The Fire Inside Me Essay Example for Free

The Fire Inside Me Essay A spark has been lit inside of me. It has become attached to my body, creating a fire that will soon consume me. There are things I do want out of life for myself, and this fire is there for that reason. The fire forces me to achieve all of my goals. The fire started as all fires start—the tiniest spark. I could tell from the â€Å"pinch-like† pain that the spark landed right above my smaller intestine, right in the â€Å"pit of my stomach. † With each goal I set for myself, the fire grows stronger, hotter, and brighter than ever before. I want to go to college, and with that thought to myself, I can feel the fire grow inside of me. The faint smell of smoke that would make one reminisce a childhood campfire appears in my nostrils. My skin grows slightly warmer, and my once cool, wet, clammy palms have suddenly become cool and dry. I want to be valedictorian, and in less than a minute, I can feel the tiny fire grow larger, enveloping my stomach, liver, gall bladder, and spleen. The fire has grown to the size where one could see an array of colors: orange, red, yellow, and the faintest blue-tinge located in the center of the fire. I want to win states for soccer; immediately the fire increases in size yet again, this time consuming my lungs, muscles, and bones; it takes control of my intestines, esophagus and kidneys. With every exhale I put forth, I feel dark black smoke rise through my trachea and slowly drip out of my nostrils, leaving only the smell of smoke, and the sight of black vapor wisping in front of my eyes. My eyes that were once blue have slowly began to turn red, as if to show others of the fire that consumes me—the fire that drives me. The flame’s tendrils whip around my heart and brain, close enough to cook my two-most-vital organs. With every piece of food I eat, the taste of charcoal rises to my lips and tongue, giving me no more enjoyment in either eating or drinking. I have become permanently dehydrated because everything I drink soon turns to vapor due to the heat. No longer am I cold, or even warm, but am now hot to the touch. I will be successful, and with this goal, the fire completely envelops me. The heat in my body could raise the temperature of the Arctic Circle by a few degrees. I can now hear the sound of my organs sizzling, crackling, and popping in the intense heat. The fire is now displayed in brilliant shades of blue, light and dark, purple, a vibrant yellow, a spectacular red, and a bright orange. The sight of my fire would be enough to put to shame any sunrise or sunset. With every breath I take, the air is immediately lost, used instead to fuel the fire. The fire that now consumes me has become a part of me. It lives inside me and forces my thoughts to be centered. The fire no longer causes pain for me, as I have come to accept my fire, my passion and drive. Soon, with me slowly accomplishing my goals one by one, it still pushes me onward. It makes it so that I can push past any obstacle in front of me. The fire allows me to see that I will be successful and that I will achieve all my life’s goals. I sometimes cannot help wondering if Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, or any other great history-maker had a fire of their own much like this. I understand that the fire will one day diminish. It will once again lose control over my body, leaving behind only black colored organs, the minor smell of smoke, and the slight taste of charcoal. Soon, the fire will become only a spark once again leaving the remainder of my fire to dissipate in the last smoke vapor to leave my burnt nostrils. But for now, the fire still fuels me. For now, if one would look closely enough, past the burnt hair, the blackened organs, and the pulsating red eyes, they would still be able to see that tiny spark.

