Friends and interaction Statistics Project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Friends and interaction - Statistics Project Example actions ranging from home to school ambiance that make a positive impact over their friendly relationship and would further outline some more important elements which assist to sway in assisting or restricting in friendly relationships. Out of many other sources to advance the best relations in home and society, the friendship plays greater role, to attain satisfaction and happiness in the whole life, and to this effect, making friends and building friendly relations is very crucial and critical for the younger aged people. – Epicurus (Welty & Sharp, 1991, p. 65). Source: http://www.cyc-net.org/cyc-online/cycol-0610-overton.html Productive human relations are very vital for the lives leading to happiness. Our friendly terms lead to significant roles–they help us to salvage and command confidence in our lives, that lend us happiness and comfort which enforces us in trying situations, and to authenticate our sense of value and our interests. We may be impressed by a lot of people in different ways yet our friendly relationship with our buddies effects us more vividly. We have recounted narrations of the meaning of friendship which dates back to the time immemorial – means as the history mankind is lengthy that much friendship is lengthy. Cicero writes - now friendship possesses many splendid advantages, but of course the finest thing of all about it is that it sends a ray of hope into the future, and keeps our hearts from faltering or falling by the wayside. For the man who keeps his eye on a true friend keeps it, so to speak, on a model of himself: For this reason, friends are together when they are separated, they are rich when they are poor, strong when they are weak, and a thing even harder to explain – they live on after they have died, so great is the honor that follows them, so vivid the memory, so poignant the sorrow. (Welty & Sharp, 1991, p. 72). Not only the educationists do even the parents perceive the significance of friendly relations with

Motivational Impairment in Schizophrenia

Motivational Impairment in Schizophrenia ANTICIPATING PLEASURE AND EFFORT IN SCHIZOPHRENIA 1 Do People With Schizophrenia Have Difficulty Anticipating Pleasure, Engaging in Effortful Behavior, or Both? David E. Gard, Amy H. Sanchez, Kathryn Cooper, Melissa Fisher, Coleman Garrett, and Sophia Vinogradov Citation Gard, D. E., Sanchez, A. H., Cooper, K., Fisher, M., Garrett, C., Vinogradov, S. (2014, August 18). Do People With Schizophrenia Have Difficulty Anticipating Pleasure, Engaging in Effortful Behavior, or Both?. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Advance online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/abn0000005 Introduction The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of â€Å"motivational impairment† on the goal directed behavior of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. This was accomplished by measuring the levels of pleasure (reward) and effortfulness in the activities and future goals of the subjects. These two factors were selected to be measured due to the fact that they are two of the component processes of motivation which has been proven by previous research to be affected by schizophrenia. Research has found inconsistencies in the assessment of pleasure and reward in schizophrenia patients. For instance, while Anhedonia has been frequently reported to be associated with schizophrenia (Herbener Harrow, 2002; see Gard et al., 2014), patients do not report a decrease in pleasure or positive stimuli (Cohen Minor, 2010; see Gard et al., 2014). These inconsistencies have been explained to be the result of clear-cut distinctions between the different temporal components associated with specific types of reward and pleasure. Schultz (2002) and Wise (2002) (as cited in Gard et al., 2014) have shown that there is a physiological difference in how anticipatory pleasure and consummatory (in-the moment) pleasure are processed in the brain. While consummatory pleasure involves serotonergic and opioid systems, anticipatory pleasure involves dopaminergic and mesolimbic projections (Schultz, 2002; Wise, 2002; see Gard et al., 2014). In another study conducted using an Ecological Mome ntary Assessment (EMA), participants with schizophrenia showed similar levels of consummatory pleasure, but depleted levels of anticipatory pleasure (Gard et al., 2007; see Gard et al., 2014). Consequently, pleasure was selected to be a dependent variable (DV) in this study. Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia have reported difficulty in anticipating rewards (Buck Lysar, 2013; Gard et al., 2007; see Gard et al., 2014) as well as in processing rewards (Strauss, Waltz Gold 2008; see Gard et al., 2014). The link between reward and motivation has been established through the study conducted by Juckel et al. (2006) (as cited in Gard et al., 2014) which showed decreased ventral striatal activation during reward processing from individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia; decreased ventral striatal activation has been associated with anhedonia (Juckel et al., 2006; see Gard et al., 2014). This also relates reward to anticipatory pleasure. Research has indicated that patients with high negative symptoms of schizophrenia have difficulty assessing the effort required to accomplish a task which would provide a high reward (Gold et al., 2013; see Gard et al., 2014). Furthermore, in addition to difficulties assessing the effort involved, patients also appeared to have difficulty putting in the effort required to do a particular task. In relation to reward, Fervaha, Graff-Guerrero, et al. (2013) (as cited in Gard et al., 2014) showed that patients of schizophrenia only had problems when it came to the assessment of the effort involved to achieve a reward, and not when ascertaining the value of a reward. (Fervaha, Graff-Guerrero, et al. 2013; see Gard et al., 2014) In light of the aforementioned findings in past literature, the researchers came up with three assumptions, and