Ways in Which Couples can Seek to Reduce Taxation Liabilities on Essay

Ways in Which Couples can Seek to Reduce Taxation Liabilities on Investments and Savings - Essay Example This is also the case for governments and institutions. So the question is therefore how such a financial stability can be achieved? The most obvious answer to this is by investing. Investing refers to the deliberate and calculated directing of funds into revenue generating activities. Almost invariably not all individuals are born into financial security. As a result they must therefore find ways to channel their finances such that they can grow significantly unto the future. Usually investments are made directly out of savings; savings out of personal income. The economic model for this relationship is given as i 0 f (s); s  f (y). This therefore means that investments are a consequence of foregone present consumption of personal income. This may perhaps be the elusive point to most young people eyeing for immediate financial prosperity without the sacrifice of and discipline regarding present consumption. After the establishing the origin of investments, a need arises to examine what the deciding and influencing factors for investments are. Economists present a direct relationship between investments and the interest rates for the underlined security i.e. i  f (r). Both households and institutions will make their investment decisions based on the expected rate of returns as expressed in relation to the prevailing interest rates in the market. Another influencing factor in investment determination (both the amount and area of investment) is the risk level associated with the investment. The Capital Asset Pricing Model postulates that the expected returns for any asset or investment is a function of the investor’s risk tolerance level as expressed through the variation in the realized from expected returns within the market. This means that the investments have a risk-reward mechanism where the investor’s tolerance to market uncertainties will primarily determine how much returns they shall get from chosen investments. Thirdly, the tax treatm ent on investment is also a crucial determinant for investment ventures. Investors would like to know what percentage of their earnings from investment would be paid out as tax. The tax treatment on investments made by singles, married couples and partners in civil unions is different. For this reason, this essay examines ways in which the tax obligation on investments made by married couples or those in civil partnerships in the United Kingdom can be reduced. Discussion Different types of investments have different tax treatments (www.pru.co.uk). This therefore means that the impact of any taxation as well as any tax relief will depend on the particular circumstances for the individual of which are subject to future change without notice. These considerations become more complex in civil partnerships where a disparity in the amounts earned or assets owned becomes a challenge in making financial decisions based on emotive feelings. According to British Laws on taxation, all couples (whether or not they are married or in civil partnerships or are cohabiting) are taxed separately as individuals. Every tax paying individual in Britain is entitled to the first part of their income free of tax. This is referred to as a personal allowance. All incomes in excess of this amount are therefore subject to the applicant tax rules. The personal allowance depends on the age of the individual and the total level of income over the taxable period. In this regard, there are three levels of personal allowance as shown in the table below relating to the current budget period 2012/2013: Personal income Basic personal allowance (?) Adjusted net income limit (?) Age 64 and below 8,105 100,000 Age 65-74

Agency budget Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Agency budget - Research Paper Example icant change is expected in terms of sales and gross margins, which in the next five years is estimated at; $300,000, $350,000 and $550,000 for year 1,2,3 respectively. The net profit expected within this period will be $10,000, $50,000, and $100,000 respectively for year 1, 2, 3. An investment of up to $1,000,000 is likely to be injected in the projects to realize the mentioned above monetary gains. Crexoc advertising agency will design and build after which it will test and deploy the email advertising campaign. Part of the project will entail reporting the progress of the real time, which gives the customer convenience in terms of flexibility (Kitcher, 2011). Crexoc will finally do an analysis of its success to find out on the other areas to support the tool in future campaigns of thee company. Email marketing is a scientifically developed tool with effective strategies that are geared to assure the company the success of reaching so many clients in real time. The basic threat is only the risk that the potential customer might completely reject the advertising. Crexoc advertising agency plans through this project to offer marketing services to companies willing to adopt the same techniques as a