Research Process and Terminology Paper Essay Example for Free

Research Process and Terminology Paper Essay The aim of this paper is to address the linkage between foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and the number of natural disasters. By using the data of 94 countries in the period of 1984 to 2004 and applying a variety of empirical tests, the result appears that natural hazards have significantly negative effects on FDI of countries. A. Economic Effects of Natural Disasters and The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment Economic Effects of Natural Disasters There are three patterns that concern with the economic effects of natural hazard. The first two strands concentrates on the primary or short-term effects and long-term effects of hazards on economy. While the short-term effect strand achieves abundant evidences of negative disasters’ impacts on GDP, the long-term effect strand cannot reach a clear conclusion. The third strand focuses on the capacity to mitigate the destructive effects of natural risks. A brief conclusion is that the negative impacts of risks can be diminished by country’s institutions. Determinant of Foreign Direct Investment There are three types of foreign direct investment, namely: (1) Operating new (2) Moving an existing (3) Moving a part of existing The first type is considered as location decision and categorized in pull factor, the latter two types are relocation decision and belong to push factor. Following this logic, propositional pull factors to put in models are the level of openness and the size of the economy. Obviously, the push  factor in models is natural risks. Other determinants which are mainly focused are institutions, such as government infrastructure, political freedom, corruption, etc. B. Data and Methods The data for analyzing impacts of natural disasters on FDI flows are taken from the EMDAT, which provides by the institution Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) and World Bank. Some observations were dropped because of missing data, the data which is used in this research contains an unbalance panel with 1,822 country-year observations from 94 countries (29 in Africa, 17 in Asia, 22 in Europe and 26 in Americas) in the period 1984-2004. Table 2 presents descriptions of dependent and independent variables. (TABLE 2) At this point, it is important to look again at two primary variables which devoted to results of empirical tests. The first key variable is FDI, which is measured by the total net inflows of foreign direct investment as a percentage of GDP. FDI is the dependent variable in all models. The second key variable relates to natural hazards. Since both recent and longerterm risks have its impacts on investors, the authors deliver four variables that are concerned with the number of natural risks happening in four time period: Total events in the prior year, total events in the prior 5 years, total events in the prior 10 years, total events in the prior 25 years. Table 3 shows the correlations between FDI/GDP and each of four variables referring to the measures of natural risks. (TABLE 3) It is undoubtedly true that both the counted measure as number of natural hazards and the monetary measure as the estimation of â€Å"dollar value of damages† affect decision makers. While it can be argue that result as the dollar amount of damages may have substantial influence on investors’ decisions, it is obvious that estimating the consequence of natural disasters is complex and not as accurate as â€Å"counts of disasters†. For this  reason, models will mainly focus on counts of disasters. Moreover, the research emphasizes on five types of natural hazards that severely devastate infrastructures, physical capital and labor forces. As such, these five types are earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, landslide and windstorms (include hurricanes). The following two variables which refer to the degree of openness and incentive in trade and investment are Trade and Investment. The former is taken from World Bank’s 2008 World Development Indicators and the latter is provided by Political Risk Services Group, assembled by the IRIS Center at the University of Maryland. Regarding to a country’s reliability for trade and investment, the investment variable is the estimation of three factors: contract viability/risk of exportation, repatriation of profits and delay in payments. These three factors are rank from 0 to 12 and the higher value illustrates the higher risk in investment. The final three variables in the base model are Inflation, Gov. stability and Rule of law. The Inflation variable is the inflation level of each country in a particular year and taken from 2008 World Development Indicators. The other two variables are collected from the International Country Risk Guide, with reflecting the level of stability of government and adhesion to the rule of law. The higher value implies the better environment for investors. Those variables contribute to the base model as this form: FDIit = ÃŽ ±0 + ÃŽ ±1Total events in the prior # yearsit + ÃŽ ±2GDP per capitait + ÃŽ ±3GDP growthit + ÃŽ ±4Tradeit + ÃŽ ±5Investmentit + ÃŽ ±6Inflation + ÃŽ ±7Gov. stabilityit + ÃŽ ±8Rule of lawit + ÃŽ ³i + ÃŽ ³t + ÃŽ µit This research also employs ÃŽ ³i as country fixed effects over time and ÃŽ ³t as year fixed effects for all countries. C. Results and Their Implications The below table indicates the linkage between foreign direct investment and natural disasters by applying the base model. It can be seen from Table 4 that all four natural hazard variables have significantly negative effects on FDI in each of models. Moreover, there is a decline trend in coefficients of disaster variables when measuring in Total events in the prior 1 year to Total events in the prior 25 years, which suggests that relatively recent risks have more significant influence than long term risks on investors’ decisions. The next two variables, which are GDP per capita and GDP growth, are positive as expected and significant. However, although both Trade and Investment variables have positive effects on FDI, only Trade is significant. The Inflation variable is negative and significant in all four models. Only Gov. stability variable has unexpected side and both Gov. stability and Rule of law are not significant in all models. The authors also employ the empirical tests to find out different effects of five particular types of disasters. The result is presented in Table 5. The outcome demonstrates that all other non-disaster variables have the same reaction and all damage variables are negative in side. However, Windstorms is significant in all three cases, Volcanoes is significant in two cases while Landslides, Earthquake and Floods are significant in only one case. Hence, there is evidence to support the view that each type of hazards has its effects on FDI, the clearest evidence is found on Windstorms. Regardless the inaccurate in estimation of dollar value of damages, the research generates the final test by using the base model with â€Å"dollar value of damages† in place of â€Å"counts of disasters†. The result is displayed in Table 6. Similarly with the above case, all non-disaster variables have the same result as the base model case. Though disaster variables are negative and significant in all case, they do not decline from recent to older events. A draw conclusion may be policy makers equally focus on relative recent and longer-term risks or maybe there is error in data. D. Conclusion To sum up briefly, there are four important conclusions. First and foremost, natural disasters have significant and negative effect on foreign direct  investment. Second, there are some evidences to support the view that decisions of foreign investors are deeper affected by relative recent events in comparing to longer-term events. Third, different types of natural hazards are considered to have different impacts on foreign direct investment, the most severe impact is found on windstorms. Finally, regardless the intricacy and inaccuracy in monetary measuring the value of damages, the model which focuses on dollar value of damages also addresses the same result with the base model: natural disasters discourage foreign direct investment.