the resulting research questions reflected them. The assumptions were that individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia would have: A deficit in anticipatory pleasure Difficulty in anticipating and processing rewards Difficulty assessing and expending the necessary effort required to accomplish a task Using these assumptions, the researchers of the present study came up with 5 research questions. The following has been taken from Gard et al. (2014) Compared with a socio-demographically matched group of healthy participants, do participants with schizophrenia demonstrate fewer daily activities and goals, decreased anticipatory pleasure for their upcoming goals, decreased pleasure-based goals, but intact in-the-moment pleasure? (Hypothesis) Do participants with schizophrenia pursue goals and activities that are less effortful than healthy comparison participants, and do they have difficulty assessing the effort of an upcoming goal? (Hypothesis) Do people with schizophrenia have difficulty completing their goals, and is this related to anticipation or experience of pleasure, or to how effortful the goal is? (Hypothesis) In people with schizophrenia, what is the relationship of anticipatory pleasure and effort exertion or assessment to: cognitive dysfunction, symptoms, and functioning? (Alternative Hypothesis) To what degree could group differences found in Questions 1– 4 be explained by any other non-diagnostic group differences? (Alternative Hypothesis) Participants The selection of participants differed between the experimental and control group. The subjects for the control group were selected through postings on the Internet and the distribution of flyers in the San Francisco Bay Area. Initially, forty-three individuals agreed to participate and signed the informed consent forms. However two of them dropped out; one, finding the study to be too much of a burden, dropped out on the first day, and the other failed to respond to even a third of the phone calls. The subjects for the experimental group were selected from outpatient clinics and day treatment centers in the Bay Area. Fifty patients of schizophrenia initially signed the informed consent forms but three decided to drop out; two dropped out even before the experiment started citing that it was too intrusive, and the other dropped out after two calls on the first day. All in all, the results of the study were formulated based on the results from forty-one subjects without schizophrenia and forty-seven subjects with either schizophrenia (n=31) and schizoaffective disorder (n=16). Diagnoses for the conditions were confirmed for all participants using the DSM-IV-TR. Strict exclusion criteria for the whole sample, and especially for the patient group, were established and implemented. Individuals who had had traumatic head injuries which leads to bouts of unconsciousness, had substance abuse problems in the last six months, mental disorders, or illiterate in English were all excluded. Patients who had been hospitalized in the last three months or had had their medication or dosage changed in the last month were also excluded from the study. Both groups were predominantly white males and had relatively no demographic differences between groups except for the symptoms for the disorder and employment rates. Only 17 percent of the individuals in the patient groups were employed full time or part time (4% and 13% respectively), compared to the 68 percent of full time and part time employees (24% and 44% respectively) in the control group. The experimenters did account for this discrepancy during the results phase. Method Four different types of assessments were used during this study, although the EMA remained the primary form of assessment of pleasure and effort. The Ecological Momentary Assessment is generally used in situations where specific activities and goals of the participants in a study need to be explicated. This study utilized a modified version of the EMA where cell phone calls were used instead of the traditional self-report forms, which were filled at particular intervals of time; cell phones were provided to every participant irrespective of who does or doesn’t own a cell phone. Trained research assistants called each participant four times every day, between 0900hrs and 2100hrs, for seven days to conduct a â€Å"semi-structured† interview. A majority of the questions were open ended and participants were encouraged to give detailed descriptions of their daily activities and goals. Some questions asked them how much pleasure/effort was associated with a particular task; their responses were rated on a Likert Scale (0 = not at all; 5 = extremely). The answers were categorized based on the research questions. Four independent raters then scored the pleasurability, effortfulness, difficulty, and etc†¦ of all the goals and activities reported by the participants on a 0-3 Likert Scale. A subset of participants with no demographic differences from the original sample was also tested to determine the difficulty of the tasks they attempted; also measured on a 0-5 Likert Scale. After the completion of the week of EMA, two independent research assistants travelled to the homes of the participants in order to determine the levels of stimulation and reward provided by the environment. Several subjects from the patient and control group (seven and nine respectively) decided to opt out from this stage of assessment citing different reasons. The levels of stimulation and reward were measured in terms of three elements; aesthetics of the home, availability of media, and social stimulation. These were measured using a combination of a modified version of the Environmental Assessment Scale (EASy) and the Home Observation for the Measurement of the Environment (HOME). Scores from each of the three elements as well as individual scores were averaged; the results had high inter-rater reliability. Two additional assessments were conducted on the patient group; they were tested for neurocognition, and were also clinically rated for functioning. During the former, 40 subjects with no demographic differences