Aversion Therapy Uses and Effectiveness

Aversion Therapy Uses and Effectiveness More in Theories Behavioral Psychology Cognitive Psychology Developmental Psychology Personality Psychology Social Psychology Biological Psychology Psychosocial Psychology Aversion therapy is a  type of behavioral therapy that involves repeating pairing an unwanted behavior with discomfort.?? For example, a person undergoing aversion therapy to stop smoking might receive an electrical shock every time they view an image of a cigarette. The goal of the conditioning process is to make the individual associate the stimulus with unpleasant or uncomfortable sensations. During aversion therapy, the client may be asked to think of or engage in the behavior they enjoy while at the same time being exposed to something unpleasant such as a bad taste, a foul smell, or even mild electric shocks. Once the unpleasant feelings become associated with the behavior, the hope is that unwanted behaviors or actions will begin to decrease in frequency or stop entirely. Uses Aversion therapy can be used to treat a number of problematic behaviors including the following:?? Bad habitsAddictionsAlcoholismSmokingGamblingViolence or anger issues Aversion therapy is most commonly used to treat drug and alcohol addictions.?? A subtle form of this technique is often used as a self-help strategy for minor behavior issues. In such cases, people may wear an elastic band around the wrist. Whenever the unwanted behavior or urge to engage in the behavior presents itself, the individual will snap the elastic to create a slightly painful deterrent. Effectiveness   The overall effectiveness of aversion therapy depends upon a number of factors including:?? The treatment methods and aversive conditions that are used.Whether or not the client continues to practice relapse prevention after treatment is concluded.In some instances, the client may return to previous patterns of behavior once they are out of treatment and no longer exposed to the deterrent. Generally, aversion therapy tends to be successful while it is still under the direction of a therapist, but relapse rates are high.?? Once the individual is out in the real world and exposed to the stimulus without the presence of the aversive sensation, it is highly likely that they will return to the previous behavior patterns. Problems With Aversion Therapy One of the major criticisms of aversion therapy is that it lacks rigorous scientific evidence demonstrating its effectiveness.?? Ethical issues over the use of punishments in therapy are also a major point of concern.?? Practitioners have found that in some cases, aversion therapy can increase the anxiety that actually interferes with the treatment process. In other instances, some patients have also experienced anger and hostility during therapy. In some instances, serious injuries and even fatalities have occurred during the course of aversion therapy. Historically, when homosexuality was considered a mental illness, gay individuals were subjected to forms of aversion therapy to try to alter their sexual preferences and behaviors. Depression, anxiety, and suicide have been linked to some cases of aversion therapy.?? The use of aversion therapy to treat homosexuality was declared dangerous by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 1994. In 2006, ethical codes were established by both the APA and the American Psychiatric Association.?? Today, using aversion therapy in an attempt to alter homosexual behavior is considered a violation of professional conduct.?? The 9 Best Online Therapy Programs

