Developing a Drug-Free Lifestyle to Maintain Abstinence

Developing a Drug-Free Lifestyle to Maintain Abstinence Addiction Coping and Recovery Overcoming Addiction Print Developing a Drug-Free Lifestyle to Maintain Abstinence By Buddy T facebook twitter Buddy T is an anonymous writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Learn about our editorial policy Buddy T Updated on September 20, 2019 Maskot / Getty Images More in Addiction Coping and Recovery Overcoming Addiction Methods and Support Personal Stories Alcohol Use Addictive Behaviors Drug Use Nicotine Use If you are trying to maintain abstinence from alcohol or drugs over a long period of time, it is important to develop a drug-free lifestyle in all aspects of your lifeâ€"at home, at work and during your leisure hours. If you sought treatment from a professional rehab program for your alcohol or drug problem, one of the most important objectives of your continuing or follow-up care is to help you learn to replace your previous destructive behaviors with more healthy and productive alternatives. Supportive Friends and Family One of the first steps in developing a drug-free lifestyle is to avoid those people who were directly involved in your former drinking or drug-using lifestyleâ€"those who helped you get drugs, use drugs or were your drinking buddies. Many addicts find that in order to develop a substance-free lifestyle, they must develop new friendships, social patterns, and leisure activities. Your rehab counselor will try to help you identify drug-free supportive friends and family members and encourage you to improve those relationships and participate in recreational activities with them, to replace the time that you spent drug-seeking and using. If you do not have drug-free friends or loved ones, your counselor will encourage you to become involved in new social groups and make new, supportive friends. Developing a Structured Schedule Another important aspect of developing a drug-free lifestyle is to develop a structured daily schedule that you can consistently follow. Structure and organization in your life can be your best friends in recovery, while a chaotic and disorganized lifestyle can be your enemy. When you were in the early abstinence stage of your rehab program, your counselor probably worked with you then to establish daily and/or weekly schedule to help you begin to structure your time and to replace your drug-seeking and using activities with healthy alternatives. In the maintaining abstinence phase of your recovery, it is important not to abandon that structured schedule or deviate from it on a regular basis. Developing Larger, Expanded Goals While maintaining your sobriety remains a high priority in your life, in order to develop a long-term drug-free lifestyle, it is helpful to identify larger goals for your future. Now that you have achieved more than 90 days of abstinence, you will probably begin to develop larger, long-term goals such as going back to school, changing career paths or saving toward financial goals. Identifying other goals for your life and developing a plan to achieve those goals can play an important role in helping you develop and maintain a drug-free lifestyle. Your follow-up counselor will help you learn how to work toward these goals within the context of your new recovering lifestyle. Developing Spirituality If you have participated in a 12-step group as part of your rehab program, you have probably already been introduced to the concept of spirituality, which has nothing to do with religious practices or dogma. Spirituality, as it relates to recovery, means developing values in your life and having altruistic goalsâ€"reaching beyond yourself to find fulfillment and happiness. Spirituality can be an important factor in any successful recovery program. It involves connecting to a power that extends beyond the concerns of daily living. Your counselor will encourage you to become involved in efforts greater than yourself such as doing service work for your support group, becoming more involved in your religious organization, doing community service or volunteering for charity work. Your counselor will not try to define any higher power for youâ€"that will be left entirely up to you, but research has shown that developing a drug-free lifestyle can be enhanced by relating to a power that is transcendent and greater than yourself.

The Effects Of Smoking On Children s Health Before And...

