The Character of Lennie in John Steinbecks Of Mice and Men :: Steinbeck Of Mice and Men Essays

The Character of Lennie in Of Mice and Men Have you ever read Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck? If so, you probably remember Lennie, George's companion. Throughout the novel, Lennie and George dream of having their own farm. They work on a ranch to save money for their dream farm. Lennie is a big, strong, man with rounded features. He is at times very forgetful, absent-minded, and one-dimensional. First of all, Lennie is greatly forgetful. In the beginning of the novel, Lennie kept asking George where they were going (Steinbeck 4). One character, Crooks, takes advantage of his forgetfulness. Because Lennie would forget anything Crooks told him, he was relieved he could talk to somebody without worrying about him telling anybody else. He often forgot what George told him not to do, like talk or even look at Curley's wife. Next to being forgetful, Lennie is absent-minded for a good portion of the novel. He is unaware of what he's doing sometimes until he has done it. For example, he enjoyed to pet soft objects. While living in Weed, he was "petting" a woman's dress and the woman started to scream (Steinbeck 11). Lennie didn't know what he was doing wrong. Once Lennie was given a puppy, he accidentally killed it because he was too rough with it. Eventually, he would kill Curley's wife too by breaking her neck when told he could pet her hair. Again, Lennie did not know what he was doing wrong until it was done. Throughout the novel, there is really only one thing on Lennie's mind, tending to the rabbits once he and George had their farm. After Crooks was done telling Lennie his childhood story, Lennie asks a question about rabbits (Steinbeck 70). This is an example of Lennie having only one thing on his mind.

