Development of Cognition and Language

Development of Cognition and Language Michael Leo Glynn Research in the area of the development of cognition and language has a long tradition; yet, until recently it has not been possible to ascertain how infants think as they are not able to communicate verbally. It could be argued that language provides concepts that are used to organise thinking, and this premise suggests that infants are neither able to think, nor possess knowledge before they learn language. However, recent research employing innovative experimental methods, allows inferences into how infants’ minds function before they acquire language. This essay will outline relevant research and highlight some methods used to examine how preverbal infants think and categorise the world before they can talk, and will challenge the view that infants have not developed the ability to conceptualise before language acquisition. It will also examine how both language comprehension and language production develops, and discuss how infants are able to distinguish speech. In doing so, it will acknowledge nativist and empiricist perspectives, whilst considering conflicting views of developmental theorists. Perspectives conflict in the way in which it is assumed cognition develops on a continuum from innate ability to experiential learning. Theories offered by Chomsky (1965) in relation to language-specific mechanisms, for example, are from a nativist viewpoint. In contrast, behaviourists, e.g., Skinner (1954) take an empiricist stance advocating that development is primarily a result of learning (Oates and Grayson, 2004). Piaget (1955) and Vygotsky (1962) hold similar views towards the constructive nature of cognitive development and the role that language plays, agreeing that language is elaborated through complex interactions between an infant and their environment. However, Piaget submits that language is dependent upon fundamental constructs of thought for development, whereas, Vygotsky takes a social constructivist view and sees language as necessary for developing thought; furthermore, that thought and language are two separate functions that merge at around 2-years old (Bancroft and Flynn, 2005). Piaget observed infants talking to themselves, which he termed ‘egocentric speak’ (Oates and Grayson 2004), a symbolic function that enables infants to internally construct verbal thought. Vygotsky, in contrast, viewed this as only the first step, and that social interaction with others using language as a ‘cultural tool’ is crucial for language development (Oates and Grayson, 2004). Research has continued apace since Piaget and Vygotsky’s studies and, whilst their influences remain, there is now compelling evidence that preverbal infants can establish links between experiences, construct categories, group them, and in doing so form concepts much earlier than previously assumed. Based upon Frantz’s (1963) familiarisation/novelty preference method, whereby visual fixation duration for one stimulus over another confirmed that infants can perceptually categorise, Younger and Gotlieb (1998) conducted controlled experiments with infants aged 3, 5, and 7 months. Infants were familiarised with distorted prototype dot patterns ranging from good, intermediate, to poor before being shown a control pair comprising a previously shown non-distorted exemplar and an unfamiliar novel exemplar. With one exception all groups preferred to focus upon the novel prototype, thereby indicating that they had formed a category representation due to the familiarisation of the distorted set of exemplars. Results suggested that infants are able to organise their thinking, and although the greatest ability to preferentiate was present at 7 months, all infants possessed a degree of cognition. Quinn et al. (1993), using pictures rather than patterns, arguably providing more ecological validity, demonstrated that infants are also able to categorise animals: discriminating cats from other species such as birds, dogs and horses and, furthermore, able to discern related species (Eimas and Quinn, 1994). Behl-Chadha’s (1996) experiments revealed that infants aged 3 to 4 months are also capable of forming hierarchical structures similar to adults. A novelty preference method using familiar furniture objects as a ‘class’, at a global level, revealed that infants are able to distinguish between chairs and couches at a basic/intermediate level. Experiments using photographs of mammals found that infants, in common with adults, are also able to form global category representations for wide-ranging classes of stimuli (Quinn and Oates, 2004). Further studies by Younger and Gotlieb (1998) indicate that infants use two processes to store categories, an ‘exemplar memory’ for small numbers of instances where every example is stored, and a ‘prototype abstraction’, for large numbers of instances whereby an average of the examples are stored. Their findings suggest that infants employ two strategies to categorise across