Smoking While Pregnant Smoking while pregnant is a known teratogen. For those who don’t know, a teratogen is an agent or factor that causes malformation of an embryo. Smoking is very bad for a baby’s health before and after your baby is born. Many people don’t understand the importance of this, nor do they understand that not only does an unborn child get the smoke, but all the chemicals in a cigarette as well. Cigarettes contain more than 4,000 chemicals, like nicotine, cyanide, lead, carbon monoxide, and tar. Not to mention at least 60 cancer causing chemicals. 20-30% of low birth weight babies, 14% premature labors, and 10% of infant deaths are caused from smoking during pregnancy according to American Lung Association. Smoking increases the risk of pregnancy complications at any and every stage of a pregnancy. Second hand and third hand smoke is just as bad if not worse for an unborn child and yourself as first hand smoke is. Almost everyone is exposed to ci garette smoke, whether it be first hand smoking a cigarette, or getting second hand smoke from others smoking around you. Also third hand smoke, most people don’t think much of it, but third hand smoke is made up of gases and toxins that build up each time a cigarette is smoked. Third hand smoke sticks to furniture, carpet, walls, clothes, skin, and many other things. None of these kinds of smokes are good for a person let alone an unborn child. That being said it makes it really hard to stay away from smokeShow MoreRelatedSmoking Is Dangerous For Everyone1535 Words   |  7 PagesElizabeth Keyishian, Author of Everything you Need to Know About Smoking writes that â€Å"Smoking is dangerous for everybody, but there are special health risk for women. Lung cancer has replaced breast cancer as the leading killer disease for women.†(Keyishian). Remember the warning label on the cigarette passage states that, â€Å"‘Smoking by pregnant women may result in fetal inj ury, premature birth, and low birth weight.’†(Keyishian). Smoking may not seem like a big deal yet, but once a girl or woman startsRead MoreEac Research Paper. â€Å"Where There’S Smoke, There’S Fire!†1085 Words   |  5 Pagesfire!† Smoking can be very detrimental to one’s health, something about which many of us Saudi smokers are either unaware of or do not care. Furthermore, numerous men in my country use cigarettes, and some of us have smoked from a young age. Smoking can cause many problems for people of any age, even if they do not utilize tobacco themselves. Frequently, death, doom and destruction are what come to people’s minds when cigarettes come to mind. I have personally witnessed the evils of smoking, someRead MoreA Brief Note On Drug Use On Infants1572 Words   |  7 Pages(Gaither 1). In simpler terms, drug use not only affects their own lives but also affects the lives of their unborn children. For the sake of enjoyment or recklessness, a woman is willing to put her unborn child at risk of birth defects or even death. Illegal drugs are a common thing that most people use. Since all drugs, even over the counter medications, can leave a lasting effect on an unborn child, pregnant women should be prevented from having access to these drugs. Peer pressure plays a bigRead MoreSmoking Is A Well Known Habit1354 Words   |  6 PagesSmoking is a well known habit. Many people smoke despite its obvious and widely advertised deleterious effects on health. Smoking is not only bad for the immediate users, but also the people surrounding them. It is an addiction that can effect others without their consent. Not only is it unhealthy physically but also a very expensive habit. It costs millions a year, and that is just to buy enough cigarettes to satisfy your addiction, not counting the cost of medical care needed, renovations of homesRead MoreThe Effects Of Smoking During Breastfeeding On Children2052 Words   |  9 PagesSmoking during breastfeeding affects a lot to the health of your baby as the smoke favors the occurrence of respiratory diseases and increases the risk of sudden death. During pregnancy, often you hear how harmful smoking is to the development of your baby. Premature birth, low birth weight, and disorders in their respiratory system are just some of the negative effects. Once your child is born and the process of breastfeeding starts, this article will help you immensely with its recommendationsRead MoreThe Dangers Of Smoking Tobacco Smoking1547 Words   |  7 Pagescannot tackle what you are unaware of, the first step in decreasing tobacco smoking is to identify who the smokers are. These could be potential or current users of tobacco and tobacco products or people who are affected by environmental smoke