Friday, September 6, 2019
Factors affecting intellectual development Essay Example for Free
Factors affecting intellectual development Essay -Whichever has a bigger influence remains a debate until now because some studies proved that heredity has a bigger influence on intelligence while some studies showed the opposite. The important point is that the interplay of both heredity and environment is essential for maximum development of the intellectual abilities of the individual. Other factors affecting Intelligence: 1. Culture Different cultures foster different patterns of ability. For instance, students from Sri Lanka showed higher score in verbal ability than the Americans. -This can be explained by the fact that in Sri Lanka, the philosophers and the poets were admired rather than the scientists or engineers. 2. Sex It is not true that males are more intelligent than females. However, studies show that boys excel girls in spatial ability, in problem solving, and numerical ability whereas girls excel boys in memory, reasoning, and fluency. -The difference is not due to solve problems since they will be the heads of the families. Girls have been trained to do light work since they will be the homemakers, anyway. 3. Health Studies have shown that high IQ goes with healthy condition of the body. -In school; healthy children have better chances of learning, they can concentrate better in their studies and they are often active and enthusiastic about classroom activities. 4. Race No one race is endowed with better intelligence than others. -Differences in achievement of races are due to better opportunities and facilities found in developed countries. 5. Socio-economic status Studies have shown that children from higher socio-economic scored higher inà intelligence tests. -Again, greater opportunities and money account for this. The rich can send their children to better schools and can provide stimulating environment to their children. However, there are geniuses and idiots among them as there are among the poor.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Reflection on Uncomfortable Experience Bed Bath
Reflection on Uncomfortable Experience Bed Bath People Personal Development. Introduction The development of reflective skills is a key element of personal and professional development for nursing and healthcare staff (Smith, 1998). However, it is important to be able to develop effective skills in reflection, which incorporates much more than simply reviewing incidents, but forms part of a process of ongoing development of self awareness and insight into the actions of self and others (Rolfe et al, 2001). According toJones (1995), reflection is also an important part of developing clinical skills and understanding the relationship between evidence and quality of healthcare practice. This means that reflection is also part of professional development and provision of the best possible standards of care (Gustafsson and Fagerberg, 2004; Higgs and Titchen, 2001). Some authors suggest that reflection is both flawed and biased, and because of this, is not necessarily a useful activity, but this is usuall because if reflection is not focused properly, it does not achieve what i t is supposed to achieve (Burnard, 2002). Any reflection could be poentially biased, as it is an indiviudal and personal action applying critical thinking to essentially subjective experiences (Jones, 1995). However, the value of reflection has been repeatedly demonstrated in the literature as providing elements of personal development through insight and learning, and professional development, through reflecting on own practice in the light of ââ¬Ëbest practiceââ¬â¢ (Cottrell, 2003; Gibbs, 1988; Schon, 1987). Reflection often focuses on distinct elements of nursing experience, such as critical incidents or significant occurrences within clincal practice (Minghella and Benson, 1995; Smith, 1998). This kind of reflection is important to allow nurses to understand the experience and their own role within the case, and to consider how to change their behaviours to improve future practice (Gibbs, 1988; John and Freshwater, 1998). It is this capacity to change and improve practice which is the real value and goal of reflection (Rolfe et al, 2001). This essay focuses on an experience caring for a patient with a spinal injury, who was immobile and had suffered incontinence of faeces, which required nursing care to assist with personal hygiene. The chosen model for the reflection is Gibbs(1998) model (see Appendix) which is a cylical model which allows for a review of the incident and an evaluation of the experience, followed by development of a plan for future practice improvement. Discussion Description In this element of the model, Gibbs (1988) encourages the practitioner to describe the incident, to say what happened. In this case, the patient was immobile within an acute hospital facility, had been incontinent of faeces, and was, understandably, upset and embarassed by what had happened. In particular, the patient, who was a young adult male, was very aware of the odour. I assisted the qualified nurse in attending to his hygiene needs, using appropriate manual handling equipment. The patient was upset by the experience. Simply by describing this incident in a few lines, I have