global/superordinate, basic/intermediate, and specific/subordinate levels. Object examination experiments sought to identify whether infants construct or deconstruct from basic to global levels of category representations or vice versa, and findings tend to support that the latter occurs easier and earlier (Quinn and Oates, 2004), suggesting that prototype abstraction develops before exemplar memory. Studies by Quinn (1994), using similar methods illustrate that infants are also capable of spatial category representation, e.g., above as opposed to below, and between rather than outside. Sensor modality cues are also an important factor in how infants form category representations and there has been much interest in how infants focus upon specific attributes that provide these cues. Quinn and Eimas (1996b), amongst others, employed methods that systematically varied the attributes of an exemplar shown to infants which revealed that they formed categories based upon the presence of a cue, but were unable to form category representations in its absence (Quinn and Oates, 2004). Rakison and Butterworth (1998) employing a sequential touching procedure, the categorisation of toy objects, with older infants, also reported evidence that specific aspects of an exemplar are a cue that enables differentiation between global categories. Using dynamic point light display methods, Arterberry and Bornstein (2002) found that dynamic movement cues can also be attributed to how infants form category representations, where infants were able to distinguish, by movement, animals from objects. Two competing theories exist as to how categories mature into concepts. In accord with the Piagetian viewpoint, a single-process model suggests that language, amongst other exemplars of information, contribute towards an infant’s cognitive ability to develop category representations: a process described as ‘quantitative enrichment’ (Quinn and Eimas, 2000), e.g., enrichment of category representations by infants learning to name objects with their caregivers (Quinn and Oates, 2004). Mandler (1997) addressed the issue of whether there is a developmental progression from category to concept and theorised that perceptual categorisation, the ‘knowing’ that something exists, occurs before conceptual categorisation, the forming of concepts including ‘thinking’ and ‘understanding’ (Quinn and Oates, 2004). Mandler (1992, 2000) suggests a two-process model arguing that perceptual and image schemas, in parallel, lay the foundation for m ature concepts. Perceptual schemas describe features, whereas image schemas allow for abstract features of how exemplars behave leading to the formation of true concepts. This accords with Paiget’s theory of structures and stages of development being marked by characteristic modes of thought (Bancroft and Flynn, 2005). A similar dual-process theory, Karmiloff-Smith (1986), describes an infant’s developmental process as knowledge moving from being implicit and procedural to explicit. Karmiloff-Smiths ‘representational re-description’ model suggests that practise at procedural level is required for knowledge to be re-described as an ‘object of thought’. Research supports that preverbal infants have learned how to form categories, possess a capacity for complex recognition strategies, and have the basic cognitive building blocks for language to develop. However, it is the point at which language begins to emerge, the nature of the relationship between category learning and identifying word sounds in speech, understanding them, categorising them, and reproducing them that is debatable. Speech production is dependent upon comprehension which requires: identification of a word from a speech stream; remembering the word sound for recall; association with an object or action; repetition; then using the word in an appropriate context (Harris, 2004). This empirical viewpoint suggests language needs to be learnt and is not innate. However, DeCasper and Spence (1996) found that prenatal infants are capable of recognising speech sounds; furthermore, research indicates that 4-week-old infants show a propensity towards their mother’s voic e (Mehler and Dupoux, 1994). Experiments by Mehler et al. (1994) report that younger infants favour the familiar language of their surroundings. Christophe and Morton (1998) language comparison experiments attributed this phenomenon to a preference for prosodic patterns, predicting and finding that 2-month-old infants could distinguish English from Japanese, but given the similarities between English and Dutch could not do so. The ability of infants to exploit prosodic cues to bound words was further investigated by Johnson and Jusczuk (2001), who elaborated that transitional probabilities, the ability to detect and remember syllables, also contributes toward language comprehension. Infants are capable of category learning prior to language acquisition, therefore it seems plausible that category learning must be achieved before language production, and it