The Destructive Power of Peer Pressure Essay examples -- Peer Pressure

Peer pressure: influence from members of one's peer group. Peer pressure is an incredibly widespread issue in today’s society, and can have many significant and long lasting effects. Peer pressure is an issue that can be found in many places, with many varying degrees, but often happens for the same reasons. Peer pressure can cause drug and alcohol addictions, being caught shoplifting, failing exams, and other problems. It has many causes, with many contributing factors, but is most prevalent during the teenage years, as teens look beyond the guidance of their parents, and seek answers from their peers. Peer pressure most commonly occurs at parties, where parental supervision is minimal, however indirect peer pressure can be experienced anywhere. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the topic, as well as the causes and related effects. The report will cover the types of peer pressure, who is affected, who are the offenders, why do they offend, where does it happen, what can happen, how can it be solved, and why it is so hard to control. Peer pressure is a very widespread issue, manifesting itself in two main forms, direct and indirect. While direct peer pressure is more forceful, and harder to combat, it is also less prevalent than indirect peer pressure. In some instances both forms of peer pressure can be found in the same situation. Direct peer pressure is pressure exerted when directly asked or told to do something, and is more forceful, harder to deflect, and often requires a response or excuse. Direct peer pressure generally involves things such as drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and decisions regarding sex. This form of peer pressure can have many significantly life changing long-term effects. I... ...(2013). Peer Pressure. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/Facts_for_Families_Pages/Peer_Pressure_104.aspx [Accessed: 10 Nov 2013]. Ianrpubs.unl.edu (2013). Publication: Friendships, Peer Influence and Peer Pressure During the Teen Years. [online] Retrieved from: http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/pages/publicationD.jsp?publicationId=837 [Accessed: 10 Nov 2013]. Sitemaker.umich.edu (2013). UM.SiteMaker: Message. [online] Retrieved from: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/356.darnell/peer_pressurehttp://sitemaker.umich.edu/356.darnell/peer_pressure [Accessed: 10 Nov 2013]. Stewart, G., Larsen, A. and Wynne, E. (1989). Peer pressure. New York: Crestwood House. Us.reachout.com (2013). Peer pressure : The Facts : ReachOut.com USA. [online] Retrieved from: http://us.reachout.com/facts/factsheet/peer-pressure [Accessed: 10 Nov 2013].

Abortion - Unwanted Pregnancies = Abused Children Essay -- Argumentati

Unwanted Pregnancies = Abused Children   Ã‚  Ã‚   Who can resist the invitation to abort an unwanted pregnancy for the child's sake primarily, and not just the "health" of the mother? Let's examine this frequently voiced contention: that aborting unwanted pregnancies is beneficial because they would later lead to abused children. And everyone, of course, is opposed to the maltreatment of kids.    The landmark study on this was done at the University of Southern California. Professor Edward Lenoski studied 674 consecutive battered children who were brought to the in- and out-patient departments of that medical center. He was the first to go to the parents and study to what extent they wanted and planned the pregnancy. To his surprise, he found that 91% were planned and wanted, compared to 63% for the control groups nationally. Further, the mothers had began wearing, on the average, pregnancy clothes at 114 days compared to 171 days in the control, and the fathers named the boys after themselves 24% of the time compared to 4% for the control groups. (Lenoski) Both parents (or... Abortion - Unwanted Pregnancies = Abused Children Essay -- Argumentati Unwanted Pregnancies = Abused Children   Ã‚  Ã‚   Who can resist the invitation to abort an unwanted pregnancy for the child's sake primarily, and not just the "health" of the mother? Let's examine this frequently voiced contention: that aborting unwanted pregnancies is beneficial because they would later lead to abused children. And everyone, of course, is opposed to the maltreatment of kids.    The landmark study on this was done at the University of Southern California. Professor Edward Lenoski studied 674 consecutive battered children who were brought to the in- and out-patient departments of that medical center. He was the first to go to the parents and study to what extent they wanted and planned the pregnancy. To his surprise, he found that 91% were planned and wanted, compared to 63% for the control groups nationally. Further, the mothers had began wearing, on the average, pregnancy clothes at 114 days compared to 171 days in the control, and the fathers named the boys after themselves 24% of the time compared to 4% for the control groups. (Lenoski) Both parents (or...

