Describing myself in terms of the 5 factor model Essay

Describing myself in terms of the 5 factor model - Essay Example Each human being has different and unique personality traits. Psychologists usually take tests to find out the personality type. These tests contain a list of objective questions that find out the behavior, insight, opinion and reaction of human beings in different situations. It finds out the way human being differ with each other in their enduring emotional, interpersonal, experiential, motivational and attitudinal style. According to the answers provided in the test, a score is calculated for every personality dimension and seen in respect of general population. (McCrae & Oliver , 2006) I also took the IPIP Personality test online from http://www.personal.psu.edu/~j5j/IPIP and found out my results. Let's look at each of the five factor model according to my personality and then match my take on these with the results of the test. OPENNESS: Openness to experience relates to one's flexibility to new ideas and openness to change. It signifies that the person welcomes and accepts new ideas, experiences, people, thoughts and situations. People who are 'open to experience' usually appreciate arts, science, music, emotions, and adventure. They tend to be very imaginative, creative, and like to have a variety of different experiences. They are less conservative and stick more to traditional ways. They are usually suspicious about newer ideas and are not comfortable with abstract thoughts and ideas. I think I am slightly more 'open to experience' than general people. I love creativity and new experiences. Throughout my school life, I have been involved in various different experiences. I have participated in debates, I have studied psychology and have taken huge interest in studying business as well, I have been in sports and I am also into reading. This all combines to make me a person with diverse set of experiences. I am thrilled by newer ideas. Whenever I take up a project, I look for creative and out-of-the-box ideas. I believe that one thing can be done in seve ral ways and I always give it a try. I love to travel and go on adventures. Although I am a little afraid of heights but the idea of mountain climbing, hiking and adventurous sports thrill me. Sometimes I hold back due to fear but then I try to calm myself and give these things a go. It is because I love to have thrill and excitement in my life. My being openness to change however does not mean that I do not stay with my traditional values. I am a firm believer of my religion and I like sticking to rules. I like adventure and new ideas but only if they do not contradict with my beliefs. For example I like to have thrill in my life but I would never break rules to do so. I also enjoy the traditional events and festivals with the people around me. My Results: "My result for Openness to Experience is average, indicating that I enjoy tradition but are willing to try new things. My thinking is neither simple nor complex. To others I appear to be a well-educated person but not an intellec tual." My score is 41. The result signifies that I have an average Openness to experience or change. This is slightly different from what

Distribution Channels and Role of Advertising in Marketing Essay

Distribution Channels and Role of Advertising in Marketing - Essay Example Role of Advertising in Marketing Once an organization has finished making a product and distributed it to local retailers, they need to be able to convince the consumer to purchase the product. Unless a consumer is told and informed about a particular product, then it is likely that they will not buy it because they don’t know anything about it. This is why advertising is so important. Advertising is only one part of a marketing campaign, but it is perhaps the most vital. The most common method to do this is through persuasion. Consumers need a valid reason before purchasing a product, so it is important to give them a few. The marketing department of an organization does not just put out advertisements at random; often surveys or focus groups are used to determine how well the advertisement of a product will go down with a consumer. There are many different ways to advertise a product, such as through television, radio, billboards, or even social media. This last method is becoming extremely popular in toda y’s global environment because it is often free and can reach a wide range of people.It is important that any form of advertising is positive, because a bad advertising campaign can have a negative effect on a brand.It can take months and even years for a company to restore its reputation with the public.

Code of Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Code of Ethics - Essay Example They need to be aware of the things that can get them fired. Sanitation hazards need to be taken very seriously. The littlest thing could turn away a customer, and perhaps lead to a lawsuit. When dealing with food, all precautions need to be taken. A lot of businesses require wearing gloves, having your hair pulled back, and no visible piercing or tattoos. Jan Norman, publisher for The Standard-Times stated, "A lot of people are offended when they see people in the workplace with piercings and tattoos." (Norman, p.1) When dealing with other people's food, all of those things are turn-offs. After touching your hair or face, going to the bathroom, or any other contact with yourself or another person, the person should immediately wash their hands. OHS states, "Hand washing reduces the risk of Common Infections." (p.1) Putting up signs for the employees to remind them to pull back their hair, and remove any visible piercing such as from the nose, eyebrow, lip or tongue. All of this affects the businesses as well. By sanitation standards not being met, stated by Occupational Health and Safety, this can cause businesses to be shut down. So employers need to keep close watch on employees." (OHS,P.1) Every day consumers are more concerned with sanitation especially when it concerns their food. There are so many bacterias that can be spread.

Distribution Channels and Role of Advertising in Marketing Essay

Distribution Channels and Role of Advertising in Marketing - Essay Example Role of Advertising in Marketing Once an organization has finished making a product and distributed it to local retailers, they need to be able to convince the consumer to purchase the product. Unless a consumer is told and informed about a particular product, then it is likely that they will not buy it because they don’t know anything about it. This is why advertising is so important. Advertising is only one part of a marketing campaign, but it is perhaps the most vital. The most common method to do this is through persuasion. Consumers need a valid reason before purchasing a product, so it is important to give them a few. The marketing department of an organization does not just put out advertisements at random; often surveys or focus groups are used to determine how well the advertisement of a product will go down with a consumer. There are many different ways to advertise a product, such as through television, radio, billboards, or even social media. This last method is becoming extremely popular in toda y’s global environment because it is often free and can reach a wide range of people.It is important that any form of advertising is positive, because a bad advertising campaign can have a negative effect on a brand.It can take months and even years for a company to restore its reputation with the public.