Regional Geography Overview

Regional geography is a branch of geography that studies the worlds regions. A region itself is defined as a part of the Earths surface with one or many similar characteristics that make it unique from other areas. Regional geography studies the specific unique characteristics of places related to their culture, economy, topography, climate, politics and environmental factors such as their different species of flora and fauna. Also, regional geography also studies the specific boundaries between places. Often these are called transition zones which represent the start and end of a specific region and can be large or small. For example, the transition zone between Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa is rather large because there is mixing between the two regions. Regional geographers study this zone as well as the distinct characteristics of Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa. History and Development of Regional Geography Although people had been studying specific regions for decades, regional geography as a branch in geography has its roots in Europe, specifically with the French and geographer Paul Vidal de la Blanche. In the late 19th century, de la Blanche developed his ideas of the milieu, pays, and possibilisme (or possibilism). The milieu was the natural environment and pays was the country or local region. Possibilism was the theory that said the environment sets constraints and limitations on humans but human actions in response to these constraints are what develops a culture and in this case aids in defining a region. Possibilism later led to the development of environmental determinism which says the environment (and thus physical regions) is solely responsible for the  development of human culture and societal development. Regional geography began to develop in the United States specifically and parts of Europe in the period between World Wars I and II. During this time, geography was criticized for its descriptive nature with environmental determinism and lack of a specific focus. As a result, geographers were seeking ways to keep geography as a credible university-level subject. In the 1920s and 1930s, geography became a regional science concerned with why certain places are similar and/or different and what enables people to separate one region from another. This practice became known as areal differentiation. In the U.S., Carl Sauer and his Berkeley School of geographic thought led to the development of regional geography, especially on the west coast. During this time, regional geography was also led by Richard Hartshorne who studied German regional geography in the 1930s with famous geographers such as Alfred Hettner and Fred Schaefer. Hartshorne defined geography as a science To provide accurate, orderly, and rational description and interpretation of the variable character of the earth surface. For a short time during and after WWII, regional geography was a popular field of study within the discipline. However, it was later critiqued for its specific regional knowledge and it was claimed to have been too descriptive and not quantitative enough. Regional Geography Today Since the 1980s, regional geography has seen a resurgence as a branch of geography in many universities. Because geographers today often study a wide variety of topics, it is helpful to break the world down into regions to make information easier to process and display. This can be done by geographers who claim to be regional geographers and are experts on one or many places across the world, or by physical, cultural, urban, and biogeographers who have a lot of information to process about given topics. Often, many universities today offer specific regional geography courses which give an overview of the broad topic and others may offer courses related to specific world regions such as Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, or smaller scale such as The Geography of California. In each of these region-specific courses, topics often covered are the physical and climatic attributes of the region as well as the cultural, economic and political characteristics found there. Also, some universities today offer specific degrees in regional geography, which normally consists of general knowledge of the worlds regions. A degree in regional geography is useful for those who want to teach but is also valuable in todays business world that is focused on overseas and long distance communications and networking.

