Behavior

Age diversity is increasing with employees working past the typical retirement age of 55. With this increase in diversity come managerial challenges to overcome such as discrimination among workers and group cohesion. There are policies and practices managers can follow in order to keep the workforce fair and productive, not only in terms of age discrimination but of discrimination against any minority group in an organization. Introduction As medical advances continue to improve longevity and vitality among older employees, today’s workforce diversity is growing.

Laws against age discrimination and elimination of benefits paired with improved health are increasing the number of people who work past the traditional retirement age of 55 years old. With the increase in older workers come misconceptions about their abilities to perform tasks, learn new skills and adapt to new approaches. Even though these misconceptions have been disproven by empirical evidence, they still exist leading to age discrimination in the workplace.

What changes in employment relationships are likely to occur as the population ages? As the population ages, changes in employment relationships are bound to occur. With age discrimination being an issue in some companies, older workers who are higher paid and have expensive benefit packages could be laid off in order to cut costs. On the other hand, having tenured employees with a wealth of experience and knowledge, work with younger employees with knowledge of newer techniques, can potentially yield a powerful team effort.

Also, employers may offer more flexible schedules in order to accommodate for their aging employees as well as provide more training in order to keep them current on new technologies and practices. Do you think increasing age diversity will create new challenges for managers? In my opinion I do believe the increase will create new challenges for managers. One challenge I foresee, and the most profound, is controlling age discrimination among employees. This issue is double sided. Younger employees entering the workforce have to deal with being viewed as

inexperienced whereas older workers deal with the stereotype that their ability to perform tasks decline with age, as wells being unable to adapt. As discussed in chapter 2 of Organizational Behavior1, the stereotypes of older workers have been empirically disproven. Inversely, who is to say a young profession will be any less effective at a position if he or she has the knowledge and drive to learn and perform the task? Managers will also have the challenge of cultivating group cohesion with the increased age range.

They will need to carefully organize employees into groups that will be productive and efficient. For that age may not be a factor but personality type and work ethic will. Workers at different ages in different life-stages may be diverse on the surface, but looking deeper may reveal similar core characteristics that would make for good partnerships and group dynamics and managers will need to get to know their employees to learn said characteristics. What types of policies might lead to charges of age discrimination, and how can they be changed?

Some company policies or practices may lead to charges of age discrimination. In the recruitment process employers should not ask for an applicant’s age in order to keep the interviewers focused on the applicant’s qualifications rather than how old they are. Many companies already have strict human resource and recruitment policies to achieve this. Termination of older employees, an issue previously mentioned, can also lead to charges of age discrimination. Some companies turn to older employees that are higher paid and have expensive benefit packages when it comes to layoffs.

Another possible situation for charges of age discrimination is for companies to withhold reasonable accommodations for their aging employees such as ergonomic work spaces. Slight changes or additions to work stations such as foot rests and or wrist rests can help. The most effective way to change these issues is to maintain policies that promote decisions based on productivity and performance as opposed to any biographical characteristic, keeping the workforce fair.

Regular training for managers about the importance of diversity, its benefits and how to achieve it will help to eliminate age discrimination issues. What other challenges do organizations often encounter while trying to build a diverse workforce and what actions can be taken to overcome these challenges? Age discrimination is not the only challenge organizations face when trying to create a diverse workforce. Workers with biographical characteristics other than age such as sex, race and ethnicity, disability, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity are all targets of discrimination in organizations.

When it comes down to it, there is no significant difference in job productivity between men and women yet there are predominantly more men in upper management roles. Women do however have higher absence and turnover rates most likely due to a family dynamic in which mothers are typically considered the primary caregivers to children and if faced with a sick child at home, will be the one to take time off to tend to them. Even that is changing with more and more couples splitting parental roles. In order to achieve the diversity desired some organizations provide leadership development programs.

These programs are open to everyone but managers can really encourage women and minorities to partake in order to increase diversity in upper-level management. What are some important benefits of having a diverse workforce? There are many benefits of having a diverse workforce. It increases creativity. With people of different backgrounds comes variety. People will look at similar situations in very different ways. This could lead to quick problem solving, and innovative ideas. It can also improve company-client relations.

Customers may identify with a woman over a man, or someone of a similar religion or ethnicity. With a diverse workplace there are many different people the customer could potentially identify with. In some cases diversity could open up new markets all together. For example a couple of 30 year old males decided to start a t-shirt line. The line does well and they want to expand into shirts for women as well. It could be beneficial to increase their diversity and hire a woman to give input on fit and style and also help them market it to the female market.

Diversity can make it easier for employers to find recruits as well by including all applicants with relevant experience. It can also lead to less complaints and litigation from discrimination because with organizations with a high level of diversity, minorities are less likely to feel as such. Conclusion As mentioned, there is increasing age diversity in the workplace. The combination of health science and laws prohibiting age discrimination and elimination of pension plans, are leading to older workers to continue to work past the traditional retirement age of 55.

The discrimination against older workers is unfounded and poses new challenges for managers to overcome. Managers now need to find ways to prevent discrimination among employees and promote cohesive working environments in order to maintain productivity. Policies and strategies to help managers with these challenges should be adopted and practiced regularly. The challenge goes beyond age discrimination but with other biological characteristics as well.

In this report I will be looking at how my businesses activities and ethical behaviour affect different with in my business. My organisation (RBS). Royal Bank of Scotland is one of the world’s top ten financial groups. The group employs 140,000 people across 30 countries and operates out of more than 2000 sites worldwide. Its subsidiaries include NatWest, Lombard, First Active and insurance groups such as Direct Line and Churchill. RBS’s aims and objectives are focusing on customers since the credit crunch in 2008 and they lost a large amount of customers since then.

So their aims and objectives are to work harder to make cooperate banking better, to Provide service and support to make other businesses grow and provide them succeed in the most competitive markets and finally Improving customer service and gaining customer loyalty. As a financial institution it is necessary that RBS think and plan carefully before they make any decision or take any action in the business. They are dealing with financial products and service so they really need to focus on being ethical and behaving in a way that crime is not involved.

Regulatory bodies work very hard to prevent any unethical behaviour that will not be tolerating by the authorities in charge for banking behaviour. Regardless regulatory bodies monitoring banking activities and putting laws and procedures in place for banks to abide by; unethical behaviour still takes place in banks often by individuals or groups or the bank as a whole. Looking at RBS’s history I have discovered RBS has had ups and downs during the previous few years. Unethical behaviour has taken place in RBS and their behaviour has had a huge impact on various shareholders in different ways.

RBS just like many other banks has had history of mis-selling Payment Protection Insurance to customers. RBS and other banks who mis-sold PPI have had to pay back customers. PPI was a Payment Protection Insurance that is insurance on loans and other borrowings; people used this insurance so if the debtors die or lose their jobs then the insurance will pay off the loan. Customers bought this insurance knowingly or unknowingly but were not told clear information about what the real circumstances will be if the person is unable to pay the loan.

This insurance only paid out minimum repayments for only a minimum time for about twelve months. Customers were tricked and they paid the PPI which was no use to them when they were unable to pay off their loan. RBS has already lost a lot of money paying back compensation. Since people are allowed to clam back their money on PPI and interests they were charged RBS has made an estimated loss of between £580million and £1. 3billion. At the moment they have kept an amount of £500 million aside for future PPI compensation they may still have to repay.

After the PPI loss they have really focused on how to prevent misspelling products so they will not have to face paying out compensations again. As the result of RBS misspelling PPI stakeholders were affected in in many ways. RBS’s shareholders are missing out on the high amounts of dividends they should have received. As RBS has to pay out the PPI fines they owe to customer from their profits. This means that because RBS’s profits have decreased then this will affect the amount of dividends shareholders receive as the dividend will also decrease.

