Essay about The Beauty Myth - 616 Words

By: Kelly Winch The Beauty Myth, published by Doubleday in New York City, hit the shelves in 1992. Naomi Wolf wrote this 348-page book. Wolf attended Yale University and New College, Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Her essays have been printed in many well-known magazines and newspapers, including Esquire and the New York Times. The Beauty Myth was Wolfs first book. She has also written two other books, Fire With Fire and Promiscuities. Wolf is a recognized feminist. She has done a lot of writing and has spoken to many audiences about issues involving feminism. In The Beauty Myth, Wolfs basic thesis states that there is a connection between female liberation and female beauty. She writes: The more legal and†¦show more content†¦Flaws, wrinkles and other problems are airbrushed out of the picture. Wolf discusses the effect that these standards are having on women in the workplace. A womans beauty, or lack of it, can be used against her. In 1986, Mechelle Vinson lost a sexu al harassment case. Vinson was young and ‘beautiful and carefully dressed. The district court ruled that her appearance counted against her. (Wolf 38) In Hopkins v. Price-Waterhouse, Ms. Hopkins was denied a partnership because she needed to learn to ‘walk more femininely, talk more femininely, dress more femininely, and ‘wear makeup. She brought in more business than any other employee. (Wolf 39) I believe that this book has value and people from all walks of life should read it. We all need to become much more aware of how strong and how damaging this kind of media influence is. Women and men need to realize that there are companies in our culture that thrive on making us feel bad about ourselves, such as cosmetic companies, health clubs, clothing designers; anyone that is trying to change us. The book was well written and extremely interesting. The reviews on the back cover say it all; that this book is essential reading. I will recommend it to all of my friends. Hope fully those who are very self-doubting and considering cosmetic surgery will realize they are trying to fit into an abnormal standard of beauty. Word Count:Show MoreRelatedThe Beauty Myth Essay1960 Words   |  8 Pagesponder some part (or all) of their body. In other words, this months column is for 99.9% of the women reading it! Why is it that so many women feel they just dont measure up when it comes to their looks? A new book entitled The Beauty Myth--How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, provides some answers. If you are a woman who recognized herself in the above paragraph, or if you are a man who wants to understand more about the dynamics of media vs. self-worth, then run, do not walk, to theRead MoreThe Beauty Myth By Naomi Wolf1435 Words   |  6 PagesThe novel The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf focuses highly on feminism in today’s times. Throughout the novel the author describes different situations in which women are stereotypically viewed. So many women believe that the real meaning of beauty is what is shown on the television. Many end up disregarding their opinions and instead molding it into the views of their peers. The author argues that some women are being victims by; work, media, religion, sex, violence, and hunger. Beauty was once seenRead MoreThe Beauty Myth By Naomi Wolf1861 Words   |  8 PagesThe Beauty Myth, written by Naomi Wolf, is a study of how ideas of beauty oppress and restrict women from fully realising their potential. Published in 1990, many of the battles of second wave feminism had been won, which left many women in Wolf’s position confused as to why women were still struggling. Wolf argues that as women have shed traditional values of purity and submission, they have instead become obsessed with the beauty myth. â€Å"The more legal and material hindrances which women have brokenRead More Analysis of The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf Essay590 Words   |  3 PagesAnalysis of The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf The Beauty Myth, published by Doubleday in New York City, hit the shelves in 1992. Naomi Wolf wrote this 348-page book. Wolf attended Yale University and New College, Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Her essays have been printed in many well-known magazines and newspapers, including Esquire and the New York Times. The Beauty Myth was Wolf’s first book. She has also written two other books, Fire With Fire and PromiscuitiesRead MoreThe Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women by Naomi Wolf1669 Words   |  7 Pageswell? What does beauty is only skin deep really mean? I always thought what made a person truly and genuinely beautiful, is whats on the inside. So often, we judge women on their appearance first, then their abilities. Did you ever wonder how this came about and why we all do this today? dont try to deny it, were all shallow and addicted to entertainment, its simply our culture, our way of life. Naomi wolf tries to explain the reasoning and ideas behind the beauty myth. She defines it andRead MoreFeminism And Popular Culture : Gender Relations And Feminist Issues1336 Words   |  6 Pagesand lives outside of the home. In fact, Naomi Wolf’s idea of these themes, as described in The Beauty Myth, can be perceived in popular portrayals of women, as their appearances are considered central to their role in the plot. Examples of this include the reality television show, The Bachelor, and the science fiction film, The Stepford Wives. Naomi Wolf’s popular discussion in her book, The Beauty Myth, was influential