completed a Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (METRICS) Consensus Cognitive Battery. An overall average of their results was used for all the future analyses. During the latter, a Quality of Life Scale (QLS) was used to assess overall functioning of patients with respect to elements such as â€Å"social initiative† and â€Å"capacity for empathy†; â€Å"motivation† and â€Å"anhedonia† were not measured since they were already been used as DVs for the EMA. Procedure Rigorous pilot testing was carried before the actual experiment was conducted. Factors such as whether participants understand what the terms â€Å"activity† and â€Å"goals† meant in the context of the present study were determined during the piloting phase. After participants were selected, orientations on how to properly respond to an EMA during laboratory testing were conducted; they were subsequently required to provide written informed consent before going any further. Most of the basic questions that research assistants asked during the study were previously determined with respect to their effectiveness. Before they were provided a larger sample of the study to be rated, the coders were extensively trained for their task using a smaller subset of the original sample. When the results from the EMA were presented to the four independent raters, the responses from the experimental and control group were presented together in a randomized fashion. Attributes that were to be rated by the coders (such as pleasurable activities and effortful activities) were clearly defined within parameters. As previously mentioned, cell phones were provided to each participant to be used purely for the purposes of the study, and to be returned after its conclusion. The EMA and subsequent home assessments were recorded on audio for post hoc quality assessment. Monetary compensations were provided to every participant upon the completion of the whole study (marked by the returning of the cell phones) and for the completion of the several different assessments conducted during it; the amounts were different for each assessment. Data Analysis The independent variables (IVs) for all stages of assessment were individuals with schizophrenia and individuals without schizophrenia. The dependent variables (DVs), however, weren’t as consistent throughout the experiments, except for pleasure and effort. A number of other variables such as reward, difficulty, and sociability were also measured during the different stages of the study. The basic design of every experiment conducted in the study was to determine how the experimental group was different from the control group with respect to the numerous DVs they were being tested on. Two types of analyses were used to determine the statistical significance of the results obtained. The theoretical principles of these analyses are too convoluted to be properly explained, but for all intents and purposes, they seem to have been implemented correctly. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used in EMA analyses. Its effectiveness comes from the fact that it can categorize data into separate levels so that analysis of data from one level wouldn’t influence others. The EMA data were separated into Level one data (the multiple observations of participants) and level two data (between group differences in terms of neurocognition and functioning). For each research question and assessment, separate analyses of variation (ANOVA) were computed and their significance determined. Significance levels obtained through the HLM were presented as â€Å"pseudo-r2†. Independent sample t tests were conducted on the results obtained during the home assessments. It was used to determine whether or not the average level of stimulation that was computed for the control and experimental group was significant, with respect to each of the three aforementioned elements they were being measured on. Furthermore, the significance for the results of all five of the research questions seems to involve computation of t tests. The p values for them varied from 0.5, 0.1, and 0.001. Limitations and Future Research Dr. Marvin Monroe, Department of Psychology, Springfield University Sir, As requested, I have reviewed the study about pleasure and effort in schizophrenia, and it has got a number of interesting findings. Analysis of the results revealed that subjects with schizophrenia indeed set less effortful goals and engaged in less effortful activities. They also found that patients had difficulty determining with accuracy how difficult or effortful a task was going to be (in terms of resultant rewards). However, unlike the two aforementioned findings which were within the researchers’ expected results, the final finding was not; it showed that patients with schizophrenia engaged in more pleasurable activities, and that they set goals that were, and also anticipated by them, to be more pleasurable. I also analyzed the study for potential limitations and further research areas. In terms of limitations, it had many. Employment differences between the two sample groups felt like a deal breaker; however, the researchers did not find any significant difference when they computed the study for employment differences. The researchers themselves pointed out many, if not most, of the limitations that I found in this study. They highlighted four of them in the discussions and gave possible reasons for their occurrence. The foremost limitation according to the researchers was the reason behind the unexpected result which disproved their hypothesis. According to them, the social interactions with the research assistants might have induced pleasurable feelings within some participants. Other limitations include them focusing solely on short-term goals, the relatively new use of home assessment as a tool for measuring motivation in schizophrenia patients (which they also pointed out as a fut ure research area), and the fact that some assessments used fewer number of participants than the actual sample group. The researchers reported that there are no data available on â€Å"the relationship between effort assessment and functioning† and the â€Å"assessment of effort in daily life in Schizophrenia†. Another key area of research could be why social interactions increased anticipatory pleasure in patients with schizophrenia. This study illustrates several different ways in which schizophrenia patients could increase their motivation about everyday activities and goals. It was a very fascinating read. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review such a study. Sincerely, Ibrahim Fatheen Abdul Sameeu

