Psychology

Categorization is a process of group conceptualization, where things tend to be classified according to what the person behind the classification thinks fit best. Normally entities are classified according to similar characteristics so that those which have common characteristics are grouped together. The field sometimes depends on training that someone is given when the person is being oriented to the world and it is not easy to change what one believes in. A common phenomenon worth of concern for psychological theories is the vagueness of many conceptual categories. Even though all categories can be said to have clear members and clear non-members, there are exceptions that are borderline to a category. There is always an element of vagueness in the use of common language terms that are sometimes fuzzy rendering some instances un-decidable. In relation to vagueness, it is the typicality of a category which is used as a core tenet of the prototype theory (Rosch,  Mervis, 1975 578).
The following study is aimed at looking at the ways in which people have classified in the past what influences them and are they successful or the contrary applies. This introduction part is aimed at justifying the classification methods used as either significant or insignificant and if so what do they require to incorporate to be successful. Members belonging to one category tend to have like features and the big question here is typicality, what role does it play in the mental representation of a category

In the recent times psychologists have renewed their interest in mental categories and their learning. The reason behind this is the rekindling of interest that has got to do with some apparently positive findings that seem to make the topic investigatable. In regard to this case what seems positive is the recent discussion on some concepts which were first addressed by Wittgenstein in (1953) followed by some concrete evidence later who seemed to second the findings of Wittgenstein Rosch (1981)  who found out some powerful empirical demonstrations of prototypicality effects. This paper is a continuation of a discussion and interpretation of protypicality theory of mental categories in light of some experiments which have been done. In summary, the findings lead to a cluster of descriptions which are less satisfactory for a theory of human conceptual structure which might have been hoped.

    A core idea in the study of categories is that members of one category are thought of having resemblance to their colleagues in the group and the members vary in their degree of typicality. The hypothesis in this introductory study is that the more typical an item is of the given category, the faster subjects will be to judge whether it is a member of that category. Subjects to a particular group have been found to take more time to confirm category membership when the thing is typical, and to take less time when it is a typical example. In this case the independent variable is the archetypal of the stimulus item and the dependent variable is reaction time (Wittgenstein, 1953 67).    The nature of cognitive representation of semantic categories at times bears a direct relevance to two important areas of psychological inquiry. The first one deals with the structure of categories and concepts and has implications for the way in which concepts and concept attainment should be studied in psychological research (Rosch, 1975 577). The second area is the nature of mental representations in General, a high-flying concern in the post behaviorist study of mental events (Putnam, 1975 1177). In respect to the issue of the nature of categories, Rosch has argued that many traditions of thought in psychology, linguistics and anthropology imply that categories are Aristotelian in nature implying that the categories are coherent, clearly bounded entities whose membership is distinct of an items possession of a simple set criterial features, in which all instances possessing the criterial attributes have full and equal degree of membership.

    It is worth of notice further that a domain which has lent itself to the manifestation of a type of categorical structure of contradictory to the Aristotelian is that of colour. There is evidence that colour categories are processed by the human mind, in terms of their internal structure colour categories have been found to be represented in cognition not as a set criterial features with clear-cut boundaries but rather in terms of a prototype of the category, surrounded by other colours of decreasing similarity to the prototype and of decreasing degree of membership. Categorization is aimed at using identities which will be having very clear cutting lines and not just approximations as in the case of colour because every person perceives colour in his own way so the categorization might be in different ways. There is also a case of people who are colour blind, how are they going to go through this exercise yet they dont have clear cuts on which colour they are seeing and which they are not. For Rosch, colour is a perceptual domain and its categorization is probably physiologically based because not all categories have an obvious perceptual basis and many categories may be culturally relative.

    Categorization has to address questions on how elements can be considered to belong in one category and how other categories are eliminated from certain groups. For example people can divide the world of objects into the dogs and non-dogs. The clearest demonstration that people do acquire and use such a category is that all of them, in a linguistic community, standardly use the same word dog to refer to more or less the same creatures.  In relation to this we can distinguish the extension of a dog from its category and from its linguistic title. All the real and projected creatures in the world that properly fall into the category dog form the extension of the category dog the English word is used to refer to the domesticated animal at home for security purposes and the category dog may be used to represent some mental representation that fixes the conditions under which the word dog is used. It is at many instances we have heard people abusing others as dogs and it really has to take the context to denote the meaning of using such an explanation where the animal is absent.

