The philosophy of psychology

Introduction Over time philosophers have taken great interest in inquiring about the various scientific fields. For instance, they have taken interest in investigating the grounds on which certain scientific fields are established.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The philosophy of psychology specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The philosophers have thus made great inroads into investigating physics, biology and, psychology in great detail. But, philosophers have on the other hand identified various philosophical issues about these sciences that need to be investigated. In a broad sense, philosophy of psychology is an attempt to place psychology within the wider spectrum of intellectual investigation. It is against such a backdrop that this paper sets out to attempt an inquiry that will look at the various segments of psychological inquiry as postulated. The paper will also give an inkling to the several claims in ps ychology as well as shed some light on the interrelatedness between psychology and other sciences. Philosophy of psychology Psychology comprises various branches. It is these branches that philosophy of psychology attempts to investigate. Since the branches are based certain foundations, the philosophy sets to investigate these with a view to making them clear or providing further information that clarify their foundation that clarify their foundations. According to Bermudez (2005), Philosophy of psychology can be described as â€Å"an investigation of the philosophical foundations of psychology†. He further shows the distinct nature of the philosophy of psychology since its domain of investigation overlaps by that â€Å"domain of inquiry which the philosophers have taken to be their own preserve (Bermudez 2005). Thus, the major concern of philosophy of psychology is has to do with mind and cognition. Philosophers of psychology have to a greater extent been faced with the si tuation of borrowing from cognitive science. This field, thus, deals with great aspects of science and cognition. Mental States Mental states constitute an area that has been of concern to psychology. The place of these states has been reached through both experience and experiment. Thus, experiments suggest the poor way through which people approach probability. Also, when faced with probabilistic problem, many would end up advancing wrong judgments. This means that people do ascribe several characteristics to mental states (O’Donohue Kitchener 1996). It is further seen that each individual can assess own mental states through the process of introspection. Here one clearly observes own mental states. But this is in contrast to the idea that evidence can only be adduced from public view i.e. third person view.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Behaviorism Behaviorism is a schoo l of psychology which tries to answer the question whether the aspects of psychology could be analyzed through scientific theory (Symons Calvo 2009). The behaviorists rejected the idea that mental states had something to do with psychology. John Watson, the father of behaviorism, felt that psychology could still exist without associating its mental states, the mind and even content. He thus advanced the aspect of stimulus and response. He felt that those were the major aspects that governed behavior. This is unlike the earlier insistence on psychology and introspection. Watson rejected introspection because, he claimed, it could not clearly be scientifically analyzed. Introspection as a scientific process, has elicited a lot of debate as the results could not be reproduced. Behaviorism actually relegated the reliance on unobservable phenomena to the periphery. The mental aspects that were acceptable were those that exhibited observable entities. Behaviorists majored in finding out why certain behaviors only occurred under certain environments (stimuli). They, therefore, came up with two accounts. These accounts were classical conditioning and operant conditioning. One peculiar thing about these two accounts is that they had nothing to do with the mentalist aspects. Pavlov, in classical conditioning posited that various animals do respond to certain environmental conditions (stimuli), thereby, defining behavior. A sound would be made and food given. The dog, after noting this pattern of events, would start salivating. So, the dog would start salivating just at mere hearing of this sound produced. The operant conditioning theory was developed by B.F Skinner and Thorndike. This has since put behavior into two types; those responses associated when specific stimuli are presented e.g. food, and those not associated with food (operants). Skinner felt that whenever any behavior is reinforced, the particular action gets developed. For example, should a rat receive fo od by pressing the lever, it will continue pressing it. It is therefore against the role that behaviorism has played on psychology that the theory has gained a lot of ground. But, behaviorism has been rejected due to some flaws. This rejection came out of its limited scope of explanation. One other major problem with the theory is that Skinner’s view fails to explain the daily behavior of humans, for instance, it does not fully explain how language is acquired by children. Children learn it without any form of conditioning.