This is not a good image of RBS in front of their shareholders as they have disadvantaged their shareholders by decreasing their dividends. Customers have been victims of PPI as they have been paying extra charges on their loans and on other amounts borrowed from RBS . some customers struggle to even repay their minimum repayments; so PPI had made it harder for them to pay off their loans. Mis-selling gave people the wrong impression that they were insured if they lost their jobs or their source of income.

People lose trust in banking products as they expect to be assured in difficult times but when they find out they are not insured and will still have to repay loans they get mentally stressed and they feel like they can’t rely on banking products provided by RBS. The Financial service authority and other regulatory bodies also have also suffered financially as they had to pay employees at FSA to investigate the PPI scam. This is time consuming for them as they need to make sure that everyone who paid PPI is compensated.

They have to spend time to investigate and fine banks so next time they will not do anything unethical again. After this incident FSA are being stricter on the way that banks operate and have amended laws regarding selling products to customers and banking what the bank is allowed to do and what they are restricted to do. The FSA is looking into how banks interact with customers and are paying more attention to all products that banks are selling. Most customers have been compensated by RBS; however I believe RBS’s trust bond with their customers has already been damaged.

This influences customer’s behaviour before they buy and insurance products or additional insurance products as they will think twice before thinking of buying these products as RBS additional products may be seen as just another scam or unnecessary products. RBS needs to build up their trust with stakeholders again by providing them with information based on facts and only sell them with products that are relevant to individual customers depending on their needs.

On 3rd August 2010 the FSA announced fines of £5.6 million for RBS group for the failure in its systems and control with respect to the UK financial sanctions regime. UK banks and businesses are not allowed to provide financial services to people on the HM Treasury Sanctions list. The money Laundry Regulation 2007 states that RBS should have policies in place to prevent funding and services to people on the sanctions list, RBS is said to have not considered it important to investigate where the money was coming from into customers’ accounts. They did not look into customers to see the source of money they received or cashes out of their accounts.

FSA believe that RBS funding’s could have facilitated transactions involving sanctions target and terrorist financing. After RBS admitted that they had made the mistake by not paying attention to these issues they were fined £5. 6 million. This outcome influenced different stakeholders in different ways. When the word “terrorist” is used with an organisations name then people want to stay out of the story; this is why after RBS was fined for failing to screening procedures stakeholders did not want anything to do with RBS.

I believe the main stakeholders that will influence RBS was their customers as they will stop opening accounts with RBS, NatWest and Ulster Bank and Coutts and Co. this was because they thought that the money they deposited in their accounts was being financed for criminal activities and financing terrorism activities. Customers stop using RBS and NatWest banking and moved their money into other banks. The number of people opening accounts with them decreased as they were named as terrorist financers by some people. RBS’s reputation will go down as people will think they are involved in criminal activities.

RBS needs to make people have trust in them again and they need to take an action to prevent this from happening again. People stopped buying RBS market shares in the stock exchange and this left them with shareholders wanting to sell their shares as soon as possible. Shareholders suffered as share prices decreased and RBS’s reputation was bad which meant they lost value in the stock exchange. RBS profits decreased as they had to pay the fine from the profits; this means they will pay out less dividends to their shareholders.

RBS have not been ethical all the time however they have worked to improve and build strong relationships with their stakeholders. RBS have done this by showing the community that they care about them and they have invested some profit towards the community. Corporate Social responsibility has been RBS’s strong activity which will make people they are ethical and care about the society. RBS has proved this by taking part in a number of activities and supporting projects to help the future working generation and support projects that are operating to make the earth a better place to live. RBS has been working with The Princes Trust for more the 11 years they have financially supported the enterprise programme.

The Enterprise Programme supports and guides people aged from 16 to 30 to overcome their personal barriers to success and achieve their goals. RBS has been helping young people develop their ideas and become entrepreneurs. RBS are doing this to show people that they care about the younger generation that they spend their profits on projects that help provide young people a promising future.

They want to show society that they are helping build businesses and are helping the society as a whole by helping young people. They will be successful in winning customers trust and in bringing their reputation back up if they continue supporting the society. RBS have used 61% of their gas from natural gases in 2011. They are now lending massive amounts of money to organisations that are working on renewable energy. They spent £50 million helping small businesses to start up their projects on renewing energy.

They then lent out £366 million pounds in 2011 to help renewable projects in 2011. RBS has also made other small changes to the way they carry out activities that have helped the environment a lot. They have showed that they operate ethically and that they operate ethically by doing simple things on a daily basis such as they have reduced the usage of paper by using electronic systems instead. RBS do not send customers statements by paper anymore because they have started providing electronic statements.

I believe by showing that they support the environment and practice ethically they have showed campaigns like Greenpeace that they are willing to help the environment and prevent global warming. In every success story at green peace projects; RBS will be mention for making it possible to prevent global warming as they have invested in these projects. I believe that RBS performing ethically and making the right decisions has a major impact on the Government. I say this because RBS was bailed out by the government in October 2008 after going bankrupt.

The government bailed them out because they couldn’t afford an established bank to go down as this would affect so many things and create so much loss to the nation as a whole. RBS was bailed out because they are one of the main companies that operate in the UK and they will lose so much money. The government invested to bail out the bank so that they will have their say on the way the banks run and control over bonuses paid to management. Bonuses and dividends were cancelled by the government and RBS had to forcefully sell their shares to the government as no other investors were willing to invest.

The government buying 605 of their shares meant that they were owners of RBS. This gave the government a better insight of how the bank operates and they are now able to order RBS of how they want it to operate. I think the bank has only invested in the banks so that they can make more money from RBS’s profits in the future. This will also allow them to have a better grip of the banks finances so they make profit and the shareholders majorly the government can get high dividends in return on the profit in the upcoming years.

If the government let RBS get bankrupt then the government would suffer severely. RBS going bankrupt means the nation losing one of their well established banks that means staff will be made redundant. When they are made redundant these unemployed people will turn to the government for financial support in the form of various state benefits. In my opinion the government invested money to save the bank so that they can get a return on what they invest rather than just paying out benefits.

Since the government has bailed RBS out of financial crises, I think there has been an improvement in the way they operate as the government is kept a close eye on RBS’s activities to ensure make a profit and are able to pay off tax payers. RBS has paid off £163bn in emergency loan they received from US and British taxpayers during the financial crises. Of their loan to the government with high return as the interest charged on the loan. I hope after clearing off their loan they still behave ethically so that they can avoid paying out more compensation to people they have affected with their unethical activities.

Abstract

Diverse societal situations, or situational variables, may include a huge influence on a person’s actions and performances. Psychology has an important function in individual’s communication which is why it is crucial that we need to comprehend how psychological factors can manipulate someone’s actions when they are face to face with a variety of public situations. A number of these factors will incorporate: the need to fit in, unselfishness, traditional values, social facilitation, and respect.

Humans frequently become accustomed to their public settings because various types of social environments support the growth of specific behaviors. This is frequently due to a mixture of the abovementioned psychological factors that manipulate someone’s actions in any given social circumstances. Social Influences on Behavior Paper Human Interaction Humans will experience social situations all the time, just about every day. The way that we react or conduct ourselves all the way through these types of situations can be prejudiced by the essential psychological concept of human communication.

Human communication is “how people think, feel, and behave toward one another” (Newcomb, Turner, & Converse, 1996). This communication can be seen as unfair by a lot of factors, which can incorporate: human being experiences, stereotype, favoritism, and acknowledgment. Everybody has had their own unique experiences throughout life which often influences the way they interact with other human beings. Each person’s experiences can reflect in the way that the person behaves in social settings and interacts with other humans.

Stereotyping can affect the lives of all human beings in any given culture, which also has an impact on human interaction and behavior. All cultures tend to develop certain stereotypes (race, gender, sexual preference, etc. ) based on biased opinions, and these stereotypes can become evident when humans interact with one another. The role of discrimination within human interaction has been the topic of many controversies throughout history due to its negative impact on human interaction. Discrimination can cause controversy and anger between people who do not share commonalities.

