Culture and Cognition Essay Example for Free

Culture and Cognition Essay Culture may be defined as a combination of different traits of a social group. These traits or ways of life can be language, arts, sciences, thoughts, spirituality, social activities, interactions, and many more (â€Å"Definition†, n. d. ). The world has many peoples and thus many cultures, thus each has their own beliefs, traditions, and customs. Another characteristic of a certain culture may be cognition. Because of human diversity in traditions and customs, there is also diversity in intelligence. According to Cole, Gay, Glick, and Sharp (as cited in Sternberg, 2004), certain behaviors may be smart in one culture but plainly stupid in another (1971). Culture and Intelligence According to Robert Sternberg in his article entitled â€Å"Culture and Intelligence†, intelligence cannot be fully measured, developed, and conceptualized when it is outside the cultural context. This creates an impression that intelligence is a norm and being a deviant from that norm would mean less intelligence (2004, p. 1). An example given by Sternberg about intelligence tests shows an evidence of his argument. Any intelligence test created in one culture may not be valid in another culture. Sternberg also constructed models in order to determine if the culture has a significant effect on intelligence. On the third model, the dimensions of intelligence are the same as with the other models. However, the instruments used are different from the other models. The measurement process was therefore derived from the culture being studied and not from outside it. As this is done, the psychological meanings of the scores of the assessments change from one culture to another. Culture and Cognition Intelligence is just one of the cognitive characteristics of man. Culture, as well as social systems has a role in developing the people’s system of thought. This is according to Richard Nisbett, Incheol Choi, Laiping Peng, and Ara Norenzayan, when they studied the difference between easterners and westerners in terms of cognitive processes (2001). They stated that east Asians are holistic in their cognitive processes, focusing on an entire field and its causality. On the other hand, westerners such as Americans are analytic because they pay more attention on the object and the categories, making use of rules such as formal logic. The authors of this article suggest that the origin of these differences is traceable to different social systems (p. 291). They were able to conclude that there is still a very great difference between cultures. It is because of the circumstances brought about by these cultures that one process will always be different from another. Furthermore, the norms or the normative standards for though will differ across cultures (p. 306). The influence of culture has many implications in cognition. This insight may change the very definition of intelligence as related to different social systems. This also has a great effect in cognitive assessment since one measuring tool may not be appropriate for all cultures. Although international communication is already established, this information would give more understanding to people as to how others with different cultures are different to them in terms of learning styles, perception, and other aspects of cognition. It would also change the perception on people who are considered as intellectually inferior since intelligence no longer focuses on a dominant or normative standard set by those perceived as superior. References â€Å"Definition of Culture†, (n. d. ). Roshan Culture Heritage Institute. Retrieved 24 May 2010 from http://www. roshan-institute. org/templates/System/details. asp? id=39783PID =474552. Nisbett, R. E. , Peng, K. , Choi, I. , Norenzayan, A. (2001). Culture and Systems of Thought: Holistic versus Analytic Cognition. Psychological Review. 108(2), pp. 291-310. Sternberg, R. (2004). â€Å"Culture and Intelligence†. American Psychologist. 59(5), pp. 325- 338.

The Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive :: Vietnam War Essays