for its perspective on the pressures on women to conform to a standardized ideaRead MoreWomen s Beauty : A Woman s Worth With Her Beauty1487 Words   |  6 Pagesthere is nothing worse for a female character than being ugly and this is reflected in the beauty myth that women face outside fairy tales as well. Fairy tales equate a woman’s worth with her beauty. Americans do this as well by pitting beauty against internal traits and individuality. In doing this, women continue to receive their beauty myths from men, compete with other women and pass these unreachable beauty standards onto the next generation of women. With fairytales, it is what’s on the outsideRead MoreIs Beauty a Social Construct? Essay1240 Words   |  5 Pagesepidemic of eating disorders†. In 1991, Naomi wolf’s bestseller the beauty myth claimed the obsession with beauty was the result of a cultural conspiracy seeking to undo psychologically and covertly all the good things that feminism did for women. She argues that ideology of beauty is the last, best belief system that keeps male dominance intact and that womens magazines have played a pivotal role in the selling of the beauty myth. If, as Jean Kilbourne suggests, the media and advertising teach usRead MorePersonal Statement : Personal Media1730 Words   |  7 Pageslook that way as well. I try to remind myself that I am fine just the way that I am, but it tends to slip my mind when I look at those pictures. The Beauty Myth written by Naomi Wolf states, â€Å"We are in the midst of a violent backlash against feminism that uses images of female beauty as a political weapon against women’s advancement: the beauty myth† (Wolf). This explains one of the dangers that the media reinforces and wires into young women’s minds. And it is harmful to not only young women, butRead MoreAnalysis Of Being A Man 888 Words   |  4 Pages Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or so it seems. Society implements the standard of beauty in our everyday lives. It controls what roles women are expected to perform. A similar anticipation goes for men, but for â€Å"masculinity’. Every individual man is supposed to be masculine and have some sort of manly quality. Paul Theroux in â€Å"Being a Man† discusses how as a male, one is expected to meet society’s standards of masculinity. He as well mentions his reasoning on why that principle of behavior

Consumer Behaviour - Holiday Decision Making Process

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR: HOLIDAY DECISION MAKING PROCESS SUMMARY: Decisions are omnipresent in the daily lives of human beings. Being tireless decision makers, it stands to reason then that we understand the forces that drive decision making. The following report seeks to critically evaluate the long-held traditional ‘rational problem- solving and cognitive model’ of the consumer decision making process against the background of the holiday decision making patterns of the modern consumer. The one striking aspect of all the theories thus far was the portrayal of the consumer as a logical, rational decision maker who made complex choices based on reason, rational thinking and minimal risk-taking. The five cognitive stages that a consumer goes†¦show more content†¦The model places due importance on the notion of goal-attainment as a vital component of consumer behaviour (Schiffman, Kanuk and Hansen, 2007). The cognitive paradigm represents the ‘problem-solving, rational consumer’ and, to a lesser degree, the emotional consumer. It describes the process of various steps leading to the culmination, i.e, making a purchase. Most consumer behaviour models are based around this premise (Nicosia, 1966; Engel et al, 1973). However, several fundamental flaws were discovered in this theory. The most glaring one was the assumption that choices were knowledge-based and therefore the environment around the chooser was not taken into consideration. Behaviors, whether pertaining to work, pleasure or those of a discretionary nature tend to reflect causal historical explanations rather than rational ones. (Decrop, 2006) Moreover, on further observation, actual decisions are seen to be more spontaneous and less deliberate than the cognitive theory suggests. The spotlight shifted from the idea of pre-eminent rationality to the usage of subconscious ‘heuristics’ or short-cut decision rules. It is interesting to note that the process of holiday decision making is predominantly dynamic in nature. It is not marked by fixed sequential stages or an abrupt end once decisions are taken. Decisions are based on several attributes (landscape, climate, amenities etc.). However,Show MoreRelatedConsumer Behaviour : Holiday Decision Making Process2191 Words   |  9 Pagessolving, cognitive model’ of consumer decision making process, in light of the arguments given in the case study: ‘Holiday decision-making: an adaptable and opportunistic ongoing process.’ Every day, each one of us makes various decisions regarding different aspects of our daily routine. To be able to make these decisions, we need to be able to have alternatives. These decisions, however, are made after doing some degree of information search but not all consumer decision-making situations receive orRead MoreConsumer Behaviour Essay1310 Words   |  6 PagesCase Study: Consumer behaviour and holidays In this assignment I will be analysing the following; a case study presented on how holiday decision making varies from the traditional problem-solving model of consumer decision making. Q1 By analysing the traditional problem-solving of consumer decision making you can grasp that the market of holiday makers is more complex. The traditional method follows the concept that the consumers desire or needs creates a problem within the individual, which leadsRead MoreFactors That Affect The Holiday Choice Has Evolved Over The Ages Of Ages1090 Words   |  5 Pagesexperienced tourists between the ages of 8-12, are increasingly becoming a major influence behind family holidays. This age group have usually taken a number of holidays and have visited many different destinations across the globe. As outlined earlier Argyle (1996) makes reference to how a number of factors, age being one of them, have an effect on the holiday-taking decision-making process. This directly links to how tweens are generally now more cultured and have experienced more of life comparedRead MoreFactors That Affect The Holiday Taking Decision Making Process1318 Words   |  6 Pages Who makes the decisions in the family holiday-taking decision-making process? Critically evaluate this question by means of a detailed literature review. The purpose of this essay is to explore and document the different influences that can impact the holiday-taking decision-making process, particularly looking at the role of tweens and their voice regarding the role they play in up-front vacation decision-making. Also this essay will be looking at the role spouses play, howRead MoreA Report Of Buyer Behavior : The Consumer Decision Making Process882 Words   |  4 PagesBuyer Behaviour: The Consumer Decision-Making Process as it relates to purchasing a rental service in the classic car industry. Section 1: Introduction (about 150 – 200 words) The study of consumer behaviour examines consumer’s methods of purchasing and divestment of possessions, labour, concepts or knowledge by people, associations and companies to fulfil their necessities and desires (Keller Kotler , 2011). This is significant to marketers because with a good knowledge base about consumers theyRead MoreThe Case Household Appliance And Perfumes1336 Words   |  6 Pages The typical decision making process and that well-structured with the five processes is based on a special purposeful search by the customer. Once the problem has been recognized, customers need to acquire adequate information to resolve it. Information search is the process by customer surveys their environment for appropriate data to make a reasonable decision. The search process that consumer might follow for products category like in this case household appliance and perfumes, is differentRead MoreExplain Why It Is Important for Marketers to Understand the Consumer Decision Making Process918 Words   |  4 PagesConsumers are the centre of many marketers work. While the consumer is part of the marketing environment, it is also very important to recognise and understand the more personal and specific influences effecting consumers and the nature of the decision making process they use. Research suggests that customers go through a five-stage decision-making process when making any purchase. This is summarised in the diagram below: Figure 1, This model is important for anyone making marketing decisionsRead MoreFamily Communication Patterns : Mothers And Fathers Communication Style And Children s Influence On Family Decision Making850 Words   |  4 PagesFathers Communication Style and Children s Perceived Influence in Family Decision Making. Journal of International Consumer Marketing. 19 (2), 75-95 Belch, G. E., Belch, M. A., Ceresino, G. (1985) Parental and teenage child influences in family decision making. Journal of Business Research, 13(2), 163-176. Blichfeldt, B. S., Pedersen, B. M., Johansen, A., Hansen, L. (2010) Tweens Tourists: Children and Decision-Making. Journal of Tourism Consumption and Practice, 2(1), 1-24. Blood Jr., R. ORead MoreInderstanding Consumer Behaviour Towards Luxury Products14749 Words   |  59 PagesA Report On Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products By Jitesh Sanghvi MMS – 137, Marketing Year 2009-10 K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies Research Understanding Consumer Behaviour towards Luxury Products Understanding Consumer Behaviour Towards Luxury Products By Jitesh A Sanghvi Under the guidance of Mar. Nilesh Talreja Senior Executive Interface Communication ______________ Designation SIMSR, Mumbai K J Somaiya Institute of ManagementRead MoreConsumer Behavior of an International Chinese Student Essay1236 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction Consumer behaviour is defined as the behaviour that consumers undertake in seeking, purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of products and services that they expect will satisfy their personal needs (Nayeem 2012). Different consumer may have different choices in purchase that is dependent on various influences. High involvement purchase sets the best example of engaging in consumer behaviour in various aspects as complex buying behaviour occurs when the consumer is highly involved