cornerstone of their marketing program. They estimate that email marketing will launch over 250 billion emails across the cyberspace in a cost effective manner and maximized effects. I t is worthwhile to note that research has it that email ad-response rates are currently averaged at around 15% (Lee, 2003). The company will use the already established extensive network of contacts with companies already using the mode of marketing. In addition, it will engage its internal expertise to launch an intensive email marketing campaign to selected groups (Shore & Carfora, 2011). The groups entail 50,000 selected businesses quarterly with online companies targeted as suitable while offline companies will be targeted as long-term strategies. Sales are expected to strategically

Kitchen Cleaning

Kitchen Cleaning Introduction Germs love your kitchen because of the ready supply of food. Food can be contaminated with germs when it is exposed to other foodstuffs, work surfaces or even your hands. Thus, to prevent this, make sure you keep your kitchen hygiene and safe from all germs.Food should always be stored at the correct temperature, so make sure to consult the product labels and use commonsense with fresh products. Check the thermometer on your refrigerator regularly and organize the contents. Always keep in mind that raw and cooked food should never be stored together. Plum the sauce in super for many things with cold meat, as a paste mixed with soy sauce for barbecuing, sandwiches with cheese or cold meat or poultry, as a zest or game casseroles. It is also ideal to spread over lamb when roasting as it added colors well as delicious flavor. For crispy brown bakes vegetables, preheat the one on GRILL. Place the potato and pumpkin on grill tray and cook on GRILL for at least five minutes. Beans and sauce can be reheated together on HIGH for two to three minutes. Few tips should be kept in mind while cooking vegetables. When using whole vegetables, allow air space around each portion to ensure even cooking. Secondly, the greater the surface area of the vegetables, the less time they will end up take to cook. Aluminum Foil can also be used safely, if certain guidelines are followed respectively. This is because the aluminum foil reflects microwave energy. Foil can also be used to advantage in some recipes and can be used to prevent overcooking also. Straw and wicker baskets may be used in the microwave oven for short periods of time to warm rolls or bread. Large wooden utensils, such as bowls or cutting boards, should not be used for prolonged heating as the microwave energy may cause the wood to become dry and brittle. The skin of membranes on some foods will definitely cause steam to build up during microwave cooking. Therefore, foods must always be pierced, scored or at least have a strip of skin peeled off before the cooking in order to allow the steam to escape. Baked goods do not need a long cooking time and therefore, do not brown. When cakes or cupcakes will be iced no one will notice this visual difference. Thus, brown sugar can be used in the recipe in place of castor sugar. In order to get the best results using Auto Defrost is to ensure that the food which has to be defrosted is frozen for at least 48 hours. Then, make sure to remove meat, fish or poultry from its wrapping and place it in an uncovered dish. The quantities which is less than 200 g are the best cooked by manual power and time. For proper cooking results in the microwave, it is important to follow the directions in the recipes regarding the container size and the covering. Important tips for cooking in the microwave are that the dishes should always be securely covered, either with a lid designed for the dish, or even with a plastic wrap and the dishes without their own lids should be completely, but loosely, covered with plastic wrap. In order to prevent the heat from softening and breaking the plastic wrap of the dish, ensure the wrap does not touch the items being cooked. If you are concerned that the wrap will touch the food, then leave a little in it before sealing the wrap down around the dish. This will allow the wrap to lift away from the food as steam builds under it. During standing time loosen plastic wrap by piercing. Always remove the plastic wrap and lids away from you to avoid stem burn and make sure you do not use oven roasting bags as well as freezer bags for microwave heating. Different types of cakes and biscuits are usually best cooked in different metal pans and trays as they have good heat retention. All shallow baking trays are ideal for baking biscuits on and are readily available at many kitchenware shops Summary As with conventional cooking, it is often necessary to turn a tray of biscuits around halfway though cooking to give an even color. When cooking on convection heat, it is important that you remove the turntable and roller ring before preheating the oven. When cooking the meat or poultry by Combination cooking, the food should be placed on the Wire Rack. The rack should be usually placed in a 3 cm deep oblong microwave-safe and a heat resistant dish on the turntable tray. Grill trays should always