Being Mortal By Atul Gawande - 1329 Words

In Being Mortal, Atul Gawande painted a little depressing picture of the realities faced by the elderly in the US nowadays: declining health status, economic insecurity, and loss of independence. It seems once the older people move into nursing homes or assisted living facilities, they lose autonomy, dignity and privacy as the institutions are not able to fully individualize care. Even though the situation has been improving, it still shocks me to see how unhappy some of the elderly are in these circumstances. Realizing senior care facilities often fail to address all aspects of well-being, I would like to explore the issues of promoting both objective and subjective component in quality of care for the older people. This paper examines the quality of care received by the elderly with an emphasis on measurements for care, recommending additional tools to be adopted to measure the overall well-being for the elderly in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the quality of care for those living in senior care facilities. The fact that the American population is aging has raised concerns. In 2011, the number of adults over the age of 65 reached 41.4 million, which account for 13.3% of the population (A Profile of Older Americans: 2012, 2012). It is estimated that there will be about 71 million older adults by 2030 (Healthy Aging-Improving and Extending Quality of Life among Older Americans, 2009). Approximately 2.1 million elderly are currently living inShow MoreRelatedBeing Mortal By Atul Gawande1587 Words   |  7 Pages Part One: In the documentary Being Mortal by Atul Gawande talks about the death of patients and how it s a surprise to a large amount of the patients. He also explains the fear in the medical field, and as a doctor your suppose to help people and cure them, that you re supposed to give them a better shot and if it later doesn t go they way you expected,the doctors start to tell themselves what went wrong or what happen everything was going so well. Gawande talks about how he wants to learnRead MoreAnalysis Of Atul Gawande s Being Mortal1211 Words   |  5 Pagesthe prospect of death with patients. In Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal, Gawande delves into what really matters as life comes to an end, new ways of helping the elderly enjoy their waning days, and the role of doctors and medicine in curing diseases and dealing with patients. Sheri Fink, a reporter for the New York Times, reviewed this book on November 6, 2014 for The New York Times Sunday Book Review in â€Å"Atul Gawande’s ‘Being Mortal’†. She thinks Being Mortal is a â€Å"valuable contribution to the growingRead MoreAnalysis Of Atul Gawande s Being Mortal854 Words   |  4 Pagesthe relationships we form with our family are unparalleled to that of any other. Family members are the people we count on in times of need and help make decisions that are in our best interest. Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal focuses on patients and their end of life care. On a visit to Lou Sanders, Gawande asked, â€Å"What makes life worth living to you?† and Lou hesitated before answering, â€Å"I have moments when I would say I think it’s time, maybe one of the days when I was at a low point†¦Ã¢â‚¬  As people nearRead MoreReview Of Atul Gawande s The New York Times Bestseller Being Mortal2112 Words   |  9 PagesIn the New York Times bestseller Being Mortal, surgeon and author Atul Gawande tackles just what may be the most difficult challenge of his profession, learning how to handle the ‘end-of-life process.’ Throughout his book, he recites the stories of several individuals, in which the trajectory from a state of independence to one of death can easily be traced in each. Although Gawande does acknowledge that death is inevitable, he emphasizes that individuals of society, especially those that work inRead MoreDeath : How The P erspective Of People Changes When They Are On The Edge Of Life1173 Words   |  5 Pageshuman’s life. When confronting the death, passively or actively, people usually have a different viewpoint from before and that assertion is proved in Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande, Wit by Margaret Edson and the last pages of The Stitches by David Small. On Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande, the author tells a story of Jewel Douglass, who gets a metastatic ovarian cancer. The doctors mention a lot of methods to cure her disease; howeverRead MoreBeing A Practicing Surgeon, Atul Gawande Essay1699 Words   |  7 PagesBeing a practicing surgeon, Atul Gawande approaches the dilemma of aging from a unique perspective. The study and implementation of traditional medical practices, he suggests, contributes to a problem solving, solution-based approached to over coming the hurdles of old age. The medical field, he says, puts the entirety of its focus on fixing the concrete problems that patients come into the emergency room with, instead of focusing on the best overall solution to satisfy the patients primary desiresRead MoreBeing Mortal : Medicine And What Matters753 Words   |  4 PagesAtul Gawande’s book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End presses on an extremely difficult subject: death. Gawande talks about the need to confront death and not ignore it by taking steps in having a meaningful and satisfying end. Readers say that Gawande does demand a lot from people and the book is eye opening but it does not have a guide to having a better end in life. I agree that Gawande is demanding a lot but people still to listen to him but I think Gawande does give a guideRead MoreThe Hippocratic Oath, By Atul Gawande1344 Words   |  6 Pagespatient’s stories. Rita Charon in her article â€Å"What to do with Stories? The sciences of Narrative Medicine,† explores narrative writing and how to use it as a tool in healing patients. While Charon focuses on the writing of these stories, Atul Gawande’s book Being Mortal reflects on how to make more meaningful endings out of the stories of patients who are on the brink of death. Medicine is for the health of thriving communities achieved through doctors’ success in devotion, close understanding, and treatingRead MoreThe Death Of Death1218 Words   |  5 Pagescomfortable conversation to have with others but death is common especially among the elderly population. Atul Gawande in Being Mortal talks about how death takes many people by surprise and the descriptions of aging and dying. All the while living better through the understanding of death. The author is trying to express that even those in the medical field struggle with death and not ensuring the well-being of the patients that are coming in. He emphasis the idea of the elderly feeling â€Å"comfortable† inRead MoreBeing Mortal By Sheri Fink1211 Words   |  5 PagesIn Being Mortal, Atul Gawande brings to revelation something we as humans know that will happen but in reality never really want to face: we are mortal and death will not escape us. Throughout the book, Gawande navigates the reader through a series of obstacles and choices faced to make when the ill and old have hit the stage of life when death is near. The New York Times reviewer Sheri Fink writes, â€Å"Being Mortal is a valuable contribution to the growing literature on aging, death and dying.† This