Cultural Competence in Healthcare for Diversity- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theCultural Competence in Healthcare for Diversity. Answer: Reflection Diversity within a nation brings with it both opportunities and challenges in the health care system. It has become increasingly important for the providers of care, the policy makers and the health care systems to embrace cultural competence in provision of services (Jeffreys, 2015). According to Ang and Van (2015), cultural competence can be defined as possession of the qualities and ability to provide healthcare services that are effective and that meet the social and cultural needs of the patient. When healthcare providers are culturally competent, there is a high likelihood of improvement of health outcomes and quality of care. It can also lead to a significant elimination of health disparities that result from racial and ethnic differences. This paper reflects my values, beliefs and behaviours and how they contribute or may detract me from being a culturally safe practitioner in a multicultural healthcare environment. Personal values affect the cultural competence of a healthcare provider, either positively or negatively. I have mastered the art of confidentiality. In my day to day life, I endeavour to maintain confidentiality of information revealed to me. This means that I do not share such information without the go ahead of involved parties or where such revealing will be a breach of confidentiality. I believe that this is a positive attribute and would improve my cultural competence while offering care to patients. As Shen (2015) observes confidentiality is likely to make a patient trust the health care provider and reveal even more information that is necessary for optimal care. I also possess the value and quality of integrity. Being honest leads to more trust in human relations (Han and Cho, 2015). Consequently, this would be a great contributor to cultural competence in a multicultural setting since it would mean that I am providing the patients with truthful information in every step of the care process. This is in turn likely to improve the health outcomes and quality of care. Resilience is another quality that I would boast of but only to a certain extent. I do persist in carrying on with an activity even if there seems to be little success, but after some time I tend to give up. This is an attribute that would reduce my cultural competence since sometimes events in healthcare provision would need resilience. For instance, when dealing with a patient who takes quite some time to grasp information, resilience would be a key factor to promote successful health education. As such it is a key value in ensuring cultural competence when working with people from different backgrounds (Gallagher and Polanin, 2015). The fourth value to be discussed will be empathy. In my interaction with people, I have learnt to imagine I was in their own shoes to understand how they feel and offer the help I can. This is potentially a great value when it comes to cultural competence. It would mean that I will effectively create helping relation with patients/clients and consequen tly improve the quality of care. It becomes a potential barrier to competence sometimes when it crosses over to sympathy. I easily become sympathetic. As demonstrated by Diaz, Clarke and Gatua (2015), sympathy may prevent development of a helping relationship between a healthcare provider and their patients/clients. Therefore, the attribute of empathy need to be strongly developed to reduce the incidences of sympathy. The values that one upholds play an important role in shaping their beliefs. If one has plenty of positive values, they are likely to uphold positive beliefs too. Beliefs in turn plays a role in shaping behaviour. The three (values, beliefs and behaviours) cumulatively determine the cultural competence of a person (Dauvrin and Lorant, 2015). The beliefs that I uphold and how they are likely to affect my cultural competence are discussed next. I believe that no one should be discriminated against due to their cultural background, race, gender and beliefs. I believe that such discrimination does no good and that it is unnecessary. For this reason, I can interact freely with persons of different beliefs, gender, cultural background and race. This would most likely affect my cultural competence positively. It would improve it since I would have little challenges interacting with professionals and patients/clients of different parameters mentioned above. It would however pose some challen ge where the culture of the region of work stipulates a belief that is different from mine. The second belief is that every person deserves respect and care. For this reason, I have learnt to treat other people with great care and respect just the way I would like to be treated myself. This would be a strong contributor to cultural competence. This is because I would treat my patients with outmost dignity and care. As Betancourt, Corbett and Bondaryk (2014) observes the two are likely improve the self esteem of the patients which may dramatically improve the health outcomes. The third belief is that of beauty/strength in diversity. I believe that diversity should not bring differences but unity. We all need each other for a peaceful and harmonious coexistence. The doctors, the engineers, persons with disabilities, different cultures etc., represent diversity. When we choose to see the beauty of the diversity we live well together and in peace. This belief would likely contribute positively to my cultural competence as I would view each person as unique and treat them as tha t. The fourth belief is appreciating other peoples cultures. Whenever I interact with persons from different cultures, I desist from treating my own culture as superior to theirs. Rather, I choose to believe that theirs is as important as mine. This belief would potentially contribute to my cultural competence. As demonstrated above, both values and beliefs shape a persons behaviour. In this paragraph, I am going to explore four behaviours and how they affect my cultural competence. These are directly or indirectly linked to the values and beliefs that I have explained above. Since almost all the details regarding the behaviours