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The philosophy of psychology specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The major critique is that the theorists fail to identify other intervening factors that come between behavior and stimuli. It is this major failure that psychologists have felt it crucial to also include the major factors that also intervene. Chomsky has been the first critic to state the wea kness of the theory, especially when it comes to linguistic acquisition. Thus, he said, in as much as the environment of the learner is crucial to language acquisition, the role of the learner’s individual contribution cannot be ignored. Another problem with behaviorism is that its explanations are only acceptable when applied to simple animals subjected to highly controlled experimental environments only. The assertion is further weakened in complex organisms. For instance, the issue of language acquisition in children cannot be simply explained as the psychological behaviorists seem to posit. When such complex behavior patterns are put in consideration, the behaviorist explanation becomes more implausible. Cognitivism Cognitivism arose out of the awakening that behaviorist approach could not, strictly address some pertinent problems in exhibited as earlier seen (Thagard 2007). Thus, Noam Chomsky, through his works on language acquisition, punched holes into behaviorist appr oach. As behaviorists tried to explain the acquisition of all behavior through specific mechanisms of learning, Chomsky felt that some behavior patterns are governed by a certain level of innateness. He supported his claim of innateness in some of the organisms because some of the behaviors came quite early in the life of the animals, without even the animals having gone through any learning processes. Chomsky found the human languages as being too complex and inherently innate. For instance, he says that speakers can comprehend and even produce new sentence never heard or spoken before (Thagard 2007). This means that the acquisition was not as a result of behaviorist mechanisms. Behaviorists, for instance, are unable to explain why language is productive. This makes the claims by the behaviorists further implausible. From this finding, Chomsky suggests that there must be some sets of process that take place inside the human mind that are behind this issue of language productivity. He feels that the set of mechanisms are mentally represented. He refers to the rules as â€Å"generative grammar†. Chomsky and other theorists felt that the human mind, just like the computer, performs operations based on a set of rules and mechanisms that inform behavior development. These representations appear in the form of structures of data such that, just like in computers, they stand for real objects and aspects in the real world. The cognitivists feel that these internal representations, when mapped with outcomes, they are able to tell which outcomes are appropriate and which ones are not.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Nativism This theory also benefited from Chomsky’s contribution. In it, it is believed, the human mind has inbuilt innate structures that enhance our cognitive capabilities. The innate capabilities include concepts, mechanisms and even beliefs. The nativists actually believe the mind comes equipped with a well-built innate structure (Botterill Carruthers 1999). The notion of innateness has, however, caused much confusion. Empiricists and nativists only differ in the amount of innateness that the human mind is composed of. Another controversy is that if the innateness develops with time is it right to refer to it as ‘innate?’ An innate trait should be one that is not influenced by any external condition or environment (Bermudez 2005). Modularity Modularity, according to Fodor, refers to those distinct cognitive processes present in the human mind. As Fodor referred to them as ‘modules’, Chomsky referred to them as â€Å"mental organs†. It is a ctually believed that the human mind is modular and that various modules act differently while handling different tasks. Conclusion The essay has looked at the various aspects of philosophy of psychology. Philosophers have greatly contributed to the foundations of psychology. Though philosophy and psychology could be viewed as separate, there is need to encourage further the philosophical research into foundations of psychology to come up with new banks of knowledge. References Botterill, G., Carruthers, P. (1999). The Philosophy of Psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Bermudez, J., L. (2005). Philosophy of Psychology. London: Routledge Press. O’Donohue, T. W., Kitchener, F., R. (1996). The Philosophy of Psychology. California: Sage Press. Symons, J., Calvo, P. (2009). The Routledge Companion to Philosophy. London: Routledge Press. Thagard, P. (2007). Philosophy of psychology and cognitive science: Handbook of the  Philosophy of science. Amsterdam: Elsevier Press. This essay on The philosophy of psychology was written and submitted by user Jadiel Blankenship to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Ancient Toltec Trade and Economy