Essay --

â€Å"The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse† (Burke). Lies, power, and selfishness can destroy families, friendships, and towns. When a person has power, they may not use it properly. There have been many instances where this has happened, but two main examples are in the novel The Crucible, and in McCarthyism. The Crucible is connected to McCarthyism by its model of a desire for power, unsubstantiated accusations, and the detrimental effects of these accusations. BEGIN The root of the problem in both The Crucible and McCarthyism was an extreme desire for power. In the novel, Danforth and Hathorne instantly gained power as they sentenced the accused to jail and death. They were so caught up in the power that they were gaining, that they listened to outlandish accusations, not stopping to think if they could be false. Danforth and Hathorne were seen as heroes to the people that were caught up in the chaos and paranoia of witchcraft. This was their motivation in their prosecution. Also, Abigail and the other girls were driven by selfishness. Ruth and Betty accused innocent people of the crime because they did not want to get in trouble, as did Tituba. Abigail accused Elizabeth Proctor because she wanted to be with John. Mary went along with the girls for fear that they would turn on her. No one with power had the courage to speak up and admit what they were doing was wrong (The Crucible). Because of their abuse of power, the town was destroyed. Power in the hands of a selfish person is disastrous. Power was also an important theme in McCarthyism. Joseph McCarthy showed signs of his desire for power early in his life. He led a corrupt campaign to become a circuit court judge, which was a foreshadowing of what he was willi... ...e of both of these events was victory for the victims. There is a strong connection between McCarthyism and the Salem With Trials, which are what The Crucible is based on. Arthur Miller immediately recognized this link, and displayed a great example of an abuse of power, and people going to great measures to get what they want (Brater). The desire for power, unsubstantiated accusations, and the detrimental effects of these accusations are the ways in which The Crucible is connected to McCarthyism. Power and selfishness can destroy the lives of those that possess it, and the lives of people around them. Humans are easily influenced by what others do and say, which is why people can gain power so easily. It is the choice of the powerful to use their power in the correct way. When power is misused, paranoia and chaos, as well as many other negative effects result.

Hypertension: Normal Blood Pressure

Hypertension is a chronic or persistent medical condition also known as high blood pressure. This condition causes the arteries to consistently elevate blood pressure. When high blood pressure is normal, the blood flows through smoothly because the artery wall is smooth. However, when an individual is diagnosed with high blood pressure, the blood flows through the arteries with too much force. Eventually, high blood pressure can cause serious damage to the arteries if it goes untreated. Also, high blood pressure causes the heart to have to work much harder than normal to keep up the flow of blood through the arteries.Hypertension can lead to damaged organs and several illnesses such as kidney failure and strokes. About 33% of people aren’t aware that they have high blood pressure. This ignorance can go on for years. For this reason, it is important to do periodic blood pressure screenings even if there are no symptoms present.The normal blood pressure for an individual is 120/ 80 where 120 represents the systolic measure (peak pressure in the arteries) and 80 represents the diastolic measure (minimum pressure in the arteries). Blood pressure of between 120/80 and 130/89 is called pre-hypertension. Blood pressure of 140/90 or above is considered hypertension.There are two classifications for hypertension, which are essential or secondary. Essential is the term used for high blood pressure when its cause is unknown. Unknown causes for hypertension accounts for about 95% of cases. Alternatively, secondary hypertension is the term for high blood pressure with causes related to kidney disease, tumors or birth control pills. Although the exact causes of hypertension are unknown, there are several factors that are often associated with this condition such as:Smoking Obesity or being overweight Childhood obesity Diabetes Sedentary lifestyle Lack of physical High levels of salt intake Insufficient calcium, potassium or magnesium intake Vitamin D deficiency High le vels of alcohol consumption Aging Stress, Medications such as birth control pills Genetics (a family history of hypertension) Clinic Kidney Disease Adrenal or thyroid problems or tumors.Symptoms associated with severe hypertension are severe headaches, fatigue or confusion, dizziness, nausea, problems with vision, chest pain, breathing problems, irregular heartbeat, and blood in the urine. You can find out whether or not you have hypertension by visiting a health professional who measures blood pressure. Remember, if your blood pressure is over 140/90 you will be diagnosed with hypertension. However, you can treat hypertension medically or by making lifestyle adjustments such as weight-loss, quit smoking, eating a healthy diet, reducing sodium intake, exercising regularly, and eliminating alcohol consumption. Medical options for treating hypertension include several classes of drugs that your health professional would prescribe based upon your specific condition and needs.