been able to highlight key elements of the incident which start to emerge as important for considering future practice. Feelings In this element of the Gibbs (1988) cycle, the practitioner is encouraged to describe how they were feeling. In this case, I was also embarassed, and made even more so by the awareness of the faecal odour and the fact that this was a young male, who was being given a bed bath by two women. I also felt very ââ¬Ësorryââ¬â¢ for the young man, who was immobile due to an accident and spinal cord injury. Here, reflecting on my feelings makes me realise that my feelings may have been transmitted to the patient, and that a professional approach is needed because the patient is already embarassed and self-conscious. I was aware that we had a lot of power, because the patient could not help himself, and that how I behaved was important in reducing the effect on the patient. Evaluation In this element of the reflective cycle, the practitioner is required to consider what is good and what is bad about the experience. In this case, it was good that working with an experienced nurse, the whole procedure was managed swiftly and professionally, and that communication with the patient was maintained throughout. The qualified nurse had cared for the patient before, and they seemed to have a good nurse-patient relationship. Her manner was professional but warm, not patronising. The negative parts of the experience included my own feelings getting in the way of my professional relationship with the patient, and the fact that I am sure he was aware of my reaction to the situation. Analysis This is the key section of the Gibbs (1988) cycle, because it encourages the nurse to analyse the situation, and it is here that critical analysis skills come to the fore. In relation to caring for a patient in this kind of situation, the complexity of the emotional/psychological and personal dimensions of the patientââ¬â¢s experience means that professional approaches to their care are very important (Slater, 2003). The use of different hygiene aids and approaches, such as, for example, planning to ââ¬Ëcheckââ¬â¢ for hygiene needs very frequently, might assist in preventing this situation occurring. However, as a junior student, I was not really aware of what other options there might be. Further discussion with my mentor revealed that the patient had been considering a stoma bag, because this would give him some control over managing faecal incontinence and would allow the patient some independence. The patient was paraplegic, not quadraplegic, and would, with the stoma ba ck, be able to manage his own hygiene needs in relation to bowel function. The implications of this kind of surgery would be considerable. I didnââ¬â¢t realise until after the incident, whilst discussing it with my mentor, that this was on the patientââ¬â¢s mind, and that much of his response to the situation was due to frustration and that these experiences were contributing to his desire to have surgery to have a stoma formed. Conclusion This section of the reflective cycle asks the nurse what else they could have done. In this situation, I think I could have perhaps discussed more of the patientââ¬â¢s case with the nurse prior to the incident, or could have asked the patient, sensitively, what we could have done to support him better. I could also have spent more time considering the kind of impact that spinal cord injury would have on a young, otherwise fit man, in terms of the social impact, and the lack of independence. Certainly I had never considered major surgery as a means of providing some personal independence. Action Plan Here the nurse writes bullet points of action for future practice. In the future I will: Discuss cases in more detail with the qualified nurse Be aware of my own emotional responses and try to act more professionally. Listen to the patient and encourage them to talk frankly with me. Try to develop better communication skills Spend more time after even seemingly innoccuous incidents talking with my mentor about cases, to become more aware of the complexities of patient experiences. Overall Conclusion This reflective cycle has provided me with a deeper insight into a situation which for me, was at first all about my response and feeling sorry for the patient. Gibbs (1988) provides a good cycle for reflection, because it moves the individual on towards changing their own practice, not just becoming aware of it. References 2 Burnard P (2002) Learning human skills: an experiential and reflective guide for nurses and health care professionals, 4th edition Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann Cottrell, S (2003) Skills for Success: The Personal Development Handbook Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan. Gibbs, G. (1988) Learning by Doing. A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechnic, Oxford Gustafsson, C. and Fagerberg, I. (2004) Reflection: the way to professional development? Journal of Clinical Nursing 13 271-280. Higgs J, Titchen A (2001) Professional practice in health, education and the creative arts Oxford: Blackwell Science John C and Freshwater D (1998) Transforming nursing through reflective practice Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Jones, P.R. (1995) Hindsight bias in reflective practice: an empirical investigation. Journal of Advanced Nursing 21 (4) 783ââ¬â788. Minghella E, Benson A (1995) Developing reflective practice in mental health nursing through critical incident analysis, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 21, 205-213. Rolfe G, Freshwater D, Jasper M (2001) Critical Reflection for Nursing and the Helping Professions: A User Guide. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Schà ¶n, D A (1987) Educating the reflective practitioner San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Slater W (2003) Management of faecal incontinence of a patient with spinal cord injury. British Journal of Nursing, 12(28), 727-734. Smith A (1998) Learning about reflection. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28(4), 891-898 Appendix Gibbs (1988) Cycle of Reflection http://www.nursesnetwork.co.uk/images/reflectivecycle.gif
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Capital Punishment :: essays research papers
à à à à à Each year there about 250 people added to death row and only 35 of them are even executed. The death penalty is the harshest form of punishment actually enforced by the United States government. Once the jury has convicted a criminal offense they go to the second part of the trial, the punishment part. If then the jury considers the death penalty, then the judge agrees that the criminal will have to face a form of execution. Lethal injection is the most widely used by todays death row criminals. For a period between 1972 to ââ¬Ë76, capital punishment was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. There are many reasons for why they thought that. The death penalty was looked at a cruel and unusual punishment under the eighth amendment. This decision was switched when a new method of execution was formed. Capital punishment is a difficult issue and there are many opinions as there are people on this earth. à à à à à Since the beginning of the United States there has been over 13,000 legal executions. Texas has executed the most people since the death penalty has been reinstated in 1976. There are only about 30-60 prisoners killed yearly. ââ¬Å"The Bible requires the death penalty for a wide variety of crimes, including sex before marriage, adultery, homosexual behavior, doing work on Saturday, and murder. It even calls for some criminals to be tortured to death by burning them aliveâ⬠(SOURCE 1). Some of the things stated in the last quote were a little morbid, and made me question in what I truly believe in. John Stuart Mill once stated, ââ¬Å" When there has been brought home to any one, by conclusive evidence, the greatest crime known to law; and when the attendant circumstances suggest no palliation of guilt, no hope that the culprit may even yet not be unworthy to live among mankind, nothing to make it probable that the crime was an exception to general character rather than a consequence of it, then I confess it appears to me that to deprive the criminal of the life which he has proved himself to be unworthy--solemnly to blot him out from the fellowship of mankind and from the catalogue of the living-- is the most appropriate as it is certainly the most impressive, mode in which society can attach to so great a crime the penal consequences which for the security of life it is indispensable to annex to itâ⬠, this was stated before Parliament on April 21, 1868. I find that in this passage a lot of good is said.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
The Holy Bible is Fact, Not Fiction :: Holy Bible Essays
The Holy Bible is Fact, Not Fiction The Hebrew word used for "day" is the word yom. Every other time the word is used in the Old Testament in conjunction with a number, a literal, 24-hour period of time is being described; what we know as a day. The word is never used metaphorically in the Bible. The verses most commonly used to say that the word day in Genesis could mean more than a 24 hour period are Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3, which quotes Psalm 90:4. Psalm 90:4 - For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. 2 Peter 3:8 - But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. Notice the phrases "are like" and "is like." The Greek word used in 2 Peter is 3:8 for that phrase is like is the word hos, a word used in a figurative comparison - the word as. We must always keep things in the proper perspective: Science is of men; the Bible is of God (2 Timothy 3:16 - "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness"). The almighty, all-powerful, omniscient, omnipresent God we worship obviously has the ability to create the world in an even shorter time; He could speak one word and it ALL would come into existence. He says in His Word that He created it in six days, why can't we let Him speak for Himself and take it at face value. God's Word is infallible, people ARE NOT. Exodus 20:11 - For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 31:16-17 - 'So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.' "It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed." If we were to assume that Creation lasted more than 6 24 hour days, the "sign" the second passage speaks of would be a pretty poor sign - a comparison between a 6000 year creation and our 7 day week wouldn't be very meaningful.