also known as secondhand smoke. Health care providers cannot stop or reduce usage in a patient if they do not know whether the patient is a beginner or a current user. In the health care system, the family physicians are usually the primary contact point. DuringRead MoreEssay on Smoking in Public Spaces Should be Banned2013 Words   |  9 Pages Imagine you and your family are at a nice restaurant, waiting to enjoy a great meal, or so you think. As you lean in to take that first bite, a puff of smoke surrounds you, your family, and your food. How pleasant is this? A big topic being brought to attention these days is whether or not smoking should be banned from all restaurants and other public areas. Smoking in public areas should be taken into close consideration. There are many reasons of why this is brought to attention. TheseRead MoreBanning Cigarettes : Symbolic Inhalation Of Death1406 Words   |  6 Pagesstresses of life; to make easier a journey by bringing a certain end closer with each breath; but do we even care? Do we even care about our well-being? Do we even care about the environment? Do we really want our children smoking cigarettes? Don’t you want to live long enough to see your grandchildren grow up. Seeing them take their first steps, Saying their first words, having the experience of having those warm embracing hugs with them? Being able to be by their side when they feel like they’reRead MoreTeen Pregnacy2223 Words   |  9 Pagestheir children in harm’s way. Starting the moment they become pregnant their chances of having health risk, during the pregnancy has already begun. There are several consequences and health risks that effect teens during and after pregnancy such as: gaining too much weight, not gaining enough weight, use of drugs, alcohol and smoking, infections caused by STDs, lack of nutrition, premature birth, death, substandard or insufficient education, abuse and neglect, crime and having more children. EffectsRead MoreTransforming Vain Danger: Second Hand Smoke and the Abject 1854 Words   |  7 PagesCoughing, wheezing, and faint cries of an infant; all are sounds of children affected by their parents’ terrible habit: smoking. Secondhand smoke affects everyone nearby, everyone breathes in those horrible chemicals found in cigarettes. What a smoker does to themselves is a personal matter, but what they do to a non-smoker is different. New laws in Texas can help protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke, as well as the harmful effects it causes. Secondhand smoke has many classifications, a well known

Plato’S Euthyphro. Questions About Morality Are At The

Plato’s Euthyphro Questions about morality are at the very center of heated debates and discussions surrounding the topic of religion. This theme, the potential interlinking between religion and morality, is explored by Plato in his work Euthyphro. The foundational question that Plato asks is how is something determined to be good or moral: through independent reasoning or by divine prescription. I believe that the only rational position to take on the issue is to conclude that morality must be separate from religion. This position, however, spawns many questions about what role religion does have in life. Ultimately, I believe that having an independent morality standard does change the way religion is used, but religion is still an†¦show more content†¦But Socrates is not interested in this specific case but more generally what is categorized as holy or unholy. Euthyphro finally gives Socrates an answer by saying â€Å"what is agreeable to the god is holy, and what is not agreeable to them is unholy.† This answer leads to an important point that Aristotle makes in his attempt to undermine Euthyphro’s argument. Socrates takes Euthyphro’s answer as to what is generally holy and unholy and tests the theory to a world of quarrelling gods to expose the inadequacy of morality based on religion. Socrates simply summarizes Euthyphro’s response as â€Å"A thing or person loved-by-the-gods is holy, whereas something or someone hated-by-the-gods is unholy.