The Ancient Toltec Trade and Economy The Toltec Civilization dominated central Mexico from about 900 - 1150 A.D. from their home city of Tollan (Tula). The Toltecs were mighty warriors who spread the cult of their greatest god, Quetzalcoatl, to the far corners of Mesoamerica. Evidence at Tula suggests that the Toltecs had a trade network and received goods from as far away as the Pacific coast and Central America, either through trade or tribute. The Toltecs and the Postclassic Period The Toltecs were not the first Mesoamerican civilization to have a trade network. The Maya were dedicated merchants whose trade routes reached far from their Yucatan homeland, and even the ancient Olmec - the mother culture of all of Mesoamerica - traded with their neighbors. The mighty Teotihuacan culture, which was pre-eminent in central Mexico from about 200-750 A.D., had an extensive trade network. By the time the Toltec culture reached prominence, military conquest and subjugation of vassal states were on the rise at the expense of trade, but even wars and conquest stimulated cultural exchanges. Tula as a Center of Trade It is difficult to make observations about the ancient Toltec city of Tollan (Tula) because the city was extensively looted, first by the Mexica (Aztecs) before the arrival of the Europeans, and then by the Spanish. Proof of extensive trade networks may have therefore been carried off long ago. For example, although ​jade was one of the most important trade materials in ancient Mesoamerica, only one jade piece has been found at Tula. Nevertheless, archaeologist Richard Diehl has identified pottery from Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Campeche and Guatemala at Tula, and found potsherds traced to the Veracruz region. Shells from the Atlantic and Pacific have also been excavated at Tula. Surprisingly, the Fine Orange pottery associated with the contemporary Totonac culture has not been found at Tula. Quetzalcoatl, God of Merchants As the major deity of the Toltecs, Quetzalcoatl wore many hats. In his aspect of Quetzalcoatl - Ehà ©catl, he was the god of wind, and as Quetzalcoatl - Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli he was the bellicose God of the Morning Star. The Aztecs venerated Quetzalcoatl as (among other things) the god of merchants: the post-conquest Ramirez Codex mentions a feast dedicated to the god by traders. The principal Aztec god of trade, Yacatechutli, has been traced to earlier roots as a manifestation of either Tezcatlipoca or Quetzalcoatl, both of whom were worshiped at Tula. Given the Toltecs fanatical devotion to Quetzalcoatl and that gods later association with the merchant class by the Aztecs (who themselves regarded the Toltecs as the apogee of civilization), it is not unreasonable to surmise that trade played an important role in Toltec society. Trade and Tribute The historical record seems to suggest that Tula did not produce much in the way of trade goods. A great deal of utilitarian Mazapan-style pottery has been found there, suggesting that Tula was, or was not far from, a place that produced it. They also produced stoneware bowls, cotton textiles, and items fashioned from obsidian, such as blades. Bernardino de Sahagà ºn, a colonial era chronicler, claimed that the people of Tollan were skilled metalworkers, but no metal not of later Aztec origin has been found at Tula. It is possible that the Toltecs dealt in more perishable items like food, cloth or woven reeds which would have deteriorated with time. The Toltec did have significant agriculture and possibly exported part of their crops. In addition, they had access to a rare green obsidian found near present-day Pachuca. There is the possibility that the warlike Toltecs produced relatively little themselves, instead relying on conquered vassal states to send them goods as tribute. Tula and the Gulf Coast Traders Toltec scholar Nigel Davies believed that during the Postclassic era trade was dominated by the different cultures of Mexicos Gulf Coast, where mighty civilizations had risen and fallen since the days of the ancient Olmec. During Teotihuacns age of dominance, shortly before the rise of the Toltecs, the gulf coast cultures had been an important force in Mesoamerican commerce, and Davies believes that the combination of Tulas location in the center of Mexico, their low production of trade goods, and their reliance on tribute over commerce placed the Toltecs at the fringes of Mesoamerican trade at the time (Davies, 284). Sources: Charles River Editors. The History and Culture of the Toltec. Lexington: Charles River Editors, 2014. Cobean, Robert H., Elizabeth Jimà ©nez Garcà ­a and Alba Guadalupe Mastache. Tula. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Economica, 2012. Coe, Michael D and Rex Koontz. 6th Edition. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2008 Davies, Nigel. The Toltecs: Until the Fall of Tula. Norman: the University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.