is at this point that changes in an infant’s developing vocal track support the production of their first words, whilst at the same time learning to categorise words and relate them to objects, e.g., the formulation of a word category for cat and then labelling the category. Vygotsky’s social constructivist viewpoint holds that relating words to objects and actions occurs within a social context. Bruner (1975, 1993) elaborates the view that first words emerge within familiar social contexts; however, he did not proffer the extent to which they grow out of experience. The empirical view supports the notion that the production of words involves repeating the sound of a word as it is experienced and in an appropriate context. Harris et al. (1983) support Vygotsky’s view of embedding language i n socially meaningful activities, and found that infants use words in a similar way to their mothers during social routines; furthermore, that comprehension is enhanced by qualitative enrichment: clarifying actions such as gazing, pointing and touching objects, e.g., a toy cat, as cues for an infant to relate words to objects (Harris, 2004). However, as comprehension of words improves, infants are able to abstract them in other contexts. Hart (1991) attributed this non-reliance on experience to increased vocabulary ability. A vocabulary spurt occurs between 1 to 2 years and appears crucial to understanding the correlation between language development and categorisation. Gopnik and Meltzoff (1987) sought to substantiate a link between categorisation and language domains of development and whether they occurred simultaneously. Longitudinal studies observing infants between the ages of 15 to 20 months reported a significant relationship between the vocabulary spurt and categorisation, but did not find strong links between categorisation and other cognitive measures. Gopnik and Meltzoff (1992) were unable to establish whether the vocabulary spurt causes an improved ability to categorise or whether, indeed, the ability to categorise underpins language development (Harris, 2004). These findings compliment Vygotsky’s theory that language and thought are separate functions, and supports that until the point at which they merge infants only possess a basic comprehension of language which provides the buil ding blocks for higher-level thinking and the realisation of ‘true concepts’ (The Open University, 2006, p. 11). Evidence has identified that infants possess a degree of cognitive ability that allows for a basic understanding of language, albeit a rudimentary recognition of basic prosodic patterns and syllables. Prior to language acquisition infants are capable of forming, storing, and retrieving category representations and recognising cues, at both basic and global levels using exemplar memory and prototype abstraction. Category learning can also be distinguished from other cognitive skills as beneficial to language development and when infants start to use their first words, it is apparent that their ability to categorise visual objects evolves to forming abstract ideas. Moreover, as vocabulary increases the capacity to categorise provides for the transition from knowing to forming true concepts. Prior to contemporary methods of investigation, nativists may not have been able to attribute these capacities to anything but innate ability and recent approaches challenge this view. The capacity to categorise is not dependent upon language acquisition; rather it facilitates the foundation for language development. Notwithstanding that infants possess the physical and cognitive processes requisite for developing language, also essential are social interactions that provide rich social contexts in which they can develop cognition and language. This supports Vygotsky’s premise of language being a cultural tool that features significantly in the development of cognition. References: Arterberry, M. E. and Bornstein, M. H. (2002), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 42. Bancroft, D. and Flynn, E. (2005) ‘Early cognitive development’, in Oates, J., Wood, C. and Grayson, A. (eds), Psychological Development and Early Childhood, Oxford, Blackwell/The Open University. Behl-Chadha, G. (1996), cited in Oates and Grayson (2004) p. 36. Bruner, J. S. (1975), cited in Harris (2004) p. 73. Bruner, J. S. (1993), cited in Harris (2004) p. 73. Christophe, A. and Morton, J. (1998), cited in Harris (2004) p. 67. Christophe, A. and Morton, J. (1998) ‘Reading A: Is Dutch native English? Linguistic analysis by 2-month-olds’ in Oates and Grayson (2004) pp. 98-105. Chomsky, N. (1965), cited in Oates and Grayson (2004) p. 14. DeCasper, A. J. and Spence, M. J. (1996), cited in Harris (2004) p. 66. Eimas, P. D. and Quinn, P. C. (1994), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) pp. 34-35. Fantz, R. (1963), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 28. Fantz, R. (1963) ‘Reading A: ‘Pattern vision in newborn infants’ in Slater and Oates, (2005) pp. 124-6. Gopnik, A. and