in an essay discuss where the confusion originated

The Implications and the Effects of Confusion

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Introduction

Experiences.

Confusion is the lack of clarity or rather a state of bewilderment or puzzlement. Sometimes, we find ourselves in a constant state of shock from the moment we wake up to the time we retire to bed at the day’s end. Any undertaking that we engage in requires a thought process.

The uninterrupted completion of a given chronology of thoughts brings about understanding of the issue at hand. Terms, such as train of thought, have been coined to explain the thought process.

A breakage in the thinking process results in confusion. This may happen in an operating theater, in an examination room, in a football match, when reciting a poem or doing other day-to-day activities.

Confusion is not limited only to the thought process. When we fail to observe any defined rules or obligations, we end up into a state of confusion. For instance, the never-ending traffic snarl-up evident in urban cities presents an intriguing picture in this context.

One or two drivers may flaunt traffic rules resulting in mayhem on the roads experienced by everyone travelling. Think of what would happen if the police downed their guns and refused to enforce the law. The society would descend into anarchy without doubt. Evidently, confusion threatens to plague every aspect of existence.

Drawing from the experience of the prisoners in the Plato’s allegory of the cave, we see how consciously ignorance gives way to confusion. We even subconsciously build comfort in the ignorance. The truth instills fear in us and wish to avoid it at all cost, often preferring the accustomed ignorance.

On the other hand, even the unpalatable truth quenches ignorance, and the more we partake of it, the more we want. Knowledge is the magic wand to expel confusion. We are in a state of confusion for lack of knowledge. We must stay the course of knowledge to ward off confusion.

In schools, in many occasions, we have encountered difficulties in comprehending course content say in algebra, philosophy and many other disciplines. We are often in a state of confusion, either by skipping a step while solving an algebraic equitation, or unable to decipher the meaning of grammatically complex essays or texts in philosophy.

What we lack is clarity in understanding. There are many steps we have to go through to solve a problem and twist of sentences, which appear to get complicated as we read them, thus they confuse us. There are students who are able to deduce solutions faster than others.

They struggle before they free their minds from confusion. The only way to gain clarity in these situations is to practice more algebraic equations, and read the essays or text several times. The more we repeat these processes, the more we sharpen cognitive abilities of our minds.

It is human to be confused. From Plato’s allegory of the cave, we see how the prisoners who have never seen outside of the cave are intolerant to the returnee who has ascended from the cave. The returnee’s inability to measure shadows as his eyes acclimatize to the dark interior of the cave is taken as a weakness borne of having ascended from the cave.

The cave dwellers threaten death to anyone who tries to lure them from the cave. Most people do not admit that they are confused because it will be seen as a sign of weakness. It is by the fact that we are unaware that we are challenged to find the missing pieces.

As humans, we need to accept the confusion and try to free ourselves from the ignorance. This will only happen if we embrace the truth, accept enlightenment and develop a hunger for knowledge.

It is through the confusion that we get to learn the hidden uncertainties and the unknown. We are able to dig deep to get an understanding of problems. Most scientific discoveries have been made from an act of confusion.

For instance, wondering why an apple falls right back to the ground when it is thrown in the air triggers desire for understanding the mystery. Why does it not remain floating in the air?

People go to school to learn for the same reason; otherwise, we all will be living in a world full of uncertainties and unexplored mystery. There are two options, which lead to an acceptable solution. Accountants calculate using both the options and get the one with a positive impact to an organization.

Considerations are made on the long-term implications and the effect on profitability. Governments have set budgets and funds allocated to different projects, but even so, they do set aside other funds in the reserves in case an emergency arises.

This allows to alter and change plans in the event if the main plan fails. When faced with a disastrous situation, the reserves kept for such circumstances will be fundamental effecting change.

Confusion aids humans to have forethought. Thus, they are able to plan and learn from past events. Ultimately, we may submit to the thesis that confusion threatens to plague every aspect of our existence.

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Bibliography

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ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

Confucianism.

Confucianism is one of the most influential religious philosophies in the history of China, and it has existed for over 2,500 years. It is concerned with inner virtue, morality, and respect for the community and its values.

Religion, Social Studies, Ancient Civilizations

Confucian Philosopher Mencius

Confucianism is an ancient Chinese belief system, which focuses on the importance of personal ethics and morality. Whether it is only or a philosophy or also a religion is debated.

Photograph by Historica Graphica Collection/Heritage Images/Getty Images, taken from Myths and Legends of China

Confucianism is a philosophy and belief system from ancient China, which laid the foundation for much of Chinese culture. Confucius was a philosopher and teacher who lived from 551 to 479 B.C.E. His thoughts on ethics , good behavior, and moral character were written down by his disciples in several books, the most important being the Lunyu . Confucianism believes in ancestor worship and human-centered virtues for living a peaceful life. The golden rule of Confucianism is “Do not do unto others what you would not want others to do unto you.” There is debate over if Confucianism is a religion. Confucianism is best understood as an ethical guide to life and living with strong character. Yet, Confucianism also began as a revival of an earlier religious tradition. There are no Confucian gods, and Confucius himself is worshipped as a spirit rather than a god. However, there are temples of Confucianism , which are places where important community and civic rituals happen. This debate remains unresolved and many people refer to Confucianism as both a religion and a philosophy. The main idea of Confucianism is the importance of having a good moral character, which can then affect the world around that person through the idea of “cosmic harmony.” If the emperor has moral perfection, his rule will be peaceful and benevolent. Natural disasters and conflict are the result of straying from the ancient teachings. This moral character is achieved through the virtue of ren, or “humanity,” which leads to more virtuous behaviours, such as respect, altruism , and humility. Confucius believed in the importance of education in order to create this virtuous character. He thought that people are essentially good yet may have strayed from the appropriate forms of conduct. Rituals in Confucianism were designed to bring about this respectful attitude and create a sense of community within a group. The idea of “ filial piety ,” or devotion to family, is key to Confucius thought. This devotion can take the form of ancestor worship, submission to parental authority, or the use of family metaphors, such as “son of heaven,” to describe the emperor and his government. The family was the most important group for Confucian ethics , and devotion to family could only strengthen the society surrounding it. While Confucius gave his name to Confucianism , he was not the first person to discuss many of the important concepts in Confucianism . Rather, he can be understood as someone concerned with the preservation of traditional Chinese knowledge from earlier thinkers. After Confucius’ death, several of his disciples compiled his wisdom and carried on his work. The most famous of these disciples were Mencius and Xunzi, both of whom developed Confucian thought further. Confucianism remains one of the most influential philosophies in China. During the Han Dynasty, emperor Wu Di (reigned 141–87 B.C.E.) made Confucianism the official state ideology. During this time, Confucius schools were established to teach Confucian ethics . Confucianism existed alongside Buddhism and Taoism for several centuries as one of the most important Chinese religions. In the Song Dynasty (960–1279 C.E.) the influence from Buddhism and Taoism brought about “Neo- Confucianism ,” which combined ideas from all three religions. However, in the Qing dynasty (1644–1912 C.E.), many scholars looked for a return to the older ideas of Confucianism , prompting a Confucian revival.

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Acknowledge the Truth of Your Confusion: It’s Helpful

Interview framing (Jeremy Bendik-Keymer):

Jeremy:  Mark, I took away (1) from our discussions, that “Getting to know the world begins in confusion.”  Can you qualify or correct that claim?  Can you explain what confusion means to you?  What sort of confusion are we talking about?  How did you come to some such thought?  What place does it have in your life and work?

Mark: I wouldn’t say that “Getting to know the world begins in confusion.” I think knowledge is pretty easy to get: you just have to be acquainted with things, and accept them. To be acquainted with things, all you have to do is confront, passively, what is there. I also don’t think there is a world , some one thing that is everything — I think there is just a multiplicity of things. This point might seem a quibble, but I actually think it’s quite important.

Now regarding confusion, I would say something like “Understanding things begins in confusion” or “Acquiring insight into things begins with confusion , ” where understanding or having insight are more sophisticated epistemic states.  Cats and dogs and babies and small children have plenty of knowledge — I’m not sure, though, that they’re ever confused. Confusion is, I think, a much more advanced cognitive position.

It’s a position that arises not through merely trying to know what a thing is or what it’s like, what qualities it itself has. Rather, confusion arises through trying to see how some thing is related to other things and to understand how those connections might (or ought to) be meaningful to oneself or are meaningful to someone else—and what this complex of relations and meanings reveal about yet other things less obviously related to the one with which you began.

Confusion is, then, different than just not knowing something in particular, it’s much more involved than that. You can get a good sense of what I mean by considering the difference between not knowing what someone said on a particular occasion (“what did they say?”) and knowing exactly what they said but being disconcerted by it (“did they just say what I think they did?!”), trying to square what was said with one’s expectations in that context and the ostensible motivation of the speaker and other associated considerations. Confusion’s an active mental state with a unique phenomenal character — being confused has a distinctive feel. It is, for me, very unpleasant, almost repulsive, in the sense that it defies engagement — it repels reflection — and so is a difficult state to maintain. One can easily — too easily — just turn away from it.

Confusion arises in everyday circumstances for me all the time: watching some interaction between my two young children, hearing some political position a friend holds, seeing something in the news, trying to guide myself on a live map through a warren of streets. But what got me reflecting on confusion in a more serious way is its presence in my professional life. Most of the time that I am really doing philosophy I am deeply confused. Seriously.