Absurdist Performance of the Volkswagen Blue Motion Essay

Absurdist Performance of the Volkswagen Blue Motion - Essay Example Every component of this piece plays a role in creating the intended image about the Volkswagen model. The attendant is the most visible element of the advert. The tears flowing from his eye show that he is crying. He is wearing an overall and standing next to a gas station. From this, it is evident that heat work but sad. Next to him is a fuel gauge hanging on a tree. The gauge is indicating that the car is still full tank (Volkswagen Advertising). There is a Volkswagen symbol below the tree with the full fuel tank. This points out that the gauge shown belongs to the Blue Motion car. A car needs more gas when the gauge shows that there is a reduction in the fuel level. Since this is not the case with the one shown, it can be deduced that the Blue motion car does not need more fuel. From the two images, sadness might have been caused by the state of the gas business. The two visual representations demonstrates and supports the meaning being passed that the car does not use a lot of f uel as its consumption is extremely low. It complements the text below it which describes the car as one with superior performance by showing its efficiency in terms of fuel use. Car buyers are keen on this aspect and this may call them into buying into the idea of having the Volkswagen model. The weltering tanker also passes a certain message. As the tanker carrying fuel to the gas station moves, it leaves behind a cloud of smoke. The smoke from the tanker has covered all the trees left behind it with none of them having any green component. This image has been used to support the main idea of the piece. When one compares the trees behind the tanker and that holding the fuel gauge, a clear difference is seen. Below the fuel gauge is a â€Å"shell† (Volkswagen Advertising). While the tanker leaves behind a trail of weltering smoke, car whose fuel gauge is shown only leaves a single shell as the product of the combustion.

Corporate Risk Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Corporate Risk Management - Essay Example In the past years, companies had a risk manager who would oversee the organization’s insurance purchases. In addition, the extent and undertaking of corporate risk management has drastically changed and expanded beyond insurance to comprise all types of corporate in use and tactical perils. Risk describes both the probability and severity of a loss event. Probability delineates the likelihood of the occurrence of the loss while severity denotes the magnitude of the loss in a given period. All organizations face risk and the resultant potential losses on a daily basis (Lim, 2010, p. 234). They willingly accept risks with hopes of gaining financial return. Intercontinental hotel is an example of a venture that is taking risks. An organization may be exposed to loss exposures that offer an opportunity to gain or not to gain. Pure loss exposures are exposures that offer Intercontinental Hotel potential for losses and no opportunity to gain. These pure loss exposures include  "asset exposures, personnel exposures, liability exposures and consequential loss exposures† (Merna & Al-thani, 2011, p. 167-169). Loss exposure has three primary elements. It describes the item subject to loss, the peril and cause of the loss and the financial effect of the loss. In loss exposure, the organization must have a loss of anything that could be assets, personnel or liabilities (Merna & Al-thani, 2011, p. 170). Personnel Loss exposures People are the principal inputs in an organization in generation of income. People could either be employees of a firm or belonging to a certain household. The loss of humans is indispensable as human capital cannot be replaced and that no value can be placed on human life. Personnel loss exposure refers to the probability that an organization will suffer a financial loss because of disability, retirement, death or resignation of primary employees (Siljander, 2008, p. 190). Intercontinental Hotel faces personnel loss exposures which, according to Lim (2010, p. 239), includes the â€Å"disability insurance, workers compensation insurance, long term care insurance, medical insurance and Medicare supplemental insurance†. Nonetheless, Intercontinental Hotel generates for the organization through effective risk management. In order to effectively manage the loss of personnel in the organization, it is essential to understand the value that each personnel contributes to the organization, and identify and evaluate the risks and dangers that affect the value of generation and operation of the company (Lim, 2010, p. 237). Intercontinental Hotel apprehends the value that each of its employees creates and then analyzes the dangers that affect the significance of its generation. In addition, the organization assesses the magnitude of the loss suffered after the occurrence of personnel peril. A loss of personnel in Intercontinental Hotel raises two further risk management concerns as to the employer’s liabilit y in administering and funding the employee benefit plans and the uncertainties involved in funding such plans. The personnel in any organization have a financial value to the organization. As according to Carrel (2010, p. 142), they assist in generating income for the organization. Moreover, the services that personnel render to the organization are valuable and cannot be replaced. In this regard, the financial value of an individual in an organization