Seminar Paper for One of Us Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Seminar Paper for One of Us - Essay Example Thus, anatomy as a whole can dictate who can do something and who cannot. Dreger notes that sometimes anatomy helps in maintaining order by protecting the vulnerable and restricting privilege. Almost on a daily basis, people change their bodies ever so slightly in order to fit the identity that they wish to present socially. Dreger provides myriad instances that reveal just how much anatomy matters in somewhat unexpected ways (Dreger 2). She points out that even in the Holy Bible, priests were required to have perfect bodies similarly women were not allowed to join priesthood. This can also be illustrated in the case of the conjoined twins who visit a bar only for the bartender to demand for identification from one of the twins who seemed physically younger than her twin. However, Dreger reveals that â€Å"hearing the bartender’s request, the other twin turns around so that she’s the one facing the bartender. Because the second twin appears older, the bartender reconsiders and decides to serve the drink without seeing the proof of time† (Dreger 1). Additionally, anatomy has also interfered with other legal formalities like in the case of the dwarfs whereby their dwarfism prevented the bartender from asking for their identification to verify in the quest of trying to avoid embarrassi ng or devaluing them. Among the examples that Dreger implies when talking about the problems that will be along anatomy identity lines in the 21st century include the issue of racism that has been vibrant in the past years and is expected to continue. Dreger (9) expresses that based on anatomy, one is either black in which the â€Å"whites are seen as inherently superior to all other races†. Subsequently, Dreger also seems to address the issue of scientific innovations and research activities that are on the raise in this 21st century. These innovations such as Botox, a medically antiwrinkle treatment, imply that the world still continues to value anatomy

Biculturism and Marginalization Essay Example for Free

Biculturism and Marginalization Essay * Ross-Sheriff (2011) commented that international migration patterns have * changed as a consequence of broad social, political, economic, and environmental * trends and explained the causes of the driving forces were including war, * globalization, urbanization, and changing cultural norms regarding social roles and * responsibilities (Ross-Sheriff, 2011). With these complex trends of migration * patterns, Van Hear (2010) viewed migration as a process which was an integral part * of broader social transformations, but which also had its own internal dynamics with * other factors related to the migrating process, shaping social transformation in their * own way. Migration was also linked in complex ways to class, gender, generation, * ethnicity and other social factors, which were embodied in positions in home and host * communities, and in work and domestic relationships, all of which might be * transformed in the course of the migratory process (Van Hear, 2010). To understand this complex process of migration, especially under changing circumstances of one culture to another, it might be useful to build conceptual tools for understanding these transitory processes in migration studies and in social science more widely (Van hear, 2010). They also include mediating agents and transitions that need also to be accounted for, as well as intersections among class, gender, generation, ethnicity and other social ruptures as well as the main driving forces of migration (Van Hear, 2010). Of course there were other important concepts such as relations between time and space, between dynamics or processes and outcomes, and between structure and agency that needed to get attention (Van Hear, 2010). However, it is impossible to discuss all different theoretical concepts involved in different types of migration process in the current limited study. Rather, this study tried to focus on psychological impacts such as ethnic identity and self-esteem on migration through acculturation processes particularly on family- related migration because different patterns of migration produced different communities and resulted in producing different migrant identities including varying levels of psychological distress (Jones, 2008). Further, few empirical studies have focused on migrant adults populations. Most migrants identification related literatures tended to relate more for adolescents or young children because identity formation might be particularly challenging in this cohort, especially when the values and beliefs of their natal culture differed significantly from those of the host society (Sodowsky, Kwan, Pannu, 1995; as cited in Farver, Narang, Bhadha, 2002). Therefore, this study focused on ethnic identity and self-identification issues of adult migrants’ themselves within a family structure according to different theoretical models relevant to adaptation of new cultures, because family was the basic instrument in the society (Nesdale, Rooney, Smith, 1997). In fact, most cultural acquisition theories developed and evolved in 1990s. when international migration became a key issue in international politics at the beginning of 1990s. As Castle (2002) argued that migration, development and international relations were closely connected as migration was a major factor of transformation for both sending and receiving countries for different types of migrants (Castle, 2002). With this perspective, this study generally focused on those migration culture acquisition theories developed in 1990 rather then looking at current perspectives in the most recent literatures, which actually have evolved from these original theories in 1990s (Castle, 2002). As the findings from these research studies has had been mixed or sometimes contradictory, it was important to understand the exact nature of the relationship between migrant ethnic identification and the acculturation process both need to be specified and assessed properly with coherent measurements and theoretical assumptions (Nesdale et al. , 1997). Important theoretical concepts: ethnic identity, acculturation, biculturism, and marginalisation. According to Phinney (1990; as cited in Farver, Narang Bhadha., 2002), ethnic identity and acculturation were related but separate constructs. Ethnic identity involves an individual’s self-identification as a group member, a sense of belonging to an ethnic group, attitudes toward ethnic group of membership, and degree of ethnic group involvement (Farver et al. , 2002). The term acculturation was defined in anthropology as those phenomena, which resulted when groups of individuals having different cultures came into continuous first-hand contact with subsequent changes in the original pattern of either or both groups (Redfield, Linton, Herskovits, 1936; as cited in Birman, 1994). Although acculturation was a neutral term in this context (that is, change might take place in either or both groups), in practice, acculturation tended to induce more changes in one of the groups than in the other (Berry, 1990a; as cited