Self-Image and Consumer Behavior

Article Review: Self-Image and Consumer Behavior: How Sacrosanct Self-Beliefs Sway Preferences in the Marketplace Written by: David Dunning In this article, David Dunning questions whether or not beliefs, wants, and needs are the keys to decision making in a consumer’s mind. He believes in a decision making technique called belief harmonization. With this, Dunning means that in order to reach a decision , it may require arranging and revising one’s beliefs, needs, and preferences into a network of cognition that produces little tension among its elements. He states that this allows for two major influences on decision making.The first influence is if people hold a bias to favor one decision over another, then that will alter how they perceive the product. They will solely make a decision on that bias and keep to it. In our book, it explains this with brand equity. The outcome shows that a consumer will decide based on the belief that this brand is better than all of the others and not think twice to purchase. The second influence involves the beliefs that the consumer want to maintain, called sacrosanct beliefs. This is one claiming that the self is a moral, lovable, and capable individual.Dunning states that many decisions in the consumer world are based on this belief of self-image, even when the decision at hand has no relevance to the self. We buy to highlight or hide aspects of our self. Evidence for Decision Making as Belief Harmonization There is much evidence that suggest that judgment and decision making, including consumer behavior decision making, is known to be belief harmonization. Dunning stated that through the 1940s and 1960s, people depended on the consistency theory, balance theory, and the cognitive dissonance theory.However, it has been known that belief and other connections are applied as well. This would be referred to as connectionist modeling or parallel-constraint satisfaction. He gives a certain example of a young woman buying a car and the positive and negative factors based on buying this car. There can be some direct and indirect contradictions in the harmonization process. What people do is revise what they believe in and make connections with the decision. It may lead towards the negative factors or the positive factors in this decision.Dunning states that the best decisions should be based on the beliefs that the person possesses and will be the best indicator for it. Beliefs are equally able to influence and be influenced by other beliefs. The Influence of Decision Outcomes on Perceptions of â€Å"Input† Variables Emerging evidence demonstrates just how easily the causality in decision making can run in reverse. A preliminary opinion leaning toward one conclusion tends to alter how people evaluate evidence in decision making. This also is a part of product choice as well.The Influence of Logically Irrelevant â€Å"Outside Beliefs† Any belief can bias people to initially favor o ne over another. These beliefs are called â€Å"outside† beliefs and tend to be irrelevant when it comes to the decision making process. Dunning talks about how a juror decides on whether or not someone should be sued for posting negative comments on the internet. They looked at both positive and negative sides of the defendant and never based their decision on if the defendant was a nice guy or not. Work in the consumer world has also found similar bias due to outside beliefs.Evidence for Sacrosanct Beliefs about the Self People commonly approach every decision with the belief that their decision takes precedence and that they are honorable individuals. They want their decisions to be positive so that their self-image is positive. In class, we learned about impression management, which means that we work to â€Å"manage† what others think of us. This is a factor in our self-image. Evidence for Positive Self-Beliefs Researchers have showed that people have upbeat self- images, even to an unrealistic degree.Our psychological process that might help leave people with flattering views is a constant engagement in belief harmonization anchored on a self-belief. Research on self-evaluation also shows what type of moves or decisions people make for a positive self-image. This goes in hand with the ideal self portrayal and our concept of what we would like to be. With consumers, they easily adapt to certain products to help us reach our ideal self and have a positive outcome in our beliefs. Evidence for Belief Harmonization with Positive Self-BeliefsBeliefs about the social world are harmonized with flattering self-views. The judgment of people will affirm the positive impression of self. Culture is a big factor in the consumer world, and that is where the beliefs and self-image become intertwined together. In our book, it talks about how in some cultures, women are supposed to foster harmonious relationships and men are supposed to be assertive and have certain skills. These beliefs make the positive self-image in the culture that the male and female are in. Definitions of Social Traits and JudgmentThere are many social traits out in the consumer world today. The article talks about how people tend to emphasize specific attributes and talents that they have and de-emphasize those they do not. These beliefs guide people’s judgments. They align their attribution for success and failure to affirm about the self and the image it portrays. Dunning states that at times a behavior is clearly an underlying trait. People tend to adopt performance standards that place their own competence and character in a good light. Evidence for Belief Harmonization in ChoiceRecent developments in the consumer psychology literature provide strong hints that self-image motives may influence decision making in the marketplace. Here are some points that play an important role by self-image in decision making. * Self-Signaling: this is the notion that people reach their decisions with an eye toward bolstering their self-images is similar to another idea emerging from work in decision making and choice. This is to signal the type of person they are. This explains behavior that remains curious and has been an explanation for people’s behavior.Shafir and Tversky conducted this behavior in the Newcomb problem, where it showed that a participant in the experiment picked an economically inferior option to another option. * Endowment Effects: People place more value on an object once they own in. Handing a coffee mug to a college student causes them to more than double what the mug is really worth. Once products are associated with people, it confirms the positive impressions of that person and becomes valuable for them to have. * Compensation Effects: People buy to compensate for perceived deficits. For example, men buy toupees to make up for hair loss.People buy products to cover their shortcomings for others not to see. * Affi rmation Effects: People express ideas that they are invulnerable to risk. Having self-esteem may prompt people to make choices with less concern. * Licensing Effects: Once people have gained solid evidence that they possess some sacrosanct trait, they act in a way that could potentially violate that they have that trait. This arises in consumer choice many times. Future Questions Dunning focuses on one specific sacrosanct belief, which is that the self is a lovable and capable person.He feels as though there could be other beliefs that exist as well. People possess personal self-esteem but also can possess collective self-esteem. This very much indeed influences people’s decisions and behavior in the marketplace. Also, beliefs that people seek might involve specific ones or rather a more overall general one about the self as a whole. Willer studies on masculinity suggested that people bolster specific self-values. Also, many suggest that people are not as concerned with speci fic self-views as they are worried over a general sense of self-worth. Automatic versus Deliberative Nature of Self-Image MotivesAnother issue would be whether the impact of self-based sacrosanct beliefs is deliberative or automatic in nature. Dunning believes that the impact of self-beliefs might be more automatic in nature. He argues that the term automatic can be the case that the process of affirming favorable self-beliefs is beyond people’s control. Also that is may be the case that this process occurs below people’s awareness; they may lack any insight that their choices are influenced by concerns over the self. However, people’s preferences can impose its influence below a person’s awareness.The Moderating Role of Self-Esteem For sacrosanct beliefs about the self to influence consumer psychology, people must presumably have those sacrosanct beliefs, and people with low self-esteem may not have positive views to maintain. In the consumer realm, one could ask whether low self-esteem people will work as energetically as their high self-esteem peers harmonize consumer decisions with positive views of self. The Moderating Role of Culture/Implications of Marketing As I discussed in this paper earlier, culture is another condition with how consumers make decisions.People in North America and Western Europe work to bolster their self-esteem. In the West, people seem more concerned with individuality and in the East; they focus on the collective self. Self-Image concerns may also carry implications for effective marketing according to Dunning. People tend to state that they are motivated to do good work in their job for reasons like personal growth, whereas other people are more motivated by money. That is how it works with decisions in consumer buying. People are influenced by social status.This article suggests that marketers should be mindful of the motivations that people are likely to cite as prime considerations for their purcha ses. In conclusion, the article is about how consumer behavior is acted and what it is based upon. There are many different factors that the author speaks about in this article. Self-Esteem and Culture are two main pieces of the puzzle when it comes to how consumers react to certain products. In the marketing world, we marketers have to look at these factors and how much insight it will provide us when we are trying to get into the minds of our consumers.Dunning makes very interesting arguments of how we cannot look at the picture as a whole, but yet as different segments of ourselves that all tie together with the decision making process. I thought this was a very interesting article because it shows how experiments and studies were done to prove that these are main factors with consumer behavior. It also showed me how we basically become the product and shine through the product for our own self-image. It could be even with becoming part of a group that reflects your personality, or just for your individual traits themselves.