A Comparative Study of Criminal Justice Major Students Free Essays

The study probes the perceptions of criminal justice majors. In essence, the study aims to determine if the formal educational background of a criminal justice major is a vital factor in the shaping of an individual’s perception of the criminal justice system as compared to those who do not have any. Students from the university were sampled to serve as the respondents for the study who were divided into two groups: criminal justice majors and non majors. We will write a custom essay sample on A Comparative Study of Criminal Justice Major Students or any similar topic only for you Order Now The study’s assumption was: there is no significant difference between the perception of the criminal justice majors and non majors. Chapter I: Introduction Over the years, studies have been made to shed light on the issue of criminal justice as perceived by the general public and by the criminal justice majors. The perception of the general pubic and the criminal justice majors, of course, differs in a lot of aspects. Logically, non criminal justice majors or the public mainly rely on the mass media for the information that they need while the criminal justice majors have a broader background on the issue of crime and criminal justice. Criminal justice majors are usually exposed with researches that would explain phenomena in the field of criminal justice. Thus, there is a definite difference between the perception of the criminal justice majors and the public (Tsoudis, 2000). But then, an exploratory study is needed to further back up this claim. Does the education background of the criminal justice majors has something to do with their perception of crime and criminal justice? How can this educational background of the criminal justice majors would eventually influence or affect the perception of the general public? How influential can the media be in shaping the public’s perception of crime and criminal justice? These questions are only few that have to be answered to prove that the claims of the previous studies are valid and logical. The media has also been the main source of information among the public. Undeniably, groups of people mainly rely their notion and perceptions over things on the information that they consume provided by the media. There have been debates over the influence of the media and its tendency to veer away from truth. Some media outfits are guilty of exaggerating news items especially those dealing with crimes for the simple reason of getting a â€Å"controversial scoop† or because they have doing it unconsciously. Nadler (2005) writes, â€Å"Such media play can undermine the public’s perception of the legitimacy of law enforcement generally.   This loss of legitimacy and distrust of the fairness of the legal system, can in turn lead to more widespread lawbreaking.† Connie McNeely (1995) writes that most of what Americans understand about law enforcement comes from what they view in the media, mainly television and movies. Aside from these media experiences, many Americans do not have the first hand knowledge of the inter-workings of border patrol or general law enforcement at the community level. True enough, media have the great role of shaping the minds of its audience. Because her insights are somewhat outdated in this day and age of television shows like CSI and 24, it would be interesting to carry out further study of this idea.   Still her study warrants close examination as she furthers her argument by writing: How to cite A Comparative Study of Criminal Justice Major Students, Papers