    Cognitive psychologists have been under criticism of the mental bases for some categorizations and what is the internal structure of such categories A possible answer to the puzzle would be that the word dog refers to a category that is unanalysable and such holistic theories have never been considered till recently. The reason for their unpopularity would be attributed to the desire to limit the set of atomic categories or elementary discriminations with which human must be assumed to be endowed. Some traditional theories have had an assumption that most common words are cover labels for mental categories that are themselves bundles of simpler mental categories. Knowledge of complex categories is then built by recognizing that some sensible elements recur together in the encounters of the sensorium with the external world and so by association get bundled together. Maybe for example what we call bird in English is an animal that flies, has wings, feathers, lays eggs and back limbs covered with scales. As by many proponents of feature theories, it is the structure of the real world as observed by the learner that gives rise to such categorizations and in the back of the mind of that person what has feathers tends to fly and lay eggs belongs to the complex category bird.

    A host of thinkers have shown that there is an enormous difficulty in explicating even so simple and a concrete a concept as a bird. They have also revealed that the difficulty becomes greater by orders of magnitude when confronted with an abstract functional concept like game. Perhaps psychologists are more than a little over exuberant in supposing it will be easier to explicate the concept concept (Putnam, 1975 1177). Arguments of whether a Childs language develops by becoming more or less abstract have received considerable attention (Putnam, 1975 1178). The present method makes possible a detailed investigation of the nature of the mental representations generated by category terms at any level of abstraction. The addition of such knowledge may make possible greater understanding of the nature of psychological representation, the nature of taxonomies and the process of abstraction.

It is a scientific study that tries to understand and explain thoughts, emotion and behaviors.

        Attachment theory happens to be a part of psychology that explains interpersonal relationships between people. Children tend to seek an attachment figure in situations their minds are unable to solve. Probably most of the time an attachment to an adult is inevitable since children are sensitive and responsive in social interactions. In this case adults mould the children behavior, guiding their feelings and expectations in a later relationship.

Mary Ainsworth in her work, Strange Situation Protocol deduced four types of children attachment.

Secure Attachment, also known as Rapprochement
This kind of attachment places children at a confident position of security. Children are able to inter-relate with the surrounding and when security is provided during the time of need, a child is educated on how to cope with challenges in future. Secure attachment therefore is the most adaptive attachment relationship when the child needs are appropriately attended to.

InsecureAnxious-Avoidant Attachment
A child shows little or no emotions to the surrounding. A child displays an avoidance behavior towards the parent or completely ignores the parents. This type of attachment develops when the parenting style is questionable, i.e. the child loses confidence in the parent, if constantly the parent perceives the child needs are less important.

InsecureAmbivalent-Resistant Attachment
        This type of attachment develops if the parent on one hand puts his or her own priorities at forefront but later attends to the needs of the child. This kind of attachment is imbalanced since the parent does not initiate the attention unless it is related to the parent interest at the moment. The child is anxious of the surrounding and to strangers. The absence of the parent leaves the child insecure and the child becomes ambivalent on return of the parent. When the parent tries to initiate attention, the child is resentful.

Insecure-Disorganized
This type of attachment develops when the child perceives the parent to be frightening, or not comfortable to be around with. The child cannot cope with the parent and lacks a role model. This mode is ineffective since it cannot render a child to be self confident and cannot offer a figure to be attached to.

         With the above kind of attachment relationships, taking your child to school in the first day is hectic and unpredictable on how the child can cope with the change of personality, surrounding, and a figure to relate to. For example in the first day of the day care with an understanding of your child putting into considerations your child has the following can be put in the back pack.

For a Security Attached Child
         Put favorite toys, and a note to the care giver. These children are playful and social. However, they feel secure when a visible figure who they perceive can attend to them in times of need. A note to the care giver with details of how to tackle various issues if the child needs them is essential. Toys are basic, for interactivity with other children. These kids are social and as a parent, toys are the best tools to keep the child busy.


For InsecureAnxious-Avoidant Attachment
         For such a kid toys will keep the child with its own preservations since it does not mind about the absence of parents. A note should be placed in the back pack for the caregiver with instructions that too much attention irritates the kid.

