Do we have to be violent?

For centuries philosophers, psychologists and anthropologists have tried to explain why men behave violently. Some psychologists think that violence or aggressiveness is an instinct which we are all born with. We need violent motivation in order to survive, they say, just as animals do. Aggressiveness is connected with courage, energy and will. Besides this positive side, aggressiveness also has a negative side. If we can’t satisfy our needs safely, we’ll satisfy them in a way that hurts others. According to this theory, society can’t get rid of aggressiveness, but it can provide safer outlets for our violent needs.

Other psychologists think that aggressiveness is something which we learn as children, just as we learn to walk, to talk. The world in which we live is aggressive and violent. According to this theory, if we really wanted to get rid of violence, we could. We must only learn non-violent means of achieving our goals.

Another approach says that aggressiveness is always the result of frustration. Every time we do not get what we want, that is whenever our wishes are frustrated, we become aggressive. According to this theory we must find out lets for our aggressiveness which do not hurt others. Since we will probably always face some kind of frustration, we will always have to live with our need to be violent.

According to this theory there are two separate kinds of aggressiveness with different origins and different social consequences. One kind of aggressiveness is an instinct which we are born with: our need to defend ourselves against an attack. We share this instinct with animals. Without it we could not survive, but we must also learn to use it properly. The second kind of aggressiveness is entirely negative, because it serves no purpose and is only destructive. Some people are dominated by their need to be violent. This form of aggressiveness is not an instinct but is probably the result of a small child’s very negative experience with the world around him. According to the biological and social theory, it is extremely difficult to change a person who has become aggressive in the destructive way.

TEXT FOUR

I CAN TASTE MY WORDS

by Jane Elliott, BBCNews Online, 2006

James Wannerton lives in a house that tastes of mashed potato and is situated in a fruit gum town. He has a toffee flavoured nephew and used to have a condensed milk granny. His next door neighbours are a mixture of yoghurt, jelly beans and a subtle hint of a waxy substance. James is not mad, nor is he on a taste oriented drug trip – he has a neurological condition called synaesthesia, which mixes up his senses.

To him verbal and written words can conjure up taste sensations. “This doesn’t affect every word or sound, although I have a horrible feeling that it could if I allowed it”, he said. Say the word “safety” and James, aged 44, will imagine lightly buttered toast. When someone says, or writes the word “jail”, it sparks the taste of cold bacon. Synaesthesia is frequently based on around colours – letters of alphabet, or sounds, are associated with specific shades – and a number of artists are thought to have had the condition. It also runs in families and thought to be linked to the X-chromosome, as it is more common in women.

Less frequent is the taste-based synaethesia experienced by James, a system analyst from Blackpool. James says his condition means having conversations can be difficult. As people talk he finds his mind wandering to the taste image conjured up.

He said he was reluctant to tell people about his synaethesia because it was difficult to understand. “I don’t tell people about it because it is an odd thing. If you say you have this and this happens to me they expect you to be able to do something exceptional”.

Dr. Jamie Ward, of University College, London, who has studied the condition, said it should be seen as a genuine phenomenon in search of a psychological explanation. In his article in the Psychologist Society’s Journal, he says that if synaesthesia could be proved it would increase understanding of how the brain works. About one in 2, 000 people were affected by synaethesia and of these only 10% had the taste form, he said. Dr. Ward also said that about twice as many women than men suffered from the condition.

TEXTFIVE

WHAT IS THE BRAND?

A brand is a special trade mark, sign, symbol, design of the product that distinguishes it from other products. Products can have subbrands. People have some beliefs and perceptions about a particular products, that is they have the brand image.

Consumers get used to some brands, and prefer to buy them. Some people drink only Nescafe, prefer mayonnaise produced by Moscow fat-producing plant (MZHK) and chocolate of Krasny Oktyabr factory and so on. In this case we can speak about brand loyalty, that is commitment to a particular brand, which people regularly buy.

Some brands have names of people. Tea brand Dilmah is composed of the parts of names Dilhan and Malik, sons of the tea producer.

Some brands have mistakes in their names. Brand of vegetable oil is called “Zolotaya semehka”, but according to the rules of the Russian language, it should be called “Zolotoye semechko”.

It takes up to 10 years to create a brand in the West. In Russia it can only take 2 years. It is known that 80 to 90% of new brands fail within their first six months.

If a company gives the name of the brand to its other products it’s called brand-stretching. By putting their familiar trademarks on attractive and fashionable new products, companies can both generate additional revenue and increase brand-awareness. So there is Pepsi Maxwear, Camel watches and Cadberry jewellery. Brand-stretching is not always successful.

A brand like Coca-Cola has been around a long time, and dominates the fizzy drink market in almost every country, outselling local brands. One of the exceptions is Scotland, and their marketing specialists are trying to find out why this is. One of the possible solutions is that people in Scotland are more conservative and keep to their traditions.

One of the most successful brands in the world is the Barbie. Created in 1959, it targeted girls who wanted to have dolls which were like young women. Its unique selling proposition is that Barbie looks like a young woman, not a baby. She has got little sisters and friends from different ethnic groups. Now there are 15,000 different items for Barbie. Costume variations and brand-stretching have been the key to her continued popularity. Her life cycle ever ends. One Barbie is bought every two seconds.

brand-stretching [΄brænd΄stret∫iŋ] «расширение» торговой марки

TEXT SIX