Stereotyping and discrimination are similar in that they are both driven by the influence of bias and prejudice. Attribution is an individual’s way of asking (or explaining) why people act or respond the way they do when faced with social situations (Kowalski & Westen, 2009). Humans use attribution in an attempt to make sense of their own actions and the actions of those around them. All of these elements combine to create the building blocks of human interaction. Social Situations Social situations are virtually unavoidable for most people.

Human beings are naturally social creatures, which is why most people learn to behave in a specific way when they have to be face to face with a range of public situations. One decent illustration of how a public situation can manipulate human beings actions would be the unlike those of how an adolescent behaves when he or she is around friends versus family members. Most adolescents are influenced by the concept of conformity when interacting with peers and friends. “Conformity is the process by which people change their attitudes or behavior to accommodate the standards of peers or groups” (Kowalski& Westen, 2009).

Adolescents may conform out of the need to belong within their specific group of peers. Fear of rejection might also be a driving factor behind adolescent conformity. For many adolescents group think is a strong influential factor. Group think “occurs when a group makes faulty decisions because group pressures lead to a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgment. Groups affected by groupthink ignore alternatives and tend to take irrational actions that dehumanize other groups” (Irving, 1982).

The consequences that the adolescent may face by not conforming to certain expected behaviors may lead to isolation or even discrimination from the peer group. In the event that the adolescent conforms to dangerous or harmful behaviors (such as alcoholism or drugs) he or she may need therapeutic intervention in order to improve the destructive behaviors that are being exhibited. Without an intervention the adolescent may become addicted to drugs or alcohol or they may cause harm to themselves or others. Unfortunately this type of scenario happens to many adolescents due to the pressures of fitting in within a high school setting.

Adolescents who are otherwise well-behaved with good judgment of ethics and principals can develop into an addiction by their group of friends and the effect of the group think that their overall actions become tainted or unnatural in a harmful way. When interacting with family members adolescents may be driven by social facilitation. Family members often push adolescents to achieve a certain level of success, which can alter the behavior of the adolescent due to the facilitating affect that the family members may have on the adolescent.

Obedience is another important element of social interactions between adolescents and parental units. In most cases if an adolescent is not obedient and disobeys his or her parents there are often consequences as a result of the disobedient behavior. Another example of how social interaction can change an individual’s behavior would be a situation in which an upper-class individual is approached by a homeless person who is asking for money or food. In this type of social situation altruism is the key element that drives the behavior of the upper-class individual.

Altruism is described as helping another individual with no expectations of personal gain or reward. The upper-class individual may not necessarily empathize with the homeless individual, but the need for altruism may encourage him or her to give the homeless person food or money. In this case the upper-class individual’s behaviors may actually be driven by ethical hedonism, which occurs when “apparent altruism is really aimed at making the apparent altruist feel better” (Kowalski & Westen, 2009).

The upper-class individual may fear that not responding to and helping the homeless individual will lead to consequences such as being portrayed as cheap or egocentric. Although it may appear that the upper-class individual is being altruistic, his or her behavior may actually be driven by selfish motives that are unapparent to other people. In this particular example no therapeutic intervention would be needed. Conclusion The influence of factors such as altruism, obedience, conformity, and social-facilitation can be evident in all social interactions.

Social psychology also plays an imperative role in all basic human interactions because it helps resolve some of the mystery behind people’s actions. While comprehending specific basics of public/social psychology can definitely help out in the awareness of several people’s actions it is difficult to fully comprehend and explain all of the driving factors behind each and every individual’s behavior within social situations. Human behavior is typically unpredictable, but there are a variety of common factors that can influence behaviors in any given social setting, which is where social psychology comes into play.

I believe that human emotion is determined by the “hard wiring” of the brain. One good example is the criminal intent of particular individuals. It is actually interesting to know that anthropological research data shows that violence is an inherent conduct among the primate species (Walker, 2001). In society, criminal violence is a common occurrence and legislators have suggested that the behavior of criminals be analyzed in order to identify any psychological patterns that are consistent among these particular types of individuals.

In the past few decades, neurobiologists have proposed that an individual’s condition, which encompasses empathy, morality and free will, is holistically influenced by the frequency of stimulation and assembly of the neurons of an individual. Such notion is contradictory to the concept of Cartesian dualism, which states that the brain and the mind are two independent entities that coordinate with each other.

To date, the accumulation of research reports from the field of neuroscience is gradually affecting the concepts and effectivity of the justice system because of the shifting in the concept of human behavior and response to different stimuli. Neuroscience has influenced our current understanding of the multiple factors that govern violent behavior among criminals. The 19th century classic report of Phineas Gage regarding the anti-social behavior that emerged after massive damage of the prefrontal cortex of his brain from a railroad accident is now considered as the birth of the field of forensic neurology (Harlow, 1848).

Today, computerized imaging of his fractured skull has shown that the autonomic and social nerve systems are the specific damages that were affected, thus resulting in a totally different individual. Such observation, together with research results gathered from war veterans, has led to the conclusion that violent criminal behavior is caused by injuries to the frontal lobe of the brain. It has then been proposed that injury to the prefrontal cortex of the brain causes a condition that has been coined as acquired sociopathy or pseudopsychopath (Blair and Cipolotti, 2000).

It is interesting to know that there is an 11% reduction in the size of the grey matter of the prefrontal cortex among patients diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder (APD) (Raine et al. , 2000). A related observation has also been observed between intelligence and alterations in the grey matter of the prefrontal cortex. The temporal lobe of the brain has also been determined to influence an individual’s emotional response and aggression, wherein lesions in the amygdale of the temporal lobe result in an individual’s failure to recognize fear and sadness among the faces of other people (van Elst et al. , 2001).

The connection between the decreased expression of the monoamine oxidase A enzyme and reactive violence has already been established (Caspi et al. , 2002). Monoamine oxidase A is responsible for the catabolism of monoamines such as serotonin (5-HT). The working hypothesis currently accepted is that the prefrontal-amygdala connection is altered, resulting in a dysfunctional aggressive and violent behavior, resulting in criminality in particular individuals. The self-control theory as proposed by Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) couples an argument regarding the driving force behind criminality and the features of a criminal act.

Gottfredson and Hirschi contend that crime is similar to other out of control and unlawful actions such as alcoholism and smoking because it generates in an individual a temporary yet immediate feeling of gratification. This kind of action is created by a condition that is characterized by low self-control. The authors claim that the condition of having poor self-control is an innate condition that is set in place during the early childhood at around 7 or 8 years of age. In relation to the mechanism behind criminality, the authors explain that crime is a straightforward action to results in gratification in an individual.

Such perception of crime is associated with a number of implications to the general theory of crime. Firstly, the general theory of crime presents that crime is an uncomplicated action that does not need any strategic preparation or intricate knowledge. Secondly, the general theory of crime is related to a number of elements that are included in the theory of routine activities because just like other uncontrolled acts, crimes are not planned and it is easy for individuals with low self-esteem to be easily motivated to commit such acts.

In addition, criminality is strongly influenced by external factors such as the scarcity of easy targets as well as the presence of associates that are capable of helping or even performing a criminal act. The theory of crime by Gottfredson and Hirschi regarding the early age of 7 or 8 also entails that the longitudinal analysis of crime is not necessary and that age-correlated theories of crime are confusing. The general theory of crime of Gottfredson and Hirschi also considers the fundamental argument regarding age and the unlawful act.

It is actually different from what is presented at general courses in criminology regarding the analysis of age-crime correlations and social factors that are related to crime. A distinction of the general theory of crime of Gottfredson and Hirschi is that the age-crime linkage is very different through time, location and culture that the age-crime correlation is irrelevant of any social explanation. Their general theory of crime also describes that criminals continue to perform unlawful acts of crime even during marriage and eventually end up as unmarried criminals.