InsecureAmbivalent-Resistant Attachment
        Put a parent photo in the back pack or anything that the child is used to seeing with the parent. This will assist as a constant reminder of the parent to the child. In this case the child will remain ambivalent in some ways and with no one trying to seek attention the child can be occupied with toys.

For Disorganized Attachment
        Put items like toys which will engage the mind of the child into organizing objects. After various attempts the caregiver will have to help the child out. In such a situation the child is able to attach to the care giver without fear

2. In Vygotsky zone of proximal development Vygotsky defines inter psychology as the means by which learning is presented to a child a social-interactive way by a parent, teacher and maybe from colleagues. Educators at this instance are encouraged to provide a very interactive social setting for education. On the other hand intra psychology is the means to which the learning internalizes inside the child (Vygotsky 1978).

This theory is helpful in assessing a child potential development. The adverse effect in this Vygotsky theory is that a child no longer becomes self reliance in learning and may over rely on the more experienced colleagues, remember this theory offers a set up where the child and the teacher relate in a group setting, either in group work or teams.

           Scaffolding becomes the alternative in facilitation of Vygotsky theory as proposed by Wood, Brunner, and Ross (1976). This concept is to achieve three objectives, i.e. reducing the extent of freedom with which a child has to cope, utilize tactics to focus attention and provide models of expectation. When a child becomes more used to a role the over-reliance on the teacher or any other guiding person reduces. It happens that with success of a role the confidence of the child builds-up and aspires for greater roles. When a child fails a role, a teacher control over the role should be displayed again in a manner that encourages retrial of the role or any other means to redo the role.

           With an example of fishing, there is a rod, a hook and a bait, teach the child how to hold the rod and put the bait at the end of the hook. The more the child acquires the holding of the rod the more the parent eases the grip on the rod allowing the child more control. The child may get nervous at the first catch and may lose the grasp of the rod when a fish is caught at the hook but with patience and more trials the child is able to concentrate. With catching of small fish to big fish attention and interest of fishing becomes more. In order to assert more courage as a parent also have your own fishing rod and try to compete with your child, you will get amazed by the development, the child gets exited and even tries to perfect the art of fishing by itself. Make sure that you only guide the child to fish at the beginning and do not control the child when you note progress. Continued control of the act will reduce self-motivation on the kid and may lead to disliking of the fishing process.

Differences in temperament can be noticed even from when a child is still an infant. Some children are born and are fussy from day one, sensitive to any background noise, easily startled and have irregular sleeping and eating patterns and then others are mellow calm and quickly adjust to the eating and sleeping routines.

Thomas and chess depict three patterns or collection of temperament individuality that control the parent-child relationship and family life. It is also important to bear in mind that parents like children, they also differ in temperament. Some parents are quick in reacting and intense, while others are quiet and slow to respond. This blend between the parents and children has a very burly effect on family life, occasionally it can lead to positive relations, sometimes to aggravation, and sometimes it can even lead to disagreements. From a number of qualitative judgments of parental temperament, however, it is clear that there is no simple linear relationship between parent-child temperament match and the developmental outcome in the child (Chess  Thomas, p. 192). The three patterns of temperament are Flexible, Fearful and Feisty.

    It is very important for a parent to understand hisher childs temperament so as to know how to react to them when it comes to certain situations. It can also assist the parent when making decisions that will affect the family. An example is a parent going on vacation by Airplane will need to learn there childs individuality so as to know how they will act in response to a plane ride.

Flexible temperament
    Children with this type of temperament tend to nap and feed at regular times, they are easy to potty train they are generally not selective and are always cheerful. A child with this temperament you find that they will easily adapt to new situations. Needless to say when it comes to a parent planning a trip by airplane they need not worry about there child if they have this temperament. To this child it will be an adventure, in most cases they will be thrilled to experience something new in there lives and will focus more on the fun of flying as opposed to the fears that might come with it.
A child with this type of individuality is the easiest child to get along with and will enjoy any activity planed for the family. But it is important for the parent or caregiver of this child to set aside time to talk to them and find out if they have any concerns about the plane ride, since a child who is flexible will not willingly let you know what is bothering them.

Fearful temperament
    Fearful children tend to be withdrawn and take time to adapt to new situations. They more time and attention to warm up to new people and adapt to situations. A parent or caregiver with a child who is fearful will need to avail themselves more to the child.