be placed on drip trays or a roasting pan. This will prevent the food from sitting the grease and juices and gives a crispier exterior. It can even be brushed with oil r melted butter to aid in washing up. Vulnerable foods which attract microwaves (dairy foods, fatty meat and sugar) should be placed underneath and dense food items (vegetables) on top for the best heat penetration and because the temperature of the oil cannot be controlled in a microwave oven, do not attempt deep frying. Always avoid overcooking of food. As in a conventional oven, overcooking can cause food to burn, or just dry out. A few too many seconds can ruin food by microwaves so it is best too cook foods to the minimum times suggested. It is easy to test the food while it is cooking in a microwave oven. Because the heat is instantaneous, the oven does not have to reheat after being opened briefly. If foods are tested while cooking, you can vary suggested times to suit your tastes. When heating 110 g baby food or formula, select HIGH for 15 to 30 seconds, depending on the amount of food or liquid and the starting temperature of it. Test the temperature before serving or further heating of the baby food. To melt chocolate, place 100 g of broken chocolate in a 1-litre glass jug and heat it on MEDIUM-HIGH for 2 to 3 minutes. As e chocolate holds its shape after heating, stir and stand it before adding extra time to cooking. To blanch (250 ml) nuts, place it in a pie place. Cover with hot tap water and heat on HIG for 2 to 3 minutes. Rinse it in cold water and rub it between sheets of paper towel to remove skins. In order to make buttered breadcrumbs, combine 250ml breadcrumbs and 30 ml butter and heat it on High for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. And to toast coconut, place 125 ml on a plate and cook on HIGH for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. For an added touch at diner parties, steam your own hand towels. Saturate in cold water, wring and place it on turn table tray. Heat it on HIGH for 1 to 2 minutes. And to soften cream cheese or butter, place it in an oven on MEDIUM-LOW for half a minute to one minute per 125 ml. To remove oven odors, combine 2 ml vanilla essence with 250ml water in a small bowl and heat it on HIGH in a small bowl and heat on HIGH for 4 to 5 minutes. Wipe the oven interior then with a damp cloth. While microwaving boiled eggs, doesnt save you time, it does save you electricity, best of all, washing up. If you want more than one egg use a larger dish, more water (say 500 ml) and cook a little longer (an extra 2 to 4 minutes). While you are likely to hear a certain amount of popping while cooking fried eggs, this can be lessened easily to a degree by just pricking the egg yolk and white with a toothpick several times before cooking. But make sure, that the eggs should be moist at the end of cooking as a minute of standing time will give the eggs a chance to set. Place the meat on a rack in a rectangular dish. Beef rib roast should be placed cut side down. Other bone in roasts should be placed fat side down. Boneless roast should be placed fat side up and halfway through cooking turn roasts. And for best results, select roasts that are uniform in shape. To prevent overcooking or dying of thin areas of meat, it can be shielded at the beginning of cooking or halfway through cooking. If you wish to shield at the beginning of cooking, remove the foil halfway through the cooking time. Description All beef and pork rib roasts should always be shielded by the bones. The foil should also extend about 5 cm down from the bones and the shank, thin ends of boneless roasts, should be shielded at all times of cooking. Loosely cover all types of meat with wax paper or even a paper towel in order to prevent splatter. If a large amount of juice accumulates in the bottom of the dish, then drain occasionally. If desired, reserve it for making gravy. Canned hams should be shielded on the top cut edge with a 3 cm strip of foil. Wrap the strip of foil around ham and secure it to body of ham with wooden toothpicks. You need to fold 2 cm over the cut surface. Half hams should be shielded by wrapping an 8 cm wide strip of foil around the large end of the ham. Secure it to the body of the ham with wooden toothpicks. Then fold 3 cm over the cut surface. In order to check the temperature of the meat, a thermometer is used. It helps in giving accurate indication as to how well the meat is done. You need to make sure the thermometer shall not touch the bone of fat because if it does, then the reading could be inaccurate. To give a perfectly less tender cut of meat by the microwave, ensure that the meat is in the bottom of the dish, covered with liquid. The vegetables are then placed on the top and make sure that you dont stir your casserole until the cooking is completed. Jacket potatoes usually cook well on the root vegetable setting and go not need to be covered. They just simply need to be pricked for at least 2 or 3 times and need to be placed on a paper towel on the turntable. In order to check that your cake is cooked or no, try inserting a wooden toothpick in the centre. It should