has been covered when discussing values and beliefs, only brief information is going to be provided here. The first behaviour is that I do respect every person. The second is that I demonstrate empathy. The third is that I appreciate each persons culture. The fourth is that I exhibit resilience. The first three behaviours are likely to make me more culturally competent. The fourth, however, as explained above, needs more improvement. I should learn to be more resilient to be more culturally competent. In conclusion, cultural competence is very important in the provision of healthcare. When the healthcare providers, the health care system and the policy makers become culturally competent, there is a high likelihood of improvement in health outcomes and the quality of care. The values, beliefs and behaviours of a person play a role in determining how culturally competent they are. They may contribute or detract one from being culturally competent. Being confidential, maintaining integrity, being empathetic contributes to this competent. Being sympathetic and not resilient enough on the other hand may detract one from being competent. The values and beliefs are directly or indirectly linked to the behaviours of a person. Consequently, they affect the cultural competence. References Ang, S., Van Dyne, L. (2015).Handbook of cultural intelligence. Routledge. Betancourt, J. R., Corbett, J., Bondaryk, M. R. (2014). Addressing disparities and achieving equity: cultural competence, ethics, and health-care transformation.Chest,145(1), 143-148. Dauvrin, M., Lorant, V. (2015). Leadership and cultural competence of healthcare professionals: a social network analysis.Nursing research,64(3), 200. Diaz, C., Clarke, P. N., Gatua, M. W. (2015). Cultural competence in rural nursing education: are we there yet?.Nursing education perspectives,36(1), 22-26. Gallagher, R. W., Polanin, J. R. (2015). A meta-analysis of educational interventions designed to enhance cultural competence in professional nurses and nursing students.Nurse Education Today,35(2), 333-340. Han, S. Y., Cho Chung, H. I. (2015). Development of a cultural competence scale for nursing students.Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing,45(5), 684-693. Jeffreys, M. R. (2015).Teaching cultural competence in nursing and health care: Inquiry, action, and innovation. Springer Publishing Company. Shen, Z. (2015). Cultural competence models and cultural competence assessment instruments in nursing: a literature review.Journal of Transcultural Nursing,26(3), 308-321.

Psychology Why IQ Tests Dont Test Intelligence The Task Of Trying To Q

Psychology Why IQ tests don't test intelligence The task of trying to quantify a person's intelligence has been a goal of psychologists since before the beginning of this century. The Binet-Simon scales were first proposed in 1905 in Paris, France and various sorts of tests have been evolving ever since. One of the important questions that always comes up regarding these tools is what are the tests really measuring? Are they measuring a person's intelligence? Their ability to perform well on standardized tests? Or just some arbitrary quantity of the person's IQ? When examining the situations around which these tests are given and the content of the tests themselves, it becomes apparent that however useful the tests may be for standardizing a group's intellectual ability, they are not a good indicator of intelligence. To issue a truly standardized test, the testing environment should be the same for everyone involved. If anything has been learned from the psychology of perception, it is clear that a person's environment has a great deal to do with their cognitive abilities. Is the light flickering? Is the paint on the walls an unsettling shade? Is the temperature too hot or too cold? Is the chair uncomfortable? Or in the worst case, do they have an illness that day? To test a person's mind, it is necessary to utilize their body in the process. If everyone's body is placed in different conditions during the testing, how is it expected to get standardized results across all the subjects? Because of this assumption that everyone will perform equally independent of their environment, intelligence test scores are skewed and cannot be viewed as standardized, and definitely not as an example of a person's intelligence. It is obvious that a person's intelligence stems from a variety of traits. A few of these that are often tested are reading comprehension, vocabulary, and spatial relations. But this is not all that goes into it. What about physical intelligence, convers ational intelligence, social intelligence, survival intelligence, and the slew of others that go into everyday life? Why are these important traits not figured into intelligence tests? Granted, normal standardized tests certainly get predictable results where academics are concerned, but they should not be considered good indicators of general intelligence because of the glaring omissions they make in the testing process. To really gauge a person's intelligence, it would be necessary to put them through a rigorous set of real-life trials and document their performance. Otherwise the standardized IQ tests of today are testing an extremely limited quality of a person's character that can hardly be referred to as intelligence. For the sake of brevity, I will quickly mention a few other common criticisms of modern IQ tests. They have no way to compensate for cultural differences. People use different methods to solve problems. People's reading strategies differ. Speed is not always the best way to tackle a problem. There