When planning for the airplane ride the parent will need to prepare the child well in advance. Explain to them everything that they will have to do to prepare for the ride. For instance tell them about taking off the shoes while going through security, the sounds the airplane makes while take off or landing. Let the child tell you what they think can make the airplane ride fun and let them do it if it is within the airplane policy. Let the child carry something they can relate to that is familiar to them such as a toy, this will serve as a good distraction and will make them forget the fear they have.

Feisty temperament
    A child with this temperament can be a handful. They will make sure that everyone around them knows when they are discontented about a situation and are very intense. The good side is they will also let you know when they are satisfied. These children are usually on the extremes in every emotion they experience. They are very sensitive, irregular, moody, active and very distractible. For a parent with a child who is feisty they will need to prepare the child in advance and let them know about the planned airplane ride.  Although, the parent should be prepared to have an alternative means of transport incase they refuse to go on an airplane ride.

The study is about gender difference in self-esteem and engagement, There have been a lot of research indicating that a gender gap between males and females exist because of disengagement. The hypothesis is set to append the notion that women are weaker in terms of self-esteem and mathematical ability. The methods used to measure the variables is a 20 item questionnaire on the four basic operational method attached with is a 7-point Likert scale about self-esteem and disengagement. The result showed no difference between gender in terms of self esteem and mathematical ability.

Gender difference on self-esteem and math engagement
    The categorization of men coming from Mars and women coming from Venus can more than substantiate that each gender is definitive. Case in point, men are known to be physically stronger, temperamental, and hard headed compared to women who are known to be emotionally stable, svelte, and composed. Even in terms of moral development both gender have different scale to measure what is morally correct. So it is not hard to assume that on other aspects of life this difference will continue.

    For example on the field of education, women who are less aggressive take up mainly those that rely on discourse such as philosophy, anthropology, creative writing, and theater while men who are known to be aggressive will mainly take courses on engineering ad math-related courses (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2007). In the same vein, the paper would like to address the issue on gender difference centered on self-esteem and math engagement. The paper would like to hypothesize on the two variables. For self-esteem we hypothesize only an inequality frame by gender interaction on self-esteem. Specifically, we hypothesize that when gender inequality in math is framed as females being disadvantaged, women will have higher self-esteem then men. In contrast, when the gender inequality is framed as males being advantaged, men will have higher self-esteem then women. For Math engagement, We hypothesize only an inequality frame by gender interaction on math engagement. Specifically, we hypothesize that when gender inequality in math is framed as females being disadvantaged, men will be more engaged in math then women. In contrast, when the gender inequality is framed as males being advantaged, women will be more engaged in math then men.

Review of related literature
    The theory on disengagement started from the belief that because of cultural gender stereotyping the gender who is perceived to be of lesser importance will automatically withdraw and subsequently not participate in a field of discourse (Schmader, Major,  Gramzow, 2001). Since self-esteem is an integral factor in growing is was best advised by Cast and Burke (2002) that it is important to cultivate view of oneself. For this will not only help you through negative predicaments but can also help you verify your identity which leads to motivation (Cast  Burke, 2002). If a person has enough motivation they become more capable of out performing their definition on the cultural context.

    On Schwalbe and Staples (1999) research about gender difference and self-esteem they found that a genders role in society affects a persons view on worth. The study concluded that women are greatly affected by feedback. If a woman, for example, tried playing golf and came in last she automatically feels bad and prevents from playing the game. For men, they view self-esteem if there is basis for comparison. For example, a young man tries to run a 400-meter course and the time he clocked was better than other men he will have greater self-esteem compared to those who clocked at longer time. If this is true then it can imply that men will strive to compete more to assure themselves the knowledge that they are greater than the rest increasing their self-worth in the end.

    The implication of gender difference can greatly be seen on the academic setting. It has been concluded by a dozen of research that women are superior in terms of achievement in the academe but some research suggested otherwise. On Gorard, Rees, and Salisbury s (2001) study they were able to test the hypothesis by measuring level of achievements of both gender onn the most common subject matters Math, Science, and English. The conclusion they arrived to was that the gap that people thought of between genders is not at all significant. Both gender are evenly matched. Though some of the results presented slightly elevated numbers for the women sample it was not statistically significant to make a case. This only implies that both gender can easily adapt to its environment. The conclusion derived from the study was also the same conclusion on Ding, Song, and Richardsons (2002) study. They were able to conclude that there is not enough evidence to suggest that women or men is greater when it comes to academic achievement. The results of the examination showed that both gender have the same growth in Mathematics performance. The only contrasting description that came out of the study was the higher grade-point average of women. But on Felson and Trudeaus (1991) study the findings were different the study showed that men have higher test results o mathematics while women have higher test results on subjects other than Mathematics. What these implies is that there is not enough data to assume which gender is better.