The experience of being female Essay Example For Students

The experience of being female Essay An Unknown Girl, by Moniza Alvi, is another poem, which explores the experience of being female, but is more specific to seeking identity. From her name and the poem, I think she is from an Indian family, but now lives in England. It sounds like she has gone to India to visit and see if she truly is Indian or will live a better life in England.  The poem generally, describes a young girl at a night market stall, who is hennaing peoples body. Moniza Alvi is having her hand hennaed, with the picture of a peacock. As she sits patiently, she looks around and describes everything in her sight, using many poetic techniques, especially metaphors, which lead you into thinking about other meanings of what she has written. We will write a custom essay on The experience of being female specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now The poem, after the first couple of lines, begins with the phrase,  An unknown girl is hennaing my hand.  This phrase is repeated throughout the poem. It keeps you thinking about the unknown girl. Right from the start you think that this unknown girl, must be the girl hennaing, but the ending gives it a twist, and I think that the unknown girl is actually, Moniza Alvi, this I will explain at the end.  This poem is very atmospheric and realistic, in the way it describes in great detail the area, using such techniques as, metaphors, similes and some internal rhyming. Examples of what I think are the most effective metaphors, are,  Studded with neon. As she describes the picture of an unknown girl sitting in the bazaar, lit up by small neon lights dotted around.  A peacock spreads its lines across my palm.  Is also a good description, because although this is just metaphoric for the girl painting the lines on her hand, she is literally painting the lines of a peacock. This is a pretty, decorative bird, which fits into the Indian atmosphere.  Her use of Indian language adds to the atmosphere; as she describes the night market, as an evening bazaar, the currency called rupees and her tunic, being a shadow-stitched kameez. There are also some rare, internal rhymes, that go unnoticed. Here are just two,  On her satin-peach knee  For a few rupees.  And,  Banners for Miss India 1993  Canopy me  She gives great descriptions of what she sees, one of my favourites being,  Dummies in shop-fronts tilt and stare with their Western perms.  They seem to be incongruous to her.  One line that is especially well written is towards the end, where she explains, how she will take off the henna before she sleeps,  Reveal soft as a snail trail the amber bird beneath.  A simile, a metaphor and sibilance are used, as she describes a sleepy time, and the intimitants of the henna. She doesnt use punctuation often, dis-obeying the rules, as she misses capital letters after full stops, but enjambment is used a lot instead. I think this makes the poem flow better, so it is less formal but still meaningful. It has a subtle structure, making it more like a conversation between you and the poet. The actual positioning of the poem is straight down the middle of the page, so it hits you straight away when you look at it. It makes it easier and sharper to read each line. I think the way it is centred also has something to do with the way the poem is centred on Moniza Alvi, showing that infact, it is all about her and not the girl in the bazaar, as you may have thought. From the whole poem though, I believe that the best technique has to be in her use of similes, just before the last few lines, where she twists the poem, making you re-think your thoughts about the situation. It is very meaningful and expresses her feelings in a literal sense.  I am clinging to these firm peacock lines like people who cling to the sides of a train.  This explains how she feels stuck between two cultures. She feels precarious and scared, like people clinging to the sides of a train. They hold on very tightly, just as she does to the tattoo on her hand, because she is unsure of her identity. She doesnt mean, that she literally holds on to the painted pattern, but she does not know whether she is Indian or English. This brings in a great deal of her emotional feelings into the poem and makes you change your mind about the meaning of the title. .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af , .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af .postImageUrl , .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af , .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af:hover , .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af:visited , .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af:active { border:0!important; } .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af:active , .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uf8f8d72c62ad7e190d34f95ec3f0d5af:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Arthur Miller And Crucible EssayWhen I had finished reading the poem over, several times, I began to think differently about the title. I think she is exploring her identity, and may mean the title as a metaphor for herself. She is insecure, and proof of this is in the phrase;  I am clinging to these firm peacock lines like people who cling to the sides of a train.  Moniza Alvi, in my opinion, is an unknown girl.