Monday, September 2, 2019
The Beach Essay -- essays research papers
The Beach Brothers and sisters grow up arguing, screaming, and fighting from dusk until dawn. The arguments range from talking on the telephone, sharing the bathroom, to who gets dibs on the car. These confrontations appear to be the norm between siblings. In reality, when one comes face to face with losing a sister, all the arguing, screaming, and fighting seem of little importance. I realized this during a blistering hot July afternoon sojourn at the beach. The long drive felt like a never-ending adventure. Instead of cool air, the air conditioner blew air from the gates of Hell. My sister and I sat in the back seat of the ever-shrinking Toyota Camry arguing and hitting each other until dad threatened us yelling, ââ¬Å"Donââ¬â¢t make me drive this car into a telephone pole!â⬠Mom sat on the other side with only two jobs, control the radio and navigate us to the beach. Both were done very poorly, giving us static from the radio and forty-five minutes on a road with no name. After hours of driving, which felt like an eternity, we finally arrived at the beach. Running toward the ocean, I felt the cool sand squish between my toes. The water was clear and inviting, seashells cover the bottom, and rolling waves punctuate the surface. My sister and I went into the ocean, diving through the waves and swimming as quickly as we could. We rode enormous waves into the shore on our raft and then swam back to catch more. We enjoyed ourselves for hours until I was totally exhausted and hea...
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Reflective Essay on Communication
I am a health care assistant (HCA) on an elderly care surgical ward and we nurse many different patients who have had elective surgery and corrective surgery after a trauma. I have a lot of contact with patients who suffer with dementia, ongoing confusion due to urinary tract infections and can often display challenging and aggressive behavior.I have found on a daily basis that patients become can frustrated when they cannot communicate what they want, and I was sure that with my strong accent I would come across as harsh. This left me feeling worried and sometimes inadequate because it is in my job and personal nature to want to help those in my care. As part of my Personal Assessment Document (PAD) my mentor and I decided that I would I would push myself to speak with patients more and see how they reacted to me. I would read the patientà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s purple à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âThis is meà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã folder to try and engage them on a more personal level.With this reflective ac count I will be discussing an experience that I had on my ward and how through reflection I have managed to gain more confidence in my ability to talk to my patients and convey my compassion in the way I communicate with the patients in my care.I will use the reflective framework devised by Atkin and Murphy (1994) to construct this account. It is the right model of reflection for me to look back and learn from my experiences.Personally, being a good student and health carer does not just come with reflection in the mind but also reflective practice which, according to the nursing standard à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âenables a student to develop their skills, increase their knowledge and deal with emotionally challenging situationsà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã (RCN 2012). Reflection is something that should be engaged with on an everyday basis and from very early on in your health care career. It enables you to carry on caring about the patients you treat and how to improve yourself personally and professiona lly.I enjoy both the personal rewards and the challenges that go hand in hand with working with patients with dementia. I find that on the drive home I tend re-evaluate everything in my life and be grateful for the now. A patient whom will go by the pseudonym of à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âPollyà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã to maintain her confidentiality (The NMC Code of professional Conduct, 2004) was admitted to the ward with a fracture to the neck of her femur.I was advised that the patient was very confused, and would spit at staff and be both physically and verbally aggressive when approached but would constantly cry out that she needed help. She was in the early to middle stages of Alzheimerà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s disease and had come from a care home for those suffering with dementia. Alzheimerà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s disease is characterised à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âby the loss of short term memory, deterioration in both behaviour and intellectual performance and slowness of thoughtà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã (Dictionary of Nurs ing 1998).In handover that morning I found that I would be working with her that day, and as she was post operative I would need to wash her and try to mobilise her to sit out in her chair so that the physiotherapists could help her to walk again and get her on the pathway to being discharged back to her care home. I found that I was nervous in approaching this patient as I did not want to upset her or get hurt. Personally I would always wake patients like Polly who require the attention of more than one member of staff last as it is better to leave the patient to sleep so that they are well rested. That, and from handover I had learned that Polly had experienced a rather active night.Before waking Polly I had read her personal à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âThis is meà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã purple file to find out if she had any preferred names, and how she liked to be spoken too. This is me was devised by the Alzheimerà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s society and à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âis intended to provide professionals w ith information about the person with dementia as an individual. This will enhance the care and support given while the person is in an unfamiliar environmentà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