When things are going well, when I’m really getting into a project, I spend literally hours a day uncomfortably confused. It is, for me, a so-familiar and crucial part of the process I go through when writing anything of real significance (to me). It’s unpleasant, but worthwhile. Being confused is what leads to novel questions and interesting answers — and resolving confusion is the most satisfying intellectual pleasure I know. It can be exhilarating — that thrill is a large part of why I do philosophy.

Jeremy :  Thanks, Mark.  This is all really interesting, and I hope to come back to some of your assumptions later. Your comment about multiplicity and the world was intriguing.  But for now, I’d like to press on with the discussions we’ve had, since they were so rich. 

The second time we met over Zoom, you led the discussion with some responses to the place of confusion in professional philosophy, especially when working with young career scholars.  Specifically, you were concerned that (2) the profession of philosophy can fail to support confusion.  Can you tell us a little about what you meant by that and why you think that it is true?

Mark :  I had a few things in mind when I said that our profession – not ”discipline” – can fail to support confusion. I have some qualms, relevant here, about how undergrads are introduced to and taught philosophy, but I’ll set those aside to focus on concerns I have regarding the education of grad students.

As is perhaps clear from what I said earlier, I think confusion is a good thing (or it can be). Confusion can lead to incisive questions and, eventually, to answers that provide the basis for original and insightful work. Most likely grad students are frequently confused. Yet they aren’t told that confusion is a thing to appreciate and embrace and exploit . They’re probably told nothing about it. So, they reject it because confusion is such an unpleasant state and because it’s usually associated with novices.

They also probably reject it because it seems incompatible with what they’re experiencing. They’re hearing professors present material that’s been mastered by them . So, even if that material once did confuse those professors, it no longer does. They’re reading papers that even if they are the products of confusion might no longer bear its marks. The grad students that are the most conspicuous are the ones that appear the least confused, the ones who have the most to say in seminars and colloquia.

Since they’re not told anything positive about confusion, I think grad students feel some pressure to deny their confusion or to get rid of it as soon as possible or to hide it, to “fake it until they make it.” I think grad students should be told that confusion is a good thing for the reasons I’ve already given. Confusion is crucial to real learning. They shouldn’t expect it to go away or even hope that it does. If it did, they would be losing something that could be invaluable to us all. I’m confused all the time, and I’ve been devoting myself to philosophy for over 25 years.

Yet even if they wanted to take full advantage of their confusion, and were encouraged to, they can’t really. It takes a lot of time to inhabit and work through confusion. Often, grad students are not afforded that time and urged to take it. They are sometimes pressed to speak when they — justifiably — have nothing to say. They might be pressed to ask certain kinds of question s , pushed to be the first to ask a question in the discussion at a colloquium, where the expectation is that they be critical of what was just presented — to show what’s wrong with it or, more charitably, to say something illuminating in light of what was just presented — instead of being allowed to engage it more openly or obliquely . It would be great if students felt they could say in discussion: “I’m totally confused. I don’t know what to say.” This prompts the response, “What’s confusing you?”. Then one can ask a “naïve”, yet penetrating question like: “What does it mean to say…?” or “Why do you say…?” or “What exactly is the issue here?” or “What is at stake here?” or “Why are you assuming…has anything to do with…?”

Jeremy: This is wonderful. Thanks for saying this, Mark. It’s both humane and philosophical.

Mark: Another thing that inhibits confusion is the immediate pressure that grad students are under, from a number of directions (their peers, some faculty, social media), to publish. They think they have to publish if they’re ever going to get a job.

Maybe this is true. But if you’re not allowed to be confused and to work through the confusion, in the arduous, idiosyncratic way this demands, and you’re pushed to publish, you’re going to publish something that’s not that different from what’s already there, a little twist on something that you — and others — already understand. And that’s probably not going to be very interesting or significant. It’s probably not even going to be very interesting or significant to the person who wrote it. It’s likely not going to fulfill the interests that motivated the student to do philosophy in the first place!

This banishment of confusion in the education of philosophers is detrimental to the profession and to all of us in it. If confusion isn’t regarded as positive, and if you never learn to acquire the pleasures and benefits of working through it, you will recoil from confusion and dismiss its source. However, work that is extraordinary, challenging or unusually profound is going to be confusing.

Jeremy:  Mark, I wonder if we can come back to some things, which I will try to relate through where I point.  From our initial talks over Zoom, I took away (3), that what should be congenial in philosophy is staying with a certain sort of confusion together, and it would be good for philosophical institutions to support just that.  I take this to be a comment about being disciplined when doing philosophy, and I was struck by your distinction between the profession and the discipline of philosophy.  (Was it analogous to my distinction between philosophy and its institutions?  How was it different?)  This led me to want to ask you how being confused is part of being disciplined when doing philosophy.

You may have already spoken to some of that in your previous reply.  But I wonder if there is more to say?  In particular, since this series is about the intra- and inter-personal in philosophy, I wondered about what it is to be personally disciplined to engage with productive confusion in philosophy.  What are the qualities – or more broadly, what are the main phenomenological marks – of how to be disciplined in one’s personal responses when confronting philosophical confusion?

Relating these concerns together, I wonder more basically how philosophical confusion presents itself to a person.  Do you have anything more or less systematic to say about how particularly philosophical confusion appears to someone who is living as a whole person, not simply as a professional?

Mark: When you talk about being ‘disciplined’, do you have in mind a traditional, familiar notion — like, along the lines of exhibiting self-control and firmly maintaining a direction — or do you have something else in mind? A sort of punning notion related to being part of or working within a particular discipline? It’s not clear to me from your comments.

Jeremy: I meant the former but as a feature of the latter.  In other words, to do philosophy takes a certain sort (or certain sorts) of discipline (e.g., consistency with words and thoughts, fidelity to questions, fastidiousness with sources and evidence).  I am wondering about sitting with confusion in this regard and its personal dimensions.

Mark: Ok, got it.

By the discipline of philosophy, I mean the art of thinking critically, the cultivation of that skill that enables one to gain insight into things and to understand them. The profession of philosophy is all the social apparatus that makes it possible for one to make a living practicing the discipline. The former is, at least for me, mostly private and guided by curiosity about some thing(s) or other. The latter is necessarily public and maintained by interests that might have nothing to do with curiosity, insight or understanding. I guess, then, the distinction I’m making is similar to yours.

I really don’t know the extent to which people can be confused together. If you can articulate what’s confusing you — to the point where you can get someone on the same page to think with you — you aren’t deeply confused. It’s that sort of deep confusion — being completely at sea — that I was trying to give voice to. Confusion, of this deep kind, seems like a solitary state to me. So, consequently, I really don’t know the extent to which the profession (or the institutions relevant to the discipline) should try to support interpersonal confusion.

If you want to see past “the box” (the one we are supposed to think outside of) or see what holds the box together — in whatever context — you have to challenge what many take for granted to the point where things look new and confusing. Asking those (difficult) questions and evaluating their answers require a doggedness that’s hard to maintain without discipline. Then, when familiar things look strange — or disappear altogether — you have to be disciplined to withstand and hold the confusion that ensues. Sometimes you need to keep that confusion for a while, if you’re going to work through and benefit from it (by seeing things anew).

Being confused is uncomfortable, even painful, and we have, it seems, a number of different mechanisms to alleviate it in a cheap way (that is, in a way that probably won’t be beneficial), like accepting something that is dubious or deferring to authority or just dismissing what’s confusing to take up something else. Obviously, in some cases, accepting what you’ve always accepted or just letting something go might be the apt course — but satisfying yourself that it is, is what takes time and the discipline to get uncomfortable, going against the grain of how you were thinking or what everyone else is doing. And then going on (and on) in that uncomfortable way.

What prompts confusion initially is thinking that something ought to make sense — be illuminating or clearly valuable — and recognizing that it doesn’t. You have to want things to make sense in order to be confused in the first place, and you need to be piqued when they don’t. That pique has a distinctive feel. One part of being disciplined, with respect to confusion, then, is demanding things make sense. The next part is fighting to see to the bottom of things, staying with them until they make sense — until one understands the relevant things and their putative connections well enough to apprehend that they actually do fit together in the ways they are supposed to. Perhaps the hardest part, and the most important, is not letting yourself stop inquiring until you’re satisfied that things actually do make sense.

This confused inquiry, the inquiry where you’re trying to get things to make sense, also has a distinctive feel — for me it’s of pushing against a wall or trying to see through it — as you struggle to find the right angle or idea or question that will enable you to make sense of what’s confusing you. It’s hard to say more about what it is to make sense , which is obviously a key notion here, because this can differ from person to person and be different in different contexts for the same person. What it is for things to make sense to a metaphysician is different than what it is for things to make sense to someone buying a car or choosing a grad program. When things make sense, they fit together smoothly with a persuasive pull — even if you suspend judgment on that pull or recognize it to be illusory. (And that pull has a distinctive feel, too.) In the end, productive confusion results in things making sense. Once they do, you’re in a position to accept that view of things or to engage meaningfully with it in some other way, say, by challenging it or taking it apart in an instructive way.

I should say that I don’t think there is anything special about philosophical confusion or, in other words, that there is such a thing as distinctly philosophical confusion. I think there is just confusion, the expectation of sense and yet not finding it; it just has different objects in different circumstances. The confusion I experience as a professional philosopher is really no different in feel than the confusion I have when I am not “doing philosophy”, you know, when I’m just living life.