in Berry, 1997) Berry (1997) argued that in all plural societies, cultural groups and their individual members, in both dominant and non-dominant situations, must deal with the issue of how to acculturate. According to Berry (1997), four acculturation strategies were introduced: assimilation, separation, marginalization, and integration. When individuals do not wish to maintain their cultural identity and seek daily interaction with other new cultures, the assimilation strategy is defined. In contrast, when individuals place a value on holding on to their original culture, and at the same time wish to avoid interaction with others, then the separation is defined (Berry, 1997). When there is an interest in both maintaining one’s original culture, while in daily interactions with other groups, integration is the option; here, there is some degree of cultural integrity maintained, while at the same time seeking to participate as an integral part of the larger social network (Berry, 1997). Last, when there is little possibility or interest in cultural maintenance (often for reasons of enforced cultural loss), and little interest in having relations with others (often for reasons of exclusion or discrimination) then marginalization is defined (Berry, 1997). However, this acculturation categories model has been criticized methodologically (Rudmin, 2003, 2009; as cited in Schwartz et al. , 2010) because all four of Berry’s categories were represented in the same way by creating the two by two matrix of acculturation categories between high and low. However, the cut off point between high and low was arbitrary and would differ across samples, making comparisons across studies difficult, resulting in the fact that all four categories existed and were equally valid (Rudmin, 2003; as cited in Schwartz et al., 2010) and suggesting that not all of Berry’s categories might exist in a given sample or population, and that some categories might have multiple subtypes (Schwartz et al. , 2010). In particular, Berry (1997) viewed the term â€Å"biculturism† as referring to acculturation that involved the individual simultaneously in the two cultures that were in contact in integrative ways, which appeared to be a consistent predictor of more positive outcomes than the three alternatives of assimilation, separation, or marginalization. Berry and his colleagues (Sam Berry, 1995) assessed the acculturation strategies of various immigrant groups in North America and the results showed that bicultural individuals experienced less acculturative stress, anxiety and fewer psychological problems significantly, while marginalized individuals suffered the most psychological distress, including problems with self-identification and cultural alienation, which adversely affected their self-esteem (Farver et al. , 2002). However, Shiraev and Levy (2007) explained acculturative stress as a negative feeling that a marginalized person might experience as a distressing psychological reaction to any unfamiliar cultural environment based on the assumption that person and groups undergoing any social and cultural change should experience a certain amount of psychological distress. Generally, many early definitions of acculturation focused on exposure to two cultures simultaneously as a culture shock, which was a reactive state of specific pathology or deficit, rather than taking advantage of being bicultural (Berry Annis, 1974; Shiraev et al., 2007). The validity of marginalization as an approach to acculturation by Berry (1997) was also questioned (Del Pilar Udasco, 2004; as cited in Schwartz et al. , 2010). Schawartz et al. argued that the likelihood that a person would develop a cultural sense of self without drawing on either the heritage or receiving cultural contexts would be less likely to. The marginalization approach might be true only for the small segment of migrants who rejected both their heritage and receiving cultures (Berry, 2006b). Indeed, studies using empirically based clustering methods have found small or nonexistent marginalization groups and scales that attempted to measure marginalization typically had poor reliability and validity compared with scales for the other categories (Cuellar, Arnold, Maldonado, 1995; Unger et al. , 2002; as cited in Schwartz et al. , 2010). As described earlier, the impact of migrant ethnic identity on psychological distress had comparatively diverse points of views if they were either negative or positive reactions, depending on different theoretical frames. For example, Social Identity Theory (Tajfel Turner, 2001) and Self-Categorization Theory (Turner, 1987) emphasized more on the importance to individuals of their identification with particular social groups. Social Identity Theory (Tajfel Turner, 2001; as cited in Yip, Gee, Takeuchi, 2008) viewed a possible explanation for why ethnic identity might buffer the effects of discrimination. According to this theory,individuals chose from an array of possible social identity groups and, once those groups were chosen, individuals focused on the positive aspects of their in-group, which helped to boost their own esteem, suggesting that ethnic identity was more important to their overall identity (Yip et al. , 2009). In contrast, if ethnicity was a central component of ones identity, it might actually exacerbate the effects of discrimination, resulting in a greater negative impact on mental health, according to self-categorization theory (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, Wetherell, 1987; as cited in Yip et al., 2008), suggesting that people should be more in tune with environmental cues that were relevant to an important aspect of their identity. That is, experiences of racial discrimination might be such a cue relevant to their ethnic identity. Indeed, research suggested that African American adults and adolescents who reported strong racial centrality were also more likely to report experiences of racial discrimination (Neblett, Shelton, Sellers, 2004; Sellers, Caldwell, Schmeelk-Cone, Zimmerman, 2003; Sellers Shelton, 2003; as cited in Yip et al., 2008). However, despite this emphasis by social theorists, they tended to forget the larger literature that involved with both ethnicity and the acculturation process (Liebkind, 1993; 1996; as cited in Nesdale, Rooney Smith, 1997). First of all, these different findings resulted from lack of inclusion of acculturation itself as a variable methodologically when acculturation was considered as a phenomenon in research designs (Sam and Berry, 2006). Without including acculturation as a variable, the explanations for human behavior similarities and differences across populations would remain incomplete (Sam et al. , 2006). Second, a further criticism of the acculturation literatures was that the same two acculturation processes, and the same four-acculturation categories, characterized all migrants equally—regardless of the type of migrant, the countries of origin and settlement, and the ethnic group in question, according to Berry’s (1980) model and other similar approaches (Sam et al., 2006). Finally, the vast majority of studies in the acculturation literature have focused on behavioral acculturation (Schwartz et al. , 2010). That is, most widely used acculturation measures included primarily (or only) items assessing language use and other cultural practices (e. g. , Cuellar, Arnold, Maldonado, 1995; Stephenson, 2000; Szapocznik, Kurtines, Fernandez, 1980; as cited in Schwartz et al. , 2010) due to accepting the fact that cultural practices might provide only a fair proxy for cultural adaptation (Schwartz et al., 2010). Theoretical frameworks for acculturation research Shiraev Levy (2007) claimed that cross-cultural psychologists usually used three approaches to examine human activities in various cultural settings. They were the sociobiological approach, the sociological approach and eco-cultural approach (Shiraev et al. , 2007). In particular, the eco-cultural approach emphasized both the environment and the individual were seen as open and interchanging systems (Shiraev et al., 2007), introducing John Berry whom originally developed this theory further in contemporary cross-cultural psychology. Shiraev et al. (2007) also pointed out that specialists should to be able to explain how, why, and to what extent people differed from one another, when ecological, biological, cultural, and acculturation factors were identified and taken into consideration (Berry, J. W. , Poortinga, Y. H. , Segall, M. H. , Dasen. P. R. ,1992; as cited in Shiraev et al. , 2007). In related to the concerns pointed by Shiraev et al. (2007), Berry (1997) argued earlier there were important links between cultural context and individual behavioural development, demonstrating what happened to individuals who developed in one cultural context when attempting to re-establish their lives in another one through his acculturation research framework, by confirming the fact that acculturation was one of the most complex areas of research in cross-cultural psychology because the process involved more than one culture and in two distinct senses (Berry, 1997). According to Berry (1997), the concept of acculturation was employed to refer to the cultural changes resulting from different ethnic groups encountered, while the concepts of psychological acculturation and adaptation were employed to refer to the psychological changes and eventual outcomes that occur as a result of individuals experiencing acculturation. In another words, acculturation phenomena resulted from contact between two or more cultures and research on acculturation had to be comparative in order to understand variations in psychological outcomes that were the result of cultural variations in the two groups in contact (Berry, 1997). In particular, this framework viewed the integration model of acculturation strategies the most desirable among other strategies, considering it the same as the biculturalism model (Berry, 1997). For example, Berry and his colleagues (Berry, 1980; Berry, J. W. , Kim, U. , Power, S. , Young, M, Bujaki, M. , 1989; Berry, Kim, Minde, Mok, 1987; Sam Berry, 1995 as cited in Farver et al., 2002) Assessed the acculturation strategies of various immigrant groups in North America and the result showed that integration was the most psychologically adaptive attitude, arguing that integrated or bicultural individuals experienced less acculturative stress and anxiety and manifested fewer psychological problems than those who were marginalized, separated, or assimilated, whereas marginalized individuals suffered the most psychological distress, including problems with self-identification and cultural alienation, which also affected their self-esteem (Farver et al., 2002). However, Phinney, Cantu, and Kurtz (1997) found that American identity was associated with self-esteem only for non-Hispanic Whites, but not for other ethnic groups. These mixed results as explained above raised two issues in the acculturation literatures. First of all, cultural practices might offer only a substitute for cultural adpatations, as Portes and Rumbaut (2001 as cited in Schwartz et al., 2010) mentioned that many Asian American young adults in their sample were not proficient in their native languages, even though they still perceived their identification with their parents’ countries of origin and maintained many of their values (Schwarz et al. , 2010). Secondly, most researchers on biculturism did not sufficiently define an accurate operational definition of biculturism so that interpretation of those research results were problematic (Birman, 1994). Indeed, one finding in the United States, was that self-identification as American was markedly higher in non-Hispanic Whites than in ethnic minority groups (e. g. , Devos Banaji, 2005; as cited in Schwartz et al. , 2010) and many White Americans did not perceived themselves as members of an ethnic group (Schildkraut, 2007; as cited in Schwartz et al. , 2010). In brief, different operational definition problems of acculturation arose from different theoretical models of acculturation regarding to their assumptions (LaFromboise, Coleman, Gerton, 1993). LaFromboise et al. (1993) assumed acculturation as one of substitutes among the biculturism models. Biculturism as defined in this theory was viewed as the alternation model, which implied an individual in two culture contacts could be competent in both cultures without losing one of the cultures’ competencies in distinct cultural contexts as alternation model, whereas, fusion model meant a blended cultural identity, consisting of a synthesis of aspects of both cultures (LaFromboise et al., 1993). However, Berry’s (1997) integrating approach of biculturism differed from the bicultural model (LaFromboise et al. , 1993; as cited in Birman, 1994) and it emphasized more on the relationship between the two cultural groups based on its implicit assumption that one of two cultures were higher than the other within a single social structure (LaFromboise et al. , 1993). Benet-Martinez and colleagues found that â€Å"blended† bicultural individuals tended to report higher self-esteem and lower psychological distress than a marginal population (Chen et al. , 2008 as cited in Schwartz et al. , 2010) because the consistent availability of both cultural flows within the person’s everyday life increased the ease of activating the correct cultural schema in accordance with their environmental situations (Schwartz et al. , 2010). In contrast, Tadmor, Tetlock, and Peng (2009) argued that the bicultural model considered those marginal individuals in positive ways, when there was little interest in cultural maintenance and little interest in having relations with others, suggesting positive aspects of being a marginal person might be (1) sharing his or her condition with others of the same original culture; (2) engaging in institutional practices that were shared by other marginal people; (3) experiencing no major frustration from social expectations; and (4) still perceiving himself or herself to be a member of a group (LaFromboise et al., 1993). According to Sam and Berry (2006), many studies of how migrants coped with intercultural contacts had discrepancies in the ways in which they were operationalized and measured. As no standardized or widely accepted acculturation measures existed, it was necessary to