Method
Participants
    The proposed number of participants was set at 80 but due to unavoidable circumstances the total number of participants became 79. 40.5 of the participants were females while 59.5 were males. The age range of the participants is 47, the minimum age of the participant was 12 and 59 as the maximum. The mean age is 25.04, and standard deviation at 9.26.

    Out of all who participated 71 were able to give their school year. There were participants from all the year levels. Seven participants came from first year, 8 from second year, 19 from the third year, 21 from the fourth year, and 16 from the fifth year students. While 8 students were not able to give out their age. With standard deviations at 1.239 years. The mean years in school was 3.44. 40.5 of the sample came from the female population while 59.5 from the male population.

Materials and design
    A ready made questionnaire was used to measure mathematical ability of the participants. It was a 7-minute standardized math exam used by students on Psychology 311 that is designed to measure gender inequalities in Mathematics. The tests is a 20-item arithmetic test that is focused on the four basic operations.

    The questionnaire also asks about the participants attitude to oneself and their math ability before and after taking the 7-minute arithmetic operations test. They are presented with a 7-point Likert-type scale to assess, questions like how do they feel when they do well on math and at times I think I am no good at all.

    The demographics part asked for age, year in school, gender, and racial background. It also asked for the participants GPA, math SATACT score, verbal SATACT score, and the percentile rank o the math exam. And the last part asked about the cause of gender inequality.

Procedure
    Participants are randomly selected to avoid affecting the reliability of the results of the examination. After being briefed about the study they were asked to take the examination for 10-15 minutes. There were two specific conditions before and after taking the math examination. The first condition was that not all participants are going to read the same article on gender disadvantage. Half of the participants read women are at a disadvantage while the other half read that men are at a disadvantage. After taking the math exam a feedback was given, another condition was given here again. All participants received false feedback on their results. All participants were told that they performed badly on the examination before they proceeded to rate their self-esteem to measure how negative feedback affects ones self-esteem. The test was administered for a whole day.

Results
    All the participants were able to gauge their self-esteem and were able to take the examination. For self-esteem the minimum rate they were bale to rate themselves was at 1.80 indicating low self-esteem with a maximum value on 6. Compared to self-esteem questions participants viewed themselves at extreme.

    For participants who read the article on female disadvantage the mean value of their self-esteem is M4.75058. With female participants mean at M4.7375 and male participants at M4.6828. For participants who read male disadvantage the mean value of their self-esteem is slightly higher at M4.8640. With the female population increasing their self-esteem with mean score at M5.1375 and men having lower self-esteem with mean score at M4.6889.

    Under math engagement, those who read about female disadvantage had mean score of M4.75 while those who read about male disadvantage had mean score of 4.8049. The general SD for math engage is SD4.7785. Male participants who read about female disadvantage had greater means score compared to the female counterpart, the means score for male was M5.2727 compared to female participants who had 4.0313 with SD at SD4.750. While the same effect happened female participants read about male disadvantage. The female participants had M5.0625 while the male population had M4.6400 and the SD was at SD4,8049.

    The result showed that majority of the male participants who were given articles on gender advantage were eager to solve the math problems even though they were given negative feedback their self-esteem was never affected. On the other, when the male participants were given article on female disadvantage, they would not feel eager, and when given the negative feedback their self-esteem decreases. The same notion applies to females.

    The results did not revealed a significant main effect of inequality framing, F(1,75)  1.56, p .05, or of gender, F(1,75)  2.39, p .05 for self-esteem. In contrast to our hypothesis, there was not a significant interaction between inequality frame and gender, F(1,75)  1.47, p .05.

    The results did not revealed a significant main effect of inequality framing, F(1,75)  .55, p .05, or of gender, F(1,75)  2.31, p .05 for math engagement. There was a significant inequality frame by gender interaction, F(1,75)  9.55, p .05.  In partial support of our hypothesis, when the inequality was framed as female disadvantage, men were more engaged in math then women. In contrast to our hypothesis, when the inequality was framed as male advantage, men and women did not differ in their level of math engagement.

