Abstract
This paper looks at the continuing disagreement about the validity of ADHD as an actual mental disorder. It examines how proponents of ADHD argue that the existence of ADHD in multiple cultures proves its status as a valid mental disorder. In contrast, opponents claim that there is actually little evidence of ADHD in non western cultures, there is no scientific basis for its existence as a disorder, and it is another example of the medicalization of society - in this case specifically the medicalization of childhood. Through an analysis of evidence from both sides of the disagreement, the paper concludes that ADHD is, in fact, a socially constructed illness.

From the Paper
"The diagnosis of hyperactivity as a mental disorder is a very modern and, ultimately, unsupported concept. In the 1950's, ADHD simply did not exist. Then in the 1970's approximately 2,000 children, mostly boys, were diagnosed as hyperactive and treated with behavior modification techniques. Now, the number of children suffering from ADHD has reached the millions (2007: Stolzer 109). Although the prevalence of ADHD in America has increased exponentially, both scientific support and assessment tools for ADHD remain insufficient. According to Stolzer, "there are no physiological, cognitive, or metabolic markers that would indicate the presence of ADHD"(2007: 111). Therefore, instead of being diagnosed using American's state of the art medical equipment, "ADHD is diagnosed using a checklist of behaviors" (2007: Stolzer 111). The checklists for ADHD are largely incredible for they rely on generalized and undefined terms such as "running and climbing excessively" and there is no system for regulating the status of the reader (usually a parent or teacher) (2007: Stolzer 111)."

Tags:hyperactive, behavior, modification

Abstract
This paper argues that the common connections made between the female and the natural in Western society, literature, and science may be the result of Western cultural constructions and social treatments rather than there being an innate connection between the two. The author breaks down why women and nature seem to be logically associated and discusses possible explanations for this commonly made association.

Outline:
The "Natural" Connection: Cultural Ideas
Women and Nature: Cultural Mistreatments
Positive Connections Through Cultural Oppressions

From the Paper
" In order to understand the true connection between women and nature, we must first look at the perceived connection. Throughout the history of Western society and thinking, women have been assigned characteristics in opposition to men: "women love beauty, men love truth; women are passive, men are active; women are emotional, men are rational" (Brandt). Similarly, nature has been assigned characteristics in opposition to culture: nature is passive, culture is active; nature is the absence of man, culture is the presence of man; nature is the product of instinct, culture is the product of reason. Everywhere that the "male is associated with culture, the female seems closer to nature" (Ortner 44).
"Within these oppositional setups, women and nature have frequently been assigned the same characteristics. The reasons for assigning women and nature (and, respectively, men and culture) with some of the same characteristics seem to be biological. Reproduction and maternity seem to be at the heart of the association between women and nature. Because women give birth, a greater percentage of their lives is consumed by "natural processes" than men, who are physically and often socially less involved than women in childbirth and rearing (Ortner 43). Childbirth, then, makes women "closer" to nature than men (Ortner 42). Meanwhile, men have historically socially been free from many of the burdens of reproduction, providing them "the opportunity to assert ... creativity externally, 'artificially,' through the medium of technology" and to create culture (Ortner 43)."

Tags:feminist, female, natural, society, culture

Abstract
To answer this question the paper uses two films; "Babette's Feast," and "The Draughtsman's Contract." It suggests that all manners are culturally constructed, although some systems of social mores allow for more change than others. It also uses Oliver Sac's work with brain damaged patients as a reference point, to explicate how the rituals of the table and of even a draughtsman's pictorial world of representation are highly specific to a particular place and times.

From the Paper
"Eating is a natural urge, of course. Watching a film, however much film buffs may protest, is not. Yet food and film seem to go hand-in-hand today, as the popularity of Like Water for Chocolate, Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, Big Night, and Chocolat all attest. Why is this so? Perhaps, because more than any other artistic medium, film is able to render the sensual experience of consuming food more accurately than virtually any other form of representation. It is interesting to observe that although they began as texts, the film Babette's Feast and Like Water for Chocolate both began as novels, in the former case, a short story by the writer Isak Dinesen. But the film of Babette's Feast has become far more famous, and it renders, very powerfully, the unique ways that food and the manners and morals that surround them are both quite particular to a specific period, place and time."