Toiiiiiiiiiiiwo social psychological theories of aggression

Bandura’s Social Learning Theory suggests that acts of aggression are learnt through the observation of role models. His original â€Å"Bobo Doll† study showed that when exposed to aggressive behavior small children copied this behavior, not just by being physically aggressive but even copying the verbally aggressive behavior. However this study focuses on children who are supposed to learn in this manner, this doesn’t demonstrate that this would also be true in older children or adults who already have a set moral compass that would interfere with copying aggressive behaviors.However Bandura’s later study showed that if children saw someone get punished for aggressive behavior they were less likely to be aggressive themselves when they were allowed to play with the bobo doll but if they saw someone get rewarded for this aggressive behavior then they were much more likely to act aggressively themselves, this shows that vicarious reinforcement is important to the learning of aggression through the social learning theory, as receiving direct positive reinforcement leads to people having high self efficacy making them very likely to repeat the aggressive behaviour that they were rewarded for.In terms of aggression this reward could come in many forms such as acceptance from a violent gang they want to be a part of or just attention from a parent or teacher. Moreover, Walter and Thomas' study in 1963 further supported this theory as the results of the study demonstrated that aggressive behavior was a result of imitation of role models. However, the social learning theory does not explain what triggers aggression. Additionally, the study emphasizes nurture and learning through observation – ignoring nature and biological explanations.On the other hand, Zimbardo’s theory of Deindividuation suggests that aggressive behavior occurs in groups as a person’s normal constraints become weakened when they are part of a group a s they take of the identity of the crowd as they feel that when part of a group their own actions are no longer bad making aggressive behaviour easier as they do not seem it as themselves carrying out the aggressive behaviour but the group as a whole as they become faceless, just part of the group not an individual.Commonly members of violent or aggressive groups have a reduced private self  awareness as they have some kind of tie to the rest of the group that makes them become a faceless member of the crowd, examples of this are common items of clothing in gangs and at football matches as supporters wear the same clothing and are all sat together. Zimbardo formed this theory around his Stanford Prison experiment where when the guards were giving a common uniform they became much more aggressive in their behaviour towards the prisoners as they became â€Å"guards† so felt that as a guard behaviour they would normally not see as acceptable suddenly became the appropriate res ponse to their own frustrations.However in contrast with this the prisoners were all deindividuated but apart from one small failed act of rebellion they did not become aggressive, in fact they became more obedient and passive, this suggests the Deindividuation of an individual as part of a group only leads to aggressive behaviour if aggression is what is expected of the group such as violence being the expected behaviour from teenage gangs.Like Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, this doesn’t explain what causes aggression but this does suggest that in some causes individuals themselves do not feel any kind of cue for the aggression they demonstrate but act in that way because the rest of the group does explaining how large scale acts of aggression can commonly occur as it could only require a small number of people to actually have a cue such as frustration to trigger the aggressive behaviour.

Free Essays on Lost Boy

People live lives so carelessly that they forget how precious life can be. But there are some people out their that value the meaning of life because they don’t have one. Now you might be wondering how is it possible for someone who doesn’t have a life even realize life? Confusing yes but not for Dave Pelzer. Dave Pelzer has been through sick times and unimaginable horror with his biological mother. Now you must be wondering how could someone’s mother do anything to her child, its not possible. In fact the question at issue is how could she even be a mother with her cruel behavior with the child? That is where I start to tell you about the book I just read called â€Å"the Lost Boy† by Dave Pelzer himself. This book is the sequence to the first book, â€Å"A Child called It†. And does have a third book following this one. Dave Pelzer as a child lived in a sick environment at home and when I say sick I mean just unimaginable things he had to go through that maybe in my sense a kidnapper might not have done when he/she abducts a child. At around age 5 in the first sequence Dave’s mother or as he likes to refer her as â€Å"The Mother†, started treating him bad by abusing him, making him wash bathrooms with hazardous chemicals, drink the chemicals, eat a baby’s number two from a diaper, beating him till he was knocked out, not giving him food and when he came home from school making him throw up any food he might have had from outside, and many more horrible forms of an abuse anyone might come up with. He never really lived like a normal child for instance his mother would make him sleep in the garage at nights where he would have no source of heating except his body heat and his dreams to take him away from the cruel reality he faces every millisecond of his life. The dogs were even treated better than Dave. But all of that stops when this second serial book starts. Dave is finally taken out of the hell hole he had... Free Essays on Lost Boy Free Essays on Lost Boy People live lives so carelessly that they forget how precious life can be. But there are some people out their that value the meaning of life because they don’t have one. Now you might be wondering how is it possible for someone who doesn’t have a life even realize life? Confusing yes but not for Dave Pelzer. Dave Pelzer has been through sick times and unimaginable horror with his biological mother. Now you must be wondering how could someone’s mother do anything to her child, its not possible. In fact the question at issue is how could she even be a mother with her cruel behavior with the child? That is where I start to tell you about the book I just read called â€Å"the Lost Boy† by Dave Pelzer himself. This book is the sequence to the first book, â€Å"A Child called It†. And does have a third book following this one. Dave Pelzer as a child lived in a sick environment at home and when I say sick I mean just unimaginable things he had to go through that maybe in my sense a kidnapper might not have done when he/she abducts a child. At around age 5 in the first sequence Dave’s mother or as he likes to refer her as â€Å"The Mother†, started treating him bad by abusing him, making him wash bathrooms with hazardous chemicals, drink the chemicals, eat a baby’s number two from a diaper, beating him till he was knocked out, not giving him food and when he came home from school making him throw up any food he might have had from outside, and many more horrible forms of an abuse anyone might come up with. He never really lived like a normal child for instance his mother would make him sleep in the garage at nights where he would have no source of heating except his body heat and his dreams to take him away from the cruel reality he faces every millisecond of his life. The dogs were even treated better than Dave. But all of that stops when this second serial book starts. Dave is finally taken out of the hell hole he had...