Role performance in an interpreted discourse process Essay Example for Free

Role performance in an interpreted discourse process Essay From the previous chapter it is clear that an interpreters role is more than that of passing messages back and forth; it is also Ð ° role that manages the communication process of exchanging those messages. In this chapter, І begin with Ð ° discussion of how the role has been and, in many ways, still is conceived. To investigate further the performance of that role and its implications for norms in interpreting, І analyze four examples of interpreter performance. Practicing interpreters are aware of the public and professional expectations of and demands on their practice, most of which are concerned with confidentiality, neutrality, accuracy, and faithfulness to the message. Interpreters often describe their role as the person in the middle by using Ð ° metaphor which conveys the image or impression that they serve as Ð ° bridge or channel through which communication happens. This channel is supposed to relay Ð ° message from one speaker to another faithfully, accurately, and without personal or emotional bias. The performance of this role has been compared to Ð ° machine, Ð ° window, Ð ° bridge, and Ð ° telephone lineamong otherswhen trying to compress the complexity of the role into Ð ° simple, singular analogy or metaphor. This perspective developed, in part, from practitioners, educators, and researchers who have devoted the bulk of their attention to interpreters working within public and monologic contexts. In these public forums interpreters usually are interpreting for speakers who speak one at Ð ° time to typically non-responsive audiences. In these events, an interpreters role appears conduit like, passive, and noninvolved. Another reason for the persistence of this perspective lies in past research on interpreting which has been done largely by cognitive psychologists and psycholinguists who have focused on the phenomena of language processing and transference of information. This research on the complexity of listening, understanding, and speaking simultaneously has produced detailed models of the psycholinguistic stages of transfer based on errors revealed in the target language production (Cokely 1984; Moser-Mercer 1978). Although these models provide better understanding and appreciation of the mental complexity of interpreting, their very nature reinforces the metaphorical image through which interpreting is perceived. Unfortunately, the force of this perspective is such that most training and professional testing still (in 1998) devote their efforts to the details of the interpreted message and its form. Although the conduit metaphors developed partially in response to Ð ° particular situational performance and to the direction of research studies, they are also used because of ordinary perceptions about the nature of language and communication. Lakoff and Johnson (198o) found that although most people think of metaphors as devices of poets and rhetorical style, they are prevalent in our everyday lives because they allow us to present our conceptual systems through language. Metaphors structure how we think about and perceive our everyday lives. Reddy ( 1979) explains how ordinary language use portrays language as Ð ° conduit which passes on Ð ° speakers thoughts and ideas to Ð ° listener whose only task is to unwrap the thoughts and ideas that have been transmitted through Ð ° conduit and thus hides aspects of the communication experience. The words we use to talk about how ideas are shared are indicative of Ð ° conduit notion. For example, І gave you that idea. It seems hard to see Ð ° metaphor here at all. The word give seems ordinary enough until we ask ourselves if ideas have Ð ° concrete substance that can be given to someone else. These ordinary metaphors convey the sense that meaning actually resides in words, phrases, and sentences as Ð ° tangible object to be inserted or taken out. These metaphors also lead us to particular ways of thinking about the originator of the message, the message itself, and the receiver of the message. For example, Try to pack more thoughts into fewer words. This type of expression blames the speaker for failing to put enough meaning in or failing to put the meaning in the right place. Equally, in the logic of Ð ° conduit metaphor, the receiver must unpack the meaning from the words. Let me know if you find any good ideas in the talk. Its as though ideas can be inserted into words and sentences. The conduit metaphor implies Ð ° whole framework of basic assumptions about language, such as language functions like Ð ° conduit transferring thoughts from one