† But Socrates is curious about circumstances where the gods might disagree and by what means can a thing or person be both loved and hated by the gods leading to the establishment of a thing as both holy and unholy. This would by definition render the entire generalized argument of Euthyphro wrong. Socrates walks Euthyphro through the various reason why the gods have a good reason to disagree given their own nature and the nature of beings in general. This is an impor tant point for the times that Plato is living given a predominant focus on a polytheistic world, but I would argue it still has implications for monotheistic believers in the modern world. Modern day Christians have to contend with two other veryShow MoreRelatedThe Divine Command Theory : Capital Punishment And Abortion Essay1128 Words   |  5 Pagesconforms to God’s will. This premise ties together morality and religion in a manner that seems expected, since it provides a solution to arguments about moral relativism and the objectivity of ethics. On the other hand, in Plato’s Euthyphro, Socrates questions whether something is right because God commands it, or whether God commands it because it is right. The ethical implications of the Euthyphro problem suggest that the relationship between morality and religion might not be as straightforward asRead MoreThe Dilemma Of The Euthyphro Dilemma952 Words   |  4 PagesThe Euthyphro Dilemma gives the readers many good points to understand relativism about morality and connect with religion. Also, this is these dialogues between Euthyphro and Socrates, and it find out in the Plato’s dialogue. In the Euthyphro, Socrates asks whether a thing is pious (or good or right) because it is loved by the Gods (or, in its secular form, ‘loved by someone’), or is a thing loved by the Gods (or someone) because it is pious (or good) (Plato, 1981, 10a); it can be considered oneRead MorePlato s Laws And Xenophon s Hiero1365 Words   |  6 PagesPractically in all his discourses, Plato wrote about the works of Socrates that acted as the main persona in his confabs. In Plato’s laws and Xenophon’s Hiero, a further wise man other than Socrates acted as the leader of the discourse. While having protagonist confabs in Plato’s and Xenophon’s works, Socrates tries to interrogate understanding of the further man on the aspect of morality. Socrates presented himself as a les s knowledgeable person in the domain of moral issues to confuse the otherRead MoreEssay on Platos Euthyphro578 Words   |  3 PagesPlatos Euthyphro One of the most interesting and influential thinkers of all time was Socrates, whose dedication to careful reasoning helped form the basis for philosophy. Socrates applied logical tricks in the search for the truth. Consequently, his willingness to call everything into question and his determination to accept nothing less than an accurate account of the nature of things made him one of the first people to apply critical philosophy. AlthoughRead MoreThe Dilemma Of The Euthyphro Dilemma1739 Words   |  7 PagesThe Euthyphro Dilemma proposes the question of whether something is good because God desires it, or God desires those things because they are good. This in turn challenges the Theism which believes that God is both morally virtuous and antecedent to good. In this essay, I will first examine the dilemma and argue that it is ultimately weak; that the two options presented are not exhaustive like the dilemma assumes. Thus, Theists do not have to make a decision between these choices. This leads to theRead MorePlato s Euthyphro And Apology893 Words   |  4 PagesPhilosophers are known to question, analyze and evaluate everything but do not always end with concrete conclusions. Plato’s Euthyphro and Apology, to no surprise, highlight one of such debate: the human characteristics of wisdom. Though Plato was one of the earliest philosophers, the topic of wisdom is still debated by modern philosophers today, contemplating questions such as â€Å"What are the classifications of ‘wisdom’?† According to Plato’s two dialogues, the characteristics of wisdom have a strongRead MoreThe Euthyphro, By Socrates And Euthyphro1733 Words   |  7 PagesBackground: Plato’s paradigmatic dialogue, Euthyphro, may be considered the epitome of Socrates’ mastery of philosophy. In this dialogue, Socrates and Euthyphro converse on the porch of King Archon, who oversees religious laws. They both state why they are there and try to justify themselves to each other. While doing this, they circumvent about the matter of what piety exactly means. Euthyphro, having the reputation of being divine and pious, told Socrates that he is indeed an expert in theseRead MoreEssay on The Euthyphro Dilemma1554 Words   |  7 PagesThe Euthyphro Dilemma In Platos dialogue, Euthyphro, Socrates presents Euthyphro with a choice: `Is what is pious loved by the gods because it is pious, or is it pious because it is loved [by the gods]? Euthyphro responds by asserting that piety is that which is approved [loved] or sanctioned by the gods; whence impiety is whatever is disapproved of by the gods. However, as Socrates points out, the question poses a dilemma for those who believe as Euthyphro does that Truth is revealedRead MorePlato And Plato s The Apology1623 Words   |  7 Pagesphilosophy, pre-Socratic philosophers were more interested in determining how the world worked and its origins/cosmology, as oppose to philosophers such as Plato And Socrates who focused more on ethics or morality. Plato’s conception of God and religion can be depicted in his literatures â€Å"Euthyphro† and â€Å"The Apology† which he expresses through his writings of Socrates in dialogue formation. While one may assume that both Plato and Socrates shared analogous notions of God and religion it is impossibleRead MoreThe Divine Command Theory And The Doctrine Dilemma Essay1448 Words   |  6 Pages– The Divine Command Theory is the idea that morality is ingrained in the nature and command of God, and the Euthyphro Dilemma is one of the most common arguments refuting the Divine Command Theory. The argument was inspired by Plato’s Euthyphro dialogue, which contains the question â€Å"Are morally good acts willed by god because they are morally good? Or are morally good acts, morally good because they are willed by god?† (Euthyphro, 10a). This question raises large problems for the Divine Command

Rate Equation and Order Reaction Free Essays

Top of Form 1. For the overall hypothetical reaction A + 5B —gt; 4C the rate of appearance of C given by may also be expressed as: A. B. We will write a custom essay sample on Rate Equation and Order Reaction or any similar topic only for you Order Now C. D. 2. For the reaction 4 NH3(g) + 5 O2(g) —gt; 4 NO(g) + 6 H2O(g), the value of -[NH3]/t = 2. 6 x 10-3 M/s at a particular time. What is the value of -[O2]/t at the same instant? A. 1. 3 x 10-2 M/s B. 2. 08 x 10-3 M/s C. 2. 6 x 10-3 M/s D. 3. 25 x 10-3 M/s E. 520 M/s 3. What is the overall order for the following reaction between acetone and iodine? The experimental rate law is rate = k [CH3COCH3] [H3O+] ) CH3COCH3(aq) + I2(aq) +H2O —gt; CH3COCH2I(aq) + H3O+(aq) + I-(aq) A. 0 B. 1 C. 2 D. 3 E. 4 4. Nitric oxide (NO) reacts with hydrogen (H2) according to the equation: 2 NO(g) + 2 H2(g) —gt; N2(g) + 2 H2O(g) The following initial rates of reaction have been measured for the given reactant concentrations. Expt. # | NO | H2 | Rate (M/hr)| 1 | 0. 010 | 0. 020 | 0. 020| 2 | 0. 015 | 0. 020 | 0. 030| 3 | 0. 010 | 0. 010 | 0. 005| Which of the following is the rate law (rate equation) for this reaction? A. rate = k[NO]2 [H2] B. rate = k[NO] [H2]2 C. rate = k[NO] [H2 ]4 D. ate = k[NO] [H2] E. rate = k[NO]1/2 [H2]1/4 5. A certain first order reaction A —gt; B is 46 % complete in 68 min at 25Â °C. What is its rate constant? A. 9. 06 x 10-3 min-1 B. 1. 14 x 10-2 min-1 C. 31 min-1 D. -1. 14 x 10-2 min-1 E. 51 min-1 6. What is the value of the rate constant for a first order reaction for which the half-life is 26. 7 min? A. 18. 5 min-1 B. 38. 5 min-1 C. 9. 25 min-1 D. 19. 3 min-1 E. 0. 026 min-1 7. A reaction which is second order has a rate constant of 1. 0 x 10-3 LÂ · mol-1 Â ° sec-1. If the initial concentration of the reactant is 0. 200 M, how long will it take for the concentration to become 0. 250 M? A. 4. 0 x 104 s B. 3. 5 x 104 min C. 3. 5 x 104 s D. 8000 s E. 3. 5 x 10-2 s 8. What is the half life of the previous second order reaction? A. 200 s B. 5000 s C. 0. 005 s D. 2 x 10-4 s E. none of the above 9. For the chemical reaction A —gt; C, a plot of ln[A] versus time is found to give a straight line with a negative slope. What is the order of the reaction? A. third B. second C. first D. zero E. such a plot cannot reveal the order of reaction 10. What is the slope of an Arrhenius plot for the following reaction? CH3CHO(g) —gt; CH4(g) + CO(g) Temp (K); k (LÂ ·mol-1Â ·s-1) 700; 0. 11 730; 0. 035 790; 0. 343 A. 7. 86 x 10-2 L mol-1 s-1/K B. 2. 89 x 10-3 K C. -2. 87 x 103 K D. 3. 23 x 10-4 K E. -2. 32 x 104 K 11. The rate c onstant of a first order reaction is 3. 68 x 10-2 s-1 at 150Â °C. What is the rate constant at 170Â °C if the activation energy for the reaction is 71 kJ/mol? A. 9. 16 x 10-2 s-1 B. 3. 68 x 10-2 s-1 C. 10. 92 s-1 D. -4. 04 x 10-2 s-1 E. 2. 46 x 101 s-1 12. A catalyst increases the rate of a reaction by A. increasing the enthalpy of the reaction B. lowering the activation energy C. raising the activation energy D. decreasing the enthalpy of the reaction 13. For the following exothermic reaction, the rate law at 298 K is: Rate = k [H2] [I2] ———– H2(g) + I2(g) –gt; 2 HI(g) Addition of a catalyst would effect the initial rate of the reaction by: A. increasing the rate of the forward reaction B. increasing the rate of both forward and reverse reactions C. increasing the rate of the reverse reaction D. causing no increase or decrease in the rate of reaction E. none of the above 14. If the rate of the reaction PCl5 —gt; PCl3 + Cl2 is increased a factor of four by doubling the concentration of PCl5, the rate law: A. depends on the concentrations of PCl3 and Cl2 B. is first order with respect to PCl5 C. is second order with respect to PCl5 D. is fourth order with respect to PCl5 15.. Consider the reaction of CH3Cl with hydroxide ion CH3Cl + OH- –gt; CH3OH + Cl- At some temperature the following data are collected: Initial conc| rate after 1 min| [CH3Cl]| [OH-| | 0. 