come out clean. And then after cooking, the cakes should be left in the container for about 5 to 10 minutes, standing on a flat surface, before turning onto a wire rack to cool. To bake 23 cm layers of a cake, each layer must be baked separately. Remove the turntable and the roller ring as well. Place the oven rack then in the oven and preheat the oven to temperature indicated in recipes. Then just place the dish on the oven rack. Few tips and directions should always be kept in mind while baking the cakes. You should always grease the cake pans or even flour the cakes according to the recipe directions and for cupcakes, especially line the metal patty tins with paper cases. Make sure that you never leave the oven door open for a long time when checking to see if your cake is done or no. Even when putting the food in to the oven on BAKE, as it will just end up loosing the heat rapidly. Thus, it will make the cooking process slower. When you are beating the eggs for a sponge, you definitely should use a small bowl. When the sugar is dissolved transfer mixture to a larger bowl to add the remaining ingredients. Although an extra bowl is used, you will end up getting a sponge with a greater volume. In order to make the icing of a coffee cake, sift the icing sugar completely with coffee powder and add melted butter and milk in it. Stir it well in order to make it a soft paste. Spread it over the cool cake then and sprinkle it with coconut or even mixed nuts. Your coffee cake will then be ready to be served. In order to check if the jam has reached the setting point, place a few drops onto a cold saucer. Leave it to cool, and then gently push the jam from one edge with a finger. If the surface wrinkles, or skin has formed, the jam will be set. In order to make mango chutney, place a mango and apple in a bowl and sprinkle it with salt. Stand it overnight. Rinse and drain the fruit and place it in a large dish and add onions to it. Cover and cook it on HIGH for 6 minutes, stirring it halfway through cooking and add a little bit of sugar, vinegar and spices as well. Cover and cook it gain for another 15 minutes and pour it into sterilized jars and seal it. The appeal of a deep fried camembert starter is the way in which the ripe Camembert cheese oozes out of its crisp coating when its cut. Make sure the cheese is just ripe before coating, and then keep it well chilled right up to the moment of deep-frying. If the cheese is allowed to stand at room temperature, it will become over-ripe and ooze out of the coating during frying Conclusion Crunchy baked potato skins are an American idea. Put a spoonful or two of dressing in each potato skin and either eats with the fingers as the Americans do, or with a knife and fork if you prefer. They are equally good served as a starter or as a quick and easy snack. Bruschetta is Tuscan garlic bread made with dense Italian bread, with rich green oil and garlic. The success of this dish depends completely on the ingredients of the dish as the soggy pre-sliced white bread and bland vegetable oil will just not do. Making button mushrooms can give a very delicious flavour. There is no need to wash or peel them, as you just need to wipe it with a wet cloth. Tarragon has a very distinctive flavour, which marries well with mushroom, and the soured cream gives a hint of piquancy. If you are making a pepper and yogurt starter a long time in advance, keep it covered in the refrigerator. Remove from the refrigerator at least one hour before serving it. It should be served at room temperature, and not chilled. A carrot and a celeriac vinaigrette is a colourful dish which should only be served usually in the winters, especially when both the carrots and celeriac are plentiful. Granary or wholemeal bread and butter would just be the ideal accompaniment for this dish. Cheese and pears are a delightful combination, and dessert pears make a refreshing change from avocados in this starter. Comice is a good choice, as they are mouth wateringly juicy when fully ripe. Make sure they are still firm through because, as with all pears, they have to be eaten at just the right moment. Light spinach, cheese, and egg starters usually take their name from the round moulds with straight or slightly sloping sides in which they were originally baked. They are called timbales. This version is commonly cooked in more familiar ramekin dishes. There is a difference between a tomato omelette and a classic French omelette, as a tomato one is cooked for a very short time and served folded over. It is more like a Spanish tortilla, and a flat omelette is cooked for a longer time, and then browned under a hot grill so that both the sides become firm. While making a sprout soufflà ©, the tiny bubbles of air trapper within the egg whites expand as they are heated, puffing up the base mixtures to which they were added, by as much as two thirds of its original size. When making hot soufflà ©s, it is important to follow the recipe precisely; and make sure not try to cut the corners. Always while making curried eggs, make sure to serve this dish in a ring of boiled rice, accompanied by mango chutney and a cucumber