In the mid to late 1960's the Vietnam Conflict was greatly controversial. This is mainly due to the fact that it was an undeclared war and was being fought with unclear objectives. It was fought mainly by Viet Cong guerillas and the NVA from the North and by the USA and ARVN from the south. Throughout the conflict it appeared as if the South was prevailing; up until one climatic battle that turned out to be a failure militarily; it is known as the Tet Offensive. The Tet Offensive started with diversionary attacks on Khe Sanh on January 21. It began with a concentrated artillery barrage and entrenching troops around the perimeter so that they could prepare further assaults on Khe Sanh's defenses. This caused the US to move their troops up in order to defend against the enemy intrusion. By causing the US to move their troops from their positions in the other major cities, the North had created an opportunity for an attack on all of those cites. Then next step of the plan was to infiltrate the major cities of the South like Saigon and Hue with VC and NVA soldiers. It is amazing how effectively the VC and NVA snuck their soldiers into the cities, because only a small number of them actually got caught. They pulled this off by sending their men in slowly, mostly by twos or threes, disguised as refugees, peasants, workers, and ARVN soldiers on holiday. Their weapons were smuggled in separately in flower carts, coffins, and trucks that looked as if they were filled with food for the civilians. All-in-all the amount of troops in these cities equaled about 5 battalions. Once the North had accomplished its goals of distracting the United States soldiers and infiltrating its guarded cities they decided to attack; they chose a day designated for truce, the Vietnamese New Year of Tet. On January 31st, in the early hours of the morning, the NVA and VC troops and commandoes began the Tet Offensive by attacking virtually every major city and town; including most of the major bases and airfields. Most of the attacks made came by total surprise and caused a maelstrom of chaos among the US soldiers who attempted to defend their posts. An example of one of these attacks is the one launched against the US embassy in Saigon. In Saigon, nineteen VC commandoes attempted to blast their way through the main doors of the US embassy and killed two of the 5 MP's on duty.

Generally Accepted Auditing Standards

Generally Accepted Auditing Standards Paper Madeline Cates ACC/491 Contemporary Auditing 1 November 7, 2012 Thomas A. House Auditing is extremely important to our businesses, our state and federal government, investors, banks, and our overall economy. Without auditing there would be plenty of room for mistakes. Boynton & Johnson (2006) define auditing as the following, â€Å"A systematic process of objectively obtaining and evaluating evidence regarding assertions about economic actions and events to ascertain the degree of correspondence between those assertions and established criteria and communicating the results to interested users† (p. ). To break it down auditing follows a certain process of steps using financial statements and tax returns to evaluate an organization in an unbiased way. Once this is done a written report is made by the auditors to give the organization the credibility they deserve. This credibility is passed on to interested users such as; banks, stockh olders, and management. The purpose of this paper is to explain the nature and functions of auditing, and relate them to an organization in which we are familiar. The organization is which I am familiar with is Chili’s Bar and Grill where I have been an employee for over 4 years.Chili’s is owned by Brinker Nation, which is publically traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EAT. Brinker Nation is audited by independent auditing committee with no relation to the company, they follow the standard of the NYSE as well as the Securities and Exchange (SEC). The Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS) are a set of standards that public accountants are required to use. All together there are 10 different GAAS that are used to establish the quality of performance and the overall objectives to be achieved in a financial statement audit. Boynton & Johnson, 2006) The Generally Accepted Accounting Standards apply to financial, operational, and compliance audits. Typically a CPA preforms a financial audit by evaluating a firm’s financial position to see if they are using GAAP. The results are then distributed to the general public. A compliance audit focuses on whether or not a firm is following rules and government regulations, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that requires duel-purpose auditing and compliance audits.Operational audits focus on activities in relation to objectives. This is also known as a management audit. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) affect publically traded companies. The PCAOB is a private sector that was created by the SOX Act of 2002. Basically the PCAOB oversees auditors of publically traded companies to protect investors, creditors, and the general public. According to Boynton & Johnson (2006), the PCAOB was given authority in 5 major areas including, 1.Registering public accounting firms that audit the financial statements of public companies. 2. Setti ng quality control standards for peer review of auditors of public companies and conducting inspections of registered public accounting firms. 3. Setting auditing standards for audits of public companies. 4. Setting independence and ethics rules for auditors of public companies. 5. Performing other duties or functions to promote high professional standards ? for public company audits, and enforce compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.With the help of the SEC, PCAOB, SOX Act, and GAAS we can ensure investors and creditors that publically traded organizations are presenting honest, fair, and straightforward financial information. Auditing is vital to the growth of our businesses, our local and federal government, and our economy as a whole. Resources Boynton, W. C. , & Johnson, R. N. (2006). Modern auditing: Assurance services and the integrity of financial reporting. (8th ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Louwers, T. , Ramsay, R. , Sinason, D. , & Stawser, J. R.. (2007). Auditing a nd assurance services. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

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