is often too much emphasis placed on vocabulary. Each of these points warrants individual treatment, and for more information refer to The Triarchic Mind by RJ Sternberg (Penguin Books, 1988, p18-36). It is possible to classify all the reasons that IQ tests fail at their task into two main groups. The first grouping is where the tests assume too much. Examples of this flaw are the assumption that speed is always good, vocabulary is a good indicator of intelligence, and that different test taking environments won't affect the outcome. The second grouping comes because the tests gauge the wrong items. Examples of this are different culture groups being asked to take the same tests as everyone else, and the fact that the tests ignore so many types of intelligence (like physical, social, etc). These two groupings illustrate where the major failings of popular IQ tests occur and can be used as tools for judging others. IQ tests are not good indicators for a person's overall intelligence, but as their use has shown, they are extremely helpful in making predictions about how a person will perform in an academic setting. Perhaps the problem comes in the name intelligence tests when it is obvious this is not what they really are. The modern IQ test definitely has its Psychology Why IQ Tests Dont Test Intelligence The Task Of Trying To Q Psychology Why IQ tests don't test intelligence The task of trying to quantify a person's intelligence has been a goal of psychologists since before the beginning of this century. The Binet-Simon scales were first proposed in 1905 in Paris, France and various sorts of tests have been evolving ever since. One of the important questions that always comes up regarding these tools is what are the tests really measuring? Are they measuring a person's intelligence? Their ability to perform well on standardized tests? Or just some arbitrary quantity of the person's IQ? When examining the situations around which these tests are given and the content of the tests themselves, it becomes apparent that however useful the tests may be for standardizing a group's intellectual ability, they are not a good indicator of intelligence. To issue a truly standardized test, the testing environment should be the same for everyone involved. If anything has been learned from the psychology of perception, it is clear that a person's environment has a great deal to do with their cognitive abilities. Is the light flickering? Is the paint on the walls an unsettling shade? Is the temperature too hot or too cold? Is the chair uncomfortable? Or in the worst case, do they have an illness that day? To test a person's mind, it is necessary to utilize their body in the process. If everyone's body is placed in different conditions during the testing, how is it expected to get standardized results across all the subjects? Because of this assumption that everyone will perform equally independent of their environment, intelligence test scores are skewed and cannot be viewed as standardized, and definitely not as an example of a person's intelligence. It is obvious that a person's intelligence stems from a variety of traits. A few of these that are often tested are reading comprehension, vocabulary, and spatial relations. But this is not all that goes into it. What about physical intelligence, convers ational intelligence, social intelligence, survival intelligence, and the slew of others that go into everyday life? Why are these important traits not figured into intelligence tests? Granted, normal standardized tests certainly get predictable results where academics are concerned, but they should not be considered good indicators of general intelligence because of the glaring omissions they make in the testing process. To really gauge a person's intelligence, it would be necessary to put them through a rigorous set of real-life trials and document their performance. Otherwise the standardized IQ tests of today are testing an extremely limited quality of a person's character that can hardly be referred to as intelligence. For the sake of brevity, I will quickly mention a few other common criticisms of modern IQ tests. They have no way to compensate for cultural differences. People use different methods to solve problems. People's reading strategies differ. Speed is not always the best way to tackle a problem. There is often too much emphasis placed on vocabulary. Each of these points warrants individual treatment, and for more information refer to The Triarchic Mind by RJ Sternberg (Penguin Books, 1988, p18-36). It is possible to classify all the reasons that IQ tests fail at their task into two main groups. The first grouping is where the tests assume too much. Examples of this flaw are the assumption that speed is always good, vocabulary is a good indicator of intelligence, and that different test taking environments won't affect the outcome. The second grouping comes because the tests gauge the wrong items. Examples of this are different culture groups being asked to take the same tests as everyone else, and the fact that the tests ignore so many types of intelligence (like physical, social, etc). These two groupings illustrate where the major failings of popular IQ tests occur and can be used as tools for judging others. IQ tests are not good indicators for a person's overall intelligence, but as their use has shown, they are extremely helpful in making predictions about how a person will perform in an academic setting. Perhaps the problem comes in the name intelligence tests when it is obvious this is not what they really are. The modern IQ test definitely has its