1 M| 0. 1 M| 1 x 10-4 mole/L| 0. 2 M| 0. 1 M| 2 x 10-4 mole/L| 0. 1 M| 0. 2 M| 2 x 10-4 mole/L| A. The reaction is first order with respect to methyl chloride B. The reaction is first order with respect to hydroxide ion C. The reaction is second order overall D. All of the above How to cite Rate Equation and Order Reaction, Papers

Sectionalism 1820-1860 Essays - Slavery In The United States

Sectionalism 1820-1860 The South ? low immigration, huge income disparity, replicated Medieval Europe A.Cotton Kingdom ? 1788 ? South dying, overworked land, unmarketable products a.Slavery increased ? Eli Whitney ? Cotton Gin i.Increased labor also improved Northern shipping industry b.? cotton in world from the South, England 75% from South i.England economy depended on Southern cotton B.Planter Aristocracy ? ?cottonocracy? ? oligarchy ? few control many a.Biggest planters controlled social, political, economic life b.Received finest education ? statesmen who served public i.Public education suffers c.Women bought into system ? controlled households C.Poor whites ? accepted system, dream of moving up, needed racial superiority D.Scotch Irish ? Appalachian Mountains ? ?white trash? ? civilization ignored E.Nature of Slavery a.One 20th century view ? slavery ending, owners paternalistic, blacks naturally inferior ? need to be taken care of 1.Not true ? economically still expanding, not dying 2.1954 Slavery compares to concentration camps 3.Paternalistic ? selfish method just to get more labor 4.Slaves fake ?Sambo? laziness as method of coping/rebel b.Black women must balance as white caregiver, laborer, family anchor The North ? industry, manufacturing, heavy immigration ? urbanized A. Immigration ? 95% came to the North a. Irish ? NY/Boston ? low skilled labor ? left due to potato famine b. German ? left due to crop failures, democracy failure of 1848 revolution 1. Midwest ? contributed - gave US literature, kindergarten, Xmas tree The West ? young attracted, adventurous opportunities ? life actually sucks A.Gradually destroyed land ? overworked, just moved on ? pushed out Indians, animals B.Frontier ? belief that you can always start out fresh out West C.More equality for women, supply and demand, they can leave if not treated properly D.Squatters ? simply move to land, build house, claim property ? hard to kick off

How You Would Develop An Attitude Measure Using Either The Thurstone Method Or The Likert Method Essays

How You Would Develop An Attitude Measure Using Either The Thurstone Method Or The Likert Method Essays How You Would Develop An Attitude Measure Using Either The Thurstone Method Or The Likert Method Paper How You Would Develop An Attitude Measure Using Either The Thurstone Method Or The Likert Method Paper Essay Topic: As You Like it Sociology There is no single, universally accepted definition of attitude. However, several authors seem to agree that attitude may be thought of in terms of a tendency to evaluate a stimulus with some degree of favour of disfavour, usually expressed in cognitive, affective, or behavioural responses (Watkins, Christopher Attitude Measurement: A Methodological Approach. Unpublished Essay). Thurstone is considered the father of attitude measurement. He addressed the issue of how favourable an individual is with regard of a given issue. He developed an attitude continuum to determine the position of favourability on the issue. In 1932, Likert developed the method of summated ratings (or Likerts scale), which is still widely used. The Likert scale requires that individuals tick on a box to report whether they strongly agree, agree, are undecided, disagree, or strongly disagree, in response to a large number of items concerning an attitude object or stimulus. In 1944, Guttman suggested multidimensional scales, as opposed to one-dimensional scales such as those developed by Thurstone and Likert, should measure that attitude. Guttman pointed out that there should be a multidimensional view of the attitude construct; he developed the Scalogram Analysis, Cumulative Scaling, or as usually called, Guttman scaling. The major characteristic of this scale is that the responses to one item help predict the responses to other items. For instance, if