Quantitative Easing within the Eurozone

Quantitative Easing within the Eurozone Inflation is one of those things where the situation determines whether it is good or bad. Central Banks (CBs) are able to steer the inflation rate. Before the financial crisis of 08-09, they managed them by interest rate adjustment. The interest rate at which a bank borrows overnight would be reduced to prevent an economic fall, or increased if spending and credit would get out of hand (The Economist, 2015). When the CBs lowered their overnight interest rates during the financial crisis, even cutting the rates to almost zero did not manage to cause an economic recovery. Therefore, CBs started to experiment with alternative methods to encourage banks to pump money in the economy. Quantitative Easing (QE) is one of those alternative tools (The Economist, 2015). The current president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, announced in January 2015 that he was going to employ QE within the Eurozone (Stewart, 2015). QE is an unconventional method in which a CB creates money and buys financial assets, such as bonds (Bank of England, n.d.). The use of QE has been popular since the financial crisis. In Europe, the ECB stated in 2009 that they would focus on buying a form of corporate debt, covered bonds, with an initial value of  £60bn (Duncan, 2009). In 2015 this eventually became  £60bn/month of bonds which would be bought from European institutions, agencies and central governments (Stewart, 2015). In 2016 they also included corporate bonds under their QE program. QE advantages In the recent crises interest rates had already been reduced to sub-zero levels, when there was still a need to prevent an economic downturn. Therefore CBs had no probable course of action anymore. With QE however, CBs could still influence the economy. QE increases the money supply, which causes competition between lenders due to excess money and therefore lower interest rates. This means that the CBs do not have to lower the interest rates, as they will automatically go down. QE also limits the increase in unemployment as result of a crisis, since it prevents in short-term a huge economic fall. The fact that QE shows immediate results, can be used to buy and therefore remove toxic assets, and that the government is in control of the outcomes, make it an interesting alternative to the classic conventional method. With QE CBs know the exact amount of money that they are implementing in the marketplace (MSG, 2017). QE disadvantages One of the CBs its main tasks is to monitor and control inflation. The inflation target in the EU is just under 2% (European Central Bank, 2017). QE causes a high inflation, due to the fact that money is created to buy the bonds. In the short-term a rise in inflation is a good thing, since shows economic improvement. In the long-term; however, high inflation is a problem. There is no long term data available since QE is a recent phenomenon, but it is a possibility that it could create long term inflation problems (Management Study Guide, 2017). QE also causes fluctuation in the interest rates, since the higher inflation over time will also make the interest rates rise. This is against the goal of the CB to keep them at a stable level. QE gives improvements in the economy in the short-term, however; in the long-term it could destabilize the economy (Management Study Guide, 2017). ECBs decision to choose QE In June of 2014, the ECB lowered their interest rates to a negative number (CÃ…â€Å"urà ©, 2016). The method to decrease interest rates was therefore not really implementable anymore. The ECB had to search for an alternative method to influence the economy. Other CBs were using QE, and there was also an example where QE had worked (UK, 2009[3]). The need to increase spending combined with the other possible motives could be the reason which pushed the ECB towards QE. The question now is where the need to increase spending came from. The core of the problems in the Eurozone is a spending crisis. One persons spending is another persons income. John Maynard Keynes[4]. In the aftermath of the 08 crisis, too much debt and poor growth prospects sacrificed spending in the private sector. New banking regulations combined with oversized balance sheets caused unwillingness to expand lending in banks. This combined resulted in dramatic decreases in private sector spending (van Lerven, 2016). [5] Graph 1 Due to the recession government its social security expenditures increased after they had bailed out banks. The decrease in spending mentioned above meant less tax revenue. These two events combined caused an expansion in government budget deficits, as is clearly visible in the graph above (Eurostat, 2017). This meant that governments also started to cut in their spending, which resulted in lower incomes for households, and therefore lower goods and services demands (van Lerven, 2016). To be able to give a recommendation to Mario Draghi, it is important to look at the results of their QE program are so far. In the first three months, there was a small increase in prices. However, in the following five months the inflation rate declined progressively and even reached a negative number in September 2015. After this it shows a few rises and falls, but all nowhere near the goal the ECB wanted to achieve with QE (van Lerven, 2016). The inflation was far from just under two percent. However, there is no long term information available, and QE has worked before. Currently QE aims to stimulate spending indirectly. The ECB does not give money to governments or the normal people, but puts it into financial markets. They then hope that the private sector changes their behaviour when it comes to borrowing and spending. The unfortunate truth is however, that investigation shows that QE has weak results in the transmissions in which it is supposed to work. Assets prices have increased, but there is no noticeable increase in spending in the Eurozone. The results the ECB wanted have not been achieved (van Lerven, 2016). Recommendation The current QE program has been here for a couple of years now, and with significant size. The goals the ECB hoped to achieve were not achieved, and therefore it is unlikely that increasing the length or size will lead to the spending they desperately want. As member of the board of governors I would suggest the use of more direct ways to increase the spending in the economy. References Bank of England, n.d. What is quantitative easing?. [Online] Available at: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetarypolicy/pages/qe/default.aspx[Accessed 15 February 2017]. CÃ…â€Å"urà ©, B., 2016. Assessing the implications of negative interest rates. [Online] Available at: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2016/html/sp160728.en.html[Accessed 28 February 2017]. Coy, P., 2014. Why John Maynard Keynes is just the economist we need to get the worlds economy humming again. [Online] Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-10-30/why-john-maynard-keyness-theories-can-fix-the-world-economy[Accessed 28 February 2017]. Duncan, G., 2009. ECB opts for quantitative easing to lift the eurozone. The Times, 8 May, p. 53. European Central Bank, 2017. Monetary Policy. [Online] Available at: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/mopo/html/index.en.html[Accessed 23 February 2017]. Eurostat, 2017. General Government gross debt annual data. [Art] (Eurostat). Management Study Guide, 2017. Disadvantages of Quantitative Easing. [Online] Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/disadvantages-of-quantitative-easing.htm[Accessed 28 February 2017]. MSG, 2017. Advantages of Quantitative Easing. [Online] Available at: https://www.managementstudyguide.com/advantages-of-quantitative-easing.htm[Accessed 28 February 2017]. Stewart, H., 2015. ECB unveils  £1.1tn QE plan to stimulate eurozone economy. [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/22/ecb-unveils-1-trillion-qe-plan-stimulate-eurozoen-economy[Accessed 12 February 2017]. The Economist, 2015. What is quantitative easing?. [Online] Available at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/03/economist-explains-5[Accessed 23 February 2017]. TransferWise Ltd., 2015. What Is Quantitative Easing And Why Is It Used?. [Online] Available at: https://transferwise.com/gb/blog/what-is-quantitative-easing-why-is-it-used[Accessed 28 February 2017]. van Lerven, F., 2016. Quantitative Easing in the Eurozone: a One-Year Assessment. Intereconomics, 51(4), pp. 237-242. Zewald, S. B. J., 2017. Euros op tafel gevallen. [Art] (University of Bradford). Zewald, S. B. J., 2017. Money Printing. [Art] (University of Bradford).    [1] (Zewald, 2017) [2] (Zewald, 2017) [3] (TransferWise Ltd., 2015) [4] (Coy, 2014) [5] (Eurostat, 2017)