salad dressed with natural yogurt and flavoured with fresh mint. Serve it hot, wit the yoghurt drizzled over the top and garnish it with coriander. In order to make a mushroom flan, the base is simply made from a wholemeal breadcrumb and yoghurt, which is less fattening than a conventional short crust pastry base. If you prefer a pastry base, either use a 225 g packet frozen short crust pastry, thawed, or short crust pastry made with 150 g flour. Almost any vegetable is good on a pizza. So try sliced fresh tomatoes; steamed fresh spinach; sliced canned artichokes; mushrooms; aubergine; courgettes or even baby onions. Cut all these vegetables into small chunks or slices and sautà ©ed in olive oil. Most firm cheeses with good melting properties are suitable for topping pizzas. Mozzarella is a traditional type of cheese, which is usually used in pizzas. However, there are quite different types of cheeses too which can be used in pizzas such as Bel Paese, Fontina, Taleggio, Gruyere or even Parmesan Cheese. Two tablespoons of honey and three tablespoons of Cinnamon powder, mix it with 16 ounces of tea water, if given to a cholesterol patient, it reduces the level of cholesterol in the bloody by 10% within two hours. It has been said that pure honey should be taken with food daily in order to relieve complains of cholesterol. Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply it on your bread and eat it regularly for breakfast instead of jam and jelly. This results in reducing the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the patient from heat attacks also. Make sure to drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup of water daily in the morning,  ½ hour before breakfast on an empty stomach. This will definitely show positive results if it is taken regularly. Also drinking of this mixture regularly does not allow the fat to accumulate in the body even though the person may eat a high calorie diet. If you dont own a food processor, finely chop the onion, garlic, ginger and tomato and then mash the avocado before mixing with the remaining ingredients.

Clearly Canadian Beverage Corporation Inventories Analysis :: essays research papers

Clearly Canadian Beverage Corporation Inventories analysis A.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As a manufacturing company, Clearly Canadian Corporation, which produces and markets natural and flavored beverage products is expected to hold three kinds of inventories. These inventories are carried by Clearly Canadian in every phases (input, processing, output) in manufacturing the beverage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inventories that are held by this company are raw material inventories, working in process inventories, and finished goods inventories. As we know, Clearly Canadian is a beverage company, the raw materials that are needed to make the beverages are natural water, sugar, artificial coloring, etc. While after all the raw materials have been collected, the company will face the processing phase, meaning converting the raw material into finished goods, example: mixing the ingredients. This phase is categorized as working in process inventories. Last but not least, the raw materials that have been processed and ready to be sold in the markets are the finished goods inventories. These are the inventories that Clearly Canadian distributes and sells in United States, Japan, Thailand, Great Britain, etc Conclusion, Clearly Canadian is holds this three inventories throughout the making and selling it’s beverage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   B  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After we define the Clearly Canadian inventories above, we know that those inventories are very important for Clearly Canadian, therefore they have to manage it properly. To hold an inventory a company is faced with risks, where it may face some losses too. The risks that clearly Canadian has to handle include storage costs, opportunity costs, peripheral costs, and depreciation costs. For storage costs, the costs in this category are storage charges, storage staff, equipment maintenance, and running costs. Storage charges include rent expense, lighting, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, etc (Lucey 1988, p.185). The company needs to pay this cost because by holding the inventories it will need storage facilities and supporting staff. Opportunity costs will arise when the company does not choose the best alternative includes interest on capital invested in the stock (Lucey 1988, p.185). The company could have earned interest from the bank if they did not invest the money on these inventories. Supporting costs, which are also call peripheral cost, comes together with the storage cost that comes along with the storage costs. Peripheral cost means the cost that additional cost. Examples Audit, stocktaking, insurance, and security costs. Lastly, depreciation cost is the cost that incurred due to depreciation value of the inventories or maybe damages, which cause invaluable. Those kind of cost are deterioration, obsolescence, pilferage, and vermin damage (Lucey 1988, p.