Meltzoff, A. N. (1987), cited in Harris (2004) p. 54-55. Gopnik, A. and Meltzoff, A. N. (1992), cited in Harris (2004) p. 56. Harris, M., Jones, D. and Grant, J. (1983), cited in Harris (2004) p. 74-76. Harris, M. (2004) ‘First words’, in Oates, J. and Grayson, A. (eds), Cognitive and Language Development in Children, Oxford, Blackwell/the Open University. Hart, B. (1991), cited in Harris (2004) p. 89. Johnson, E. K. and Jusczyk, P. W. (2001), cited in Harris (2004) p. 70-72. Mandler, J. M. (1997), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 27. Mandler, J. M. (1992, 2000), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 44. Mehler, J. and Dupoux, E. (1994), cited in Harris (2004) p. 67. Mehler, J., Jusczyk, P. W., Dehaene-Lambertz, G., Dupoux, E. and Nazzi, T. (1994), cited in Harris (2004) p. 67. Oates, J., Sheehy, K. and Wood, C. (2005) ‘Theories of development’ in Oates, J., Wood, C. and Grayson, A. (eds), Psychological Development and Early Childhood, Oxford, Blackwell/The Open University. Oates, J. and Grayson, A. (2004) ‘Introduction: perspectives on cognitive and language development, in Oates, J. and Grayson, A. (eds), Cognitive and Language Development in Children, Oxford, Blackwell/the Open University. Piaget, J. (1923/1926), cited in Oates, J., Sheehy, K. and Wood, C. (2005) p. 66. Piaget, J. (1955), cited in Oates and Grayson (2004) p. 17. Quinn, P. C. (1994), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 37. Quinn, P.C. and Eimas, P. D. (2000), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 43. Quinn, P.C. and Eimas, P. D. (2004b), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 40. Quinn, P. C. Eimas, P. D. and Rosenkrantz, S. L. (1993), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) pp. 34-35. Quinn, P. C. and Oates, J. (2004) ‘Early category representations and concepts’ in Oates, J. and Grayson, A. (eds), Cognitive and Language Development in Children, Oxford, Blackwell/the Open University. Rakison, D. and Butterworth, G. (1998), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) p. 41. Skinner, B. F. (1953), cited in Oates and Grayson (2004) p. 14. The Open University, (2006), ED209 Child Development, Study Guide, Milton Keynes, The Open University Vygotsky, L. S. (1962), cited in Oates and Grayson (2004) p. 17. Vygotsky, L. S. (1986), cited in Bancroft and Flynn (2005) p. 72. Younger, B. A. and Gotlieb, S. (1988), cited in Quinn and Oates (2004) pp. 31-33.

On ‘Mending Wall’ by Robert Frost

From the very title of this poem Robert Frost implies his intention of presenting an everlasting barricade in human relationship, symbolized by the image of a wall. Close analysis reveals a work that functions on many levels. On the surface, ‘Mending Wall' pictures a scene in which the narrator and his neighbor cooperate with one another to mend a cracked wall and then begin a reasoning dispute over the significance/insignificance of having a wall between them. However, as the poem develops, more underlying conflicts are unfolded which cast a different light on the scene before the readers. Frost takes on these issues to explore some of the more complex aspects of human relationship in modern days. The poem opens with a comment of the puzzled narrator about an unknown force that ‘sends the frozen-ground-swell under it/And spills the upper boulders in the sun', producing measurable gaps in the wall. By the use of an unlikely compound noun: ‘frozen-ground-swell', instead of a proper word, such as ‘ice' or ‘icicle', and the failure to relate the cracks as consequences of the former phenomenon the comment is likely to be the voice of a youth as well as a remark to the natural wonder. Then the depiction of gaps caused by hunters disrupts the scene and brings in a preliminary conflict within the narrator's mind; that is, ironically, the narrator approves only of natural cracks in a wall not the man-made ones. He reasons that man-made gaps are forceful, destructive and merely for a personal purpose: ‘To please the yelping dogs'. On the contrary, with the pausing effect of a Caesura as well as end stops and the use of words with long vowel sounds in a line followed closely by short vowel sounds in another: ‘To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean, [short vowel sounds; No one has seen them made or heard them made, long vowel sounds] But at spring mending-time we find them there,' the narrator expresses his wonder and admiration to a naturally-cracked wall. This preference foreshadows the narrator's calm but cold reaction on mending a wall at the end of the poem. In line 11, ‘But at spring mending-time we find them there', along with the rebirth of spring emerge gaps in a wall, coordinated reparation as well as a remarkable irony in ‘mending wall', all of which prepare the ground for the central conflict of modern human relationship. Acknowledged of the mending time the narrator and his neighbor gather together in order to fulfill gaps in a wall. At this stage, the two characters are unified as the first person