Emperor Montezuma Before the Spanish Arrived

Emperor Montezuma Before the Spanish Arrived Emperor Montezuma Xocoyotzà ­n (other spellings include Motecuzoma and Moctezuma) is remembered by history as the indecisive leader of the Mexica Empire who let Hernan Cortes and his conquistadors into the magnificent city of Tenochtitlan virtually unopposed. Although it is true that Montezuma was unsure of how to deal with the Spaniards and that his indecision led in no small measure to the downfall of the Aztec Empire, this is only part of the story. Before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, Montezuma was a renowned war leader, skilled diplomat and an able leader of his people who oversaw the consolidation of the Mexica Empire. A Prince of the Mexica Montezuma was born in 1467, a prince of the royal family of the Mexica Empire. Not one hundred years before Montezumas birth, the Mexica had been an outsider tribe in the Valley of Mexico, vassals of the mighty Tepanecs. During the reign of Mexica leader Itzcotl, however, the Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tacuba was formed and together they overthrew the Tepanecs. Successive emperors had expanded the empire, and by 1467 the Mexica were the unquestioned leaders of the Valley of Mexico and beyond. Montezuma was born for greatness: he was named after his grandfather Moctezuma Ilhuicamina, one of the greatest Tlatoanis or Emperors of the Mexica. Montezumas Father Axaycatl and his uncles Tà ­zoc and Ahuà ­tzotl had also been tlatoque (emperors). His name Montezuma meant he who makes himself angry, and Xocoyotzà ­n meant the younger to distinguish him from his grandfather. The Mexica Empire in 1502 In 1502, Montezumas uncle Ahuitzotl, who had served as emperor since 1486, died. He left an organized, massive Empire which stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific and covered most of present-day Central Mexico. Ahuitzotl had roughly doubled the area controlled by the Aztecs, launching conquests to the north, northeast, west and south. The conquered tribes were made vassals of the mighty Mexica and forced to send quantities of food, goods, slaves and sacrifices to Tenochtitlan. Succession of Montezuma as Tlatoani The ruler of the Mexica was called the Tlatoani, which means speaker or he who commands. When it came time to select a new ruler, the Mexica did not automatically select the previous rulers eldest son like they did in Europe. When the old Tlatoani died, a council of elders of the royal family came together to select the next one. The candidates could include all male, high-born relatives of the previous Tlatoani, but since the elders were looking for a younger man with proven battlefield and diplomatic experience, in reality they were choosing from a limited pool of several candidates. As a young prince of the royal family, Montezuma had been trained for warfare, politics, religion and diplomacy from an early age. When his uncle died in 1502, Montezuma was thirty-five years old and had distinguished himself as a warrior, general and diplomat. He had also served as a high priest. He was active in the various conquests undertaken by his uncle Ahuitzotl. Montezuma was a strong candidate, but was by no means his uncles undlisputed successor. He was elected by the elders, however, and became Tlatoani in 1502. Coronation of Montezuma A Mexica coronation was a drawn-out, splendid affair. Montezuma first went into a spiritual retreat for a few days, fasting and praying. Once that was done, there was music, dancing, festivals, feasts and the arrival of visiting nobility from allied and vassal cities. On the day of the coronation, the lords of Tacuba and Tezcoco, the most important allies of the Mexica, crowned Montezuma, because only a reigning sovereign could crown another. Once he had been crowned, Montezuma had to be confirmed. The first major step was to carry out a military campaign for the purposes of acquiring sacrificial victims for the ceremonies. Montezuma chose to war against Nopallan and Icpatepec, vassals of the Mexica who were currently in rebellion. These were in the present-day Mexican State of Oaxaca. The campaigns went smoothly; many captives were brought back to Tenochtitlan and the two rebellious city-states began paying tribute to the Aztecs.   With the sacrifices ready, it was time to confirm Montezuma as tlatoani. Great lords came from all over the Empire once again, and at a great dance led by the rulers of Tezcoco and Tacuba, Montezuma appeared in a wreath of incense smoke. Now it was official: Montezuma was the ninth tlatoani of the mighty Mexica Empire. After this appearance, Montezuma formally handed out offices to his highest ranking officials. Finally, the captives taken in battle were sacrificed. As tlatoani, he was the maximum political, military and religious figure in the land: like a king, general and pope all rolled into one. Montezuma Tlatoani The new Tlatoani had a completely different style from his predecessor, his uncle Ahuitzotl. Montezuma was an elitist: he abolished the title of quauhpilli, which meant Eagle Lord and was awarded to soldiers of common birth who had shown great courage and aptitude in