The same thing goes with offenders who are currently employed—these individuals generally continue on as offenders and the only difference after some time is that they lose their jobs. The general theory of crime of Gottfredson and Hirschi thus presents an argument against the connection of crime with marriage and employment thus showing that a criminal is incompetent in maintaining a relationship in a marriage or a commitment to work because he is commonly known as person of very low command of his control.

Their presentation of the force behind criminality is thus focused on self-control and the authors point out that most investigations regarding criminality do not include this concept. References Blair RJ and Cipolotti L (2000): Impaired social response reversal. A case of ‘acquired sociopathy’. Brain 123:1122–1141. Caspi A, McClay J, Moffi tt TE, Mill J and Martin J (2002): Role of genotype in the cycle of violence in maltreated children. Science 297:851–854. Gottfredson MR and Hirschi T (1990): A General Theory of Crime. In: Jacoby JE (ed. ): Classics of criminology, 3rd ed.

Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc. Harlow J (1848): Passage of an iron bar through the head. Boston Med Surg J 13:389–393. Raine A, Lencz T, Bihrle S, LaCasse L and Colletti P (2000) Reduced prefrontal gray matter volume and reduced autonomic activity in antisocial personality disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry 57:119–127. van Elst LT, Trimble MR, Ebert D, van Elst LT (2001) Dual brain pathology in patients with affective aggressive episodes. Arch Gen Psychiatry 58:1187–1188. Walker PL (2001): A bioarchaeological perspective on the history of violence. Annu Rev Anthropol 30: 573–596.

What does the purchase of a product like Nike mean to Sunder Singh?

Sunder Sing, just escaping homelessness is clearly proud that he was able to save and buy a pair of Nikes. He could undoubtedly have purchase a different brand that would have met his physical needs as well for much less money which he does not say why he bought the more expensive Nikes, a reasonable interpretation is that they serve as a visible symbol that Sunder Singh is back as a successful. Sunder Singh is not Unique among low-income consumer in wanting and buying items such as Nike shoes.As one expert says:

“The low income consumer wants the same product and services other consumer want”. He suggests that marketing efforts reflect those desires. Another expert state. There’s this stereotype that they don’t have enough money for toothpaste and that’s just not true. There has been some significance to them being called lower income, but they do buy things. The working poor are forced to spend a disproportionate present of theirs income on housing, utilities and medical care due to lack of insurance.They generally relay on public transportation, they spend a smaller portion of their relatively small income on meals away from home and all forms of entertainment such as admission, pets and toys; they spend very little on their own financial security.

However Sunder Singh illustrated they spend the same percent of their income though a smaller amount on apparel and accessories.

What does the story say about our society and the impact of marketing on consumer behavior?

“Society can exist without Marketing, but Marketing cannot exist without Society”Marketing is the management process of anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer’s requirements. The various conventional marketing tools- advertising, branding, direct marketing, sales promotion, publicity & public relations. Effect of marketing on society, in particular on Vulnerable Groups Marketing and society, the commensuration of the two words raises a few eyebrows, as it is highly debatable. On the one hand, Society thrives on the marketing efforts of the Companies, while another school of thought argues that marketing makes the society more materialistic.Today, striking a balance between the two is the challenge faced by the Marketers.

The society expects the business to be ethical and desires corporate executives, at all levels to apply ethical principles in other words, guidelines as to what is right and wrong, fair and unfair, and morally correct, when they make business decisions. Advertisers are traditionally use techniques to which children and adolescents are more susceptible, such as product placement in TV shows, tie in between movies and fast food restaurants, to mention a few.Therefore there exist many marketing evils that lure people to buy even when not required. Case III Star Airways 1.

What is likely to be the decision process in case of choosing an airline?

Buyer decision processes are the decesion making processes undertaken by consumers in regard to a potential market transaction before, during, and after the purchase of a product or service. More generally, decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from among multiple alternatives. Decision making is said to be a psychological construct.

This means that although we can never “see” a decision, we can infer from observable behaviour that a decision has been made. Therefore we conclude that a psychological event that we call “decision making” has occurred. It is a construction that imputes commitment to action. That is, based on observable actions, we assume that people have made a commitment to effect the action. In general there are three ways of analysing consumer buying decisions. They are: Economic models – These models are largely quantitative and are based on the assumptions of rationality and near perfect knowledge.The consumer is seen to maximize their utility Psychological models – These models concentrate on psychological and cognitive processes such as motivation and need recognition.

They are qualitative rather than quantitative and build on sociological factors like cultural influences and family influences. * Consumer behaviour models – These are practical models used by marketers. They typically blend both economic and psychological models. Consumer decision making is best summarised in the following diagramProblem recognition: The need for new airlines Consumers of India received a problem with the product that is offered by other similar airlines. The consumer choose product because of their quality and service. Information Search: Surfs the internet to learn about airlines. View TV ad, hear from family members or friends.

May read certain magazine when at home or outside Evaluation of Alternative and selection compares several airlines in terms of reputation and available features, Price point and discount offered free gifts.Purchase decision: Choose on airline it has a feature that really appeals to him and buys it Purchase Behavior dissonance and complex evaluation.

Would this plan suggested by the vice president help in convincing the customers to use Star Airways?

Give your reasons. Consumer decision making process is a list of steps that are carried out by consumers concerning to a potential market transaction, before, during and after the purchase of a product or service. The process includes identifying the problem, collecting information, evaluating the alternatives, making the purchase decision and evaluating post purchase.Information search when a consumer discovers a problem or a need, he or she is likely to search for more information on how to solve it.

The information search stage involves gathering information from various sources in order to make a better-informed decision, it helps clarifies the options open to the consumer which may involve internal search Understanding customer needs is the keystone to Star Airways success. The most successful companies understand the value of their customers as they measure success through the amount of customers they serve each year.Increasing customer base is a goal and a challenge that every company must face. Listening to customers and researching the market will provide a company with opportunities to become an industry leader. Finding cost effective ways to meet customer demands are at the root of the challenge. Star Airways must face this challenge head-on while keeping the customer in the forefront of any action the company takes. They must develop products that will appeal to customers and draw in new business.

This problem solution will discuss opportunities and well as analyze an optimal solution.That will assist Star Airways in achieving their goals. The variety of successful strategies in use today was in full display at the ATW Winning Strategies conference in Washington, where some of the airline industry’s keenest minds shared their wisdom. Dr. Adam Pilarski, senior VP at consultancy Avitas, opened the conference with a controversial statement, “the myth of overcapacity is an urban legend,” pointing out that historically high load factors should push fares up. “If airlines don’t make money when they have the highest load factors ever, there is something wrong with their business model. He implied that airline managers over think their strategies and fail to follow what he called “Adam’s Rule: Revenue greater than cost equals good.

” The first thing to do is “Don’t be stupid,” he said, adding a list of “stupid” strategies: Don’t insult customers. No extreme yield management. No bad airline names. No adversary relations with employees. Do not have stupid business plans. “Please remember you are in a service industry,” he said, and try to avoid what former Continental CEO Gordon Bethune referred to as “sky nazi” cabin service.He criticized “nickel-and-dime” attitudes toward cutting amenities, scoffing at airlines’ publicized moves to remove olives and pillows.

You must cut costs in ways that make sense, related to productivity. ” Cost control “has to fit the business model, and must be related to productivity. ” The plan suggested by the VP Marketing, Anil Saxena, felt that the company needed to advertise its dedication to quality and rebuild an image of being discussions with the advertising agency to launch a campaign in the near future.Advertising: Convincing the Consumer when a company wants their product to sell to consumers, they give them a reason why their product is better than others. Advertising sells to consumers wants not just to their needs. People need a car but want a Cadillac. They need clothes, but they want Ralph-Lauren.

When most people flip though ads the go fairly fast, therefore it must grab their attention. A good ad allows the reader to instantly recognize the concept being communicated. It sends a simple and easy message to the reader of the benefits they will get if they use their product.Cigar, cigarette, and alcohol ads in the mid 1900’s persuade the reader that their products provide a beneficial and pleasurable experience. Case IV Mouse-Rid 1. Has Shobha identified the best target market for Mouse-Rid? Why or why not? Shobha has targeted women for the product. She feels that women are the best group to target because they don’t like the mess or the risks created by traditional mouse traps.