plural ‘we', signifying the sense of unity and cooperation. This is indeed an irony; the narrator and his neighbor become cooperative in order to be separate: ‘[†¦] we meet [†¦] and set the wall between us once again'. In addition, the description of the reparation is ornamented with quick, joyful but thoughtless rhythm, following from repetitive use of enjambment and childlike metaphor: ‘Some [stones] are loaves and [†¦] balls'. Such playful words and rhythm characterize many childlike aspects of the narrator. He is initiative and enthusiastic: ‘I let my neighbor know beyond the hill'; he is imaginative in a childlike way: ‘Some are loaves and some so nearly balls/We have to use a spell to make them balance'. In fact, repairing a wall is a tough work: ‘To each the boulders that have fallen to each. [unstressed ending] †¦ †¦ †¦ †¦ We have to use a spell to make them balance: [unstressed ending] â€Å"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!† We wear our fingers rough with handling them. Oh, just another kind of outdoor game', hinted by such examples as the effect of interrupting uneasiness from continuous unstressed ending and some words, including ‘have to', ‘spell', and ‘rough', that connote hardship. While mending the wall, the narrator is, however, overwhelmed thoughtlessly with joyful physical recreation and sense of collaboration with his neighbor. Even though he has remarked somewhere that the wall is set up again, the narrator seems ironically ignorant to the fact that ‘mending wall' will later disunify his sense of ‘we', the togetherness between himself and his neighbor. Once he realizes it an argument will be unavoidable. At a particular point, ‘One on a side' , Frost allows his narrator a pause for reasoning thoughts by applying a long-vowel sound followed immediately by a Caesura. The pause as well as the subsequent statement: ‘It comes to little more', reports a wondering tone and suggests in some way that the narration is developing his intellectual maturity. He begins his first argument against the significance of ‘mending wall', saying innocently ‘My apple trees will never get across/And eat the cones under his pines'. He fails to argue his neighbor's murmur: â€Å"Good fences make good neighbors†, though. Further on the main conflict of a revolutionary mind versus a conservative one has fully developed, illustrating Frost's concerned awareness of mental gaps in modern relationship. The unified ‘we' has been split perpetually into two independent units: ‘I' the revolutionary and ‘He' the conservative. No longer a pleasant wonder, the ‘spring mending-time' has now become mischievous to the revolutionary mind. The narrator who once eagerly informed his neighbor of the mending-wall time would now prefer a world without borders and a neighborhood without ‘fences'. The narrator, having passed the verge of maturity, bursts out a train of spicy, reasonable arguments made firm and effective by the use of rhetorical questions and enjambment: â€Å"Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it Where there are cows? But here there are no cows Before I built a wall I'd ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense.† He views a ‘wall' no longer as a springtime recreation nor a symbol of neighborliness and collaboration. It is a sign of ‘offense', and he ‘wants it down'. Nonetheless, the narrator only ‘puts a notion [about the uselessness of a wall] in his [neighbor's] head' and refuses the use of force, even though he realizes that verbal encouragement may not work. The reason lies in his earlier detestation about the ‘work of hunters'. That is, the narrator regards himself as ‘apple orchard', polychromatic, fruitful trees of knowledge that make man civilized. Consequently, he would not degrade himself into the level of ‘yelping dogs' just to ‘have the rabbit(an intended metaphor for his neighbor) out of hiding'. He would rather have nature –as he could say â€Å"elves†Ã¢â‚¬â€œ take its course in destroying the wall. The central conflict does not come as an overt interaction, and the narrator's treatment towards his neighbor is courteous in a sense. But, it is not on the whole, for his remarks about the neighbor are somewhat cold and contemptuous. The narrator likens his neighbor who dare not ‘go behind his father's saying' to a gloomy, prickling pine tree with its inedible ‘cones'. Then an image of an ‘armed old-stone savage' is deployed to humiliate his incorrigible neighbor. Frost may be pointing out how a modern, revolutionary youth views conservatism in general, which is suggested as a step backward, a retreat into ‘darkness'. However, seeds of satire are also disseminated in the delineation of the rebelling narrator. The Fruit of Knowledge, which is compared to the revolutionary mind, is not only the cause of human intelligence but also that of human banishment from the Garden of Eden. Considering himself as civilized and assuming allegedly that his belief is unarguably correct, the narrator of the ‘Mending Wall' is somehow