battle and warfare. Instead, he filled all military and civil positions with members of the noble class. He removed or killed many of Ahutzotls top officials. The policy of reserving important posts for the nobility strengthened the Mexica hold on allied states, however. The royal court at Tenochtitlan was home to many princes of allies, who were there as hostages against the good behavior of their city-states, but they were also educated and had many opportunities in the Aztec army. Montezuma allowed them to rise in military ranks, binding them - and their families - to the tlatoani. As tlatoani, Montezuma lived a luxurious life. He had one main wife named Teotlalco, a princess from Tula of Toltec descent, and several other wives, most of them princesses of important families of allied or subjugated city-states. He also had countless concubines and he had many children by these different women. He lived in his own palace in Tenochtitlan, where he ate off of plates reserved for only him, waited on by a legion of servant boys. He changed clothes frequently and never wore the same tunic twice. He enjoyed music and there were many musicians and their instruments at his palace. War and Conquest Under Montezuma During Montezuma Xocoyotzà ­ns reign, the Mexica were in a near-constant state of war. Like his predecessors, Montezuma was charged with preserving the lands he inherited and expanding the empire. Because he inherited a large empire, much of which had been added by his predecessor Ahuitzotl, Montezuma primarily concerned himself with maintaining the empire and defeating those isolated holdout states within the Aztec sphere of influence. In addition, Montezumas armies fought frequent Flower Wars against other city states: the main purpose of these wars was not subjugation and conquest, but rather a chance for both sides to take prisoners for sacrifice in a limited military engagement.   Montezuma enjoyed mostly successes in his wars of conquest. Much of the fiercest fighting took place to the south and east of Tenochtitlan, where the various city-states of the Huaxyacac resisted Aztec rule. Montezuma was eventually victorious in bringing the region to heel. Once the troublesome peoples of the Huaxyacac tribes had been subjugated, Montezuma turned his attention to the north, where warlike Chichimec tribes still ruled, defeating the cities of Mollanco and Tlachinolticpac. Meanwhile, the stubborn region of Tlaxcala remained defiant. It was a region made up of some 200 smallish city-states led by the Tlaxcalan people united in their hatred of the Aztecs, and none of Montezumas predecessors had been able to defeat it. Montezuma tried several times to defeat the Tlaxcalans, launching large campaigns in 1503 and again in 1515. Each attempt to subjugate the fierce Tlaxcalans ended in defeat for the Mexica. This failure to neutralize their traditional enemies would come back to haunt Montezuma: in 1519, Hernan Cortes and the Spanish conquistadors befriended the Tlaxcalans, who proved to be invaluable allies against the Mexica, their most hated foe. Montezuma in 1519 In 1519, when Hernan Cortes and the Spanish conquistadors invaded, Montezuma was at the height of his power. He ruled an empire which stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific and could summon more than a million warriors. Although he was firm and decisive in dealing with his empire, he was weak when faced with the unknown invaders, which in part led to his downfall. Resources and Further Reading Berdan, Frances: Moctezuma II: la Expansion del Imperio Mexica. Arqueologà ­a Mexicana XVII - 98 (July-August 2009) 47-53.Hassig, Ross. Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988.Levy, Buddy. . New York: Bantam, 2008.Matos Moctezuma, Eduardo. Moctezuma II: la Gloria del Imperio. Arqueologà ­a Mexicana XVII - 98 (July-August 2009) 54-60.Smith, Michael. The Aztecs. 1988. Chichester: Wiley, Blackwell. Third Edition, 2012.Thomas, Hugh. . New York: Touchstone, 1993.Townsend, Richard F. The Aztecs. 1992, London: Thames and Hudson. Third Edition, 2009Vela, Enrique. Moctezuma Xocoyotzin, El que se muestra enojado, el joven. Arqueologia Mexicana Ed. Especial 40 (Oct 2011), 66-73.

Defining Omitted Variables Bias

Defining Omitted Variables Bias Omitted variables bias (or sometimes omitted variable bias) is a standard expression for the bias that appears in an estimate of a parameter if the regression run does not have the appropriate form and data for other parameters. For example, many regressions that have wage or income as the dependent variable suffer from omitted variables bias because there is often no practical way to add in a workers innate ability or motivation as an explanatory variable. As a result, the estimated coefficients on variables such as education as likely to be biased because of the correlation between educational attainment and unobserved ability. If the correlation between education and unobserved ability is positive, omitted variables bias will occur in an upward direction. Conversely, if the correlation between an explanatory variable and an unobserved relevant variable is negative, omitted variables bias will occur in a downward direction.