Summary on Father Damien of Molokai??s Life :: essays research papers

Summary on Father Damien of Molokai ¡Ã‚ ¦s Life Who was Father Damien? „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Father Damien was formally known as Joseph de Veuster „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He was born on January 3rd 1840 „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Damien was born to a farming couple on Tremeloo Belgium. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He attended college at Brine-le-Comte. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He entered the congregation of the sacred Hearts of Jesus. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He Became a Picpus Brother on October the 7th 1860. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Damien followed his brothers dream, now his as well and went into a mission aboard „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On the 19th of march 1864, he landed at Honolulu Harbour. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He was ordained to the priesthood on may 24th 1864 at the cathedral of our lady of peace. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Damien believed that the Lepers at the very last needed a priest. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On may 10, 1873 Damien arrived at the secluded settlement at Kalaupapa. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  King David Kalakaua bestowed on Damien the honor Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Kalakaua. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ §I ¡Ã‚ ¦m willing to devote my life to leprosy victims ¡Ã‚ ¨, in the end he spent 16 years with the lepers. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Damien ¡Ã‚ ¦s name was spread across the United States and Europe. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  American Protestants raised large sums of money for the missionary „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In September 1881, the Hawaiian Princess Liliuokalani visited Molokai. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In December 1884 Damien went about his evening rituals of soaking his feet in boiling water, he became worried as he could not feel the heat. It was at this point that confirmed he had contracted leprosy. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He was a roman Catholic missionary of the congregation of the sacred hearts of Jesus and Mary. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Father Damien was a spiritual leader/patron of lepers, outcasts, and those with HIV/AIDS within the catholic society. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1995 pope John Paul II beatified him and bestowed the official title of Blessed Damien Of Molokai  ¡V servant of humanity. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On April 5, 1886, about four in the afternoon, Catherine De Veuster, Damien ¡Ã‚ ¦s mother, bowed her head in the direction of the phot of her son and the Blessed Mother and died calmly and peacefully. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On December 20, 1999 Jorge Medina Cardinal Estevez, Perfect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, confirmed the November 1999 decision of the United States conference of Catholic Bishops to place Blessed Damien on the liturgical calendar with the rank of optional memorial. His official feast day is on may 10 each year. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The blessed Damien could now be canonized and receive the title of Saint Damien of Molokai. „ «Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Damien provide 25 years of service to the people of Hawaii.

Women, Law, and Equality Essay -- Womens Rights, gender inequality

In the past 3 decades, women made great advancements in the workforce. First, they have become an integral part of the labour market; they have access to higher education and consequently to traditionally male dominated professions such as medicine, law and business. While statistics show that women are equal to men in terms of their numbers in the law profession, it is not clear however, whether they have achieved equality in all other areas of their employment. In this paper, I will examine women’s experiences in the law profession; whether women are earning equal salary compared to the male lawyers, do they still face barriers that are gender related and whether they have broken the glass ceiling in a profession that is supposed to be an example for practising equality and justice. The experience of women lawyers. Despite improvements to women’s role in the labour market, women are still facing obstacles that are gender related. Women continue to bear the main responsibility for domestic duties and child care and further more, policies have not enabled women to fully succeed. While women were able to gain access to this highly male dominated profession, and in some cases they outnumber their male counterparts, researchers agree that women are still facing discriminatory barriers. While discrimination is more subtle nowadays compared to the blatant and stupid style of the recent past (Adcock, 2006) women are still experiencing discrimination which is preventing them from receiving equal pay, thus hindering their progress and altering their career paths. They still face an array of barriers to achieving equality in their careers, including the allocation of work, opportunities for advancement, income differentials... ... of the choices that women are making or the constraints that they have to live with. I argue that women do not have the freedom to pursue their careers in the same way men do, they have the juggling act that they need to perform by satisfying their social stereotyping roles of care givers and nurturers. While equal pay is not an issue on the outset in federally regulated sector due to the Pay Equity legislated, however it would be interesting to see how many women are reaching high ranked positions in proportion to the overall demographics. According to a report y the Treasury board secretariat on diversity in the public service â€Å": Women†¦ have faced negative attitudes and stereotyping and have consistently undervalued† which confirms while women are supposed to be renumerated equally to men, they have yet to improve their representation in the leadership ranks.