driven by pride when he ridicules his neighbor as a prehistoric savage. Moreover, such premises as the eating of ‘cones', the wandering of ‘cows' and the uselessness of a ‘wall' have their implication of materialism (Note that they are all materials and involve the gain/loss of benefits). Frost may intend to insert these defaults to make his subversive narrator less reliable and leave space for individual readers to judge according to their own favour. When finishing ‘Mending Wall' it is possible to assert that the poem is a microcosm of our changing world in which ones are gradually separated from the others as a result of ones' own bias, causing interminable gaps in human relationship. Portrayed in ‘Mending Wall' are the narrator, the revolutionary mind, who assumes arrogantly his superiority to others and his neighbor, the conservative mind, who possesses indestructible sense of stubbornness. Frost has implied that the roots of all trouble indeed lie within these two egocentric characters. The wall itself stands as an ironic symbol of integration or reconciliation and does not account for the disintegration between the narrator and his neighbor.

The relationships between the physical environment and economic activities are no longer important

‘Second life' has its own settlements, inhabitants, firms, markets, geography and economies. In January 2007, it even had its own political riot. What is significant about this? Well, its economic activity bears absolutely no relation to the physical environment. It is an entirely virtual world and, admittedly, a computer game – but the point remains. Their currency, the transactions, the profits and the losses may occur in the game's own currency but can be converted into real life US dollars. Also read this  Cheating in a Bottom Line Economy This is 21st century economic activity as the science fiction author's imagined it, and fundamentally, is totally isolated from the physical environment. This could certainly be the shape of things to come, as indications of it can be seen translated onto the non-virtual world. The physical environment is consistently being conquered by human activity – there is little requirement for physically conducive circumstances for an area to be entered into the global capitalist economy. Anecdotally, there is a real snow slope in Dubai – economic activity based around winter sports is happening in the desert. Arguably, humans still cannot conquer wilderness – settlement in Japan is restricted to the coast and the vast majority of mankind live close to coastal areas. Is this, however, more an issue of tradition than one of physical necessity? Certainly, conservative theory would suggest that people draw their identities from tradition, which can have important economic implications. Las Vegas typifies the ‘bright lights' view of the USA – yet having outgrown its aquifer it surely shouldn't exist. Where there are serious economic incentives, the physical environment pales into very little. This has seriously implications in, for example, settlement patterns. Examination of a pre industrial city, such as Potosi, in Bolivia, demonstrates the importance of the relationship between the physical environment and economic activity. These cities were centres of power, bringing together the wealthy and politically powerful – both underpinnings of economic activity – with their servants and slaves in one large urban area, thus representing the beginnings of hierarchal economic systems that have been replicated around the world. This was the start of urbanisation, but what dictated the locations of these economic hubs? Read also Recording General Fund Operating Budget and Operating Transactions The physical environment, from which everything was derived and upon which everything relied. These new cities were focused on the exploitation of a raw material such as coal or iron ore; Catal Huyuk in Turkey developed around volcanic glass, becoming one of the first economic centres. As these activities grew the industrial city emerged, bringing people together in a work force and selling the products of their labour in a market system for the first time – it was the physical environment providing the impetus and the raw materials that enabled both extended settlement and trade to occur. The relationship could not have been more important. However, what is the postindustrial city tied to? Very little – location of industry is no longer tied to traditional centres that formed due to the physical environment. ‘Footloose' industries can be observed in the UK and other knowledge based economies. The sunrise strip around the M4 corridor and silicon fen have not developed where they are because of an exceptionally good crop of microchips. They are focused around centres of learning – science parks attached to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, or important communication routes that link them into the global economy – the M4, and important links to London. Read also Intro to Public Relations