This is a good marketing segment to start off with but there are a couple of things that Shobha could have improved on. First off, she should have probably segmented women into a couple different groups. In today’s world all women don’t’ stay at home and take care of kids. In fact the population of women that do that is rapidly shrinking and being replaced by independent professionals. In effect, by targeting women that stay at home, Shobha is targeting a shrinking market. She could probably segment women into a couple different categories. For example: working women, single women, house wives, etc.

There are also other markets which Shobha could target.Some other market segments that hold large potential for the Trap-Ease are market like environmentalist, animal lovers, corporate business and families. The Trap-Ease mouse trap is re-useable and therefore creates less of a strain on the environment which would make it very attractive things for environmentalists and people who care about the earth. The environmentalist market is also growing as people became more aware of global warming and other problems such as deforestation. Animal lovers would love the Trap-Ease mouse trap because it doesn’t require poison or pose the risk of snapping closed on a paw or tongue of a pet.Corporate Business would probably like the Trap-Ease mouse trap because of its high qualitymore futuristic image and the fact that it would create as much of a mess. They wouldprobably be less hesitant to have them sitting around the office.

Families with kidsshould be the primary market segment of Trap-Ease seeing as it will probably be their largest. Mouse traps and poison pose a very large risk to infants and toddlers and caringmothers and fathers would probably happily buy a product which would better protecttheir children.It seems that the Trap-Ease mouse trap has positioned itself in the market as being a veryinnovative and well engineered product. It has done this by winning awards from tradeshows and magazines. If it is better able to connect these features of the mouse traps withthe needs and wants of their target consumers then they should be able to generate alarger demand. They could also try to change it’s position a little bit. Trap-Ease could also position the product as causing less waist because it is re-useable o rthey could lower it’s cost and make it more affordable.

By making it “the mostaffordable, innovative mouse trap” on the market they could probably gain some moredemand. Another way in which they could position their product would be by having an incredibly good customer service team that could deliver services to their customers thatwere having problems using the product. By having a good customer service team theycould build better relationships with their customers and increase their customer equity The marketing mix of a company consists of the four P’s: Product, Price, Place andPromotion.Currently Trap-Ease only has one product, their mouse trap. They probably could create a couple different versions of their mouse trap in order to offer more variety. The higher price of their mouse trap seems to be consistent with a quality differentiationstrategy but they probably could offer a wider range of prices on the different models oftheir trap if they chose to widen their product range. Right now they are trying todistribute their product through stores like Kmart and Safeway.

A really good market tohit would probably be the internet.People on in the internet are often times into quality,ease of use, and innovativeness and don’t mind spending a little more money to get whatthey want. It is also a high profit market because it reduces transportation costs and thereare no middle man costs. The promotion of the Trap-Ease mouse trap seems to be one oftheir largest problems. They should promote over the internet for certain on sites thatthey think their target market will be visiting and they should also think about putting outads on TV. In this changing high tech environment magazine ads aren’t enough anymore.Trap-Ease America’s competition is any company that creates mouse traps.

They face amarket in which large volume of low quality low cost mouse traps are sold. There arealso poisons that are sold which are a danger to pets and animals as well as the mice theyare supposed to kill. There are also other versions of live catch mouse traps out there. An example of one of Trap-Ease’s competition is d-CON who offers both baits and traps. They actually also offer a version of a no touch mouse trap in which you don’t have totouch the mouse after you have trapped it.They are selling this for 150 which is higher then the suggested retail price for the Trap-Ease mouse trap which is 1:0 six times more expensive. This would suggest that Trap-Ease has priced lower then some of its competitors which will give it apricing advantage.

Companies such as Havahart offer traps which humanely catcheverything from mice to voles and shrews and are competition for the humane factors ofthe Trap-Ease trap. Other competitors include: Victor, JT Eaton and Riddex. The first thing I would do to change Trap-Ease’s marketing strategy would be to increasethe amount of people in their marketing team.Although Martha was probably trying tokeep down costs by not hiring anyone for her marketing team she made one importantmistake. One of the most important things when coming out with a new product is themarketing because until you’ve communicated the benefits of your product to the consumer there will not be sufficient demand for it. Her entry into the market was toosmall scale and chances are that with such an innovative product that the company willdo better in the long run with a larger scale entry. She should have asked for a largerbudget and hired more people for the marketing team.

She should have then put muchmore work into the Analysis of her target markets and perhaps expanded her scope oftarget markets while increasing the segmentation. This would allow her to betterdifferentiate her product. I would put in operating controls and strategic controls in order to monitor the marketingteam’s progress and make sure that what they are doing is consistent with the company’sgoals and strategy. These controls would very important for gathering the informationthat would form the strategies in the coming years.It would also probably help to do amarket audit at some point during the first year just to make sure that things are runningsmoothly and it shouldn’t cost that much to do one at such an early stage in thecompanies development because of the smaller volume of papers to audit. Summary Targeting: The targeting should have been done within a broader demographic area. Slums, warehouses, go downs, docks, kirana shops, retail stores, restaurant, canteens and cold storages must be targeted for potential customers.

The segmenting must avail wholesalers and the intermediaries too part from the retailers. Marketing channels like Toll-free numbers, newspaper, television, radio and mobile marketing must be used effectively to target MEN. Pest control companies must be primarily targeted and a joint venture can be planned if necessary. We should target to environmentalists, animal lovers and corporate business. 2. Does Shobha have enough needed data on consumer behavior? What type of consumer research should Shobha conduct? Shobha have no enough needed data on consumer behaviour. She should adopt the following data collection methods • DATA COLLECTION METHODS

Desk research of secondary data

“Secondary data consists of information that already exists somewhere, having been collected for another purpose”.

In other words, secondary data are those which have been collected by someone else and which have already been passed through statistical process, there are two sources of this data: Internal sources – this is data which is available within the company, although companies do not make full enough use of the information that is routinely collected. External sources – this is data which has been published for commercial reasons.A key source of secondary data is the library service and most good libraries have a wide range of sources. Some government data is available free, other secondary data can be very expensive. It is important in a research project to know what data is available since this will guide the structure and format of the fieldwork in the primary data collection stage. It is possible that secondary data sources can provide the complete answer to the problem under scrutiny. The least it will do is save time and money in directing the scope of the field work.

It can also influence the choice of data collection methods used in the field ork. Primary Data – Kotler and Armstrong say that “primary data consists of information collected for the specific purpose at hand”. In other words, primary data are those, which are collected afresh and for first time and thus happen to be original in character. Once the desk research is complete the researcher will have a much clearer idea of: • The up-to-date and relevant data • What data still needs to be collected to find a solution to the problem under scrutiny. • To achieve the data and information the research teams need to answer certain questions: What is it necessary to know?Who will have the information which is sought? What is the best method (quick and efficient) to use to collect this data? • It is important to streamline the answers to these questions to avoid collecting a mass of irrelevant data by inappropriate or inefficient methods. The two types of data are: Quantitative Data – As the term implies this is data which is expressed in numbers. Quantitative data is quite easy to collect, and a large amount of reliable and valid data can be collected largely by questionnaire in quite a short period of time.

It is a fairly formal approach.This data arises from what is termed “closed questions” because the respondent is restricted in the choice of answer the respondent can give. Qualitative data – Qualitative data is obtained from group discussions or in-depth interviews and its findings are based on content rather than numeric analysis. Qualitative data is said to be much more subjective than its counterpart. Questions are open-ended and can lead to a free ranging and in-depth discussion on a specific point which provides a variety of rich data. There are no numbers or digits in this data and it is not subject to statistical interpretation.