design a clear and explicit formulation of acculturation instrument in order to assess acculturation adequately (Sam et al. , 2006). Further Sam and Berry (2006) pointed out that most empirical studies widely used a self-report type of questionnaires that had been recognized limitations such as social desirability, emphasizing obtaining divergent validation by source of information other than the respondents’ reports. Therefore, it is vital to understand each theory within its specific assumptions and not to generalize across all situations regardless of their similar findings (LaFromboise et al. , 1993). As this study discovered migrants’ acculturation processes so far within specific theoretical frameworks, literature findings in different research were mixed as to whether individuals could be highly acculturated and at the same time be strongly identified with their ethnic group (Farver, Narang, Bhadha. , 2002). These confusing problems initially evolved because of the context in which migration arrangements and their acculturation processes were fundamentally transformed and increasingly uncertain due to globalization (Landolt Da, 2005). Shiraev Levy (2007) suggested a new approach to cross-cultural psychology in the twenty-first century, which was linked to the concept of globalization. Globalization was defined as a proliferation of cross-border flow and transnational networks due to new technologies of communication and transport that allowed frequent and multi-directional streams of people, ideas and cultural symbols (Castle, 2010). Castle also argued that globalization leads to major changes in the character of international migration. In other words, the context for migrant incorporation has already changed radically and will continue to do so. The rise of multiculturalism itself rather than assimilation or biculturism is one sign of this, but is not the end of the story: new forms of identity and belonging go beyond multiculturalism (Castle, 2010). Even though there is limited empirical evidence for clear statements for globalization, there probably are highly cosmopolitan groups who feel at home everywhere such as global business and professional elites might correspond with this image. But most members of transnational communities fall between these extremes, and probably have contradictory and fluctuating identities (Castle, 2002). Conclusions This study explored that a special case of cultural psychology was the study of how individuals respond to situations where they were in transition between their original culture and another that differed from it in some respects in terms of acculturation, especially within a specific theoretical frame that could apply to the specific situation (Adler Gielen, 1994). There was no single theory widely accepted by all social scientists to agree with the emergence and perpetuation of international migration patterns in the world under globalization (Van Hear, 2010),suggesting that the contemporary migrating context in which such migrating arrangements were realized fundamentally kept transforming so that it became increasingly uncertain (Landolt and Da, 2005). Although the topic of cultural contact and individual’ change has attracted considerable attention in contemporary cross-cultural psychology, the field has been characterized by a lack of theoretical coherence, definitional problems with key constructs, and single sample studies that limit the external validity of empirical cross-cultural research (Ward and Kenney, 1994). As acculturation is a process which takes place over time, and which results in changes both in the culture and in the individual culture changes, it would be ideal o compare two sets of data are compared over time using the same people. However, in practice, it is impossible in most acculturation research settings (Sam et al. , 2006). Instead, a common alternative to longitudinal research is cross-sectional research in which a time-related variable, such as length of residence or generational status can be used for the generalizability of acculturation theories (Sam et al., 2006). In general, researchers of migrating studies need to be aware that it is the selective nature of the sample that happens across all migrating research. That is, individuals who chose to migrate would be different from those who do not (Sodowsky, G. , Kwan, K. , Pannu, R. , 1995; as cited in Farver et al. , 1997). Finally, acculturation research generally focused on immigrants assumed to be permanently settled in their new host countries. As a result, the terms â€Å"migrants† or â€Å"international migrants† referred to the same type of migrants collectively. Moreover, many countries were both sending and receiving countries for different types of migrants, or in the process of transition from one type to the other (Castel, 2002). Therefore, where applicable, it is viable to design acculturation research studies classifying different types of migrants. References Adler, L. L. , Gielen, U. P. (Eds. ). (1994). Cross-cultural topics in psychology. Westport: Praeger Publishers. Berry, J. W. (1980). Social and cultural change. In Triandis, H. C. , Brislin, R. (Eds. ). Handbook of cross-cultural psychology (pp. 211-279). Boston: Allyn Bacon. Berry, J.W. , Kim, U. , Power, S. , Young, M, Bujaki, M. (1989). Acculturation attitudes in plural societies. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 38, 185-206 Berry, (1990a). Psychology of acculturation. In Berman, J. (Eds. ). Cross-cultural perspectives: Nebraska Symposium on Motivation (pp. 201-234). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Berry, J. W. (1997). Immigration, acculturation, and adaption. Applied Psychology: An international review, 46(1), 5-68. Berry, J. W. , Annis, R. (1974). A cculturation stress. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 5(4), 382-397. Berry, J. W. , Kim, U., Minde, T. , Mok, D. (1987). Comparative studies of acculturative stress. International Migration Review, 21, 591-511. Berry, J. W. , Poortinga, Y. H. , Segall, M. H. , Dasen. P. R. (1992). Cross-cultural Psychology: Research and application. New York: Cambridge university Press. Birman, D. (1994). Acculturation and human diversity in a multicultural society. In Trickett, E. J. , Watts, R. J. , Birman D, (Eds. ). Perspectives on people in context (pp. 261-284). San Franscisco: Jossey-Bass Inc. Castele, S. (2002). Migration and community formation under conditions of globalization. The Center for Migration Studies of New York, 36(4), 1143- 1168. Cuellar, I. , Arnold, B. , Maldonado, R. (1995). Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II: a revision of the original ARSMA scale. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Science, 17, 275-304. doi: 10. 1177/07399863950173001 DelPilar, J. A. , Udasco, J. O. (2004). Deculturation: Its lack of validity. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 10, 169-176. doi: 10. 1037/1099- 9809. 10. 2. 169 Devos, T. , Banaji, M. R. (2005). American = White? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 447-466. doi: 10. 1037/0022-3514. 88. 3. 447 Farver, J. A. , Narang, S. 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Is Mary the Theotokos?

