes it differently. This selection and organization of information (perception) is affected by, depends upon and is filtered through personal circumstances of social, cultural, economic, religious, educational exposure and other background and experience. Perception has importance in a business setting because managers' and employees' motivation depends upon their perceptions of information related to task relevance, task performance, production specifications and company growth. Perception has importance in a marketing setting because successful branding and marketing depend upon how consumers in target markets perceive the product and the company. These are some key factors in the importance of understanding perception.

Discuss the idea developed by the text creator about how significant experiences can affect our lives.

In "Two Kinds," both the daughter, Jing-mei, and her mother have significant experiences that impact their lives. The mother's backstory reveals a significant event in her past that would shape the way she tried to raise her daughter. Jing-mei's mother left China in 1949 when the Communist Revolution occurred. In that event, she lost her parents, her husband, and "twin baby girls." But she didn't let those losses bring her to despair; instead she used that tragedy to spur her on to a new life, and she grabbed hold of America as the vehicle of all her hopes and aspirations for a better life. These dreams she forced on Jing-mei. She tried to create Jing-mei as a child prodigy; she wanted her to be famous and to capitalize on the new land of opportunity she had come to embrace as her country. However, when Jing-mei defied her, and especially when she shouted the hurtful words, "I wish I'd never been born! ... I wish I were dead! Like them!"--then Jing-mei's mother stopped pushing her to achieve. She gave up her hopes for Jing-mei, and "the lid to the piano was closed." 

That same incident changed Jing-mei as well. Just before that outburst, Jing-mei defied her mother's command to practice the piano. As she did so, she felt "as if my true self had finally emerged." This was the experience that solidified in the girl's mind that she would not tailor her life to please her mother, but that she would be herself. She would not live her life to fulfill the dreams and aspirations of her mother, to make up for what her mother had lost in China. Thus she disappointed her mother many times over the years, but Jing-mei did not seem to regret her decision. She was content to "only be me." Her experience of being the "Pleading Child" with her mother resulted in her coming to terms with who she really was, apart from her mother, a state which caused her to be, in the end, "Perfectly Contented." 

In the book Hatchet, how did Brian solve his raft problem?

Brian used logs that had branches protruding from them instead of clean logs, so he could bind them together more easily.

Brian needed a raft to reach the plane, where the survival pack was waiting for him.  He knew that he would need to make the raft himself, but he was not sure how.  Brian was able to find the logs, but he wasn’t sure how to combine the logs into a raft.

Keeping them together was the problem. Without rope or crosspieces and nails the logs just rolled and separated. He tried wedging them together, crossing them over each other—nothing seemed to work. (Ch. 17) 

Brian decided that the problem was that the logs he was looking at were smooth, and he needed logs “with limbs sticking out.”  He found some like that, and proceeded to “weave” them together.  He named his raft Brushpile One.  Then he had a new problem.  How would he keep it from floating away? 

Then he remembered his windbreaker and he found the tattered part he used for an arrow pouch. He tore it into narrow strips and tied them together to make a rope or tie-down about four feet long. It wasn't strong … but it should hold the raft to the plane. (Ch. 17) 

The other problem Brian had, once he solved these two problems, was that the raft barely moved.  It was dragging from its weight.  Brian decided to be patient, and turn back and try again in the morning when he had more strength.  Building the raft had taken a lot out of him. 

Brian’s work with the raft demonstrates a great deal of personal growth, which is something even he realizes.  He understands that he needs patience. He is able to stop and notice the beauty of the lake.  Brian is able to put things in perspective.  He is thinking about solving problems, and able to find solutions, without getting as easily frustrated as he used to.

In Animal Farm, if Napoleon teaches us that power corrupts, what does Snowball teach?

When one reviews Snowball's activities and what he said, it becomes evident that he had all the animals' interests at heart. He selflessly and tirelessly dedicated himself to their cause, which was to ensure a better life for all animals, free from bondage, abuse and exploitation. This aspect is clearly illustrated when he gets involved in the education of the animals, especially the less intelligent ones, his indefatigable work with his committees to ensure that the farm is run better and that everyone is involved, and his plans to build a windmill which would be used to generate electricity and make life much more comfortable and easier for everyone on the farm.