I sometimes get confused when talking to a friend or my wife when things aren’t fitting together in a way that I find satisfying. My wife will have presented all the details she regards as relevant and yet things won’t make sense to me, so I have to stop and ask questions and backtrack and go over things. In some cases, the issue really is not that significant. So this sort of confusion can be very frustrating to people if they are just trying to have a casual conversation or are making what they regard as a quick point. My point here is that the confusion I feel in these situations is just the same as when I am earnestly writing. Sometimes the disciplined response is to just let things go, to leave them jumbled.

This is an installment of  Into Philosophy .

M. Oreste Fiocco

Marcello Fiocco is currently a visiting professor in the Department of Philosophy at King's College London. He has a permanent position in the Department of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine. His work is primarily in metaphysics and epistemology, though he also has interests in the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of language and meta-ethics. Fiocco is the founder and director of TH!NK, a community outreach program that introduces philosophical thought and discourse to adolescents in public schools.

• Jeremy Bendik-Keymer

Professor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., land of many older nations

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Writing an Essay Showing Cause and Effect Pattern

LESSON Cause and effect essays An essay that covers why and/or how something happened. This type of essay requires that an event or action led to one or more consequences. will be among the most common writing assignments you come across in college. You may be asked to examine a cause, in other words, a thing or person that is the source or origin of certain effects. For instance, you may be asked to write an essay A short piece of writing that focuses on at least one main idea. Some essays are also focused on the author's unique point of view, making them personal or autobiographical, while others are focused on a particular literary, scientific, or political subject. describing how World War II affected the stature of the United States as a world leader in the twentieth century.

Effects can take the form of actions A thing that is done, or the process of doing it. , phenomena Happenings or facts that can be observed. , states The condition that something is in. , problems, illnesses, environments, and so forth. Cause and effect essays are important examinations To observe closely and carefully. of what are often complex issues. They can challenge preconceived notions An opinion formed ahead of time, without benefit of facts and experiences. about ideas A thought, opinion, or impression. and opinions Point of view that shows a personal belief or bias and cannot be proven to be completely true. . Cause and effect essays also help the writer and the reader better understand the "whys" and "hows" behind their thinking.

Further, these assignments require you to closely examine the relationship(s) between cause(s) and effect(s). What is "cause" and what is "effect" is not always obvious. Keep in mind causal chains A series of events, each triggered by the one before. Causal chains have three parts: the initial cause, the final consequence, and all the steps that link the cause to the effect. Also called "the domino effect." , where what may begin as a cause becomes one of many further effects, and that what starts out as an effect may cause additional effects.

For example, showing how driving a car increases global warming is an example of a causal chain:

• Driving a car has the effect of releasing carbon dioxide.
• Carbon dioxide has the effect of trapping the sun's energy.
• The energy of the sun has the effect of raising the average global temperature.

So, driving a car leads to an increase in global warming.

In this lesson, you will learn eight steps to writing a cause and effect essay:

• Understand your assignment.
• Gather ideas.
• Create a working thesis.
• Develop an outline.
• Develop paragraphs that support your thesis.
• Write a conclusion.
• Write an introduction.
• Revise your essay.

Step 1: Understand your assignment.

When approaching an assignment, it is essential to understand what you are being asked to write. It is helpful to read any guidelines and instructions provided to you. Examine the essay prompt Instructions for a writing assignment given by an instructor. carefully. Do you need to address causes or effects? Are you being asked to write an essay in which you are looking at an issue where many effects stem from one cause ? Or are you tasked with writing about a situation where many causes lead to one effect ? Keywords Words that are important to understanding the meaning of a passage or reading. , also called signal words Words or phrases that connect ideas and alert a reader to important relationships between subjects. For example, signal words in a cause and effect essay could include first , second , then , next , later , because , after , and due to . Signal words in a compare/contrast essay could include also , but , similarly , in contrast , unlike , in the same way , as well as , or on the other hand . , such as why , factors , causes , effects , results , reasons , influences , consequences , and outcomes indicate that you need to write a cause and effect essay.

Cause: childhood obesity

Effects: A number of immediate and long-term health and psychosocial effects.

Effect: childhood obesity

Causes: cost and availability of healthy foods, changes in the education system (increased seat time and decreased recess/gym), changes in family structure, and perception of decreased safety.

Step 2: Gather ideas.

There are a number of idea-gathering strategies that may be helpful to you here. For example, a cause and effect graphic organizer Pictorial tools used to brainstorm and arrange ideas before writing, such as webbing diagrams, flow charts, story maps, and Venn diagrams. could work. Draw a circle. Place the one cause in that circle. Then put all of the effects around it. It essentially becomes a webbing A prewriting technique where the author creates an informal visual layout of possible ideas and then draws lines to connect them into a type of "web." The objective is to see connections between events and characters. or cluster A prewriting technique where the author creates an informal visual layout of possible ideas, grouping them together. The objective is to create visual clusters of information on which to base a writing. .

Conversely, you could place the effect in the circle and put all of the causes around it.

Other ideas could include creating a brainstorming A prewriting technique where the author lists multiple ideas as he or she thinks of them, not considering one more than another until all ideas are captured. The objective is to create one great idea, or many ideas, on which to base a writing. list. If you are working with a many causes lead to one effect essay, begin by writing the effect at the top of a piece of paper. Then spend some time freewriting A prewriting technique where the author begins writing without regard to spelling or grammar about ideas, topics, or even characters, descriptions of events, and settings. Often the writer will freewrite for a set period of time. The objective is to develop a storyline through the writing process itself. ideas about potential causes. You may find that additional causes branch off of other causes. The same can be done for a many effects stem from one cause essay.

Step 3: Create a working thesis.

Creating a working or tentative thesis statement An early form of a thesis statement that can be developed into a more formal thesis statement by creating supporting details. is vital to the development and organization of your ideas and your essay. Your thesis An overall argument, idea, or belief that a writer uses as the basis for a work. is what you are setting out to demonstrate through your writing. A working thesis is one that may need to be revised somewhat later as you develop the sound reasoning, examples, and illustrations to support it.

Your working thesis should fit the characteristics of a good thesis in general: it must be specific, clearly state your main idea The most important or central thought of a reading selection. It also includes what the author wants the reader to understand about the topic he or she has chosen to write about. , and demonstrate for your reader why the topic is important. For a cause and effect essay, your thesis also needs to alert your reader that he or she will learn about the causes OR the effects.

Many effects stem from one cause :

Thesis statement: Today's parents have an obligation to help their children maintain a healthy weight because childhood obesity presents a number of negative health and psychosocial effects, both immediately and in the future.

Many causes lead to one effect :

Thesis statement: While many are quick to blame fast food and television for juvenile obesity, the actual causes are more varied and complex.

Step 4: Develop an outline.

Sometimes it is useful to simply sketch a rough outline A preliminary plan for a piece of a writing, often in the form of a list. It should include a topic, audience, purpose, thesis statement, and main and supporting points. listing the causes or effects you plan on incorporating into your essay and create a more detailed outline after you have written the rough draft The first version of a writing that will undergo rewriting, additions, and editing before it becomes the final draft. . This allows the outline to be used as a way of developing your essay and organizing your ideas as well as a revision tool that helps you check whether or not your organizational strategy makes sense.

Here is an example of a rough outline developed for this purpose on the topic of childhood obesity.

Cause: Childhood obesity

Effects: A number of immediate and long-term health and psychosocial effects

• Thesis statement A brief statement that identifies a writer's thoughts, opinions, or conclusions about a topic. Thesis statements bring unity to a piece of writing, giving it a focus and a purpose. You can use three questions to help form a thesis statement: What is my topic? What am I trying to say about that topic? Why is this important to me or my reader? : Today’s parents have an obligation to help their children maintain a healthy weight because childhood obesity presents a number of negative health and psychosocial effects, both immediately and in the future.
• High blood pressure
• Heart disease and stroke
• Depression and loneliness
• Childhood obesity contributes to a number of dangerous, damaging, and potentially unavoidable short- and long-term physical and psychosocial effects. Parents have the opportunity to encourage and foster healthful eating and exercise habits in their children so they can avoid the devastating consequences of childhood obesity.

If you choose to organize your essay in this manner, it is important to clarify for your reader that while there could be multiple causes for the topic, in this case, childhood obesity, your essay is focused on the effects of that condition.

Step 5: Develop paragraphs that support your thesis

Once you have developed your thesis and sketched an outline, you can begin writing body paragraphs The part of an essay that comes after the introduction and before the conclusion. Body paragraphs lay out the main ideas of an argument and provide the support for the thesis. All body paragraphs should include these elements: a topic sentence, major and minor details, and a concluding statement. Each body paragraph should stand on its own but also fit into the context of the entire essay, as well as support the thesis and work with the other supporting paragraphs. that support your thesis. Paragraphs should adhere to the MEAL concept An acronym that describes a method of organizing the paragraphs in an essay. Under this plan, each paragraph should have a M ain point, E vidence, A nalysis, and a L ink to the next paragraph. :

Main Idea The most important or central thought of a reading selection. It also includes what the author wants the reader to understand about the topic he or she has chosen to write about. :  your topic sentence, identifying one of the many causes (or effects) supporting the thesis.