Types of primary data collection

• OBSERVATION :

Observation becomes a scientific tool and the method of data collection for the researcher when it serves a formulated research purpose is systematically planned and recorded and is subjected to checks and controls on validity and reliability.

Under the observation method the information is sought by way of investigators own direct observation without asking from respondent.

• SURVEYS:

Surveys are concerned with describing, recording, analyzing and interpreting conditions that exist or existed.The researcher does not manipulate the variable or arrange for events to happen Surveys are only concerned with conditions or relationships that exist, opinions that are held, processes that are going on, effects that are evident or trends that are developing. They are primarily concerned with present but at times do consider past events and influences as they relate to current conditions.

• Experiment:

Experiment may be conducted in lab or in the field. The researcher can test the relative sales appeals for package, designs, price, promotional offers and copy themes etc. , by designing suitable experiments to identify cause and effect.

The first thing I would do to change is marketing strategy would be to increasethe amount of people in their marketing team. Although Shobha was probably trying to keep down costs by not hiring anyone for her marketing team she made one important mistake. One of the most important things when coming out with a new product is the marketing because until you’ve communicated the benefits of your product to the consumer there will not be sufficient demand for it. Her entry into the market was too small scale and chances are that with such an innovative product that the company will do better in the long run with a larger scale entry.She should have asked for a larger budget and hired more people for the marketing team. She should have then put much more work into the Analysis of her target markets and perhaps expanded her scope of target markets while increasing the segmentation. This would allow her to better differentiate her product.

I would put in operating controls and strategic controls in order to monitor the marketing team’s progress and make sure that what they are doing is consistent with the company’s goals and strategy. These controls would very important for gathering the information that would form the strategies in the coming years.It would also probably help to do amarket audit at some point during the first year just to make sure that things are runningsmoothly and it shouldn’t cost that much to do one at such an early stage in thecompanies development because of the smaller volume of papers to audit.

What type of advertising can influence consumers for this type of product?

The low cost of posters and handbills encouraged a numberof publishers to experiment with other methods. Method were useful fo rinforming and reminding and reminding, they could not do the whole promotional job.

Theywere used only to reach each consumer personally. The merchant still used personal persuasiononce the customers were attracted to his store. The invention of hand press increased the potentialities of advertising. times, posters had made their appearance, and assumed the function of fostering demand for the product. CASE VI Impact of Retail Promotions on Consumers 1

Why would some consumers have high-involvement levels in learning about this sales promotion?

A good definition of sales promotion would be as follows: “An activity designed to boost the sales of a product or service.It may include an advertising campaign, increased PR activity, a free-sample campaign, offering free gifts or trading stamps, arranging demonstrations or exhibitions, setting up competitions with attractive prizes, temporary price reductions, door-to-door calling, telemarketing, personal letters on other methods”. More than any other element of the promotional mix, sales promotion is about “action”.

It is about stimulating customers to buy a product. It is not designed to be informative – a role which advertising is much better suited to. Sales promotion is commonly referred to as “Below the Line” promotion.Sales promotion can be directed at:

• The ultimate consumer (a “pull strategy” encouraging purchase).
• The distribution channel (a “push strategy” encouraging the channels to stock the product).

This is usually known as “selling into the trade” Some customers show high level of involvement in sales promotion is to know about the features product, competitor’s product which replace the same product, price and discount offered for the product. Additional kit or benefit for the product, and to know what the new arrivals in the market are. Customers will also learn about he stores and its goodwill by such type of sales promotions.

Is a level of 75 per cent comprehension realistic among those who become aware of an ad? Why or why not? Results of the study showed that ad exposure was 75 per cent and ad awareness level was 68 per cent and was considered as high. Only 43 percent respondents exposed to and aware of the ad copy could accurately recall important details, such as the name of the store promoting the retail sale. Just 43 per cent correct interpretation was considered as low. Of those who could accurately interpret the ad copy, 32 per cent said they intended to respond by purchasing the advertised· products ‘ and 68per cent sad they had no intention to buy.This yields an overall intention to buy of 7 per cent. The largest area of lost opportunity was due to those who did not accurately interpret the ad copy. The post-promotion survey indicated that only 4.

2 per cent of the target market customers made purchases of the promoted products during the promotion period. In terms of how the buyers learned of the promotion, 46 per cent mentioned newspaper A (Hindi), 27 per cent newspaper B (Hindi), 8 per cent newspaper (English), and 15 per cent learned about sale through word-of mouth communication. Do you think such promotions are likely to influence the quality image of the retail store? Explain. Basically, promotion is first introduced in the 4Ps of marketing. The four Ps represents the marketing mix (Product, Price, Place ; Promotion) and the promotional mix is the important term used to explain the set of tools of the business. This is applied to achieve benefit of its products and services from its consumer and the followings are (Advertising, Public relation, Direct Marketing, Personal selling and Sales promotion) On the other hand consumer behaviour is another important aspect in the retail business sector.Consumers are not always normal/simple buyer.

There are many aspects involved in buying decision process. They hold strategic shopping manner at the time of buying a product or services from a company. The main aim and objective of this research is such promotions are likey to influence the qulity immage of the retials store. Such Sales promotion has a great impact and influence on consumer buying behaviour in the retails stores – based on Tesco retail store. Such sales promotion role has a great impact on consumer buying behaviour.It has a great and strong significance role on retail industry sector. Basically sales promotions strategies used as a short-term technique tool which principal objective is to influence the ultimate buyers to try a brand or change their mind to another brand.

Sales promotion represent to discount a brand, it can be directly or indirectly, directly price reduction or indirectly through coupons ; premiums. But when the retail stores withdraw the sales promotion, then the normal price should have had a inferior value and the result of this should have had a negative impact on consumer buying behavior.The study focuses the significant attitude, perception of the consumer behaviour and it reflects the consumer loyalty on the basis of customer relationship management. Here the findings and analysis have discovered the vital reason that impacts positively on consumer buying behaviour and in the sales volume. ———————– Need and Problem recognition Information Search Evaluation and Selection Decision Implementation Post Purchase Processes

Discuss factors that facilitate or impede helping behaviour In this essay we will discuss what defines behaviour/ helping behaviour, the social, environmental and biological influences that affect a person’s behaviour, pro-social behaviour, and the different factors that impede helping behaviour. Also Latane and Darley’s 1968 – 1980 experiments and studies that were conducted to understand human behaviour will be discussed, as well as the Kitty Genovese incident, in order to research into why help was not shown when there were so many people around.Behaviour can be defined as the actions or reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment. Behaviour can happen consciously or subconsciously, overt or covert, and can also be voluntary or involuntary to humans. Human behaviour can be common, unusual, acceptable or unacceptable. Helping behaviour refers to voluntary actions intended to help others.

It is a subcategory of pro-social behaviour; intentional act that helps or benefits another individual or group of individuals. This can be demonstrated by sharing, comforting, rescuing and helping.Altruistic behaviour is a subcategory of helping behaviour, which refers to pro-social behaviour that is carried out with the desire to benefit another without expectation of obtaining external or internal reward. According to the theory of universal egoism, people are fundamentally selfish and altruism is an impossibility, (Dovidio 1995, as cited in Gross 2001. ) However certain kinds of casual helping (McGuire, 1994) or low-cost altruism (Brown, 1986) seem to be fairly common, such as giving a stranger directions or telling them the time.Pro-social behaviour can be defined as behaviour that has positive social consequences and contributes to the physical or psychological well being of another person. It is thought that Kin Selection is a genetic response to supporting the broader gene pool.

Social conditioning can also have been a cause and pro-social parents lead to pro-social children. The reciprocity norm is when help is given to those who have given help to us in the past or where people help others, knowing that one day they may want someone to help them in the same unselfish way.This can affect people’s way of helping others. As well as the social exchange theory where human interactions are transactions that aim to maximize one’s reward and minimize one’s cost. Also the social responsibility norm is when we should help others who really need it, without regard to future exchanges. It must be remembered that a person’s mood influences whether they would help a person in need. People who are in a good mood are more likely to do good, compared with people who are feeling guilty.