Tags:manner, culture, grown, novel, literature, film, innate, babette, feast, dinesan, isak, sac, oliver, draughtsman, contract

Abstract
This paper consists of a series of fifteen questions about the way in which a journal has been physically and theoretically constructed. The journal chosen is the Journal of Popular Culture, which has been produced since 1967. The volumes available in the CSUN library is discussed, as well as the range of topics covered by the journal over the course of its publication.

From the Paper
Academic Journal Report: Journal of Popular Culture 1 - The Journal of Popular Culture is the official publication of the Popular Culture Association. It is published 6 times a year. It is published by Blackwell Publishing, in Malden, Massachusetts (https://www.msu.edu/~tjpc/). 2 - The Journal of Popular Culture was first published in 1967 and has always been called the Journal of Popular Culture. 3- Oviatt Library owns the Journal of Popular Culture from Volume 1, published in 1967-1968 through Volume 37, published in 2003-2004 in hard copy versions. The library holds the rest of the volumes that have been

Tags:journal, analysis, popular culture

Abstract
This paper looks at the long-held belief and idea taught about American geography: that America was a wild and free paradise conquered by champions and pioneers of freedom and adventure. The paper argues that this perception is merely a socially constructed view of geography designed to play into the cultural idealism that promote a heritage of man overcoming extreme obstacles to attain glory and recognition. The paper also contends that the landscape of America was, in fact, more inhabited and developed before the discovery of America by European explorers because of the presence of Native Americans than it was after the discovery.

From the Paper
"As a society, humans by nature relate to the world and define norms by identifying with the environment around them. In America for example, the foundation for the society was built on idealisms that suggested that the first entrants into this society were pioneers, overcoming a vast wilderness and pristine landscape in order to build the foundation upon which modern society now reigns supreme. People by nature identify with social constructed realities that bring them together in a communal and socially responsible manner. In order to help civilians learn about society and social norms, it is often necessary to deconstruct and reconstruct the geographic landscape of a land to build a culture from a blank template."

Tags:vast, communal, socially, norms, geographic, deconstruct, reconstruct, blank, template

Abstract
This paper describes and analyzes a study that was set up to examine the correlation between self-monitoring and compliance to help. In the study, participants are placed in situations that manipulate self-monitoring by presenting a mirror in front of them to bring about more self-awareness in the participant. The study's hypothesis is that participants will be more likely to comply to help, once placed in a high self-monitoring situation. The writer shows that the results of the experiment supported the hypothesis that participants are more likely to comply to help, when placed in a high self-monitoring situation. The writer then suggests that more tests be done with a variety of age groups, neighborhoods and cultures to get a better representation of the effects of self-monitoring in the general population. The writer concludes that such studies might be used to deter people from destructive actions such as stealing.

Outline:
Method
Design
Procedure
Measure
Results
Experiment Statistics
Discussion

From the Paper
"Our hypothesis is that participants will be more likely to comply to help, once placed in a high self-monitoring situation. We tested our hypothesis by randomly choosing every third person that walked across the Diag to take part in our experiment. While either holding a mirror directly behind the questioner or having no mirror, we asked the participant if they would take a questionnaire. We ran our experiment on 6 males and 6 females. Three of the six males would be given the mirror condition and 3 of the 6 females would also be given the mirror condition. We found that 4 of the 6 people tested with the mirror present were willing to take the questionnaire and only 1 of the 6 people tested with no mirror present were willing to take the questionnaire."