David Boston :: essays research papers

What's going on in Room 614? There's an overgrown wide receiver in there. "Dude, you're on steroids!" fans yell at him at training camp. A lot of NFL players and coaches think he's on something, but the term they use is yoked up. "Gotta be," says an NFC defensive back. The receiver keeps testing clean (seven times last season), but his peers are still suspicious. They can't prove it, but they think he's on something they don't have a test for yet, maybe human growth hormone (HGH), and one reason is the size of his head. "Look, even his face is growing," the player goes on. "He's bloated. His cheekbones have changed." Guys around the league just don't see how his weight could jump from 209 to 257 in three years. Or how he can have 21-inch biceps, a 34-inch waist and 5.5% body fat. Or how he can run the 40 in 4.3 seconds. Or how the sorry Cardinals could let such a physical specimen walk. Or how 30 other teams could let the Chargers scoop him up as a free agent for only 47 mil. No, there's got to be something going on in that room. Something to keep Arizona from franchising him, something to scare off the rest of the league. "We didn't even have him on our board," says a Redskins exec, whose team needed a receiver this winter and opted to pay Laveranues Coles a $13 million signing bonus. Laveranues Coles? He's half this guy's size and doesn't run any faster. But few trust him. They hear all the stories. How he eats only in his personal trainer's room, Room 614 at the Hilton Carson Civic Plaza in Carson, Calif. How Hall of Famer Joe Greene, an assistant coach on his old team, wonders if he'll live to 30. How he's paying his personal trainer $200K a year. How, even though he's rooming with LaDainian Tomlinson, he's holed up most of the time in Room 614. Holed up and getting heavier every day. "Have you seen that guy? Our D-line coach calls him Robocop," says Chargers defensive end Marcellus Wiley. "If any of us defensive linemen go down, he's going two-way. I mean, 260 pounds, 5% body fat, a 4.3 40? That's 30 sacks. Every day in the cafeteria, I walk past the fried foods and say, 'I am David Boston' That way, I won't eat them.

Facebook’s Initial Public Offering

The reasons for Facebook to go public In the beginning, Facebook, through its founder Mark Zuckerberg, was unwilling to go public and refused a number of buyout offers. However, it reached the 500 threshold after accepting private investments from firms, which eventually made Zuckerberg decide to go public. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that private companies reaching more than 500 ‘shareholders of record’ must abide by the same requirements of financial disclosure undertaken by public companies (Sloan, 2012). It is clear that Facebook’s decision to go public through an initial public offering (IPO) was not the same as the common reasons of firms when they undertake the same decision, which is to draw more revenues (Palmiter, 2008). However, in the long run, Facebook also aimed to access external financing as a result of IPO (Sloan, 2012). The reasons for companies to go public beyond their need for more money are enhanced financial condition, ability to cash out, improved corporate reputation, and improved opportunity for future acquisition (Peng, 2012). The dollar objective of every company in relation to the amount expected to be raised via IPO The dollar objectives of companies entering IPOs for increased revenue purposes are to develop reserves and increase external funds (Vedavalli, 2007; Sullivan, 2007), access capital (Dana, 2004; Ernst and Hacker, 2012), improve financial condition, increase shareholder value, and improve capital to sustain growth (Ernst and Hacker, 2012). In Facebook’s case, its stock price dwindled as there were concerns about its overpriced IPO and long-term business outlook and lost around $ 25 billion in value (Kuratko, 2012). The expected use of the money raised by IPO One expected use of the money raised by IPO is retiring from debt, in which, it is necessary to pay close attention to the company’s financial data and overall growth prospects. Another is enjoyment of the proceeds by the owners of the shares, especially for the sale of secondary shares. Moreover, sold primary shares (newly created shares) from an IPO increase revenue to the companies’ accounts (Khurshed, 2011). In the case of Facebook, the company raised a large amount of money, which has amounted to $ 18 billion. In actuality, there was no increase in the number of shares it sold to the public; instead, most of the new shares were from Zuckerberg, and such was considered not a good sign (Khurshed, 2011). References Dana, L. (2004) Handbook of research on international entrepreneurship. Glos, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. Ernst, D. and Hacker, J. (2012). Applied international corporate finance. Berlin: Verlag Franz Vahlen GmbH. Khurshed, A. (2011). Initial public offerings: The mechanics and performance of IPOs. First Edition. Hampshire: Harriman House Ltd. Kuratko, D. F. (2012) Entrepreneurship: Theory, process, practice. NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Peng, M. W. (2012). Global strategy. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Sloan, P. (2012). Three reasons Facebook has to go public. Retrieved on December 3, 2013 from http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57368449-93/three-reasons-facebook-has-to-go-public/ Sullivan, L. R. (2007). Historical dictionary of the People’s Republic of China. Maryland: A Scarecrow Press, Inc. Vedavalli, R. (2007). Energy for development: Twenty-first century challenges of reform and liberalization in developing countries. London: Anthem Press.