Adam Smith :: Biography

Adam Smith Adam Smith was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. His exact date of his birth is unknown but he was baptized on June 5, 1723. At the age of fifteen, Smith began attending Glasgow University where he studied moral philosophy. In 1748 he began giving lectures in Edinburgh where he discussed rhetoric and later he began to discuss the economic philosophy of the â€Å"simple system of natural liberty† which he later proclaimed in his Inquiry into Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. In 1751, Smith was appointed professor of logic at Glasgow university, transferring in 1752 to the chair of moral philosophy. His lectures covered the field of ethics, rhetoric, jurisprudence and political economy. In 1759 he published his Theory of Moral Sentiments, embodying some of his Glasgow lectures. This work was about those standards of ethical conduct that hold society together, with emphasis on the general harmony of human motives. Smith moved to London in 1776, where he published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, which examined in detail the consequences of economic freedom. It covered such concepts as the role of self-interest, the division of labor, the function of markets, and the international implications of a laissez-faire economy. The Wealth of Nations established economics as an autonomous subject and, launched the economic doctrine of free enterprise. In the western world, it is the most influential book on the subject. When the book, which has become a classic manifesto against mercantilism, appeared in 1776, there was a strong sentiment for free trade in both Britain and America. This new feeling had been born out of the economic hardships and poverty caused by the war but the British public and parliament still clung to mercantilism for many years to come. Smith laid the intellectual framework that explained the free market and still holds true today.

Human Cognitive Development Essay

The paper is designed to discuss human cognitive development through the prism of various perspectives. Apriori, developmental psychology is nowadays dominated by Piaget’s views, so the essay provides a detailed examination of his theory, including it basic assumptions, the connection between human physiology and cognitive development and the four stages of progress of cognitive abilities: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. Beyond the major focus, the essay also discusses four alternative approaches to cognitive development, including relevant research, conducted by the founders and followers of rational-constructivist, social learning, information-processing and sociocultural perspectives and the differences between traditional Piagetian views and these alternative positions. The author uses three articles from different psychology-oriented journals: â€Å"Personal cognitive development and its implications for teaching and learning† be Ferrari and Mahalingam (1998), â€Å"Commentary on Vygotsky† by Jean Piaget (2000) and the article, written almost immediately after the emergence of Piaget’s stage theory – â€Å"The development of formal operations in logical and moral judgment† by Kuhn, Langer, Kohlberg, and Haan. Developmental psychology is a vast area of knowledge that seeks to explore and explain various aspects of human psychosocial development, including its moral, emotional and cognitive components (Ferrari and Mahalingam, 1998). Cognitive development refers to the development of human intellect, abstractive, critical and creative thinking that provide successful cognition and comprehension of the world of objects. The most prominent and popular theory of human cognitive development was created by Jean Piaget, whose approach to the progress in this context is constructivist, so that the scholar views the construction of cognitive abilities as self-motivated action (Piaget, 2000). As Kuhn et al (1977) assume, â€Å"Piaget’s research methods are based primarily on case studies [they were descriptive]. While some of his ideas are supported through more correlational and experimental methodologies, others are not. For example, Piaget believes that biological development drives the movement from one cognitive stage to the next† (Kuhn et al, 1977, p. 98). Nevertheless, although Piaget’s investigation basically refers to physiology rather than psychology, the scholar manages to link biological and cognitive progress through the description of the transformation of reflexes into formal operations. Initially, he describes two major processes that occur in individual when adapting to the environment: assimilation and accommodation. Both of them condition the complication of their manner of adaptation and therefore determine cognitive development (Piaget, 2000). Accommodation refers to the alteration of cognitive abilities in response to the requirements of the environment for the purpose of gaining something from the surrounding world. Assimilation, in turn, refers to the transformation of the environment with further placing it into preexisting cognitive schemes and constructs (Piaget, 2000). Due to the fact that life situation and the corresponding requirements from the environment tend to complicate through the life course, the individual is forced to respond to complex stimuli and construct hierarchical cognitive structures (for instance, from general to concrete) (Piaget, 2000; Ferrari and Mahalingam, 1998). Piaget distinguishes and describes four stages of cognitive development. Sensorimotor stage, or infancy lasts from the birth to 2 years, has six sub-stages, associated with gradual development of reflexes, focus of vision and coordination in movements. Intelligence is manifested through the progress in motor activity, but the individual uses no social symbols (e. g. language) during this period. The exploration of world is very dynamic, but the related knowledge remains limited because of the weak cognitive abilities. The outcomes of this stage are the emergence of basic creativity or insight (understanding of pictures and language) as well as the progress of symbolic abilities (Piaget, 2000).