â(Alzheimerà ¢Ã¢â ¬ÃÅ"s society 2011). With this information I could help maintain a similar routine for Polly and I would not confuse her by overloading her with too many questions and instructions.I woke Polly up gently, and sat myself down in the chair by her bed so that I was not standing over her. I spent almost thirty minutes with Polly getting her up and ready, the patient did not get upset or frustrated with me, andà she was able to do most of the washing and dressing herself with help from me. Once this was completed I handed over to physiotherapists that they too should take this approach with Polly.I spent twelve days in total with Polly. In this time she was aggressive with me, and she would spit at me when I approached her. Yet, once I used her preferred name and tailored my approach to what sh e needed from me, I found that Polly was a pleasant and wonderful lady, who could be the complete opposite to the patient that was first handed over to me that first morning.Morris and Morris state that the symptoms of dementia are experienced by each person in à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âtheir own unique wayà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã (2010) and this is reinforced by the publication of the à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âthis is meà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã leaflet. It enables staff to really look at each individual patient and assess what their needs are. In reflection, if I had not read this leaflet and just gone ahead and woke Polly up as I do each patient, the events of the day could have taken a very different path. I found that by talking to Polly as requested in her leaflet that she reacted in a calmer manner and did not get as anxious or frustrated as quickly as my colleagues had prepared me to think.Reflecting over my first day with Polly, I do not remember struggling to say my words more clearly than what I normally would have done. Polly was not deaf, nor was she a child and I kept it in my mind that this patient was still a scared lady who had broken a big part of her body and was in a large amount of pain. Furthermore, she might not be able to communicate this fact as clearly as someone without dementia.Hobson states that, the HCA will need to à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âlearn to adapt how they attempt to understand what the person is saying to themà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã and that this can only be achieved by à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âentering the same world as the person with dementiaà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã (2012, P337). At times Polly would pretend to cry like a child and repeat the words à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âOh Mummy, mum, mum. Oh Mummyà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã but not be able to give an answer when questioned what was wrong and how could we help her. Taking this into consideration, Polly might not be actually asking for her Mum but actually trying to communicate a much deeper need.My understanding of how patients with dementia communicate lead me to point to Pollyà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s hip and ask her if she felt pain there when she moved, to which she replied yes she did. In reflection I found this was a much better approach rather than just asking if Polly wanted any pain relief. Elkins has stated that asking the patient with dementia a direct question is almost a waste of time, as the patient does not have the information to give you. Instead it is more beneficial for the patientà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s sense of self worth to ask them a question with an optional answer of à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âyesà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã or à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
ânoà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã . It could also be said that a statement rather than a question is better because it leaves the patient feeling more in control (2011).From this experience, I suggested to the nurses that when doing their drug round that they should lower themselves down to Pollyà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s eye level and ask her if her hip hurt her, rather than standing at the end of her bed or beside her asking if she wanted any pain relief. This suggestion meant that Polly had more regular pain relief, and as a team we knew when she was in pain.Furthermore, this information could be added to her file and become part of Pollyà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s future care pathway. Elkins raised the very same argument that à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âonce an effective communication bridge had been achieved, the individual is much more like to remain calm and anxiety freeà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã This would show that dialogue between patient and healthcare professional had been greatly improved and would continue to do so in the future (2011).In reflection, I have found that I was so focused on the need to be understood through my use of English that at times I under-estimated the importance of non-verbal communication. Now, having taken a step back I see that I am almost in the same boat as the patient suffering with dementia, we are both just à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âan individual attempting to communicateà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã (Hobson, 2012) a nd as a HCA the method of employing à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âfeelings and emotionsà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã should become more à ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã
âsignificant than the spoken wordà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã (Hobson, 2012).Although my confidence in speaking to patients is always growing, I am more appreciative of how much more effective my body language, and the tone of my voice can be when communicating with a patient with dementia. Yes, looking after these patients can be a challenge but getting past the dementia and working in ways that compliment the patientà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s mindset will be of moreà benefit to the patient. By spending some time reading each patientà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s information leaflet I am able to help maintain a patientà ¢Ã¢â ¬Ã¢â ¢s well being and create a more anxiety free environment for our patients.