Information vs Knowledge Essay

1. The community chosen is the community of economists. Some sources they rely on include academic journals, the news (on print, online, television, radio, and others), country reports, economic data, and financial market analyses. 2. One of the sources that could be taken as pure information is the economic data. Economic data sets of data that describe a single economy or the international economy. These data sets are gathered through quantitative information that are collected and computed statistically to give an accurate picture of the economy being studied. Economic data, in their raw form, is not analyzed, and even the analysis that accompany them are usually there to interpret the numbers to make them more understandable to the reader. This is information because it is the basis of knowledge that people create since they are considered facts from which knowledge can be gained. Economists use economic data to gather information about the topic that they are exploring and connect them with other data and past knowledge to form ideas, theories, recommendations, etc. hat would be helpful to their colleagues, policymakers, businesses, economics students, and even the common person. While some economic data agree with one another, there are those that don’t, depending on which organization does the statistic. The differences could confuse the readers as much as those that agree help them in gaining more knowledge about the particular economy they are studying. 3. Among these, the source that is actually knowledge is the academic journal.  Academic journals are works by experts on the field of focus of the journal (in this case, economics), and are peer reviewed by other experts on the field. These sources often become forums for academicians and experts since the authors of the articles in the journal introduce and present new research that critique existing research. Experts, then scrutinize the writings of authors who churn out their original research, review articles and even book reviews and it becomes a hub of theories, ideas, debate, etc. It then becomes easy to see why this is knowledge. Based on Lanier’s understanding of knowledge, that it is â€Å"created through a person’s interaction with her environment, her community, her social class, her history, her job, etc. Knowledge cannot be created in a neutral or objective way that exists outside of our real life situations. † Journals reflect a person’s ideas and experiences in relation to the information they have and are often opinions based on facts.vThe correlation between a person’s worldview and understanding in explaining and the information that they have printed in a journal makes the medium a hub of knowledge from different economists. 4. I believe that the community of economists, especially those in the upper echelons of the field, are already aware of the difference between knowledge and information in their field since information for them is usually hard quantitative data. But if they have not considered the difference, the problem that they can overcome in delineating one from the other is that they would be able to think more critically. Knowing that what they have is knowledge, they could accept it and draw their own conclusions. Upon the knowledge that the source that they have is knowledge, they could add such sources in their own minds and create their own conclusions based on different perspectives and could either accept one and reject the other and just not let what they read overwhelm them.