Fair Labor Standards Act Essay Example

Fair Labor Standards Act Essay Example Fair Labor Standards Act Essay Fair Labor Standards Act Essay Today we are fortunate to have laws to protect us from being forced to work excessive hours without being fairly compensated. We have laws to protect our children from being forced to work at an early age and these laws protect us from working in unsafe and unhealthy conditions. In 1938 our 32nd president Franklin D. Roosevelt was able to have the â€Å"Fair Labor Standards Act† passed and signed into law. This piece of legislation was a land mark in our history. It banned most child labor; it set a minimum hourly wage and set the standard work week. This was the beginning that made employers develop records to keep track of the wages that they paid to their employees and records of the hours the employees were working. The Supreme Court had been one of the major obstacles to wage-hour and child-labor laws. In the 1936 Presidential race wage-hour legislation was a campaign issue and Roosevelt promised to seek some constitutional way of protecting workers. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt won the 1936 election by a landslide he was determined to overcome the obstacles of the Supreme Court’s opposition as soon as possible. Roosevelt and his Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins tried to make a model for employers of government contractors in all fields, not just construction. But the Federal Government actually encouraged employers to exploit labor because the Government had to award every contract to the lowest bidder. : President Roosevelt and Frances Perkins continued to try to get congress to pass acts to prohibit the labor of children and set minimum wages and hours. The â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† in a draft form was sent to the White House where two trusted legal advisers of the President, and with the Supreme Court in mind, added new provisions to the already lengthy bill. Roosevelt had told his Secretary of Labor, that the length and complexity of the bill caused some of its difficulties with Congress, and asked for it to be shortened. Lawyers tried to simplify the bill but faced the problem that, although legal language makes legislation difficult to understand, bills written in simple English are often difficult for the courts to enforce. Because the wage-hour, child-labor bill had been drafted with the Supreme Court in mind, the bill could only be cut from 40 pages to 10 pages. The bill was voted upon May 24, 1938 and after the House had passed the bill, the Senate-House Conference Committee made more changes to reconcile differences. During the legislative battles over fair labor standards, members of Congress had proposed 72 amendments. Almost every change had exemptions, narrowed coverage, lowered standards, weakened administration, limited investigation, or in some other way worked to weaken the bill. What had survived was approved by the conference committee and passed the House on June 13, 1938 and then the Senate approved it. Congress then sent the bill to the President, and on June 25, 1938, the President signed the Fair Labor Standards Act into law. This affected industries that employed about one-fifth of the US workforce. About 700,000 workers were affected by the wage increase and 13 million more were affected by the hour’s provision. It mostly affected white males, and about 14 percent of women ( u-s-history. com). Children under the age of fourteen were no longer legally allowed to work with some exceptions in the agricultural industries and family businesses. Children under the age of eighteen were banned from working â€Å"hazardous† jobs in mining and some factory jobs. This had greatly reduced the number of children injured by bad working conditions. Children between the ages of 14 and 16 have had additional restrictions on the number of hours they are allowed to work to encourage them to stay in school. During a school day they are only allowed to work three hours and no more than eighteen hours in a school week. Children are not allowed to work before 7a. m. and after 7 p. m. , and from June 1 through Labor Day they are not allowed to work after 9 p. m. The 14 and 15 year old also have addition al restrictions in addition to the â€Å"hazardous† jobs that they may not perform. These jobs include the food service industry such as baking, cooking, working in the freezers and meat coolers, operating food slicers, grinders, choppers and bakery mixers. Fourteen and fifteen year olds are also not to perform jobs that require loading or unloading goods on or off of trucks, railcars or conveyors and they are not to work in connection with maintenance or repair of buildings, equipment or machines. Employers may be assessed civil monetary penalties of up to $11,000 for each employee who is the subject of a violation of the Act’s child labor provisions. A civil monetary penalty of up to $50,000 may be assessed for each child labor violation that causes the death or serious injury of any minor employee, and these assessments may be doubled, up to $100,000 when the violations are determined to be willful or repeated (LindenMeyer, 2004). In the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† the federal minimum wage began at 25 cents per hour in 1938 and it has had over twenty amendments made over the years for increases. The latest rate of $7. 