Evidence Facts, statistics, or expert testimony that supports a claim. :  facts, expert opinion, or anecdotal evidence proving the causal relationship described in the topic sentence.

Analysis To analyze is to make a thoughtful and detailed study of something. An analysis is the end result of analyzing. :  explaining how the evidence supports the topic sentence.

Link To connect ideas together within a paragraph or to create a transition from one paragraph to the next, as well as back to the thesis. :  a transition Tying two events, passages, or pieces of information together in a smooth way. In writing, transitions are sometimes called links. from one paragraph to the next, as well as back to the thesis.

Step 6: Write a conclusion

The conclusion The end portion of a writing that contains a summary or synthesis of the idea in the work. This includes a recap of key points and reminders of the author's purpose and thesis statement. needs to summarize To give a short version of the main points of a text. and synthesize To combine ideas, as in the writing at the end of an essay that ties all the discussion and evidence together into a unified concept. , or bring together, the most important details Individual items or ideas that are part of a larger whole. of your essay. It should also give your reader a new way of looking at your main idea. It reminds the reader of your thesis and reinforces the main points you have made.

Step 7: Write an introduction

There are four elements of an effective introduction The first paragraph of an essay. It must engage the reader, set the tone, provide background information, and present the thesis. :

• Hook In writing, a device used to grab a readers' attention, often in the form of interesting, surprising, or provocative information.
• Tone The feeling or attitude that a writer expresses toward a topic. The words the writer chooses express this tone. Examples of tones can include: objective, biased, humorous, optimistic, and cynical, among many others.
• Background Information that describes the history or circumstances of a topic.
• Thesis An overall argument, idea, or belief that a writer uses as the basis for a work.

An effective introduction hooks the reader with a compelling idea, sets the tone for the rest of the essay, provides any necessary background or context for the reader, and presents the thesis.

Step 8: Revise your essay.

When you have a draft of your essay, revise The process of making changes to a work by editing and proofreading it to improve, correct, and increase clarity. it by asking yourself these questions:

• Have I followed the assignment?
• Is this a many effects stem from one cause essay or a many causes lead to one effect essay? What is my main cause or what is my main effect?
• Do my body paragraphs support my thesis?
• Is all my support relevant?
• Do I need more or less support?
• Have I included the transitions necessary to guide the reader from point to point?
• Does my conclusion summarize and synthesize the most important details?
• Does my introduction hook the reader and provide adequate background/introduction to my topic?

This is also where developing a more formal outline An outline that is traditional and structured, follows a set pattern, and uses a combination of Roman numerals, letters, and numbers to show a hierarchy of information based on the major and minor details or ideas. based on what you actually have written in the draft can help you discover weaknesses or areas in need of more detail and support.

A more detailed outline of this essay on childhood obesity might look something like this:

Formal Outline

• Thesis statement: Today’s parents have an obligation to help their children maintain a healthy weight because childhood obesity presents a number of negative health and psychosocial effects, both immediately and in the future.
• Obesity can result in the development of cardiovascular diseases, such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
• Obesity can put children in danger of pre-diabetes, a condition linked to increased potential for development of diabetes.
• Obesity is linked to sleep apnea, a condition that contributes to insomnia, fatigue, and mental illness.
• Obesity is known to negatively impact bones and joints.
• Obesity contributes to a child’s inability to participate in vital physical activities.
• Obesity has the potential to bring on sadness, low self-esteem, and depression.
• Obesity (and its related effects of hypertension and sleep apnea) can lead to anxiety.
• Obesity may influence and impact the forming of essential peer groups and a difficulty forming friendships.
• Obesity may give rise to feelings of isolation due to inability to participate in vital physical activities with schoolmates or peers.
• Obese children are more likely to be bullied by their schoolmates or peers.
• Obesity is associated with higher rates of heart disease later in life.
• Obese children are at an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes as adults
• Obesity increases the likelihood of adult stroke.
• Obesity is linked to the adult development of osteoarthritis.
• Children who are obese are at greater risk for continued obesity as adults.
• Obesity increases the risk of long-term depression.
• Obesity increases the risk for long-term anxiety.
• Obese individuals experience increased loneliness due to difficulty in forming and sustaining long-term relationships.
• Obese individuals are more likely to experience social isolation.
• Obesity often invites criticism and judgment from peers, coworkers, family members, and communities at large.

Remember, you may need to add information, remove information, or reorganize your writing. Being a careful reviewer of your own work is key to a quality essay. When you have completed this step, be sure to go back one more time to verify that your grammar A set of rules about how words are used in a particular language. , spelling, and punctuation Marks such as such as a comma (,), period (.), question mark (?), and exclamation mark (!), among others, that help break a writing into phrases, clauses, and sentences. Different types of punctuation marks give the reader different impressions of the writer’s purpose in that sentence. are correct.

One of the most valuable skills you will learn in college and then continue to use throughout your career is the writing of a cause and effect essay. Crafting this particular kind of essay requires a keen eye for signal words, attention to detail, and the ability to decipher To figure out something confusing or complicated. and explain causal relationships, and then translate that all into a well-reasoned essay with a strong thesis. In your career, your boss may ask you to take a look at certain financial outcomes of the organization and determine causes and/or subsequent effects. Most actions or decisions in the workplace—and in life—should be done with consideration of their effects; knowing how to carefully examine and write about these relationships will help you in your decision-making.

Using the eight-step process described in this lesson, here is an example of how to create a cause and effect essay.

Essay prompt: In a four- to six-paragraph essay, describe in detail the multiple causes of widespread panic around contagious influenza.

Step 1. Understand your assignment.

The assignment is to write a four- to six-paragraph essay examining the multiple causes of the widespread panic associated with contagious influenza.

Step 2. Gather ideas.

In this example, the writer has used a cause and effect graphic organizer to gather ideas and organize thoughts.

Step 3. Create a working thesis.

Here is a tentative thesis based on the ideas gathered: While fear of catching pandemic flu is certainly frightening, there are additional causes for the panic effect often triggered by public knowledge of a new flu strain.

Step 4. Develop an outline.

This rough outline lists a number of causes in a linear fashion.

• Thesis statement: While fear of catching pandemic flu is certainly frightening, there are additional causes for the panic effect often triggered by public knowledge of a new flu strain.
• Doctors and first responders get them first.
• Some cities and hospitals have them while others don’t.
• Risks of recent "pandemics" overstated.
• Movies and TV shows portray quarantines and other drastic measures.
• When next faced with a pandemic situation, we should be mindful of these additional causes of potentially unreasonable panic.

Step 5. Develop paragraphs that support your thesis.

Using the framework of the outline and the MEAL concept, develop supporting paragraphs that make the body of your essay. Remember, you will write the conclusion and introduction later.

The dissemination of vaccinations is often a topic that causes not just fear, but anger. Typically, first responders, such as EMTs (emergency medical technicians), nurses, doctors, firefighters, police officers, military, and so forth, are also first in line for vaccinations. While it is a logical maneuver, as these are the people best suited to protect and treat individuals and provide large-scale public health initiatives, it often feels unfair to the average citizen. Furthermore, certain hospitals and cities get access to vaccines earlier than others, making people suspicious that those in charge are playing favorites. This perception of unfairness makes it difficult for people to trust the government to protect their interests. Neither of these issues is made better by the coverage they get in the media.

Public knowledge of an impending or current pandemic is often gained through the media, which does not do a very good job of sharing information without frightening people. Just the knowledge of the H1N1 flu strain and bird flu was enough to send some into panic mode, but the sensationalistic reporting on the two pandemics added fuel to the fire.

People also fear drastic measures often portrayed in films and television shows, giving the public the perception that they may be separated from their loved ones and never see them again. News media and popular entertainment do just as much as the actual pandemics to increase panic in populations facing the threat of a new flu strain.

Step 6. Write a conclusion.

Next, write the conclusion of your essay. Make sure it brings together your supporting points and reminds the reader of your thesis.

• Therefore, while pandemic flu is frightening in and of itself, there are many reasons other than fear of contagion why the public panics: miscommunication, lack of control in decision making, potential threat of quarantine, and the possibility of not having access to vaccinations. When next faced with a pandemic situation, the authorities should be mindful of these additional causes of the well-known reaction of public panic.

Step 7. Write an introduction.

Finally, write the introduction, keeping in mind the four-step approach of hook, tone, background, and thesis.

Pandemic influenza is a flu virus that has either a) not circulated in the population before or b) has not been seen among the general public in a very long time. It is a flu strain for which people have no preexisting immunity. One recent example would be a recent pandemic scare involving the H1N1 flu strain. While fear of catching pandemic flu is certainly frightening, there are additional causes for the panic effect often triggered by public knowledge of a new flu strain.

Step 8. Revise your essay.

A good technique for revising your essay is to create a more formal outline at this time to make sure there are no weaknesses, especially in terms of missing evidence and/or analysis.

• Hook: While popular media may portray widespread panic among populations in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak, there are, in fact, other causes for the alarm, fear, and anger that people feel.
• Tone: Persuasive/Informative
• Background: There have been several historically significant pandemic influenzas throughout history.
• Thesis: While fear of catching pandemic flu is certainly frightening, there are additional causes for the panic effect often triggered by public knowledge of a new flu strain.
• Doctors and first responders get them first, which can seem unfair.
• Some hospitals and cities get them before others, making it seem like government officials play favorites.
• Coverage of H1N1 and bird flu created panic.
• Public perception is skewed due to television and film.