Discussion
    The purpose of the study is to gauge how gender has effect on self-esteem and mathematical ability. Based on the findings there were no significant results to indicate that self-esteem is affected by gender nor can did it affect mathematical enagement. The findings were not able to support claims that women show poor self-esteem because they are not good in mathematics as well as for me.

    The study easily appended the findings done by other researchers wherein they hypothesized that there was no truth in regard to gender gap on self-esteem and math engagement. The issue on gender gap might have just been an issue on double standards. The findings of the study were the same as those that indicated that women are less competitive just because they see obstacles in front of them.

    The result of the study could have been affected by the variables. Since it only measured the difference on arithmetic ability, the result is one-sided. To further prove that there is no existing gender difference in regard to education, other variables such as Science and English should be taken into consideration. The apparatus used on the study should have more items to increase the reliability to measure knowledge.

Sleeping is a natural physiological process in mammals, birds and reptiles and therefore human beings find themselves requiring sleep as part of life (Sleepdex, 2009). The reason as to why people need to get sleep is however based on several theories developed by scientists in this field. Perhaps a better understanding of the need to sleep can be better understood by looking at disorders that are associated with sleep. This paper looks into the history of sleep with specific focus on why human beings need to get sleep. In addition, the paper also discusses some common sleep disorders such as insomnia, narcolepsy and sleepwalking.

Why do we need to get sleep
    Many theories have been developed as an effort to explain sleep and more so the need to get sleep. Aristotle (c.350 BCE) is noted to have described sleep as an inhibition of sense of perception for conservation (ThinkQuest, 2009). This was a view that suggested that sleep was necessary as a way of renewing the body. Research on sleep has from then taken different dimensions with the aim of understanding the process of sleep as well as the importance of sleep. Basically, there are some explanations that have been proposed as a result of this research.

    Sleep is believed to renew the brain by allowing neuronal repair and exercise of some vital connections which when left unexercised would breakdown. This repair theory is not only associated with repair of the neurons but also helps in the repair and restoration of muscle tissue and aging cells. Sleep is therefore a means of refreshing the body and restoring spent energy. This may be due to lowering of the metabolic rate as well as the rate of energy consumption. During sleep, important hormones are also secreted thus helping in building the body. Growth hormone is particularly secreted during sleep in children and young adults. Sleep helps in restoration of the brain such that data reorganization, information processing and memory renewal are highly boosted by sleep. The importance of sleep is emphasized by the need to have the cardiovascular system rest thus maintaining a normal functioning. Failure to get enough sleep is associated with impairment of the immune system (Sleepdex, 2009).

    Although plays important roles in the body of human beings, sleeping disorders such as insomnia, narcolepsy and sleepwalking deny some people these benefits.
Insomnia

    Insomnia is a condition characterized by difficulties in falling or staying asleep. Sleep-onset insomnia is characterized by trouble falling asleep whereas sleep-maintenance insomnia is depicted by recurrent awakenings and feelings of tiredness after waking up. Two types of insomnia have been identified primary insomnia and secondary insomnia. Secondary insomnia is more common with 8 in 10 insomnia patient suffering from secondary insomnia. The insomnia is related with some medical conditions or medications whereas primary insomnia is believed to occur due some changes in life such as chronic stress and emotional disturbances and 10 of the population have primary insomnia. Insomnia leads to excessive sleeping at daytime, malaise, increased anxiety and depression. Psychological disturbances such as poor concentration and memory loss are also associated with insomnia (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Diseases and Control Index, 2009).

Narcolepsy
    This is a chronic neurological disorder whereby the brain is unable to regulate sleep-wake cycles making the sufferers experience short-lived urges to sleep at daytime. The sleeping episodes never last for more than just a few minutes. It is estimated that 1 in 2000 Americans have this sleeping disorder and the disorder affects males and females in almost equal proportions. The main symptom characterizing narcolepsy is excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) occurring in 100 percent of the individuals. With EDS, the patients normal activities are hampered daily regardless of whether the patient got sufficient sleep or not. Cataplexy (quick loss of muscle tone) is also seen in up to 70 of the patients whereas sleep paralysis and hallucinations are just mild. Initial symptoms usually present at the age of 10 to 25 years (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, 2009).