Do You Know What to Do If You Fail a Test in College

Worried that you failed a test in college? Youre not alone, and fortunately, failing a test in college doesnt necessarily mean youre  going to ruin your GPA. To handle the problem directly, assess the situation, determine what went wrong, and then follow up with your professor to see if any options are available. Failed an Exam in College? Often, when walking out of an exam, youll have a gut feeling of what didnt go well. Immediately sit down and reflect on the experience. First, determine if you understood the material. If you did, then assess your test-taking environment. A noisy room, a temperature that was off, or lack of supplies could impact your scores. Similarly, distractions from your own life or not getting enough sleep or a good breakfast can impact your ability to succeed. On the flip side, if you felt unprepared for the test, break that down. Perhaps you  studied  the wrong material or did not study enough. Be realistic in your assessment and take stock of what you can do better next time.  Ã‚   Whatever your difficulties were, make note of them. You can review these notes yourself and determine if reviewing them with your professor or TA might be useful. If you simply made a mistake and were not prepared or fit for taking the test, learn from the experience and use this situation to help you better prepare for the next exam you have to take.   Assess the Damage Failing a test in college can feel like a major disaster, but consider the impact this one exam has on your overall grade. If the exam is one of several throughout the semester or a year-long course, ask yourself how truly damaging this one grade will be for you. Most professors offer a syllabus that outlines the weight of each assessment within the overall grading structure, which can help you determine what your next steps should be. Take the time to understand why you didnt perform well, so review the notes you took after you left the exam room and see if you can find correlations. If you determine that this one exam can make or break your course grade, then schedule a time to meet with your professor or TA.   If youre not sure if  you failed, or simply feel like you may not have aced it how  you wanted to, simply relax and see what your score actually is before running to your professor. You may have done better than you expected, and you dont want your professor thinking you havent mastered the material before she even reviews it. If you know you completely missed the mark, then its time to talk to your professor. Talk to Your Professor or TA ASAP If youd like to reach out to your professor before you receive your scores, you could  send an email or leave a voicemail asking to speak. Perhaps you didnt feel like you grasped the material as well as you should have, or you feel that you didnt perform well within the given test format, and youd like to talk. This way, if you actually did okay, you arent telling the professor you thought you failed — just that youd like to better master the material or better demonstrate your mastery. And if the test didnt go quite as you had hoped, youve set the stage to perhaps get additional assistance or have a chance to make up the grade. If youre someone who typically understands the material but often doesnt perform well on exams, you should still reach out to your professor or TA. You may wish to make a visit during office hours. Dont be afraid to be honest. You can just start off by saying that you dont think your score is going to reflect your understanding of the material and go from there. Your professor may offer you another option to demonstrate that you do understand what was covered in the exam — or they may not. The professors response is their own choice, but at least youve presented your concerns about your performance on the test itself and asked for assistance. Explain Any Special Circumstances Were you suffering from a horrible head cold you thought you could work through? Did something with your family pop up? Did your computer crash during the exam? What the room too cold for you to properly concentrate? Let your professor or TA know that there were special circumstances, but only if there truly were, and only if you think they really had an effect. You want to present a reason why you did poorly, not an excuse. Repeated instances of special circumstances may reflect poorly on you  as well, so carefully assess if the extenuating circumstance was really an issue that affected your grade. The Bottom Line You cant guarantee that your grade can be changed or that your TA will believe your reasons for doing poorly on the test. Unfortunately, your professor isnt always going to give you another shot. Bad scores happen, and when they do, you need to accept that you didnt perform well and move forward. Be prepared, follow the steps above, and have a game plan for what you will do if you do receive a poor score on the test. This way, you can know what you should do instead of simply panicking. The moral of the story is to make sure that you learn from the experience, and prepare yourself to perform better in the future.