Marketing Research- Starbucks vs. Coffee Beans Essay

Market segmentation is defined as the process of dividing a market into distinct subsets of consumers with common needs or characteristics and selecting one or more segments to target with a distinct marketing mix (Schiffman, Bednall, Cowley, O’Cass, Watson and Kanuk, 2001). Different companies have different abilities that enable them to serve their target market better, which is why some companies choose to focus much of their attention to specific segments. Starbucks primarily chooses to focus on the demographics, psychographics and lifestyle of their customers. It is with the information gathered regarding these segments that Starbucks can better serve its customers. Demographics are things such as age, sex, marital status, education, occupation and income. Starbucks targets both males and females, mainly 18-30 year olds, but really does cater for everybody’s needs. And because young children don’t usually drink coffee, Starbucks offers a range of non-coffee beverages to cater for the whole family. Hanging out in Starbucks gives the impression of being very with it and most of the people you see sitting in the stores exude a certain coolness and give off the image of having some sort of social status, with lots of money to spare. Starbucks customers are mainly in their final years of high school, in university or just starting to work. But whatever it is, they all have had a good education, and if they do have a job, it almost certainly includes a big income as well. Demographics help to locate a target market and this information is often the most accessible and cost effective way to identify a target market (Schiffman et al, 2001). Even though factors such as personality and behaviour are often first used to define a market segment, the consumer’s demographic characteristics must be known in order to assess the size of the target market and to reach it efficiently (Schiffman et al, 2001). Psychographics are based on the consumer’s activities, interests and opinions, so it’s basically how they spend their time, what their preferences and priorities are and how they feel about events and issues. Psychographic research is closely related to psychological research, and  especially when it comes to personality and attitude measurement. This form of applied consumer research has proved to be a valuable marketing tool that helps identify consumer segments that are likely to be responsive to specific marketing messages (Schiffman et al, 2001). Starbucks is very heavily involved in charity and the arts, and is making significant efforts to be a socially and environmentally responsible company. For example, Starbucks actively participates in AIDS benefits, and for every city that has a store, Starbucks sets up at least one shelter for the underprivileged children and donates money as well. By participating in various different positive causes and events, Starbucks gains a lot of favourable exposure. Starbucks has sponsored the Special Olympics, the hip Lilith Fair music festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival, the International Film Festival in Washington DC and the Museum of Contemporary Art in LA. Just by looking at these examples, we can see that Starbucks aims to target and reach people who are generous and charitable, as well as people who like to have fun and enjoy the creative and entertaining side of life. Starbucks also has a strong commitment to the environment and the company’s policy to recycle and conserve wherever possible is exemplified by the 10% discount it provides to customers who reduce waste by using their own mugs or refillable coffee bags. Starbucks offers these discounts to help stimulate environmental responsibility amongst its customers. As Starbucks grows and reaches new markets, the company has made a commitment to continue to be a strong supporter of non-profit organisations and events in all communities. Consumer research has found evidence that within each of the social classes there is a constellation of specific lifestyle factors (shared beliefs, attitudes, activities and behaviours) that tend to distinguish the members of each class from the members of each class from the members of all other social classes (Schiffman et al, 