Using the formal outline above, the revision below makes for a stronger draft of the essay.

Contagious Influenza and Widespread Panic

Even though popular media may portray that fear of getting sick is what causes widespread panic in the event of a pandemic flu outbreak, there are, in fact, other causes for the alarm, fear, and anger that people feel. This essay is focused on pandemic influenza, rather than the seasonal flu that most of us get at one time or another, and the media hysteria that accompanies these events. While fear of catching pandemic flu is certainly frightening, there are additional causes for the panic often experienced by people with the knowledge of a new flu strain.

The dissemination of vaccinations is often a topic that elicits not just fear, but anger. Typically, first responders, such as EMTs (emergency medical technicians), nurses, doctors, firefighters, police officers, military, and so forth, are also first in line for vaccinations. While it is a logical maneuver as these are the people best suited to protect and treat individuals and provide large-scale public health initiatives, it often feels unfair to the average citizen. Furthermore, certain hospitals and cities get access to vaccines earlier than others, making peoples suspicious that those in charge are playing favorites. This perception of unfairness makes it difficult for people to trust the government to protect their interests. Neither of these issues is made better by the coverage they get in the media.

Public knowledge of an impending or current pandemic is often gained through the media, which does not do a very good job of sharing information without frightening people. Just the knowledge of the H1N1 flu strain and bird flu was enough to send some into panic mode, but the sensationalistic reporting on the two pandemics added fuel to the fire. People also fear drastic measures often portrayed in films and television shows, giving the public the perception that they may be separated from their loved ones and never see them again. News media and popular entertainment do just as much as the actual pandemics to increase panic in populations facing the threat of a new flu strain.

Therefore, while pandemic flu is frightening in and of itself, there are many reasons other than fear of contagion that the public panics: miscommunication, lack of control of decision making, potential threat of quarantine, and the possibility of not having access to vaccinations. When next faced with a pandemic situation, the authorities should be mindful of these additional causes of the well-known reaction of public panic.

Follow the eight steps to write a cause and effect essay.

Essay Prompt:

Write a four- to six-paragraph essay on one of these topics:

A) Explain either the causes of the increased divorce rate in the United States or the effects of divorce on the children of divorced parents.

B) Describe the effects of an influential person in your life.

C) Describe either the causes of teens dropping out of high school or the effects of dropping out of high school on teens who choose to do so.

Sample Answer

The assignment is to write a four- to six-paragraph essay examining the multiple effects of an influential person in my life.

In this example, I used a cause and effect graphic organizer in order to gather ideas.

Many teachers had an impact on my education as I went through school, but my ninth grade social studies teacher had the greatest influence on my life, affecting everything from the type of student I was to the career I have chosen.

• Many teachers had an impact on my education as I went through school, but my ninth grade social studies teacher had the greatest influence on my life, affecting everything from the type of student I was to the career I have decided to pursue.
• I changed from being a "C" student to an "A" student.
• I moved from non-academic classes like shop to honors classes in English and physics.
• My confidence as a student influenced me to be first in my family to attend college.
• I am working hard to become a professor at a community college; I want to model my teaching style after his.
• Overall, the impact of one person changed the course of my life.

The immediate effect that Mr. Zola had on me was boosting my confidence as a student. This new confidence was apparent in my grades as I moved from being a "C" student to an "A" student. This was because I had always been somewhat disinterested in school up until I took his class, sometimes being engaged with a class or a topic, sometimes not. I didn't turn in all of my homework and didn't always participate in class discussions. After taking Mr. Zola's class, I learned that it wasn't the topic that made a class interesting, but my understanding and viewpoint on the topic. This immediately changed how I thought about homework assignments and participating in class. This increased confidence was also displayed in the types of classes I chose to take, moving from non-academic electives to eventually taking advanced placement (AP) classes in my senior year. Becoming an "A" student and taking AP classes were the direct result of Mr. Zola's influence on me as a student.

The more long-term effect that Mr. Zola had on me was in my career choice. I want to become a teacher, just like him. To do this, I became the first person in my family to attend college. This was an extension of the confidence he inspired in my ability to do well in education. And when I complete my degree, I eventually want to become a professor at a community college, teaching adult students instead of high school students, but still employing the same teaching strategies that he had modeled for me in my youth. In fact, his influence was so impactful on my career choice that I contacted him on Facebook to tell him what I was doing and why I had decided to become a professor.

Some influential people help change the course of your life in one particular moment, helping you through crisis and turmoil. Others transform your character, creating effects that last through the rest of your life. Mr. Zola had this latter impact on me. And even though there is always a certain individual fate involved in all of our lives, I feel fortunate to have had a teacher like Mr. Zola to help steer me in the direction my life is going.

School can be one of the most torturous experiences for many students, from being bullied and chastised for no reason to spending long hours in boring classes where the hands on the clock seem to move through molasses. Sometimes, though, a certain class or special teacher can come along and change that experience. That person can even inspire students to work harder in other classes, graduate high school, and even go on to college. For me, this person was my ninth grade social studies teacher, Mr. Zola. Many teachers had an impact on my education as I went through school, but Mr. Zola had the greatest influence on my life, affecting everything from the type of student I was to the career I have decided to pursue.

The Difference One Teacher Can Make

School can be one of the most torturous experiences for many students, from being bullied and chastised for no reason to spending long hours in boring classes where the hands on the clock seem to move through molasses. Unfortunately, this bad experience can have a lasting impact on people's lives, closing doors of opportunity that are typically only opened through education. Sometimes, though, a certain class or special teacher can come along and change that experience, making at least part of a day or part of a year more bearable and even enjoyable. That person can even inspire students to work harder in other classes, graduate high school, and even go on to greater success in college. For me, this person was my ninth grade social studies teacher, Mr. Zola. Many teachers had an impact on my education as I went through school, but Mr. Zola had the greatest influence on my life, affecting everything from the type of I student I was to the career I have decided to pursue.

The more long-term effect that Mr. Zola had on me was my career choice. I want to become a teacher, just like him. To do this, I became the first person in my family to attend college. This was an extension of the confidence he inspired in my ability to do well in education. And when I obtain my degree, I eventually want to become a professor at a community college, teaching adult students instead of high school students, but still employing the same teaching strategies that he had modeled for me in my youth. In fact, his influence was so impactful on this career choice that I contacted him on Facebook to tell him what I was doing and why I had decided to become a professor.

There are various things that will signal to me that I am being asked to write a cause and effect essay. For example, the language used in the question may spell out that the instructor is looking for an analysis of many effects stemming from one cause or many causes leading to one effect. In other examples, the language may not be so specific but it will present causal relationships and then ask for an explanation.

Copyright ©2022 The NROC Project

Where Did Language Come From? (Theories)

Theories on the Origin and Evolution of Language

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

The expression language origins refers to theories pertaining to the emergence and development of language in human societies.

Over the centuries, many theories have been put forward—and almost all of them have been challenged, discounted, and ridiculed. (See Where Does Language Come From? ) In 1866, the Linguistic Society of Paris banned any discussion of the topic: "The Society will accept no communication concerning either the origin of language or the creation of a universal language ." Contemporary linguist Robbins Burling says that "anyone who has read widely in the literature on language origins cannot escape a sneaking sympathy with the Paris linguists. Reams of nonsense have been written about the subject" ( The Talking Ape , 2005).

In recent decades, however, scholars from such diverse fields as genetics, anthropology, and cognitive science have been engaged, as Christine Kenneally says, in "a cross-discipline, multidimensional treasure hunt" to find out how language began. It is, she says, "the hardest problem in science today" ( The First Word , 2007).

Observations on the Origins of Language

" Divine origin [is the] conjecture that human language originated as a gift from God. No scholar takes this idea seriously today."

(R.L. Trask, A Student's Dictionary of Language and Linguistics , 1997; rpt. Routledge, 2014)

"Numerous and varied explanations have been put forth to explain how humans acquired language—many of which date back to the time of the Paris ban. Some of the more fanciful explanations have been given nicknames , mainly to the effect of dismissal by ridicule. The scenario by which language evolved in humans to assist the coordination of working together (as on the pre-historic equivalent of a loading dock) has been nicknamed the 'yo-heave-ho' model. There's the 'bow-wow' model in which language originated as imitations of animal cries. In the 'poo-poo' model, language started from emotional interjections .

"During the twentieth century, and particularly its last few decades, discussion of language origins has become respectable and even fashionable. One major problem remains, however; most models about language origins do not readily lend themselves to the formation of testable hypotheses, or rigorous testing of any sort. What data will allow us to conclude that one model or another best explains how language arose?"

(Norman A. Johnson, Darwinian Detectives: Revealing the Natural History of Genes and Genomes . Oxford University Press, 2007)

Physical Adaptations

- "Instead of looking at types of sounds as the source of human speech, we can look at the types of physical features humans possess, especially those that are distinct from other creatures, which may have been able to support speech production. . . .

"Human teeth are upright, not slanting outwards like those of apes, and they are roughly even in height. Such characteristics are . . . very helpful in making sounds such as f or v . Human lips have much more intricate muscle lacing than is found in other primates and their resulting flexibility certainly helps in making sounds like p , b , and m . In fact, the b and m sounds are the most widely attested in the vocalizations made by human infants during their first year, no matter which language their parents are using."