person to another, words accomplish Ð ° transfer of ideas by containing the thoughts or feelings in the words and conveying them to others, and people can extract exactly the same idea, thought or feeling by simply receiving the words. These everyday metaphors mold our perceptions about language and communication Conduit metaphors that abound in the fields of communication, psychology, language, and information processing have been naturally brought into the field of interpreting. It is easy to see how Ð ° communication process involving Ð ° supposedly neutral or passive third party accepts Ð ° conduit-type metaphor as Ð ° way of defining itself. Although these metaphors clearly respond to Ð ° need, they also carry double messages. Certainly they convey the idea of transferring messages, but, at the same time, they call to mind images of disengagement and noninvolvement on any other level. Frequently, interpreters are called on by those who use their services to be flexible and in fact are called upon by their own colleagues to be so. Standards of ethical practice extensively, sometimes exhaustively, list what interpreters should not do, but they seldom explain what interpreters can, or should do, or where or how flexibility should be exercised. Consequently, discussions of practice fall back on what interpreters should not do, or what interpreters may do within the guidelines and wind up being discussions of ethics. In addition to creating metaphors to describe role performance, interpreters (and others) tend to idealize conversational behavior even though their experience with interaction violates both their notions of relaying messages and of the way conversations should occur. In private conversations, interpreters confess to breaking the rules while also admitting that their rule-breaking behavior was successful. What interpreters actually know (intuitively or objectively) and do is complex from both the perspective of psycholinguistic processes and also from the perspective of interactive communication systems as Ð ° whole. Interpreters are not simply processing information and passively passing it back and forth. Their task requires knowledge of Ð ° discourse system that includes grammar, language use, organization, participant relationships, contextual knowledge, and socio-cultural knowledge. Interpreters must also have the ability to adapt this knowledge quickly to size up Ð ° situation, anticipate problems, and decide on solutions within seconds which means they operate within an emergent system of adaptability. Because standards of practice have developed before we have described and analyzed what interpreters do as they work, interpreters use the language of ethical behavior to talk about their job performance. one way in which interpreting as Ð ° discourse process can work for interpreters is in providing new ways to describe, name, and discuss the interpreting process. As this study and the work of Wadensjo (1992), Metzger (1995), and others have shown, interpreters interact in multiple ways within the communicative event of interpreting.

Radio Controlled Airplanes :: essays research papers

Teenagers have many hobbies and interests and one thing that the hobbies have in common is that every hobby requires specific steps in order to archive success. Some hobbies require very little training such as baseball card collecting. other hobbies take quite a lot of training, to preform correctly. There are some very important steps to take in order to be successful in the hobby, radio controlled airplanes, and they are researching the type of planes, selecting and purchasing the plane, and assembling and flying it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first step for getting into the hobby of R.C.A. is to read as much as possible concerning R.C.A., and visit a quality hobby shop. The library and well stocked hobby shop are the best places to start. The library will have books that contain information about the various types of planes as well as the ease or difficulty of operating certain types of planes. The last step in the initial process is to go to the hobby shop and select a airplane based on the ease of assembly and price that is in ones budget.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second step in the process is the assembly of the R.C.A. It is essential that the area for assembly be clean and devoid of clutter. All of the instructions should be read and committed to memory. Next the individual should lay out all of the parts according to the orders of assembly. The last step in this second process is correctly assemble the R.C.A.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The concluding and most enjoyable step is the actual flying of the plane. It is important to contact the local R.C.A club and find out where the meetings are located , where they fly their airplanes and what it takes to join the club. After the information is gained its time to go out and fly the R.C.A. Try to watch a person use the controls and learn as much as possible from an individual who has flown for a long time and is proficient at flying.