Introduction to Information Systems Essay

Abstract For my final paper I will Identify three vital tools of knowledge management and knowledge management systems, social networking systems, (CRM) customer relationship management, and (31) business intelligence. I wlll explain how an organization can utilize knowledge management resources to assist the company in running a successful business. will also explore knowledge management as we know it today. Knowledge Management Introduction Knowledge management is crucially important to any organization for resources which aids a company In providing its staff with the most accurate data needed in uch a competitive and fast passed time. We will explore three tools that aid us in knowledge management and learn how these tools are of great benefit to a successful business. We will also look at knowledge management as we know it today. Narrative sections There are three vital tools of knowledge management and knowledge management systems I want to explore. They are as follows: social networking systems, customer relationship management and business intelligence. Information technology aids knowledge management to provide up to date and ccurate data desired on a moment’s notice to companVs members. A knowledge management system is of great value for any organizations in everyday situations by enabling the employee access to other college’s documents and information. Knowledge management systems allow each staffs member the capability to stay organized and utilize figures and data from the organization. Being able to share this information throughout the company can help the organization in providing a better quality job that may even lead to improvements. Each business varies in the types of knowledge management needed to run its rganization trom documents, technology, networks, just to name a few. Each type ot knowledge managements can accommodate different business methods from push strategy; pull strategy, competence management to databases. You must first distinguish between the vast types of knowledge to understand the different kinds of knowledge management needed. Different fields focus on different types like explicit knowledge, tacit knowledge, and embedded knowledge. sale or a great investment opportunity. A social network allows a company to interact with its customers and employees all around the globe. More businesses are growing by staying connected with its customers with Facebook and Twitter. Social networks give a company the capability to reach a broader audience via the World Wide Web. The larges social network site today is Facebook which a lot of companies are beginning to utilize. Social networks operate through person-to-person and social influence. Companies can target their customers through social networks and optimize their social outreach. Companies also have the capability to respond to a customer’s concern and engage in a meaningful connection with repeat and new customers. With the hundreds of networking sites to access, it can be a challenge to manage multiple social sites, but the opportunities are endless. Customer relationship management provides an inside look to its customer’s purchase patterns that help plan the organizations sales activities. CRM will allow a company to target customers and generate leads for their sale items. Customer relationship management allows the business the needed information to better understand their customer base, building a more efficient business relationship between company, customer and distributer. With such important information gathered, a company can deliver customer gratification while make the most of its profits. A business can utilize CRM software to focus on the customer’s specific consumptions and thus tailor to their needs. CRM software provides a company with a buyer history and preferences leading to potential buys. Shoppers buying patterns can help to cross sell other items. Shoppers can be made aware of available items of their preference making for an easy marketing strategy. Business intelligence is raw information gathered from a data warehouse to help ake effective business decisions. With business intelligence you can better understand the strengths and weaknesses of your company and stay competitive in todays market. With the proper information and good IT support a company can operate with good business intelligence. There are steps to properly utilizing good business intelligence. Gathering of information and incorporating existing information is the key to decision making. Data Marts are critical to help its members gain access to specific information needed. For better decision making, each epartment can access only the portion of information it requires versus being overwhelmed with unnecessary information. Being able to access the right information and the right time will help minimize errors of duplication and help run each department efficiently. Having the right software with good IT makes for a successful business. advantage of every source available to you. Your organization will run efficiently and with minimal inaccuracies. Focus on delivering up-to-date data for timely decision making.