(George Yule, The Study of Language , 5th ed. Cambridge University Press, 2014)

-  "In the evolution of the human vocal tract since the split with other apes, the adult larynx descended to its lower position. Phonetician Philip Lieberman has persuasively argued that the ultimate cause of the human lowered larynx is its function in producing different vowels . This is a case of natural selection for more effective communication. . . .

"Babies are born with their larynxes in a high position, like monkeys. This is functional, as there is a reduced risk of choking, and babies are not yet talking. . . . By about the end of the first year, the human larynx descends to its near-adult lowered position. This is a case of ontogeny recapitulating phylogeny, the growth of the individual reflecting the evolution of the species."

(James R. Hurford, The Origins of Language . Oxford University Press, 2014)

From Words to Syntax

"Language-ready modern children learn vocabulary voraciously before they begin to make grammatical utterances several words long. So we presume that in the origins of language a one-word stage preceded our remote ancestors' first steps into grammar . The term 'protolanguage' has been widely used to describe this one-word stage, where there is vocabulary but no grammar."

The Gesture Theory of Language Origin

- "Speculation about how languages originate and evolve has had an important place in the history of ideas, and it has been intimately linked to questions about the nature of the signed languages of the deaf and human gestural behavior in general. It can be argued, from a phylogenetic perspective, the origin of human sign languages is coincident with the origin of human languages; sign languages, that is, are likely to have been the first true languages. This is not a new perspective--it is perhaps as old as nonreligious speculation about the way human language may have begun."

(David F. Armstrong and Sherman E. Wilcox, The Gestural Origin of Language . Oxford University Press, 2007)

- "[A]n analysis of the physical structure of visible gesture provides insights into the origins of syntax , perhaps the most difficult question facing students of the origin and evolution of language . . .. It is the origin of syntax that transforms naming into language, by enabling human beings to comment on and think about the relationships between things and events, that is, by enabling them to articulate complex thoughts and, most important, share them with others. . . .

"We are not the first to suggest a gestural origin of language. [Gordon] Hewes (1973; 1974; 1976) was one of the first modern proponents of a gestural origins theory. [Adam] Kendon (1991: 215) also suggests that 'the first kind of behaviour that could be said to be functioning in anything like a linguistic fashion would have had to have been gestural.' For Kendon, as for most others who consider gestural origins of language, gestures are placed in opposition to speech and vocalization. . . .

"While we would agree with Kendon's strategy of examining the relationships among spoken and signed languages, pantomime, graphic depiction, and other modes of human representation, we are not convinced that placing gesture in opposition to speech leads to a productive framework for understanding the emergence of cognition and language. For us, the answer to the question, 'If language began as gesture, why did it not stay that way?' is that it did. . . .

"All language, in the words of Ulrich Neisser (1976), is 'articulatory gesturing.'

"We are not proposing that language began as gesture and became vocal. Language has been and always will be gestural (at least until we evolve a reliable and universal capacity for mental telepathy)."

(David F. Armstrong, William C. Stokoe, and Sherman E. Wilcox, Gesture and the Nature of Language . Cambridge University Press, 1995)

- "If, with [Dwight] Whitney, we think of 'language' as a complex of instrumentalities which serve in the expression of 'thought' (as he would say--one might not wish to put it quite like this today), then gesture is part of 'language.' For those of us with an interest in language conceived of in this way, our task must include working out all the intricate ways in which gesture is used in relation to speech and of showing the circumstances in which the organization of each is differentiated from the other as well as the ways in which they overlap. This can only enrich our understanding of how these instrumentalities function. If, on the other hand, we define 'language' in structural terms, thus excluding from consideration most, if not all, of the kinds of gestural usages I have illustrated today, we may be in danger of missing important features of how language, so defined, actually succeeds as an instrument of communication. Such a structural definition is valuable as a matter of convenience, as a way of delimiting a field of concern. On the other hand, from the point of view of a comprehensive theory of how humans do all the things they do by means of utterances, it cannot be sufficient."

(Adam Kendon, "Language and Gesture: Unity or Duality?" Language and Gesture , ed. by David McNeill. Cambridge University Press, 2000)

Language as a Device for Bonding

"[T]he size of human social groups gives rise to a serious problem: grooming is the mechanism that is used to bond social groups among primates, but human groups are so large that it would be impossible to invest enough time in grooming to bond groups of this size effectively. The alternative suggestion, then, is that language evolved as a device for bonding large social groups--in other words, as a form of grooming-at-a-distance. The kind of information that language was designed to carry was not about the physical world, but rather about the social world. Note that the issue here is not the evolution of grammar as such, but the evolution of language. Grammar would have been equally useful whether language evolved to subserve a social or a technological function."

(Robin I.A. Dunbar, "The Origin and Subsequent Evolution of Language." Language Evolution , ed. by Morten H. Christiansen and Simon Kirby. Oxford University Press, 2003)

Otto Jespersen on Language as Play (1922)

- "[P]rimitive speakers were not reticent and reserved beings, but youthful men and women babbling merrily on, without being so particular about the meaning of each word. . . . They chattered away for the mere pleasure of chattering . . ..  [P]rimitive speech . . . resembles the speech of little baby himself, before he begins to frame his own language after the pattern of the grownups; the language of our remote forefathers was like that ceaseless humming and crooning with which no thoughts are as yet connected, which merely amuses and delights the little one. Language originated as play, and the organs of speech were first trained in this singing sport of idle hours."

(Otto Jespersen, Language: Its Nature, Development and Origin , 1922)

- "It is quite interesting to note that these modern views [on the commonality of language and music and of language and dance] were anticipated in great detail by Jespersen (1922: 392-442). In his speculations about the origin of language, he arrived at the view that referential language must have been preceded by singing, which in its turn was functional in fulfilling the need for sex (or love), on the one hand, and the need for coordinating collective work, on the other. These speculations have, in turn, their origins in [Charles] Darwin's 1871 book The Descent of Man :

we may conclude from a widely-spread analogy that this power would have been especially exerted during the courtship of the sexes, serving to express various emotions. . . . The imitation by articulate sounds of musical cries might have given rise to words expressive of various complex emotions.

(quoted from Howard 1982: 70)

The modern scholars mentioned above agree in rejecting the well-known scenario according to which language originated as a system of monosyllabic grunt-like sounds that had the (referential) function of pointing at things. Instead, they propose a scenario according to which referential meaning was slowly grafted upon nearly autonomous melodious sound."

(Esa Itkonen, Analogy as Structure and Process: Approaches in Linguistics, Cognitive Psychology and Philosophy of Science . John Benjamins, 2005)

Divided Views on the Origins of Language (2016)

"Today, opinion on the matter of language origins is still deeply divided. On the one hand, there are those who feel that language is so complex, and so deeply ingrained in the human condition, that it must have evolved slowly over immense periods of time. Indeed, some believe that its roots go all the way back to  Homo habilis , a tiny-brained hominid that lived in Africa not far short of two million years ago. On the other, there are those like [Robert] Berwick and [Noam] Chomsky who believe that humans acquired language quite recently, in an abrupt event. Nobody is in the middle on this one, except to the extent that different extinct hominid species are seen as the inaugurators of language’s slow evolutionary trajectory.

"That this deep dichotomy of viewpoint has been able to persist (not only among linguists, but among paleoanthropologists, archaeologists, cognitive scientists, and others) for as long as anyone can remember is due to one simple fact: at least until the very recent advent of writing systems , language has left no trace in any durable record. Whether any early humans possessed language, or didn’t, has had to be inferred from indirect proxy indicators. And views have diverged greatly on the matter of what is an acceptable proxy."

(Ian Tattersall, "At the Birth of Language."   The New York Review of Books , August 18, 2016)

• Where Does Language Come From?: Five Theories on the Origins of Language
• Cognitive Linguistics  and  Neurolinguistics
• 5 Theories on the Origins of Language
• Displacement in Language
• Holophrase in Language Acquisition
• Duality of Patterning in Language
• The Sound 'Schwa' With Definition and Examples in English
• Observations on What Is Language
• An Introduction to Semantics
• What Is Psycholinguistics?
• The Cultural Transmission of Language
• Universal Grammar (UG)
• The Theory of Poverty of the Stimulus in Language Development
• Definition and Examples of Linguists
• Indeterminacy (Language)
• 10 Types of Grammar (and Counting)
• Pragmatics Gives Context to Language
• Defining Philology

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How ironic it is to discover, then, that a law that has given rise to such confusion originated not from the EU, but from one of those shadowy Geneva-based bodies that make up our fast-emerging "world government".

How did the T-2 confusion originate ?

This confusion originates in the fact that for older forms of money — gold or bank notes — there is no distinction between the "what" and the "how"; you simply pay by handing dollar bills or gold coins to the seller.

Some of the confusion may originate from the use of sometimes unspecific markers, such as fibroblast-specific protein 1 (FS100A4100and and the use of transgenic mice models in a not entirely appropriate setting [ 20, 27, 29- 32].

We look at where conceptual confusions originate and how they persist, and describe the approach we have taken in the context of a new introductory general chemistry curriculum, Chemistry, Life, the Universe and Everything (CLUE) to address these issues.

Our interpretation of these deficiencies is that much confusion originates from the issue that crucial meta-theoretical assumptions are mostly implicit or applied inconsistently.