But – if helping is likely to spoil our good mood, we might not help (Isen, 1984. ) Although if the bad mood is guilt and helping can relieve that, we might help. Also people in small towns are more likely to help than those squashed together in cities. Humans estimate the suitability of behaviour using social norms and adjust behaviour by way of social control. In biology, psychology and sociology, social behaviour is either behaviour directed towards society or taking place in between members of the same species.Social influences are considered the most likely factor for an individual to engage in helping behaviour. Social influences can be defined as the sum of all things that may change or affect a person’s behaviour, thoughts, feelings or actions.

Studies on social influences might centre on ways in which behaviour of individuals or a whole group is influenced by outside factors, a person’s outlook or simply how they appear. An example of these influences was demonstrated by Piliavin et al, 1969, when student experimenters would pretend to collapse in a subway compartment.They would fall to the floor and wait to see if they’d be helped. There were two conditions; some would be carrying a cane (known as the ‘lame’ condition), and others would wear a jacket which smelled very strongly of alcohol and carried a bottle in a brown paper bag (known as the ‘drunk’ condition. ) They found that help was offered much less often in the ‘drunk’ than in the ‘lame’ condition. This shows that the importance of difference is a social influence that determines whether a person helps a victim.Therefore the greater the victims’ injury, distress or disfigurement, or the more we disapprove of them or their undesirable behaviour, the more likely we are to perceive them as being different from ourselves.

This makes it less likely that we would offer help. Helping behaviour can also be effected by environmental factors, for instance different areas (rural or urban areas), culture differences, simple factors such as the time of day and also time; whether a person is busy, running late or heading somewhere.In order to see how the cost of time would affect helping behaviour Darley and Batson, 1973 (as cited in Gross, 2001) created an experiment called, “If you need help avoid a late Samaritan. ” This involved participants who were students at a theological seminary, who were instructed to present a talk in a nearby building. The students were halved; one half was told to speak about ‘The Good Samaritan’ while the other half were told to speak about jobs most enjoyed by seminary students. Then each student was told either a. He was ahead of schedule and had plenty of time, b.

He was right on schedule, or . He was late. On the way to their talk, each student passed a man slumped in a doorway, coughing and groaning. The percentages offering help were 63, 45 and ten for conditions a, b and c. Ironically, the results showed that on several occasions the ‘late’ students who were giving a talk about ‘The Good Samaritan’ literally stepped over the victim. This study shows that the cost of time is an important influence on whether an individual chooses to help. Also many studies have found that people tend to help others during daylight when there is no threat to their safety compared with night time.

Also personal factors are very strong influences on helping behaviour. The table below shows the costs of helping/ not helping in emergencies/ non-emergencies, and the likelihood/ type of intervention, as predicted by the arousal-cost-reward model (based on Piliavin et al, 1969. ) Costs of helping/not helping and likely outcome| Examples| Costs of helping are low| You’re unlikely to be injured yourself; the victim is only shocked. | Costs of helping are high| You’d feel guilty; other people would blame you. | Likelihood of intervention very high – and direct| |Costs of helping are high| You don’t like the sight of blood; you’re unsure what to do. | Costs of helping are high| It’s an emergency; the victim could die. | Likelihood of intervention fairly high – but indirect| Call for ambulance/police or ask another bystander to assist| Or redefine the situation| Ignore the victim and/ or leave the scene| Costs of helping are high| “This drunk could turn violent or throw up over me”| Costs of helping are low| “Who’d blame me for not helping? ”| Likelihood of intervention very low| Bystander may well turn away, change seats, walk away etc.

Costs of helping are low| “It wouldn’t hurt to help this blind man cross the road. ”| Costs of helping are low| “He seems capable of looking after himself; there’s very little traffic on the road. | Likelihood of intervention fairly high| Bystanders will vary, according to individual differences and how they perceive the norms operating in the particular situation. | Biological influences are factors concerning human instincts such as self preservation and survival. These influences are difficult to ignore because human instinct is to keep a person safe and out of harm’s way.Therefore there is more likelihood of helping a victim if there is no threat to the helper’s safety. But safety cannot be guaranteed and results in individuals not helping.

Campbell and Church, 1969, as cited in Gross 2001, believed that punishment is a stronger influence on behaviour compared with Skinner’s belief that reinforcement is a stronger influence. In March 1964, Kitty Genovese was attacked in a Queens’s parking lot at 3am. Thirty eight people were reported who watched from their windows, while she was beaten and stabbed to death over a half hour period.Not one bystander called the police until the attacker had fled. This incident raised much concern into why nobody helped. This led Latane and Darley, together with findings from their laboratory studies, to introduce the concept of the ‘unresponsive bystander’ or ‘bystander apathy’ to represent people’s typically uncaring attitude towards others in need of help. The American media thought it was remarkable that out of the thirty eight witnesses not one did anything to help, Latane and Darley believed that it was precisely because there were so many, Kitty Genovese was not helped.

In result to this incident Latane and Darley researched into how the number of bystanders would affect helping behaviour. They found that 90% of the time, a lone bystander was more likely to help than when many people were around. One study was confederates would drop pencils or coins in an elevator and would see if people would help them pick it up. The results were, if only one person was in the elevator, the confederate received help 40% of the time. Only this figure dropped to 20% when six other people were in the elevator. The question “Why does more people = less help? ” is answered with three factors.The first factor is noticing.

Another of Latane and Darley’s studies shows that any given bystander is less likely to notice the incident as the number of bystanders increase. For example, their 1970 experiment was having men fill out a survey by themselves or in a group. Whilst they completed their survey, smoke would start pouring into the room through a vent. After four minutes of smoke, 75% of subjects who were alone reported the smoke to the researcher, while only 12% of the subjects in the group reported it. This supports there theory of “more people = less help. ” The second factor is interpretation.This means the more people that are around, the less likely any will interpret the situation as an emergency.

In the smoke experiment, only 3 of 8 groups reported the smoke. Humans use other people’s behaviour to help measure what the reality of the situation is. The third factor is responsibility. In 1968, Latane and Darley produced another study. Subjects were told they were supposed to discuss problems with University Life. Each subject was put into separate rooms and was told to talk over the intercom. They were also told that no one would be listening to their conversations.

During the discussion, one of the ‘subjects’ began having an epileptic fit and pleaded for help. When the subjects believed they were the only other person in the discussion, 85% left the room to help. However when subjects believed that there were four other people having the discussion, only 31% went to help. This again supports the notion of ‘more people = less help. ’ As cited in R. Gross 2001, Psychology, The Science of Mind and Behaviour, according to Latane and Darley’s 1970 decision model, before someone helps another, that person must: * Notice that something is wrong, * Define it as a situation requiring help, Decide whether to take personal responsibility, * Decide what kind of help to give, * Implement the decision to intervene. This symbolizes a logical sequence of steps, showing that a negative response at any one step means that the bystander won’t intervene.

(See appendix 1 for Decision Model. ) In conclusion, helping in the form of pro-social behaviour has been studied largely in the form of bystander intervention. The murder of Kitty Genovese, together with early laboratory experiments by Latane and Darley supports the notions that when there are more people around, help is less likely to be given.Also that there are many influences that affect helping behaviour, whether it is biological, environmental or social. Nevertheless, altruism is definitely not impossible and humans are not fundamentally selfish. Future research should look into whether gender affects helping behaviour or age, for example, is an adult between 21-30 more prone to help someone rather than a teenager.

Health is an indefinite perception. It is derived from a Greek word that means “whole” which is interpreted as “wholeness, being whole, sound or well.” This concept of wholeness is open to broad explanation that can be referred as the individual’s health as well as the health of a population or public. In 1948, health was defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or in?rmity.” (Spark, Dinour; Obenchain, 2015)

The physical and socio-economic environment, in which we sit or move within, is rapidly changing circumstances of our daily lives. These alterations in transportation, communications, places of work and technologies for amusement have remarkably reduced demands for physical activity. However, this decrease in the physical activity due to environmental setup is related with health-affecting behavior or lifestyle changes.