Is Mary the Theotokos? Is Mary the Theotokos?  Does it matter? Without the Blessed Virgin Mary Christianity, would be meaningless. That Mary is Mother of God is rooted deeply in sacred scripture, and this Church doctrine has been confidently taught since the Council of Ephesus (A.D. 431), during which occurred a decisive intervention of the Churchs teaching authority on behalf of Marys divine motherhood and against the claims of Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople who stated that Mary did not give birth to God, but to an ordinary baby, called Christ, who was in some way connected to God. Consequently, Mary did not deserve to be called by the title of Theotokos, or God-bearer, but rather the meeker title of Christotokos, or bearer of Christ. To get an idea of what was happening at the time we need to take a brief look at why this controversy began and at what was being said. So, to begin, it was the primary concern of the Council of Nicaea to make it plain beyond all possibility of misunderstanding that Jesus of Nazareth, while personally distinct from the Father, is God in the fullest sense of the word. As the Creed states, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, consubstantial with the Father; it was the Churchs determination to maintain this doctrine of derived equality without deviating into either modalism or tritheism, that led her on the long intellectual pilgrimage whose goal was full understanding of that mutual interpenetration of the three divine Persons, through their union with the one divine Essence, which is denoted by the word perichoresis. Only when the divinity of the Son had been firmly established could the Church give her full attention to the fact that the Son, being God, had become man. But can there be in Christ an unconfused union of Godhead and manhood? This was the question which was to exercise the minds of theologians and throw the life of the Church into turmoil from Constantinople to Chalcedon. What the orthodox Fathers were striving to do, and what was ultimately achieved at Chalcedon, was to preserve the doctrine of unconfused Godhead and manhood of Christ against tendencies which strove, on the one hand, to unite the two terms at the cost of confusing them with each other and, on the other hand, to keep them distinct at the cost of separating them. This today may not seem to offer any special difficulty; that this is so is a sign of the triumph of Chalcedon in theological thought, but, in the fifth century it was a notion that could only be achieved at the cost of bitter controversy and schism. So, when the theologically unimaginative but critically active Nestorius became Patriarch of Constantinople everything was ready for an explosion, which came when Nestorius openly supported his chaplain Anastasius in denouncing the application to the Blessed Virgin Mary of the title Theotokos. Nestorius was an Antiochene in Christology, deeply influenced by the ideas of Theodore of Mopsuestia, and it was his clumsy, clumsily articulated elucidation of the inferences of the position of the Antiochenes that was to set light to the controversy. Quite early on Nestorius was called upon to pronounce on the suitability of Theotokos as a title of the Virgin Mary, and ruled that its correctness was doubtful unless Christotokos was added to balance it. But in getting himself around this issue Nestorius used uncontrolled language which was calculated to provoke those whose approach was different to his own. He argued that no human being could be Gods mother and no human being could give birth to God; Mary gave birth to a man not God, the instrument of divinity. God could not have been carried for nine months in a womans womb, or have been wrapped in baby-clothes, or have suffered, died and been buried. Behind the description of Mary as Theotokos, he professed to detect the Arian theory that Marys Son was human or the Apollinarian concept that the manhood was imperfect. These flare-ups of Nestorius were calculated to be confrontational. But they played into the hands of Cyril of Alexandria, Nestoriuss bitter rival. Cyril claimed to see in them as a resurgence of the theory of two sons which was rejected in the fourth century. Alarmed by this claim that Marys son was just a man, Eusebius, later to become Bishop of Dorylaeum, quickly concluded that Nestorius was trying to re-establish the adoptionism of Paul of Samosata. By exploiting this interpretation Cyril was able to secure Nestoriuss condemnation as a heretic at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Based on these judgements the traditional picture of Nestorianism as a heresy which split God/man into two distinct Persons rapidly formed itself. When Divine Scripture is about to tell of the birth of Christ from the Virgin Mary or [his] death, in no place does it appear that it puts God but either Christ or Son or Lord, because these three are indicative of the two natures, now of this and now of that, now of the one and now of the other. For example, when the Book relates unto us the birth from the Virgin, whom docs it say? God sent his Son. It says not that God sent God the Word, but it takes a name which indicates both the natures. Since the Son is man and God, it says that God sent his Son and he was born of a woman; and therein thou seest that the name is put which indicates both the natures. Thou callest [him] Son according to the birth from the blessed Virgin, for the Virgin Mother / of Christ bare the Son of God. But since the Son of God is twofold in natures, she bare not the Son of God but she bare the humanity, which is the Son because of the Son who is united thereto (Nestorius, 450 AD). The first chapter of St Johns Gospel tell us quite simply that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Two points need to be noticed. The first is that in Hebrew flesh and blood means not just the material part of a man in contrast with his soul, but human nature as a whole. The second is that St John does not say that the Word united flesh to himself, but that he became flesh. St Athanasius was fundamentally clear on this point. In general, however, he was quite content to think of the Incarnation as taking place through the union of human flesh to the divine Word. He took upon him our flesh, as Aaron did his robe, and assumed a body like ours, having Mary for the Mother of his body (Athanasius, 356/360). Nestorius himself never drew from his premises the conclusions which Cyril believed him to have drawn and which were drawn by some of his followers. Nor is it to be supposed that the outlook of Antiochene theology logically implied the Nestorian heresy. What is true, however, is that, while the pluralistic emphasis of Antioch made it perfectly easy to preserve the