We regret this confusion which originated from the fact that the relaxed molecular clock assumption is involved in some of the methods used in this study.

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An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

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Locke remained in Holland for more than five years (1683–89). While there he made new and important friends and associated with other exiles from England. He also wrote his first Letter on Toleration , published anonymously in Latin in 1689, and completed An Essay Concerning Human Understanding .

A dominant theme of the Essay is the question with which the original discussion in Exeter House began: What is the capacity of the human mind for understanding and knowledge ? In his prefatory chapter, Locke explains that the Essay is not offered as a contribution to knowledge itself but as a means of clearing away some of the intellectual rubbish that stands in the way of knowledge. He had in mind not only the medieval Scholastics and their followers but also some of his older contemporaries. The Scholastics—those who took Aristotle and his commentators to be the source of all philosophical knowledge and who still dominated teaching in universities throughout Europe—were guilty of introducing technical terms into philosophy (such as substantial form , vegetative soul , abhorrence of a vacuum , and intentional species ) that upon examination had no clear sense—or, more often, no sense at all. Locke saw the Scholastics as an enemy that had to be defeated before his own account of knowledge could be widely accepted, something about which he was entirely right.

Locke begins the Essay by repudiating the view that certain kinds of knowledge—knowledge of the existence of God , of certain moral truths, or of the laws of logic or mathematics —are innate, imprinted on the human mind at its creation. (The doctrine of innate ideas , which was widely held to justify religious and moral claims, had its origins in the philosophy of Plato [428/427–348/347 bce ], who was still a powerful force in 17th-century English philosophy.) Locke argues to the contrary that an idea cannot be said to be “in the mind” until one is conscious of it. But human infants have no conception of God or of moral, logical, or mathematical truths, and to suppose that they do, despite obvious evidence to the contrary, is merely an unwarranted assumption to save a position. Furthermore, travelers to distant lands have reported encounters with people who have no conception of God and who think it morally justified to eat their enemies. Such diversity of religious and moral opinion cannot not be explained by the doctrine of innate ideas but can be explained, Locke held, on his own account of the origins of ideas.

In Book II he turns to that positive account. He begins by claiming that the sources of all knowledge are, first, sense experience (the red colour of a rose, the ringing sound of a bell, the taste of salt, and so on) and, second, “ reflection ” (one’s awareness that one is thinking , that one is happy or sad, that one is having a certain sensation, and so on). These are not themselves, however, instances of knowledge in the strict sense, but they provide the mind with the materials of knowledge. Locke calls the materials so provided “ideas.” Ideas are objects “before the mind,” not in the sense that they are physical objects but in the sense that they represent physical objects to consciousness .

All ideas are either simple or complex. All simple ideas are derived from sense experience, and all complex ideas are derived from the combination (“compounding”) of simple and complex ideas by the mind. Whereas complex ideas can be analyzed, or broken down, into the simple or complex ideas of which they are composed, simple ideas cannot be. The complex idea of a snowball, for example, can be analyzed into the simple ideas of whiteness, roundness, and solidity (among possibly others), but none of the latter ideas can be analyzed into anything simpler. In Locke’s view, therefore, a major function of philosophical inquiry is the analysis of the meanings of terms through the identification of the ideas that give rise to them. The project of analyzing supposedly complex ideas (or concepts) subsequently became an important theme in philosophy, especially within the analytic tradition, which began at the turn of the 20th century and became dominant at Cambridge , Oxford , and many other universities, especially in the English-speaking world.

In the course of his account, Locke raises a host of related issues, many of which have since been the source of much debate. One of them is his illuminating distinction between the “primary” and “secondary” qualities of physical objects. Primary qualities include size, shape, weight, and solidity, among others, and secondary qualities include colour, taste, and smell. Ideas of primary qualities resemble the qualities as they are in the object—as one’s idea of the roundness of a snowball resembles the roundness of the snowball itself. However, ideas of secondary qualities do not resemble any property in the object; they are instead a product of the power that the object has to cause certain kinds of ideas in the mind of the perceiver. Thus, the whiteness of the snowball is merely an idea produced in the mind by the interaction between light, the primary qualities of the snowball, and the perceiver’s sense organs.

Locke discussed another problem that had not before received sustained attention: that of personal identity . Assuming one is the same person as the person who existed last week or the person who was born many years ago, what fact makes this so? Locke was careful to distinguish the notion of sameness of person from the related notions of sameness of body and sameness of man, or human being . Sameness of body requires identity of matter, and sameness of human being depends on continuity of life (as would the sameness of a certain oak tree from acorn to sapling to maturity); but sameness of person requires something else. Locke’s proposal was that personal identity consists of continuity of consciousness . One is the same person as the person who existed last week or many years ago if one has memories of the earlier person’s conscious experiences. Locke’s account of personal identity became a standard (and highly contested) position in subsequent discussions.

A further influential section of Book II is Locke’s treatment of the association of ideas . Ideas, Locke observes, can become linked in the mind in such a way that having one idea immediately leads one to form another idea, even though the two ideas are not necessarily connected with each other. Instead, they are linked through their having been experienced together on numerous occasions in the past. The psychological tendency to associate ideas through experience, Locke says, has important implications for the education of children. In order to learn to adopt good habits and to avoid bad ones, children must be made to associate rewards with good behaviour and punishments with bad behaviour. Investigations into the associations that people make between ideas can reveal much about how human beings think. Through his influence on researchers such as the English physician David Hartley (1705–57), Locke contributed significantly to the development of the theory of associationism, or associationist psychology, in the 18th century. Association has remained a central topic of inquiry in psychology ever since.

Having shown to his satisfaction that no idea requires for its explanation the hypothesis of innate ideas, Locke proceeds in Book III to examine the role of language in human mental life. His discussion is the first sustained philosophical inquiry in modern times into the notion of linguistic meaning. As elsewhere, he begins with rather simple and obvious claims but quickly proceeds to complex and contentious ones. Words , Locke says, stand for ideas in the mind of the person who uses them. It is by the use of words that people convey their necessarily private thoughts to each other. In addition, Locke insists, nothing exists except particulars, or individual things. There are, for example, many triangular things and many red things, but there is no general quality or property, over and above these things, that may be called “triangle” (“triangularity”) or “red” (“redness”) ( see universal ). Nevertheless, a large number of words are general in their application, applying to many particular things at once. Thus, words must be labels for both ideas of particular things (particular ideas) and ideas of general things (general ideas). The problem is, if everything that exists is a particular, where do general ideas come from?

Locke’s answer is that ideas become general through the process of abstraction. The general idea of a triangle, for example, is the result of abstracting from the properties of specific triangles only the residue of qualities that all triangles have in common—that is, having three straight sides. Although there are enormous problems with this account, alternatives to it are also fraught with difficulties.

In Book IV of the Essay , Locke reaches the putative heart of his inquiry, the nature and extent of human knowledge. His precise definition of knowledge entails that very few things actually count as such for him. In general, he excludes knowledge claims in which there is no evident connection or exclusion between the ideas of which the claim is composed. Thus, it is possible to know that white is not black whenever one has the ideas of white and black together (as when one looks at a printed page), and it is possible to know that the three angles of a triangle equal two right angles if one knows the relevant Euclidean proof. But it is not possible to know that the next stone one drops will fall downward or that the next glass of water one drinks will quench one’s thirst, even though psychologically one has every expectation, through the association of ideas, that it will. These are cases only of probability, not knowledge—as indeed is virtually the whole of scientific knowledge, excluding mathematics . Not that such probable claims are unimportant: humans would be incapable of dealing with the world except on the assumption that such claims are true. But for Locke they fall short of genuine knowledge.

There are, however, some very important things that can be known. For example, Locke agreed with Descartes that each person can know immediately and without appeal to any further evidence that he exists at the time that he considers it. One can also know immediately that the colour of the print on a page is different from the colour of the page itself—i.e., that black is not white—and that two is greater than one. It can also be proved from self-evident truths by valid argument (by an argument whose conclusion cannot be false if its premises are true) that a first cause , or God, must exist. Various moral claims also can be demonstrated—e.g., that parents have a duty to care for their children and that one should honour one’s contracts. People often make mistakes or poor judgments in their dealings with the world or each other because they are unclear about the concepts they use or because they fail to analyze the relevant ideas. Another great cause of confusion, however, is the human propensity to succumb to what Locke calls “Enthusiasm,” the adoption on logically inadequate grounds of claims that one is already disposed to accept.

One major problem that the Essay appeared to raise is that if ideas are indeed the immediate objects of experience, how is it possible to know that there is anything beyond them—e.g., ordinary physical objects? Locke’s answer to this problem, insofar as he recognized it as a problem, appears to have been that, because perception is a natural process and thus ordained by God, it cannot be generally misleading about the ontology of the universe. In the more skeptical age of the 18th century, this argument became less and less convincing. This issue dominated epistemology in the 18th century.

The Essay ’s influence was enormous, perhaps as great as that of any other philosophical work apart from those of Plato and Aristotle . Its importance in the English-speaking world of the 18th century can scarcely be overstated. Along with the works of Descartes, it constitutes the foundation of modern Western philosophy .

Confusion is a state of mental uncertainty or lack of clarity, often characterized by bewilderment, disorientation, or puzzlement. It is a psychological and emotional state that arises when individuals encounter contradictory or ambiguous information, overwhelming situations, or complex problems without clear solutions. Confusion can manifest in various aspects of life, including thoughts, emotions, perceptions, and decision-making processes.