the individual responds negatively to the item I like oranges, he is not likely to respond positively to the item Oranges are great for breakfast. Later on, Osgood, Suci, and Tannenbaum developed the Semantic Differential Technique, which is widespread today. Other methods have been developed since. What it is important to point out is that each development has resulted in an extension of the attitude construct, there appear to be a lot of commonalities among the different methods. Thurstone is the social psychologist who first created attitude-measurement methodology. Thurstone scales are still the main way to measure attitude. Thurstones method involved defining and identifying the object, then making a pool of opinion statements, some positive, some negative, some neutral. Thurstone developed 3 scales for measuring attitude. * Paired Comparisons This method requires that attitude comparisons be paired in every possible combination. Since 20 statements will result in the judging of 190 pairs, this method is a lot of work. * Equal-appearing intervals. Judges sort statements one at a time on a range of extremely favourable to extremely unfavourable. It is much like Likert scaling, but neutral items are required to incorporate the entire spectrum of attitude about an object. * Successive intervals. This is an extension to the equal-appearing intervals scaling. It tries to statistically place items on a continuum instead of relying on subjective answers given by judges. It uses the number of times different judges rate a statement to develop the rank order for the scales. I will be focusing on using the Thurstone method to develop my attitude measurement. The Thurstone procedure for scaling attitudes has been developed out of the principles of psychophysics. While the individualisation of the attitude has been documented elsewhere it is notable that Thurstone recognised the potential of a metric scaling of attitudes which give descriptions of and comparisons between social categories. He outlined four uses of mean values on a scale: 1. The average or mean attitude of a particular individual on the issue at stake. 2. The range of opinion that the individual is willing to accept or tolerate. 3. The relative popularity of each attitude of the scale for a designated group as shown by the frequency distribution for that group 4. The degree of homogeneity or heterogeneity on the issues as shown by the spread or dispersion of its frequency distribution. The first two uses focus on the individual and the second two on the social representations. Commenting on a comparative judgemental task Thurstone says that the results describe as much a group of respondents as the groups view of the stimulus. Scale values, he argued, could also be used to compare several different groups in their attitudes on a disputed issue. I will be applying my discussion on the topic of legalisation of cannabis. This issue is and always has been debated by almost everyone who knows about drugs. Attitudes of people have changed either for or against legalisation and I will hope to devise a scale which measures these attitudes. As stated earlier, I will be basing my scale on the Thurstone method as this is seen to be more reliable than the Likert scale. When Olympic officials decided to give snowboarder Ross Rebagliati (Olympic Gold Medallist 1998) his gold medal back, the cheers drowned out the boos. It was a minor scandal involving a minor sport, but it spoke volumes about the worlds shifting relationship with its favourite illicit drug. Marijuana. A decade ago, Rebagliati would have been ostracized regardless of whether cannabis was on the list of his sports banned substances. What has changed today is that our attitudes towards illegal drugs are becoming more sophisticated and discriminating. After thirty years of research into the harmful effects of cannabis, there can be no hidden dangers left to discover. We know that it is plain nonsense to regard cannabis as a performance-enhancing drug, just as it is a myth to think the substance rots the brain or leads inexorably to harder substances. The issue of cannabis legalization has been debated ever since the substance was made illegal on April 14, 1937. The issue remains as alive and debatable today as it has ever been. The publics growing fascination and acceptance of this plant adds fuel to the fire of the controversy. There are many questions that still need to be answered in the realm of cannabis legalization, and pressure to find those answers is another thing that fuels the debate over decriminalisation. The pressure for legislation reform is not specific to any demographic location. All