distinction of the humanity and the divinity in Christ, it made it very difficult to provide for their real union. Apollinarius had maintained the union by removing from Christs humanity one of its constituents, the rational soul, and inserting the divine Word (Logos) in its place. No Antiochene could tolerate such a mutilation; the humanity must remain entire and complete. But how then is this unity of divinity and humanity to be effected? If the humanity is complete we shall surely have a complete human individual and it will be this individual and not the divine Word (Logos) who will be the subject of Christs life. No wonder, then, the Alexandrian will reflect, that these Antiochenes refuse to call Mary theotokos; they cannot help believing that he whom she bore was not God but a man, even if God came to dwell in him after she had borne him. Whatever they may say, they believe in two Sons, one the Son of God and the other the son of Mary, however close the relation of the two may be. The clash between these points of view was fierce at first. Cyrils intervention was quick when he heard of Nestoriuss mockery of Theotokos, in refuting what he deemed gross heresy. The patriarchs exchanged some quite prickly letters without with neither of them making any significant headway. So, Pope Celestine was contacted by Cyril, who send him a dossier of extracts from Nestoriuss writings and from the declarations made on the Incarnation by the reverend fathers of past generations. Nestorius also wrote letters to Celestine and in his third he stated: I have learned that Cyril, the most distinguished bishop of the city of Alexandria, has become worried about reports against him that we received, and is now hunting for subterfuges to avoid a holy synod taking place due to these reports. In the meantime he is devising some other disturbances over terms and has chosen [as a point of controversy] the term Theotokos and Christotokos: the first he allows, but as for Christotokos, sometimes he removes it from the gospels, and sometimes he allows it, on the basis of what I believe is a kind of excessive prudence. In the case of the term Theotokos, I am not opposed to those who want to say it, unless it should advance to the confusion of natures in the manner of the madness of Apollinaris or Arius. Nonetheless, I have no doubt that the term Theotokos is inferior to the term Christotokos, as the latter is mentioned by the angels and the gospels. And if I were not speaking to Your Worship who is already so knowledgeable, I would need to give a very long discourse on this topic. But even without a discourse, it is known in every way to Your Beatitude, that if we should think that there are two groups opposed to each other, the one using only the term Theotokos, the other only Anthropotokos, and each group draws [others] to what it confesses or, if they have not accomplished this, puts [others] in danger of falling from the church, it would be necessary to assign someone to such an affair if it arises who exercises concern for both groups and heals the danger of both parties by means of the term taken from the gospels that signifies both natures. For as I said, the term Christotokos keeps the assertion of both parties to the proper limits, because it both removes the blasphemy of Paul of Samosata, who claimed that Christ the Lord of all was simply a human being, and also flees the wickedness of Arius and Apollinaris. Now I have written these very things to the most distinguished bishop of Alexandria, as Your Beatitude can tell from the copies I have attached to this letter of mine, as well as from the copies of what he wrote to us. Moreover, with Gods help it has also been agreed to announce a world-wide synod in order to inquire into the other ecclesiastical matters. For I do not think it will be difficult to investigate an uncertainty over words, and it is not a hindrance for a discussion of the divinity of Christ the Lord (Nestorius, 430) It did not take to long for Celestine to make a decision, and he called a synod in Rome in August 430 which decided against Nestorius and voted in favour of the title Theotokos. Nestorius was given a warning that, within ten days he would be treated as excommunicate unless, after receiving the notification, he retracted his teaching. The implementation of this ruling was given to Cyril and he characteristically carried out his task. He held a synod at Alexandria, afterwards sending a letter to Nestorius requiring him to subscribe to twelve anathemas. These anathemas, which were intentionally confrontational, summarise in terms which were uncompromising the Cyrilline Christology, some of which I reference here: If anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is God in truth, and therefore that the holy virgin is the mother of God (for she bore in a fleshly way the Word of God become flesh, let him be anathema. If anyone does not confess that the Word from God the Father has been united by hypostasis with the flesh and is one Christ with his own flesh, and is therefore God and man together, let him be anathema. If anyone divides in the one Christ the hypostases after the union, joining them only by a conjunction of dignity or authority or power, and not rather by a coming together in a union by nature, let him be anathema. If anyone distributes between the two persons or hypostases the expressions used either in the gospels or in the apostolic writings, whether they are used by the holy writers of Christ or by him about himself, and ascribes some to him as to a man, thought of separately from the Word from God, and others, as befitting God, to him as to the Word from God the Father, let him be anathema. If anyone dares to say that Christ was a God-bearing man and not rather God in truth, being by nature one Son, even as the Word became flesh, and is made partaker of blood and flesh precisely like us, let him be anathema. If anyone says that the Word from God the Father was the God or master of Christ, and does not rather confess the same both God and man, the Word having become flesh, according to the scriptures, let him be anathema. If anyone says that as man Jesus was activated by the Word of God and was clothed with the glory of the Only-begotten, as a being separate from him, let him be anathema. If anyone dares to say that the man who was assumed ought to be worshipped and glorified together with the divine Word and be called God along with him, while being separate from him, (for the addition of with must always compel us to think in this way), and will not rather worship Emmanuel with one veneration and send up to him one doxology, even as the Word became flesh, let him be anathema. (Alexandria, 430). This union of two natures in the one divine Person of Christ is called