2001). Starbucks sells a lifestyle, to both customers and employees, and has followed the successful examples of other big corporations such as Coke, Nike and Sony by linking its brand with all things â€Å"cool† and â€Å"in†. Starbucks has created a style and ambience that has infused a certain new  chic and appeal into coffee, an age-old beverage, making it the hippest drink of today. Starbucks chooses to associate itself with all things bustling, active and vigourous. That is why locations of all the stores are carefully selected for convenience and Starbucks specifically targets places that are heavy with pedestrian street traffic. Some of the places that you would find a Starbucks, either in the form of a large store or a just a small kiosk (both ideal for just popping in for a quick take away coffee or for a nice light lunch break) would be at shopping centres, airport terminals and supermarket foyers, which are all places that are always hectic and filled to the brim with people who have busy lifestyles and are always on the go. Starbucks competes directly against specialty coffees sold at retail through supermarkets, specialty retails, and a growing number of other specialty coffee stores. In addition, Starbucks competes for whole bean coffee sales with franchise operators and independent specialty coffee stores. In virtually every major metropolitan area were Starbucks operates and expects to expand there are local or regional competitors with substantial market presence in the specialty coffee business. But Starbucks’ biggest competitor in the coffee industry is the Coffee Bean. Coffee Bean was started by Herbert B. Hyman in 1963 in California and became the pioneers in retailing whole bean coffee and loose tea leaves. Coffee Bean are the oldest importers, roasters and multi retailers of specialty coffee and tea in the United States. Like Starbucks, Coffee Bean offers a diverse range of original coffee, ice blends and roast styles as well as four varieties of daily brews including flavoured pre-ground coffee. Another similarity with Starbucks is that Coffee Bean also has a large offering of food and beverages that appeal to all age groups from all walks of life. In terms of needs, motivation and personality, Coffee Bean is all about building meaningful and respectful relationships with customers by finding or concocting a flavour for them. Coffee Bean will also toast your bagels, heat your pastries and personalise and custom make the drink or blend just  the way you would like it. With perception, Coffee Bean is a big believer in teamwork (just like Starbucks) as they feel that success is achieved by working together. Coffee Bean staff are friendly, and maintain amicable relationships between customers and each other. The employees have respect for each other’s values, opinions and individual personalities and are honest and truthful to themselves and each other. Another similarity with Starbucks is that Coffee Bean is actively involved with helping communities and make it their mission to develop the most complete community based programs around. As well as donating gift baskets, gift certificates, coupons, coffees and teas, Coffee Bean will gladly consider a donation to any organisation for various charitable events that directly benefit local community programs and local schools. Due to the phenomenal growth of the international coffee market, Coffee Bean has decided to solely concentrate on international franchises at the moment. Unlike Starbucks, who have a target mass market being the United States, most of the Coffee Bean outlets are in Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Taiwan etc.) and the Middle East (Israel, United Arab Emirates, Dubai etc.) Unlike Coffee Bean, Starbucks does not personalise their coffees or have different products to suit different countries’ tastes. Coffee Bean offers more food meals (pastas, soups,) and not only light meals (sandwiches, pastries, desserts) like Starbucks. Starbucks allows other distributors to sell its coffee, but Coffee Bean does not and Starbucks is affiliated with things such as the Herald Sun Newspaper and Hear Music. And the main advantage that Starbucks has over Coffee Bean is it’s effective use of celebrity appeal, which is a form of reference group