ages, races, and sexes have argued it. There are those that argue for the medical legalization, economical legalization, and of course, recreational legalization. Those that lobby for reform carry large amounts of statistical evidence and personal testimony to show the beneficial elements of this plant. The push for marijuana reform has come from doctors and lawyers as well as skateboard toting teens. Those that push for the decriminalisation of marijuana base their arguments on a number of proven facts, refuted opposing arguments, and positive personal experiences. There are some groups that support the removal of all penalties for the private possession and responsible use of marijuana by adults, cultivation for personal use, and the casual non-profit transfers of small amounts. They back their arguments with claims like: Cannabis has proven to be addictive to a very small portion of the overall user population, and when put in contrast with other addictive over-the-counter drugs (such as alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine), the addictive potential of cannabis is far below those accepted levels. Marijuana supporters also argue that its been in use (documented) for 5,000 years and during that span there hasnt been one single documented overdose case. Still others argue for the medicinal use of marijuana. The anti-marijuana campaigners project that the legalization of marijuana will lead to a breakdown of moral fibres, which leads to the legalization of other drugs, which leads to increased crime, which leads to tremendous amounts of money spent, which leads to distrust of the legal system, which leads to anarchy. They argue, our society couldnt survive and function with the legalization of this drug. The fallacy is represented by the anti-legalisationists in the fact that evidence does prove that societies can thrive and prosper with marijuana being legal. Using the Thurstone method, below I have created a number of statements (items) to do with the issue of legalisation of cannabis. I have divided the items below into four categories (factors) Value Judgement, Attitudes towards experimentation with drugs, Legalisation of drug use and Attitudes of others toward drug use. Each item is to be read by the respondent and then the respondent will have to give the statement a rating out of 11. Giving the item a mark of 11 will indicate that the respondent strongly agrees with the statement, on the other hand, giving a mark of 1 would indicate that the respondent very strongly disagrees with the statement.

All About Abbreviations

All About Abbreviations All About Abbreviations All About Abbreviations By Guest Author This is a guest post by Letia Graening. An abbreviation is defined as a shortened version of a word or phrase. But did you know that there are many different types of abbreviations? Here is a list of abbreviation types: Acronym – This forms a word using the initial parts or first letters of a name. For example, ABBA, MADD, and OPEC are all acronyms that take the first letter from each word to form a new word. Lesser known acronyms include scuba and laser. The latter examples show that not all acronyms have to be capitalized. Initialism Also called alphabetism, this is a group of letters, each pronounced separately, used as an abbreviation for a name or expression. Examples include: CD, TV, and UK. Truncation This type of abbreviation consists only of the first part of a word. These are most often used when referring to proper titles such as months of the year or days of the week, e.g., Mon., Fri., Apr., Oct. Clipped – Similar to truncation in that you are using a part of the word to form the abbreviation, but in this case you’re using either the middle or end. Common clipped abbreviations include phone (telephone) and fridge (refrigerator). Aphesis In this case, you have dropped the unstressed vowel at the beginning of the word. These are often unintentional and casually spoken versions of the words. Perhaps the best example is cause instead of because. Portmanteau The blending of two or more words will give you a portmanteau. Some of my personal favorites include liger (lion and tiger), spork (spoon and fork), skort (shorts and skirt), and brinner (breakfast and dinner). Some things to consider when using abbreviations: Anyone can make up an abbreviation and many are non-standard. They should, therefore, be left out of formal writing. If the full word would be capitalized (e.g., Sunday or January), make sure to capitalize the abbreviation (e.g., Sun. or Jan.). Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:35 Synonyms for â€Å"Look†Cannot or Can Not?30 Words for Small Amounts