25 per hour was effective on July 24, 2009. In addition to a minimum wage employers must pay the employee’s wages in cash or something that can easily be converted to cash or legal forms of compensation, for example food and lodging. Employers cannot pay their employees with coupons or tokens that can only be used in a store owned by the employer. Discounts that are granted to employees by the employers cannot be used towards meeting the minimum wage requirement. There are a number of employment practices which ‘Fair Labor Standard Act† does not regulate. They are vacation, holiday, severance, or sick pay; meal or rest periods, holidays off, or vacations; premium pay for weekend or holiday work; pay raises or fringe benefits; or a discharge notice, reason for discharge, or immediate payment of final wages to terminated employees. The standard work week in 1938 was reduced to 44 hours per week, and if employees were to work over that they would be paid over time at a rate of their wages plus one-half wages for the additional time worked. By 1940 the standard work week was reduced to 40 hours per week (www. dol. gov/dol/oasam/programs/history/flsa1938. htm). Despite this law in 2006 a class action law suit was brought against Wal-Mart for not paying its employees for their overtime and forcing them to work through their breaks. Wal-Mart lost the law suit and the workers won $78. 4 million (Worth 2008 p 12). In 1961 an amendment was added to the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† called â€Å"enterprise coverage†. It applies to employers whose annual sales total $500,000. 00 or more, or who are engaged in interstate commerce. The courts interpreted that the term interstate commerce to cover companies that regularly use the U. S. mail to send and receive letters to and from other states. The courts included that employees that use company telephones or computers to place or accept interstate business calls or take orders would make the employers subject to the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† (Steingold, 2009). There are also exemptions to the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† where some employees do not qualify for the provisions of overtime or the minimum wage requirements. These employees who are not entitled to it are called â€Å"exempt† employees. Employees that are always entitled to the overtime and the minimum wage pay provisions are â€Å"nonexempt† employees and they are blue-collar employees and first responders. Blue-collar employees include carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, iron workers, craftsman, operating engineers, construction works, and laborers. First responders are workers that are on the front lines of protecting safety and health. They include police officers, firefighters, medical technicians, ambulance personnel, and hazardous materials workers. Employees that are always exempt and are never entitled to overtime or a minimum wage are employees of seasonal amusement or recreational businesses, employees of newspapers with a circulation of less than 4,000 and newspaper deliver people, and workers of small farms. Some employees are exempt if they meet certain requirements; this is usually because the employees are being paid a salary that compensates them enough for the extra duties and responsibilities that they have. Executive, administrative and professional workers are exempt if they meet the specific guidelines. The requirements for an exempt executive worker are that they must manage other workers as a primary job duty and have at least two full time employees that they are in charge of. They must have the ability to hire, fire, discipline, promote, and demote others or make recommendations about these decisions. The executive worker must earn a salary of at least $455 per week. The requirements for an administrative employee to qualify as exempt are that they must primarily complete their work directly for the business’s management or administration. They must be independent workers and primarily use their own discretion and judgment on their work duties. The administrative employee also must earn a salary of at least $455 per week. The requirements for an exempt professional are that they complete work that requires invention, imagination, originality, or talents in the arts such as music, writing and acting. They may need to be a highly intellectual and have been trained in extensive studies such as law, medicine, theology, accounting, engineering, architecture, teaching, and pharmacy. The must also earn a salary of at least $455 per week. Outside sales people are exempt if they regularly work away from the employers’ office and make sales or obtain orders or contracts for services or facilities. Exempt salespersons are generally paid through commissions and will require little to no supervision to complete their job. The exemption from the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions also applies to computer specialist that receives a salary of at least no less than $455 per week or not less than $27. 