Causes of Confusion

Confusion can be caused by a variety of factors such as:

• Information overload: Excessive or conflicting information can overwhelm individuals, making it difficult for them to make sense of the situation.
• Lack of knowledge: Insufficient understanding or knowledge about a particular topic can lead to confusion when trying to comprehend or navigate it.
• Stress and anxiety: High levels of stress or anxiety can impair cognitive function and contribute to confusion.
• Changes and transitions: Major life changes, transitioning between different environments, or adjusting to new circumstances can create confusion as individuals try to adapt.

Signs and Symptoms

Common signs and symptoms of confusion may include:

• Difficulty concentrating: Inability to focus or pay attention.
• Memory problems: Forgetfulness or difficulty recalling information.
• Feeling disoriented: Sensation of being lost or not knowing one’s surroundings.
• Indecisiveness: Inability to make decisions or choose between options.
• Slowed thinking: A decrease in mental processing speed.
• Emotional distress: Frustration, anxiety, or irritability due to the confusion.

Managing Confusion

Various strategies can help manage and alleviate confusion:

• Seeking clarification: Asking questions and seeking further information to gain a clearer understanding of the situation.
• Organizing information: Breaking down complex information into smaller, more manageable parts.
• Seeking support: Consulting others for guidance, advice, or assistance in navigating confusing circumstances.
• Developing problem-solving skills: Enhancing critical thinking and problem-solving abilities to better address confusion and find viable solutions.
• Taking breaks: Allowing oneself time to rest and relax to reduce stress and improve cognitive functioning.
• Adopting stress reduction techniques: Employing relaxation techniques, such a meditation or deep breathing exercises, to manage stress levels and promote mental clarity.

Confusion is a common experience that arises from the complexities and challenges of life. It is essential to recognize and address confusion to prevent it from becoming overwhelming or hindering mental well-being. By employing various strategies and seeking support when needed, individuals can effectively navigate confusion and gain greater clarity and understanding.

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The Psychology Behind Confusion

• by Psychologs World
• April 17, 2024
• 5 minutes read

Confusion is a common problem among people. We all feel confused sometimes on various occasions like while studying you might be confused about the topic, or even the simple confusion in the morning about what to wear or what to have for breakfast. Confusion is a psychological state of mind characterized by a lack of clarity, understanding, or certainty about something. It can manifest itself in many ways, such as difficulty making decisions, feeling disoriented or unsure, or feeling mental fog. Confusion mostly arises when individuals encounter contradictory or complex information, face ambiguous situations, or struggle to process overwhelming stimuli. It reflects a disruption in the mental cognitive processes, where the brain is unable to effectively organize or interpret the incoming information.

Also Read: Decoding Love-Related Confusion: Insecurity and Self-Esteem in Relationships

Confusion can stem from various factors like:

• Cognitive Dissonance: Lion Festinger proposed the cognitive dissonance theory, which states that when individuals hold conflicting beliefs or ideas, they may experience confusion as they try to reconcile these conflicting thoughts.
• Information Overload: due to the internet and various platforms there is a lot of information available to us. Processing this overload of information can overwhelm cognitive capacities, leading to confusion.
• Ambiguity: When individuals are presented with ambiguous or unclear situations, it can provoke confusion as they lack the necessary information to make sense of the situation or make informed decisions.
• Emotional State: When individuals are under emotional high like, high stress, anxiety, or fatigue, it impacts their cognitive functioning. It makes it difficult for individuals to process information effectively and leads to confusion.
• Lack Of Prior Knowledge: when we are presented with a novel and complex problem of which we do not have prior knowledge, it leads us to get confused and difficult to comprehend.

Confusion A Part Of Knowledge Emotions

When we talk about emotions it basically is about the most obvious ones like happiness, sadness, fear, etc. But there are also other kinds of emotions called knowledge, emotions which include the emotional states that encourage learning, exploring, and reflecting. Knowledge emotions include surprise, interest, confusion, awe etc. These are a part of knowledge emotions because the events that bring them are about knowledge. They are triggered when anything goes against what people anticipate or believe. Also, these feelings are essential to learning because they gradually accumulate into practical information about the outside world. The appraisal theory of emotions states that each emotion is caused by a group of appraisals or judgment evaluations of the events in the world for our goals and well-being.

Looking through the appraisal theory, confusion comes from evaluating an event as high in novelty, complexity, and unfamiliarity and judging it as hard to comprehend. Knowledge, emotion, and confusion foster the learning process. It might not sound obvious because confusion can lead us to feel frustrated and thus likely to quit. However, it has been proved through a study that confusion can help students learn better as it makes them think through the problem.

In an experiment, two virtual reality instructors taught pupils about scientific research techniques.

Also Read: Mental Health Issues in Cancer Patients During Treatment

But occasionally, the tutors contradicted one another, leaving the students confused. Hence, students had to work through confusion. This made them learn and understand concepts more deeply as they were better at accurately applying what they learned to new issues. This was demonstrated by measures of simple learning, which measures recall for fundamental concepts, and deep learning, which measures the ability to transfer an idea to a new area.

Is Confusion Always Beneficial?

Well, we have seen how confusion can be beneficial but is it always the case? Sometimes confusion can be really frustrating and disengaging. When you get confused by something completely irrelevant to what you are trying to learn, it is not beneficial, nor it is helpful in the learning process. Also, experiencing confusion when you lack the resources to solve it can exacerbate the confusion and frustration. Hence, we can say that confusion isn’t always beneficial and how it gets beneficial is dependent on certain situations like when it relates to the content you’re trying to understand; and when you have the tools and resources to help you sort it out, whether those tools are from other people or your own skills and past knowledge.

Research On Personality And Confusion

Psychologists have distinguished personality into five subcategories, calling it the big five. They are openness to new experiences, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism, which is emotional stability. A research study was conducted by German psychologists, which examined the likelihood that those with high openness scores on the personality are more likely to respond favorably to feelings of confusion. To test their hypothesis, the researchers recruited 225 participants for a short study. Participants rated eighteen different works of art. The works of art varied in theme, style, and time. Some works of art were more abstract than others. Participants rated their interest and confusion (1 = not interested, 7 = very interested) in the works of art.

The participants were also asked to complete a five-factor personality test, known as the NEO Five-factor personality test. This test measures a person’s personality traits, such as: extraversion conscientiousness agreeableness emotional stability open to new experiences. Findings supported their hypothesis that people who were on the personality dimension of openness to new experiences were more likely to be drawn to the work which evoked a certain degree of confusion.

Though they also hypothesized that interest and confusion were on the opposite sides, they found no relationship between them.

Also Read: Stonewalling vs. Gaslighting

In summary, confusion can sometimes really help with solving problems and is an emotion that can also be expressed in facial expressions. Understanding the psychology of confusion can help people and organizations create interventions to reduce the impact of confusion, such as clear communication, segmentation, and environments conducive to cognitive processing and learning. Hence, next time you are confused try to find the root cause of your confusion and explore the problem with the required resources for a better learning experience.

Also Read: The Psychology of Consistency

• https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1358165042000283101
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234102071_Confusion_can_be_beneficial_for_learning
• Fayn, K., Silvia, P. J., Dejonckheere, E., Verdonck, S., & Kuppens, P. (2019). Confused or curious? Openness/intellect predicts more positive interest-confusion relations. Journal of personality and social psychology

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Crafting gobs of Confusion papers is an inherent part of present-day studying, be it in high-school, college, or university. If you can do that unassisted, that's just awesome; yet, other learners might not be that savvy, as Confusion writing can be quite troublesome. The directory of free sample Confusion papers offered below was compiled in order to help flunker students rise up to the challenge.

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McGinley, L., & Goldstein, A. (2017, January 23). Trump reverses abortion-related U.S. policy, bans funding to international health groups - The Washington Post. Retrieved January 27, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2017/01/23/trump-reverses-abortion-related-policy-to-ban-funding-to-international-health-groups/

Shear, M., Appelbaum, B., & Rappeport, A. (2017, January 26). White House Sows Confusion About Plan for a 20% Import Tax - The New York Times. Retrieved January 27, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/us/politics/mexico-wall-tax-trump.html

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Users are avoiding Windows 8 due to the overlapping of Aero User and Metro interface. It is difficult and complicated for a user to switch between desktop applications and metro applications making windows eight not user-friendly, as it creates a lot of confusion for the developers and the users. Another reason is that Windows 8 provides no possible way to turn home screens into icons. The Start screen looks garbled when many apps are installed.

Recommend at least one cause of action that Microsoft can take to address these concern and reason

Community Health Field Experience: Exemplar Essay To Follow

Reconstruction term paper example, wabc tv broadcast news analysis: free sample essay to follow, education and healthy lifestyle to use as a writing model.

Education and Healthy lifestyle are the shaking pillars of the American Dream

Who: Critical Thinking You Might Want To Emulate

Visual Literacy: Thomas Hoepker 9/11 Photograph

Good A Psychoanalysis Of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Birthmark Research Paper Example

Sample essay on the collective culture shock in transition countries, nz flag argumentative essay example, exemplar research proposal on aims to write after, no tess records were found to match the criteria of your query. essay.

275 words = 1 page double-spaced

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