The word sedentary is derived from the Latin word sedere, which means “to sit”. Sedentary behaviors include sitting during shuttling, in the place of work and the home, and during resting time. The energy-expenditure range of watching TV, using computer, or travelling in an automobile usually are in 1.0 to 1.5 METs (multiples of the basal metabolic rate). Therefore, sedentary behaviors are those that include sitting and low levels of energy expenditure.

Contrarily, medium-to-energetic physical activity for example bicycling, swimming, walking, or running may be completed in a various position of body, but need an energy expenditure of 3 to 8 METs. In this viewpoint, light intensity activity behaviors are those done while standing, but that involves expenditure of no more than 2.9 METS. Inactive or sedentary behaviors (usually in frame of reference of watching TV, surfing on computer, laptop, tablet or cellphones and play stations, workplace sitting, and time spent in automobiles) have arisen as a new emphasis for investigation on physical activity and health.

The researcher showed, initial findings on the metabolic associates of elongated time of watching TV have since been assured by current objective-measurement studies, which also demonstration that eliminating the time we spend inactive can be beneficial towards health. Furthermore, the researcher elaborated current studies from Canada, Australia, and the United States, which illustrate probable associations between sedentary behaviors with premature mortality.

Significantly, grown-ups can encounter public-health strategies on physical activity, but if they continued to pursue sedentary lifestyle, their metabolic health is at risk. However, it can be resolved yet with a high degree of assurance that these adverse effects on health are exclusively due to inactivity most of the time in a day, or if what has been witnessed so far can be clarified by too little, light, medium, and/or energetic activity.

The modern guidelines for grown-ups on Physical Activity and Public Health from the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association “clearly states that the advised duration of aerobic activity (either of medium- or energetic) besides routinely activities of a day are of low frequency, such as self-care, casual walk or going to market place, or less than 10 min of period such as walking to the parking lot or taking out the garbage”. Logically, performing various routine activities like this could play a role in scaling down the inactive time.

According to the researchers argument sedentary behavior is not merely the absence of medium-to-energetic physical activity, but preferably is a distinctive set of activities, with distinctive environmental factors and a range of possibly exclusive health outcomes. It may have an impact on Obesity and other metabolic precursors of major chronic diseases including Type 2 diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease, and Breast and Colon Cancer. (Owen, Healy, Matthews, ; Dunstan, 2010) Various researches have studied the connection between health behaviors and health outcomes and have explained their contribution in both morbidity and mortality.

In the first study related to that, seven characteristics of lifestyle were recognized which were linked with lesser morbidity and greater successive long-standing persistence include: not smoking, moderate alcohol consumption, sleeping up to 7–8 hour minimum, exercising on a regular basis, keeping up an ideal body weight, cutting off snacks, and eating breakfast on a regular basis.

Health behaviors also have an influence upon a person’s quality of life, by postponing the beginning of chronic disease and prolonging dynamic lifetime. Smoking, intake of alcohol, diet, breaks in primary care services and low screening uptake are all important factors of poor health, and alteration in such behaviors should prompt better-quality health. For example, in the USA, Healthy People 2000 lists greater physical activity, alteration in nutrition and decrease in tobacco, alcohol and drug usage, significant in health promotion and disease prevention.

Four healthy lifestyle characteristics (HLCs) are as follows:

• Nonsmoking
• Healthy weight
• Fruit and vegetable consumption and Regular physical activity
• No or low alcohol consumption (Conner & Norman, 2005)

Health behaviors are activities carried out by people to improve or keep up their health. Health practice is a health behavior that is strongly developed and frequently executed automatically, without being aware. These habits are generally established from infancy and start to stabilize near 11 or 12 years of age. Wearing a seat belt, brushing teeth, and eating a nutritious diet in frequent small meals are examples of these types of behaviors.

Even though a health habit may establish early because it is reinforced by positive consequences, such as parental authorization, it consequently becomes free from the reinforcement process. For example, you may brush your teeth unconsciously before going to sleep. As such, habits can be highly sturdy to change. As a consequence, it is significant to developed good health behaviors and to eradicate poor ones in childhood. A demonstration of the significance of good health habits was provided by a study of people living in Alameda County, California, carried out by Belloc and Breslow. These scientists imposed on numerous vital health practices:

• Sleeping 7 to 8 hours a night
• Not smoking
• Eating breakfast each day
• Having no more than one or two alcoholic drinks each day
• Getting regular exercise
• Not eating between meals
• Being no more than 10 percent overweight (Taylor, 2015)

Freudenberg proposes following 10 ways, some corresponding, to encourage health, particularly in city areas but also applied to suburban, ex-urban, and rural settings:

1. Give access to quality primary care.
2. Increase health knowledge (this, presumably, would contribute to the next point).
3. Reduce risky behaviors.
4. Increase social support
5. Reduce stigma and marginalization.
6. Advocate health-promoting policies.
7. Improve urban physical environments
8. Meet basic needs
9. Create supportive social environments
10. Reduce income inequality (Spark et al., 2015)

It is not clear whether the worldwide increase in weight complications in children is the result of abundant energy consumption and lesser energy expenditure. Methodological restrictions have made it hard to evaluate. There is proof that at least part of the issue may lie within increasing energy intake, but it is significant to study the other side of the energy equation too.

Though, it is impossible to decisively elaborate physical activity trends because of the lack of appropriate baseline data. One solution is to summate all existing proof in as many areas of routine activities as possible and then deduce preliminary inferences. This review sums up existing trend data on direct depictions of physical activity in a range of perspectives, collectively with indirect measures such as sedentariness, fitness, and approaches.

The results inferred are: physical activity in obviously distinct perspectives such as active transport, physical education in school, and organized sports is declining in many countries; young people would like to be active but are often refrained by environmental factors such as rules and regulations of school, parental concerns in relation to safety and convenience, and physical environmental factors. (Dollman, Norton, & Norton, 2005)

Socio-ecological models that explain the interactive features of individuals and surroundings that underlie health consequences have long been suggested to lead public health practice. The degree, to which such references have been applied in promoting health interventions, is still uncertain.

The authors established a coding system to classify the ecological levels that health promotion programs approach and then applied this system to 157 intervention articles from the past 20 years of Health Education & Behavior. Overall, articles were more likely to specify interventions that imposed on individual and interpersonal factors, despite of institutional, community, or policy factors.

Interventions that focused on specific topics such as nutrition and physical activity or occurred in certain settings (schools) more effectively accepted a social ecological target. Health education theory, research, and training may need to be improved to promote better efficacious struggles to alter social and political environments to enhance health. (Golden & Earp, 2012)

References

1. Conner, M., & Norman, P. (2005). Health Behaviors: Predicting health behaviors: Research and practice with social cognition models. Berkshire: Open University Press.
2. Dollman, J., Norton, K., & Norton, L. (2005). Evidence for secular trends in children’s physical activity behaviour. Br J Sports Med, 39(12), 892-897; discussion 897. doi: 10.1136/bjsm.2004.016675
3. Golden, S. D., ; Earp, J. A. L. (2012). Social Ecological Approaches to Individuals and Their Contexts:Twenty Years of Health Education ; Behavior Health Promotion Interventions. Health Education ; Behavior, 39(3), 364-372. doi: 10.1177/1090198111418634
4. Owen, N., Healy, G. N., Matthews, C. E., ; Dunstan, D. W. (2010). Too much sitting: the population-health science of sedentary behavior. Exercise and sport sciences reviews, 38(3), 105.
5. Spark, A., Dinour, L. M., ; Obenchain, J. (2015). Nutrition in public health: principles, policies, and practice: CRC Press.
   Taylor, S. E. (2015). Health psychology.