Mobile Phone and Phoebe Cook Copeland

Phoebe Cook Copeland ENC0025 8 April 2013 Causes and Effects of texting while driving It is a beautiful Friday morning, when all of a sudden a huge crash is heard in the distance. At the scene of the accident there is a car crushed up against a telephone pole with a young girl inside all bloodied and cut up. Taking a closer look, the young girl seems like she is simply asleep, but in her hand she holds her phone with half written message on the screen saying, â€Å"I’ll be there†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Unfortunately, the young girl never had the chance to finish her text message because she hit a telephone pole.This young girl’s life was tragically taken from her; however, this accident could have been avoided if she would have only waited until she got to either her destination or a red light to answer the text message. Sending text messages while driving distracts a person’s attention from the main task, which is driving the vehicle safely. Text messaging is known to co ntribute to deadly accidents that have prompted several legal districts to ban the practice in many states.The reason that people text while driving in unknown and difficult to pinpoint a specific reason; unfortunately, the effects are clearly visible on the roads and also in the news. The causes and effects of texting while driving can be avoided if people just decided to put the phone down and wait until they are not driving. Texting while driving is very dangerous, but people of all ages still do it. Studies have stated that half of the percent of people of all ages text while driving, and the other half of the percent talk on the phone when behind the wheel.Even though there is no evidence that a person is openly pressured into texting while driving, there is an expectation in society to have the dire need to respond to a text message. However, it is more likely for a person to be involved in a serious accident when texting rather than talking on the phone while driving. The rea son behind this is that, when talking on the phone it only distracts the driver, but when texting the driver has to look down at the phone to answer it. Thus, making it not only a distraction for the driver, but they have to take their eyes off the road in order to reply to the message.The effects of texting while driving left a devastating trail that lead to legal implications. Due to having so many accidents on the road, different states passed a law that banned texting while driving. This ban was placed in hopes to lessen the accidents that are caused by people who text and drive. If states can ban driving under the influence, then they can surely ban the no text law in order to keep the roads safer. However, many people have argued that it is hard to spot a person texting while they are driving because they are holding the phone in their laps, which is below the dashboard.So how can the cops catch people who text and drive? The cops are trained to watch for the driver’s b ody language. If the driver seems like they are texting while behind the wheel the cop is allowed to pull them over and issue them a fine. The causes of texting while driving resolves in the most dangerous effects that ends up taking someone’s life. However, not everyone who gets into an accident while texting is unfortunate, but the most serious accidents are due to people taking their eyes and concentration off the road to answer their text message.The reason why people do not take texting while driving seriously is because they think that taking their eyes off the road for a few seconds would not do any harm. Unfortunately, they are sorely mistaken because it only takes a split second in order for something to go terribly wrong. Not only is it dangerous for the person who is driving, but also for the other people that are in the car and on the road. If people just took texting while driving seriously and understood that it is just as dangerous as anything else, then we wou ld have less accidents and less of people’s lives being tragically stripped from them.In conclusion, it is not the lack of knowledge that people text while driving, but the lack of responsibility that goes into the act. People of all ages know the consequences of texting while driving lead to fatal accidents, yet they still do it. The temptation is too grandeur, however, the person who sent that text message can wait. Not waiting to answer that message while driving will not be worth it in the long run. The causes and effects of texting while driving can be avoided if we choose to put the phone down and wait to answer the text message until we are not driving because answering a text message is never worth a human life.