Notes Similarly, it is human economics that has ‘saved' those areas previously dependent on the physical environment. The decline of the mining industry in South Wales had a profound impact on the surrounding areas causing significant depression. This situation is being reversed with subsidies from the European Union; an economic body that rose from a belief in the law of comparative advantage as opposed to the physical environment. The relationship here between the physical environment and economic activity appears somewhat less significant than for pre industrial cities. If post industrial cities no longer rely on the physical environment for their economic activity, but pre industrial and industrial cities derive their location, habitation and economic activity from the physical environment of their surroundings, it could be argued that those nation states who have no undergone industrialisation have a greater reliance on the physical environment. Rio de Janeiro owes much of its grandeur and wealth to the physical environment – many of the municipal buildings were built on the influx of wealth from the extraction of gold in the 18th and 19th centuries. Today, the area is the biggest extractor of petroleum in Brazil from off shore fields; a position in continues to hold despite the opening of markets due to its resource endowment. Conversely, it can also be the physical environment that dictates a very different course of economic events; resource curse theory suggests that an endowment of a particular resource – such as diamonds in many African nations – can in fact lead to stinted economic activity as the economy develops in an unbalanced manner. The poor economic situation in these states would certainly suggest an important relationship between economic activity and the physical environment that must be understood for a solution to be reached. In a similar vein, some cities have not been able to cope with the move away from a close relationship with the physical environment. ‘Old' industrial cities, such as Sheffield in the UK and Lille in France are characterised by loss of employment in the primary sectors, as mining and other physical environment heavy industries decline. There are often high levels of social deprivation and population loss from the inner city as out migration occurs. This illustrates that the relationship between the physical environment and economic activity is just as relevant today as it was with the initial city forming influences – in this case, the location of the cities, a physical factor, on the periphery of post industrial development has lead to economic depression and social deprivation. Furthermore, the observance of the growth of the postindustrial city from pre industrial times has been focused on the core regions of the UK, the USA and Japan. This conservative view of development theory assumes that all development will undergo similar courses, thus implying that the relationship between the physical environment and economic activity in LEDCs is more important than that in MEDCs. Structuralists, however, will argue that this is not the case. The growth of these ‘core' regions has huge implications for the entire global economy based around human derivatives as opposed to physical factors. The periphery is, in essence, not affected by the physical constraints that some argue are the cause of its poverty. It is the economic actions of ‘core' elements of society that result in the economic situations in LEDCs. Studies that led to this ‘dependency theory' observed the actions of wealthy in Sao Paulo which had huge implications on the favela dwellers and the unskilled labourers of Brazil; this is translated on a global scale – the economic activity that keeps the poorest sections of global society in that position is arguably the result of the actions of the core nations which they have had most to do with in the past. If this is the case, there is little relationship between the physical environment and economic activity. In spite of all this, however, there is an undeniable economic impact when disaster strikes. The dramatic impact of the Asian tsunami is a clear illustration. The movement of the tectonic plates that in turn triggered the tsunami could not have been predicated, although it has been argued that the quick pinpointing techniques could have provided greater notice of the wave. Even if this was the case, what of the impact to the settlements, the farmland and the tourist industry that it destroyed? The economic implications of this were huge – raising the point that no matter how much humans attempt to harness the physical environment in pursuit of economic incentives, what initially allowed the development of the global economy can just as easily destroy it. The impact of natural disaster on economic activity is neither new nor restricted to LEDCs. Although the death count in LEDCS, such as the Kerala Earthquake, is usually higher than in MEDCs, the economic impact in MEDCs can be even more dramatic – the Kobe