Factors influencing child development Essay

1.0 introduction In the study of development, nurture is defined as the environmental conditions that influence a child’s development (T. M McDevitt and J. E. Ormrod , 2010). A child’s home environment, friends with whom he spends time with, the food that he eats and the types of movies he watches — not to mention the content and or education background – are all the factors that influence his physical, social and cognitive development in both positive and negative perspective. In this paper, I will be focusing on nurture factors and how do these factors have influenced the development of the prominent figures that I have chosen which are Tun Dr. Mahathir, our very own 4th Prime Minister from Malaysia and Bill Gates, the billionaire, from United States of America. The development that I will be touching on is regarding the physical development, cognitive development as well as the language development. Read more:  Explain how children and young people’s development is influenced by a range of external factors essay 2.0 Tun Dr. Mahathir Tun Dr. Mahathir was the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He is fondly known as the â€Å"Father of Modern Malaysia†. He was born on the 10th July 1925 in Seberang Perak, Alor Setar, Malaysia, but his father, Mr Mohamed B. Iskandar, only registered his date of birth on 20th December 1925. His mother’s name is Wan Mas Tempawan Bt Wan Hanafi. He is the youngest in the family and is very close to his five brothers and sisters. He got married with Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Bt Haji Mohamed Ali on 5th August 1956 and were given seven children. After I went through Tun’s background, there are two nurture factors that contributed to his development. The nurture factors are as follow: 2 2.1 Nurture factors 2.1.1 Family Family has always become the priority in an individual’s life. In my humble opinion, every success of a man lies on their family supports and values. This statement is agreed by Tun Dr. Mahathir himself whereby he believes in  family values and close family relationship (Fam, Lee, Nawarmani Balakrishnan and R. Rajendran, 2006). During his childhood, Tun and his siblings were taught to behave with discipline in everything that they do (Mahathir, 2011). His father, Mr Mohamad B. Iskandar, is the first Malay Headmaster of the Government English School in Alor Setar. Whenever Tun Dr Mahathir and his siblings came back from school, their father would go through their homework with them. Even during the holidays, their father would sit down with them, patiently tutoring them and setting a timetable for them to do reading, school work etc. He would teach them the way that he taught his students in school. Apart from that, Tun and his siblings lived in awe of their father even though he never laid a hand on them. This is because the sound of their father’s cough was enough to send them scurrying back to their books and homework (Mahathir, 2011). They all studied at the big table in the front room and will only stop for dinner. It is such discipline that Tun Dr Mahathir grew up to be a well-mannered and educated man with good values. Thus, I would say that family plays a very important role to develop a child’s cognitive development. In fact, family is the biggest influence during childhood, as the children view their parents as their role models. 3 2.1.2 Education Besides family, education also plays a vital role in the development of Tun Dr. Mahathir. Despite the informal education that he got from his own family, he also went to school to get his early education. He started schooling when he was 5 years old in a Malay School in Jalan Seberang Perak. He has the determination of wanted to have a better education than what most Malays had at that time. For that, he went to English School and passed his examination. At school, the students were not allowed to speak any languages other than English language. So with such practice, Tun Dr Mahathir developed his language development and is able to converse English language fluently. All these happened during his primary school days. After he finished his primary school, he then went to Sultan Abdul Hamid College to do his secondary education. However, during that time, the Second World War started. As a result, it was difficult for him to study and he decided to  seek for a job. So, he started his business mind and thought of something to sell. Together with his two friends, he set up a stall selling coffee and ‘Kuih’ (Malaysian cakes). He made a good business with the stall and soon was able to sell the stall for a good sum of money. This matter showed he has a good acute business sense. After selling the stall, he moved to a better location at a small complex. He then thought of selling fried bananas. He made money selling the fried bananas and also made many friends. This incident proves that, at a very young age, he is able to think, strategize, and find solution for any problems that occur. 4 Indirectly saying, Tun was exposed to cognitive skills through his own experiences not only from education but also from the business perspective. In 1945, after the Second World War ended, Tun Dr Mahathir resumed his education at Sultan Abdul Hamid College where he sat for and passed his Cambridge Examination. He did a lot of reading on political issues in his father’s huge library in school. He gained a lot of information from his reading. From here, it is proven that Tun also developed his cognitive skills by reading books especially in political issues. In school, joining extra-curricular activities was part of the system. Therefore, Tun joined the rugby club although he was not very interested in games and sports but then he found out that he quite enjoyed playing rugby (Fam, Lee, Nawarmani Balakrishnan and R. Rajendran, 2006). From here, I would say that school activities play a significant role in shaping Tun physical development such as grass motor skills, which includes running. Finally, in the year 1947, after he had gone through much experience in working, he then continued his tertiary education in medical field at the King Edward VII Medical College, Singapore. With all the skills that he got from early of his primary school up to secondary school and working experiences, I do not think Tun will face a problem in his studies especially when it comes to speaking skills and finding solution to any problems. 