EGT1 â⬠Economics and Global Business Applications Essay
Elasticity of demand is a measure of responsiveness to a price change of a good or service. When demand is elastic, the percentage of a price change of a product will result in a larger percentage of quantity demanded (McConnell, p 77). It basically means reducing the price of a good service will result in a greater quantity demanded and an increase in revenue for the seller. When demand is inelastic, a change in price will result in a reduction of quantity demanded, which will then lead to a revenue decrease (McConnell, p 77). To demonstrate elastic and inelastic demand results, Company A sells 100 pens at $1.00 a piece each day, making their revenue $100.00. Company A then decides to sell their pens at $.50, which results in a total of 250 pens being sold. The total revenue from the price drop is $125, resulting in an additional $25.00; therefore the demand in this scenario is elastic. If selling the pens at the decreased price of $.50 would result in more pens being sold, but less total revenue, the demand is said to inelastic. According to McConnell, when demand in unit elastic, the percentage change in price and the resulting percentage changes in demand are the same. The change in price will not increase or decrease revenue. Cross price elasticity measures the response of demand to a change in price of another substitute or complimentary good (McConnell, p. 87). Substitute goods are goods that can be purchased in place of another good. Examples of substitute goods are soda (buying Coke vs. Pepsi), computers, and potato chips. A positive cross elasticity of demand means the increase of price in one good, for example Coca-Cola, will increase the demand of a substitute good, for example Pepsi. As the price for Coke increases, consumers are more likely to purchase Pepsi at a lower price, thereby increasing its demand. Complementary goods are items that are typically purchased in conjunction within one another. Examples are ringed binders and notebook paper, pencils and erasers, and potato chips and dip. A negative cross elasticity of demand in complementary goods means that the increase in price of one good, an example being potato chips, will decrease the demand for the complementary product that goes with it, the dip. Income elasticity measures the responsiveness of consumers to changes in their incomes (McConnell, p 88). Demand for normal goods tends to increase as consumersââ¬â¢ incomes increase and conversely, demand for inferior goods tends to decrease as consumersââ¬â¢ income increases. Demand is elastic where there is a large availability of substitutes. The reason for this as the price of a good increases, if there is a large amount of substitutes for this particular good, the consumer will choose the substitute. As discussed earlier, soda is an excellent example of this elasticity. Airline tickets are another example. As one airline raises its cost of a ticket or to even pay for a bag to be checked, a consumer will more likely choose a cheaper ticket or an airline that doesnââ¬â¢t charge for baggage over the original. If there is no (or a very limited) amount of substitutes for a good, elasticity is said to be negative. A price change in medication will not likely change the behavior of a consumer relative to demand since there isnââ¬â¢t a substitute to taking the medication. Household utilities are another example of a limited amount of substitutes. In discussing the proportion if oneââ¬â¢s income devoted to a good concept, the household budget comes into play. In a given month, households pay for many different good and services. A change in price may or may not affect the households demand for those goods and services. Often, it is dependant on how much of the household budget is devoted to that good or service. Mobile phone service is an excellent example of a service that will most likely have a large amount of a household budget dedicated to it. A change in price in the cell phone service will most likely result in that family making a decision to change to a cheaper service, since that will have a large impact on their budget. On the other hand, that same household may purchase light bulbs each month. The amount of money dedicated to the purchase of light bulbs is so small, that a price increase will not likely affect the budget, therefore the family will not likely make a decision to change to a cheaper bulb. The concept of time when discussing demand is important. When a consumer has a large amount of time to decide on the purchase of a good or service, the elasticity is positive. Conversely, if there is little time, the elasticity is said to be negative. According to McConnell, and excellent example of this is gasoline for automobiles. Gasoline prices change daily and more often than not, prices rise. A family, who owns a car and is dependent on that car for work, etc, will not likely stop buying gas in the sort-term, because it is crucial to their everyday living. However, that family over a long period of time may decide to find alternate means of travel, decreasing their demand for gas. Using the graphs for elasticity of demand and total revenue, areas of elasticity, inelasticity and unit elasticity have been identified. Demand is elastic between the prices of $80.00 and $50.00, meaning the demand increases as the price decreases, resulting in an increase of total revenue. Between the prices of $50.00 and $40.00, the demand in unit elastic, meaning the percentage of drop in price resulted in the same percentage of increase in demand. Revenue remained unchanged in this price range. Between the prices of $40.00 and $0, the demand is inelastic, meaning the price drop has resulted in an increase in demand, but not enough to over come the decrease. Total revenue has been negatively impacted.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)