Earthquake, or the effects of Loma Preta ripping through San Francisco. Here, flights were disrupted when a runway ruptured, and damage to free ways and bridges held up over one million commuters for over a month. The economy that these commuters were a part of may not have derived directly from the physical environment, but the disruption and thus cost caused by the physical environment was huge. Even those natural disasters we have warning of have significant impact. The Stern Report recently emphasised the huge economic cost of climate change to certain regions of the globe, which in an increasingly globalised economy would have resounding effects around the globe. There is strong evidence to the effect that the current warming is human induced, and even speculation that it will be global warming that proves to be Malthus' final resource limit. As global temperatures increase, the Greenland ice sheet will melt. This introduction of fresh water will reduce the salinity of the Gulf Stream as it goes northwards and sinks, powering the global conveyor. If this ocean current is unable to sink, the global conveyor will cease to moderate climatic extremes around the globe. Whilst the UK may have handled this in the past during the Little Ice Age, in an economy dependent on roads, private cars and international travel, the economic disruption would be huge as the climate became colder. Limited snowfall has considerable economic impact today, making its potential impact huge. Economic activity itself, therefore, has reinforced the importance of the relationship between the physical environment and economic activity. Furthermore, given the attention paid to climate change by governments, the press, and NGOs alike, the carbon trading business is increasingly significant. Carbon Exchange, a firm that manages both voluntary carbon trading schemes in the US and administers the compulsory cap and trade system in the EU, has seen its share prices rocket to nearly i12 a share in recent months. Here, the impact of economic activity on the physical environment is giving rise to another 'round' of economic activity. Carbon trading is big business and completely inseparable from the physical environment. Is this, rather than a ‘Second Life' virtual existence of economic activity more the shape of things to come? There are other such examples of considerable profits being derived from climate change concerns – effectively; we are reverting to a system whereby economic activity is the direct result of the physical environment. In conclusion, it would appear that the physical environment did much to shape the initial economic developments of core regions, such as the UK, the USA and Japan. It has imparted traditions that persist by way of settlement patterns and economic strengths. If this is the case, a simple division can be made – MEDCs do not rely on the physical environment for economic activity where LEDCs do. However, this ‘model' cannot be held paramount, as it appears not to be the case; structuralist views point out the presence of highly developed and desperate poverty even within the same city as a result of dependency, rather than economic development as a result of the physical environment. In spite of this, there exists an undeniable relationship between the physical environment and economic activity that applies to both LEDCs and MEDCs – the impact of natural disaster. Furthermore, there is increasing economic emphasis surrounding climate change, particularly in MEDCs. Fundamentally, economic activity is an aspect of human activity. Humans are part of the biosphere, and in turn, part of the physical environment. Whilst we may not be as constrained by mountain ranges or climate extremes, as once was the case, it is doubtful there will ever be a situation where the relationship between the physical environment and economic activity is totally irrelevant.

Unit 40 Tour Operations Management - 997 Words

UNIT 40: TOUR OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Get assignment help for this unit at assignmenthelpuk@yahoo.com LO1 Understand the tour operators industry within the travel and tourism sector Tour operators: as defined by EU Package Travel Directive; different types of tour operators including outbound operators, domestic operators, incoming operators, specialist operators, direct sell operators Industry: identification of major tour operators including their origins, ownership, market segments, competition, identification of specific operators within each category; scale eg number of passengers carried, market share, turnover; products and services to meet different markets; vertical and horizontal integration in leading operators; impact of†¦show more content†¦This unit maps to the following Management NVQ units: B1: Develop and implement operational plans for your area of responsibility B2: Map the environment in which your organisation operates F4: Develop and review a framework for marketing. 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