5 3.0 Bill Gates The way Bill Gates was brought up is different from Tun Dr. Mahathir. Unlike  Tun, his education plays a significant role in shaping his development. In contrast, after I went through Bill Gates’s biography, I found out that it is his peers that have influenced his success. He and his partner, Paul Allen, built the world’s largest software business called Microsoft. In the process, Gates became one of the richest men in the world (The Biography Channel Website, 2004). There are two nurture factors that contributed to his development. The nurture factors are as follow: 6 3.1 Nurture Factors 3.1.1 Family Bill Gates was born on 28th October 1955, in Seattle, Washington, United States of America. His real name is William Henry Gates III. His father’s name is William Henry II who works as an attorney and his mother’s name is Mary Maxwell, who works as a teacher. Bill gates grew up in an upper middle-class family with two sisters: Kristianne and Lubby (The Biography Channel Website, 2004). The Gates family atmosphere was warm and close and all three children were encouraged to be competitive and strive for excellence. It is such discipline that made him a very competitive person. For example, Bill showed early signs of competitiveness when he coordinated family athletic games at their summer house on Puget Sound (The Biography Channel Website, 2004). Bill Gates was a voracious reader when he was a child (The Biography Channel Website, 2004). He would spend most of his time by looking for information in reference books such as encyclopaedia. Gates weird behaviour made his parents more concerned of his academic achievement. Thus, he was sent to Seattle’s Lakeside School. As a result, at age 13, he blossomed in nearly all the subjects and also doing very well in drama. At a very young age, his cognitive development was trained by his family. Thus, by that kind of environment – competitive among his siblings, excel in academic field – has made him become one of the most influential persons in the globe. 7 3.1.2 Peers As I mentioned earlier, Bill Gates and his business partner, Paul Allen, both shared the same interest over computers. It is through peers that Gates  slowly developed his cognitive skills in computer field. It all started when both of them eventually met in high school when their school offered computer class for the students. Although the two were very different in their personality – Bill was feisty and combative, in contrast, Allen was more reserved and shy (The Biography Channel Website, 2004). But all in all, I believe, with such differences that have made them a good companion. At the age of 15, Bill and Allen went into business by creating â€Å"Traf-o-Data†, a computer program that monitored traffic patterns in Seattle. Believe it or not, their efforts had made a total profit of $20,000. Another big project that they had worked together was with Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS). Both of them worked days and nights until they got hired by the company. Until in the year 1975, Gates and Allen formed a partnership. This partnership was called Micro-Soft, a blend of â€Å"micro-computer† and â€Å"software†. In a child’s development, peers play a vital role in shaping any abilities or talents that a child has (Barnes. S, 2014). As for Bill Gates case, he enjoyed making friend with Paul Allen because both of them shared the same interest over computer. Plus, their interest does not even affect their achievement in academic. In fact, Bill Gates excelled in his studies. 8 4.0 Conclusion In brief, after I went through both the prominent figures’ biography, I found out that the nurture factors of a child comes hand in hand with physical development, cognitive development as well as language development . Due to the fact that both the prominent figures differ from the way they have been brought up, it is clearly evident that nurture factors do play a vital role in their development. One of the biggest nurture factors in a child’s development, I would say, is family. In social studies, family is one and the most important agents of socialization (Macionis, J.J., 2012). Through the teaching, support, surroundings and values that the family have, it will somehow and eventually determine a child development. If the family have a good background – despite the parents’ academic achievement, enough nutrition being given by the parents, etc – indirectly, a child will face zero problems in any aspects of their development. 9 REFERENCES Barnes. S. (2014). Peer Relationships, Protective Factors, and Social Skill Development in Low- Income Children. Retrieved from, http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/opus/issues/2013/fall/barnes, on April, 2014. Bill Gates (2014). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 06:35, Apr 1, 2014, from http://www.biography.com/people/bill-gates-9307520. Joan Fam L. H, Lee, Nawarmani Balakrishnan & R. Rajendran (2006). Tun Dr. Mahathir’s legacy: An inspirational learning experience. Kuala Lumpur: Krista Education Sdn Bhd. Macionis. J. J. (2012). Sociology. United States of America: Pearson Education, Inc. Mahathir Bin Mohamad (2011). A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Mahathir Muhamad. Selangor : MPH Group Publishing Sdn.Bhd. T. M McDevitt &J. E. Ormrod (2010). Nature and nurture. Retrieved, April 3, 2014, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/nature-nurture/