Tags:responsibility, self-awareness, behavior, manipulate, psychology, positive

Abstract
This paper explores how normalcy and disability are constructed, with particular reference to the field of education. It argues that the construction of the "normative" is a manifestation of social and cultural power "written" upon the bodies of people with and without disabilities by medical authority. It explores issues of discrimination, as well as concepts of the medical and social models of disability to better understand how disability construction has historically occurred and continues to define disability in an inequitable way today.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
The "Normative" as a Discriminatory Cultural Construct
Assessment of Disability and the Medical Model of Disability
Analysis

From the Paper
"As the above discussion indicates, there is considerable reason to be concerned at one's being assessed as possessing a disability. First, it is necessary to recognize that while such assessments are often arbitrary, they nonetheless produce considerable cultural meaning that has historically been applied in a discriminatory fashion. Second, it must be acknowledged that this discriminatory process has - in its implied construction of a "normative" or standard of normalcy - clear analogues to discriminatory practices that have historically reinforced sex, race and gender discrimination."

Tags:discrimination, society, culture, education

Abstract
This paper explains that video games represent a site for role-playing in ways that violate both the corporate-constructed gender roles of game worlds, as well as the norms of masculine and feminine in our society. The writer discusses how this analysis applies to a range of levels in video game culture: the design level with its sub-culture of game patch design where users patch existing video games to fundamentally re-design game worlds that reflect distinct constructions of masculinity and femininity and the game play level where both female and male users play games in ways that challenge normative gender roles. The writer's main focus is on female game designers and players, whose interactions with video game culture critically undermines common conceptions of female gender identity.

Outline:
Introduction
Gender Bias as a Methodological Problem
Women Coding Women: The New Gaming Female
Conclusion

From the Paper
"In reviewing the scholarly literature upon gender roles and video game culture, it is important to recognize the operation of gender bias as a methodological problem. Before one can address the subject of video game and gender role transgression among females, one must note the profound degree to which traditional gender biases appear to impact scholarship on the subject of video game culture. Consider, for example, the question of the popularity of video games among males versus females, as well as the view that males prefer "violent" games while female players tend to reject these games for games that better reflect "feminine" qualities. There is a substantial body of research literature that has argued since the late 1980s that video games are a predominantly male cultural preoccupation. Surveys tended to reveal an extraordinary disproportion both in terms of numbers of players and the lengths of time devoted to gameplay. For example, adolescent boys have been shown to be as much as three times more likely to play video games as adolescent girls."

Tags:gaming, culture, sex, roles, violent, designers, players, Tomb, Raider, virtual

Abstract
The paper explains Fiorina's argument in the article "Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America" that the supposed culture-divide in America is an illusion constructed by politicians, private interests and activist agencies as a way to achieve personal agendas. The paper contends that this argument, as with the general argumentative methods employed in Fiorina's text, is easily discredited and rife with ironically partisan accusations about the state of modern politics. The paper further demonstrates how Fiorina's thesis is not just unfounded and overstated, but it flies in the face of logic within the context of a nation defined by its diversity.

From the Paper
"The previous decade in American political history seems to be categorically defined by intense and passionate divides over policy issues, constitutional interpretations and moral ideologies. These, it appeared, had been manifested by a distinct and clear cultural divide across which America's population stretches. Indeed, geographical, religious and ethnic perceptions have seemed to place definable beliefs, interests and ideals with specific demographics. This has produced a scenario where our political system and public representatives appear to function according to an understanding and embrace of this divide. Here, author and political theorist Morris P. Fiorina makes the argument, the political process becomes a catalyst rather than an outcome, of such divides. In his 2005 text, Fiorina constructs the argument that most Americans actually fall somewhere in the moderate or centrist range with respect to political identity, but that the heightened and particular interests of political groups and select activists has shaped and intensified a sense of rancor and discord between two sides of the same public."

Tags:diversity, culture, polarizations, individualities, voters

Abstract
This paper studies the subtle cultural biases contained in standardized tests, including IQ tests. The paper asks whether this bias unfairly penalizes those who are not white and middle-class. The paper presents counter-arguments that while significant cultural differences might distort test findings in general, IQ tests are not biased in this way. The paper concludes that IQ tests in particular are constructed so that they can fairly assess intelligence of anyone who has grown up in the United States and can read English.

Tags:IQ, test, bias, culture, African-American