There is no evidence that Snowball bore any malice. He is depicted as good and is the perfect foil for Napoleon, who only had his own interests at heart. Although he occupied a position of authority, Snowball did not abuse his power to manipulate and exploit the other animals, whereas Napoleon did. In spite of benefiting from the windfall apples and the milk which disappeared, just as the other pigs did, Snowball never sought greater privilege or comfort for himself. He clearly wanted all the animals to, on the whole, benefit equally.

However, Snowball's kindness and hard work all came to nothing for he stood in the way of Napoleon's ambition. Napoleon wanted sole power and would ruthlessly pursue his goal. He was sly and carefully planned his ascension to become a dictator. He chose an opportune moment to ruthlessly get rid of Snowball by setting his dogs on him and chase him off the farm. He then demonized him and eventually turned the animals against him so that he was despised and seen as a traitor who was intent on destroying everything the animals hoped to achieve.

Napoleon used propaganda, manipulation, ruthless violence and threats to assert his authority and soon the animals found themselves even worse off than they had been under Jones and his men.

I believe that the lesson to be learnt from Snowball is that good can be overwhelmed by evil if those who do good are not wary of the malevolence lurking within their very midst. Snowball believed in himself and never guarded or acted against Napoleon. He was quite naive and never questioned Napoleon's motives. Although they disagreed most vehemently during meetings, Snowball never challenged Napoleon about his motives like, for example, about his purpose with the nine puppies that he had removed from their mothers once they were weaned.

The dogs became Napoleon's trump card and he used them to serve his insidious purpose. One can be sure that if Snowball had insisted that they be raised by their mothers and socialize with the general populace, the outcome would have been quite different. Bluebell and Jessie would definitely have supported him in this regard. His innate goodness did not allow him to suspect any malice on Napoleon's part and that was his greatest flaw. 

What are Abigail's characteristics in The Crucible by Arthur Miller?

Abigail Williams, Revernd Samuel Parris's niece, is a 17-year-old orphan with a penchant for lying. Originally encouraging of witchcraft, Abigail eventually blames it on Tituba and Ruth. She originally turns to witchcraft in an effort to make men like her, but later lies about what she has done. When Mary Warren and Betty, other girls, suggest they will tell the authorities in Salem what really happened, Abigail threatens them, saying,

Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you (page 19).

Just in case the girls don't believe her, Abigail reminds them that she saw her parents' heads bashed in by Native Americans, so she knows how to kill people. Abigail reveals she will do anything to protect her name and accuse others of her own misdeeds.

Abigail is a bitter, nasty person who has no qualms about controlling people and seeking revenge. When John Proctor terminates their sexual relationship, she seeks revenge by accusing his wife, Elizabeth, of witchcraft. Later, as Abigail hypocritically calls on heaven to help her in court, John Proctor attacks her and cries, "How do you call heaven! Whore! Whore!" (page 88). When Elizabeth fails to back up John's confession that he had an affair with Abigail, Abigail is able to triumph in her attempts at deceit and manipulation. 

Can you help me write five short questions from Chapters 1-5 of Hellen Keller's The Story of My Life?

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Was Stalin a true hero?

The answer to this question depends largely on your definition of what a hero is.  By my definition, Stalin is most definitely not a hero.

It would be possible to say that Stalin was a true hero if you define a hero simply as someone who accomplishes notable things.  Stalin certainly accomplished some important things.  He was the ruler/dictator of the Soviet Union for over 20 years.  During that time, he led the country through World War II, in which it did much of the work of defeating Nazi Germany.  He forced the country to industrialize, taking it from a backwards economy to one that could at least compete with the US in terms of military power.  Under his rule, the Soviet Union became one of the two most powerful countries in the world.  This is notable, so if you think that a person can become a hero just by doing notable things, Stalin was a true hero.

However, in my mind, a hero is not just someone who accomplishes notable things.  Instead, a hero has to be in some way noble and has to be morally admirable.  We have to be able to look at a hero and say “I would want to have those qualities.”  A hero also has to work for goals that we can applaud.  If we look at things in this way, it is hard to call Stalin a true hero.  It is true that he was driven and determined, and it is true that those are good qualities.  However he was also extremely vicious, ruthless, and selfish.  He killed or imprisoned millions of people simply for disagreeing with him or for being, in his mind, a threat to his power.  He implemented policies that caused millions more to die of starvation.  He had no compunctions about condemning people to death (either through execution or through overwork/starvation) in order to achieve the goals that he had set. 

A hero (in my view) has to be someone who has good moral qualities and who pursues worthy goals in good ways.  If we define a hero in this way, Stalin was not a hero.