Humanistic Psychology

Humanistic Psychology Basis Humanistic Psychology is so named due to its core belief in the basic goodness present in and respect for humanity. Its core is founded upon existential psychology, or the realization and understanding of one's existence and social responsibility. The two psychologists, Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow initiated the movement with this new perspective on understanding people's personality and improving their overall life satisfaction. When war broke out in the 1960s, the world felt compelled to better understand the nature of humanity.Humanistic theory provides an understandable mechanism for examining an individual's need for conflict in order to create peace. This simplistic theory has become a favorite and popular topic throughout self-help literature. Additionally, the struggle for mankind to gain greater understanding and meaning for life and existence is a timeless cornerstone conflict in entertainment and literature. The premise behind humanistic psych ology is simple. So simple, in fact, that naysayers believe it to be excessively simple. Humanists adhere to these beliefs: 1. The present is the most signficant aspect of someone.As a results humanists emphasize the here and now instead of examining the past or attempting to predict the future. 2. To be mentally healthy, individuals must take personal responsibility for their actions, regardless if those actions are positive or negative. 3. Each person, simply by being, is inherently worthy. While any given action may be negative, these actions do not cancel out their value as a person. 4. The ultimate goal of living is to attain personal growth and understanding. Through constant self-improvement and self-understanding can an individual ever be truly happy.Abraham Maslow provided the best known and mostly widely understood precept in humanistic psychology. Abraham Maslow believed that Watson and the other behaviorists' ideas about control were lacking. He saw human life as more th an simply external reinforcement, disputing the assumption that humanity was born without value or direction. When he was studying psychology, the prevalent ideas were psychoanalysis and behaviorism. These theories were covered by most courses and a great deal of energy was used for each psychologist to identify the theory aspiring psychologists would subscribe to.Maslow did not follow either of these paths. He condemned behaviorism, eventually taking the same perspective with Freud's works as well. Even though Maslow accepted the existence of an unconscious being within us, Maslow refuted Freud's idea that the bulk of our being is hidden far from our consciousness. Maslow purported that humanity is aware of motivation and drives on the whole. Without life's obstacles, all of humanity would become healthy psychologically, attaining a deep self-understanding and acceptance of society and the world around them.Maslow reinforced his energy on realizing the positive aspects of mankind, while Freud saw mostly negativity. One might summarize the distinction between humanism and psychoanalytic thought in this way – psychoanalysis is founded upon acceptance determinism, or acceptance of aspects of our lives outside of control, while humanistic thought bases itself on the concept of free will. Maslow's best known contribution to Humanistic psychology is his Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow's Needs Hierarchy is frequently used to sum up the humanistic psychology belief system. The fundamental premise of his hierarchy is that everyone is born with specific needs.If we do not meet those base needs, we are unable to survive and focus upward within the hierarchy. The first stratum consists of ;b;physiological needs;/b;, or survival needs. Unable to obtain oxygen, sleep, water, and food, all else is irrelevant. After we meet these needs, we can shift our focus to the next stratum, the need for security and safety. When pursuing safety needs, we attempt to secure safety in o thers and yearn to create an environment that protects us, keeping us free from harm. Until these goals are met, it is unlikely that someone would consider higher order needs, and their growth is then stifled.When someone feels safe and secure, we attempt to build friendships and establish a sense of belonging to a greater whole. Maslow's third level of needs, the social needs of belonging and love, focus on our desire to be belong to a group and have a place in a larger whole. Meeting social needs get us one step closer to the top of the triangle — the fourth level: esteem needs. Those attempting to fulfill esteem needs channel their energy on respect from others, self-esteem, self-respect, and gaining recognition for our accomplishments in life.We push further and further to excel in our careers, to expand our knowledge, and to constantly increase our self-esteem. The final level in the hierarchy