63 per hour. The law specifies that computer specialist’s primary duties involve applying systems analysis techniques and procedures. Designing, developing, documenting, analyzing, creating, testing, or modifying computer systems or programs, prototypes and/or machine operating systems. There are a number of employees that are exempt from only the overtime pay requirements. These include taxicab drivers, announcers, news editors, and chief engineers of radio and TV stations that have fewer than 100,000 people located in a town or city (Repa, 2007 and Steingold, 2009). In 1963 an amendment called the â€Å"Equal Pay Act† had been added to equalize the pay scales for men and women who work at an equal skill, effort and responsibility. Congress felt that the differential in pay prevented the maximization of the available labor resources, they wanted to prevent labor disputes, and they did not want an unfair method of competition. They also felt that the wage differentials depressed the wages and the standard of living. Congress also wanted to eliminate stereotypes about the value of work performed by women. Congress exempted several forms of discrimination from the operation of the Equal Pay Act. These exceptions include shift differentials, restrictions on or differences based on the time of day worked, hours of work, and the lifting or moving of heavy objects. The Equal Pay Act also excluded differences based on experience, training or ability, as well as unusual or higher than normal wage rates which employers maintained for valid reasons. The Equal Pay Act allows for unequal pay for equal work only when wages are set pursuant to a seniority system, a merit system, a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or other factors outside of sex (The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc, 1963 and Landsberg, 2004). In 2004 a class action suit was brought against Wal-Mart were 1. 6 million female associates that worked for Wal-Mart felt that they were discriminated against because they were women. These women tried to advance into higher paying positions but were passed over by men/boys who did not have the experience and knowledge that these women had. More than seventy percent of the Wal-Mart workforce is women, sixty-five percent of the cashier and greeter positions are held by women and only thirty-five percent of the assistant managers for Wal-Mart are women. The female employees of Wal-Mart are paid less than the male workforce for jobs that are of equal skill, effort and responsibility all for keeping prices lower for the consumer (Worth, 2008 p 8-12). The Fair Labor Standard Act requires employers to keep records of wages, hours, and other regulated items by the Department of Labor. Most of the information is generally obtained by employers in ordinary business practice and in compliance with other laws and regulations. Employees that are subject to the minimum wage provisions or both the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions must have employers keep the following records with personal information, including employees name, home address, occupation, sex, and birth date if under 19 years of age, the hour and day when workweek begins and the total hours worked each workday and each workweek. These records also need to indicate the total daily or weekly straight-time earnings and the regular hourly pay rate for any week when overtime is worked and total overtime pay for the workweek. In addition to records for hours worked and paid the records also must include deductions from or additions to wages, total wages paid each pay period and the date of payment and pay period covered. The Records required for exempt employees differ from those for nonexempt workers. Special information is required for employees that work from the home and for employees to where lodging is provided ( ol. gov/dol/whd/regs/compliance/hrg. htm). The constitutionality of the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† was unanimously supported by the Supreme Court it has been altered and amended on at least 43 occasions between 1938 and 2009. Those alterations and amendments have provided and clarified benefits to workers in various employment sections, and made increases to the minimum wage. As a hardwor king American we have a right to be paid fairly for our work. It is unfortunate that many unscrupulous employers attempt to manipulate laws intended to protect workers in order to avoid paying just compensation. When this happens, employees can turn to the legal system to ensure that their rights are protected without being discriminated against or discharged for filing a complaint or participate in any proceeding under the Act. ? Repa, Barbara Kate. â€Å"Your Rights in the Workplace† Consolidated Printers Inc, July 2007 Steingold, Fred S. â€Å"The Employers Legal Handbook† â€Å"Manage you employees workplace effectively†. Delta Printing Solutions, Inc, June 2009 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. â€Å"Equal Pay For Equal Work† BNA Incorporated, 1963 Worth, Richard â€Å"Open for Debate Workers’ Rights† Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2008 Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Gale Encyclopedia of U. S. Economic History. 1999. Retrieved from Encyclopedia. com: encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-3406400301. html Newman, Roger K. Fair Labor Standards Act (1938). Major Acts of Congress. 2004. Retrieved from Encyclopedia. com: encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-3407400107. html LINDENMEYER, KRISTE. National Child Labor Committee. Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society. 2004. Retrieved from Encyclopedia. com: encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-3402800297. html Grossman, Jonathan. â€Å"Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938: Maximum Struggle for a Minimum Wage† www. dol. gov dol. gov/dol/topic/discrimination/agedisc. htm dol. gov/dol/oasam/programs/history/flsa1938. htm dol. gov/dol/whd/regs/compliance/hrg. htm u-s-history. com/pages/h1701. html Equal Pay Act of 1963. Major Acts of Congress. Ed. Brian K. Landsberg. Macmillan-Thomson Gale, 2004. eNotes. com. 2006. enotes. com/major-acts-congress/equal-pay-act