the hypostatic or personal union. It is the mystery of the Incarnation of God; it is also the mystery of the divine Motherhood of Mary. Cyril also said in this letter: Therefore, because the holy virgin bore in the flesh God who was united hypostatically with the flesh, for that reason we call her mother of God, not as though the nature of the Word had the beginning of its existence from the flesh (for the Word was in the beginning and the Word was God and the Word was with God, and he made the ages and is coeternal with the Father and craftsman of all things), but because, as we have said, he united to himself hypostatically the human and underwent a birth according to the flesh from her womb. This was not as though he needed necessarily or for his own nature a birth in time and in the last times of this age, but in order that he might bless the beginning of our existence, in order that seeing that it was a woman that had given birth to him united to the flesh, the curse against the whole race should thereafter cease which was consigning all our earthy bodies to death, and in order that the removal through him of the curse, In sorrow thou shalt br ing forth children, should demonstrate the truth of the words of the prophet: Strong death swallowed them Up, and again, God has wiped every tear away from all face. It is for this cause that we say that in his economy he blessed marriage and, when invited, went down to Cana in Galilee with his holy apostles (Alexandria, 430). A letter was issued by Theodosius summoning a general council to meet at Ephesus at Pentecost 431, with an astonishing medley of rival meetings taking place before the event. Recognised as the Third General Council Ephesus was effective in that Nestorius was never rehabilitated, dying in exile in 451. Its more positive achievement was to canonize the Nicene creed as establishing orthodoxy. In the two years following Ephesus strenuous efforts were made to heal the divisions in the Church. The instrument of agreement, known as the Formula of Reunion, was contained in a letter sent by John of Antioch to Cyril, it ran as follows: We confess, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, perfect God and perfect man composed of a rational soul and body, begotten before the ages from the Father in respect of His divinity, but likewise in these last days for us and our salvation from the Virgin Mary in respect of His manhood, consubstantial with the Father in respect of His divinity and at the same time consubstantial with us in respect of His manhood. For the union(henosis) of two natures has been accomplished. Hence we confess one Christ, one Son, one Lord. In virtue of this conception of a union without confusion we confess the holy Virgin as Theotokos because the divine Word became flesh and was made man and from the very conception united to Himself the temple taken from her. As for the evangelical and apostolic statements about the Lord, we recognise that theologians employ some indifferently in view of the unity of person but distinguish others in view of the duality of natures, applying the God-befitting ones to Christs divinity and the humble ones to His humanity (Antioch, 433). Cyril greeted this formulary with enthusiasm in his letter to John Laetentur coeli. Which was read out at the Council of Chalcedon, part of which I now cite: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦We confess, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, perfect God, and perfect Man of a reasonable soul and flesh consisting; begotten before the ages of the Father according to his Divinity, and in the last days, for us and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin according to his humanity, of the same substance with his Father according to his Divinity, and of the same substance with us according to his humanity; for there became a union of two natures. Wherefore we confess one Christ, one Son, one Lord. According to this understanding of this unmixed union, we confess the holy Virgin to be Mother of God; because God the Word was incarnate and became Man, and from this conception he united the temple taken from her with himselfà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Chalcedon, 451). After these early great councils of the Church feasts to The Blessed Virgin increased, lots of churches were dedicated to her and in the latter part of the seventh century four new feasts to Mary had started to be celebrated; the Annunciation, the Assumption, the Purification, and the Nativity of The Blessed Virgin Mary. With Pius IX promulgation of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 devotion to our Blessed Lady accelerated, and many appearances of the Blessed Virgin took place. And also at this time many Marian customs grew which included Maytime processions, the wearing of the Miraculous Medal and the Rosary. 1962 saw a major change which happened with Vatican II grounding more firmly in Scripture and liturgy devotion to Mary placing The Blessed Virgin securely in the mystery of the Church. The truth of the Blessed Virgin Marys divine Motherhood and its corresponding dignity are found in these words of the Second Vatican Council: The Virgin Mary, who at the message of the angel received the Word of God in her heart and in her body and gave Life to the world, is acknowledged and honoured as being truly the Mother of God and Mother of the Redeemer. Redeemed by reason of the merits of her Son and united to Him by a close and indissoluble tie, she is endowed with the high office and dignity of being the Mother of the Son of God, by which account she is also the beloved daughter of the Father and the temple of the Holy Spirit. Because of this gift of sublime grace, she far surpasses all creatures, both in heaven and on earth. At the same time, however, because she belongs to the offspring of Adam she is one with all those who are to be saved (Lumen Gentium, 53). The mark of our Blessed Ladys holiness is that she was filled with the grace of God. The Blessed Virgin is the pattern to follow. Giving herself completely with love she was filled with the life of God. Marys Yes to the angels message reveals her part in the work of salvation. And the Angel said: Fear not, Maryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the most High shall overshadow you, and therefore the Holy which shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:26-35). These are the words of the great mystery of Marys divine motherhood heralded by the angel in Lukes Gospel, their straightforwardness is persuasive as they announce the origin of our religion. In the beginning, they inspired triumphant faith, the faith of the martyrs and the Saints. The faith which will continue to inspire all Christians to the end of time.