is called the need for self-actualization. According to Maslow, many people ma y be in this level but very few, if anybody, ever masters it. Self-actualization refers to a complete understanding of the self. To be self-actualized means to truly know who you are, where you belong in the greater society, and to feel like you are accomplishing all that you are meant to be.It means to no longer feel shame or guilt, or even hate, but to accept the world and see human nature as inherently good. Against Scientific Basics At its onset, Humanistic theory was not researched easily. To start with, since the fundamental belief of Humanism is in the goodness of people, treatment should focus on the positive, instead of negative. This leaves very few tests upon which to build the case of Humanism. Then, through assessment, the assessor is essentially trying to say that the tester knows more about the client's emotion, thought, and behavior.To do something so presumptuous is a flagrant contradiction of the belief principles of Humanism. As a result, most theorists, specifica lly behaviorists, refuted humanistic theory since it was not easily researched. However, as with psychoanalysis, it was possible to aggregate meaningful data on the effectiveness of applying Humanistic theories. Actually, just as with psychoanalysis, innovative testing needed to be designed to accentuate the exact theory and the intended application of the theory. Psychoanalysis use tests like TAT and Rorschach — humanists use the Q-Sort.Humanistic Theory – Weaknesses and Strengths Humanistic Theory Strengths Just as with every theory, some find humanistic psychology to be relevant, as others can only see the flaws. A couple of humanistic theory's strengths are the focus on the positivitity and goodness of humanity, as well as the free will related to change. Contrasting Freud's and biological approaches, focusing on the belief that human behavior and cognition are causally determined by prior events and actions, such that we lack self-control, Maslow and Humanistic ps ychology believe that the individual is quite powerful.Another strength of humanistic theory is how easily many aspects of the theory integrate with other schools of thought. A number of therapists adopt humanistic undertones when working with their clients. While the individual may believe that humanistic theory doesn't cover the distance, they understand the benefit of the core values and beliefs in changing people's lives for the better. Ultimately, humanism has benefits which carry over into a number of other professions. In a business class, you will probably cover Maslow's hierarchy.When studying finance or economics, the course will no doubt cover the concept of moving up financially and physically, to eventually become more enlightened and aware of who we are and our place in the world. This principle is similarly present in other professions such as criminology, history, and literature, since the core of humanistic thought rings true in everything that deals with what it me ans to be considered human. Humanistic Theory Weaknesses For every yin, there is also the yang. Humanistic theory has its share of flaws as well.The most significant criticism of humanistic psychology centers around its lack of specific approaches to treatment aimed at precise problems. Since the core belief behind Humanistic theory is that of free will, it is very complicated to both innovate a technique for treatment as well as a means to study the efficacy of this treatment technique. Additionally, it is believed that humanistic theory falls is unable to help people with severe personality or mental health disorders. While Carl Rogers' Theory of Personality may have positive effects on a minor abberation, using it as treatment for schizophrenics is laughable.Lastly, humanistic theory applies some human nature generalizations which are widely believed to be complete. Are all people good at the core of their being, or are some people just not there? Can we effectively position that Maslow's needs hierarchy, as explained, applies to everyone universally? Or is it possible that each individual can impose their own belief system or their order of attainment, or even their very definition? Why is it that some individuals appear to consciously take negative alternatives while positive choices are right in front of them?These doubts huant humanistic psychology and the complexity associated with performing measurable research of the theory further exacerbates the issue. However, regardless of these trials, humanistic theory is incorporated into nearly every opposing school of psychotherapy and improvement of the human condition. It is widely believed that treatment with humanistic undertones creates a nice environment for positive change. While, alone, humanistic theory may be insufficient, the groundwork it lays might be a necessity for to effect significant changes of personality.