Sleepwalking
    Sleepwalking is also known as somnambulism and this is a sleep disorder whereby a person walks or gets involved in other doings while apparently still asleep. Classified as a rapid eye movement (REM) behavior, the disorder mainly characterizes during the dream stage. Persons with the sleepwalking behavior are believed to be unable to release a certain chemical that paralyzes the body during sleep. The disorder that is common in childhood is characterized by quite walking around the room or sometimes frantic running with the eyes open in a staring mood. It is often difficult to bring the person into senses during the episode and they usually forget about the episode completely. The disorder has a familial relationship although environmental patterns such as sleep deprivation, stress, anxiety and drug and substance abuse are known causes. The disorder is known to lead to obstructive sleep apnea, nighttime asthma, and psychiatric disorders among other conditions (WebMD, 2009).

    Sleep is very important for normal physiologic functioning of the human body and mind. Failure to get sufficient sleep often leads to sleep disorders that interfere with normal body functioning and daily activities. The most effective remedy for these sleep disorders is to get enough and fulfilling sleep in addition to addressing other reasons behind lack of enough sleep.

The effects of heredity and environment on human development have been an issue of major concern in the determination of who we are and what we become. Controversies arise regarding the role of heredity and environment in determining the character traits of a person (Powell, 2009).

Genetics issues
    According to Powell, (2007) genes play a very key role in determining the characteristics of a person such as the hair color, eye color, and height. The sum total of a persons character traits are a result of genes interaction. On the other hand one gene may be responsible for a wide range of characters, meaning that, as long as a person has the gene then heshe expresses the trait. Everybody has two genes for one trait. One of the genes is obtained from the father while the other one is obtained from the mother. Some of the genes may be dominant while others are recessive. Incase a person do not have the dominant gene then the recessive gene is expressed. The genetic information of a person is encoded in the DNA.

Environmental issues
    Psychology researchers however, are more interested in factors that are moderately less determined by heredity. These are factors which are subject to environmental influence, like the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves. Given the fact that the determination of a persons character from heredity point of view varies from one dimension to another, it becomes very difficult to understand the intricate relationship between them and also to determine the relative influence of genetics and nature for the development of various human character traits.

Heredity contributes to the development of various personal traits (Kinder, 2009).
    Theorists state that if identical twins are placed under similar environmental condition they will tend to acquire similar character trait, but their theory is disapproved by psychology researchers. Psychology researchers believe that one of the twins may react positively while the other reacts negatively or may fail to react at all. Individuals can react similarly or differently to similar condition depending on their genetic composition. Environmental factors cannot be manipulated to create similar character traits on all individuals (Fedder, 2007).
Correlation between genetics and environment

    A childs character is subject to the balance of their experiences and their parents genetic make up. The environment in which a person is raised, the company heshe keeps, and the parental guidance heshe gets have a very big impact on what a person turns out to be. A child who was born in an abusive society tends to be very abusive also. If such a child is adopted by a family where she is taught good morals the childs lifestyle is most likely to change for better (Powell, 2007).

    Some traits expressions on an individual are influenced by the environment while others like polydactyl, eye color, hair color, free or attached earlobes, and the ability to fold the tongue are not influenced by the environment. A very good example which indicates how the environment may affect the expression of a certain trait is shown by the Siamese Cats. If ice parks are placed on a shaved belly of a Siamese cat, the replacement hair tends to be dark. When the tail of a Siamese cat is shaved and subjected to higher temperature, the replacement fur changes coloration from dark to light. Siamese cats are known to have dark marking on their extremities due to lower temperatures than the normal body temperature (Welch, 1973). The rubella virus is an environmental factor that directly affects an unborn child. This virus crosses the placental blood barrier and if this happens during the early stages of development, it may result to hearing defects, and other adverse damages to the child. Anoxia is another environmental factor that may lead to development of adverse defects to the baby later in life. This is a condition where the body organs of a baby are in severe oxygen deprivation in cases where the baby is entangled with the umbilical cord or is too big that it cannot fit the birth canal properly. (Kinder, 2009)

    Genetics and environments have been shown to play a role in influencing the traits of a person.  Genetics have an impact on a persons physical make up and skills while relationships determine the impact of a persons character and his behavior. People do not become who they are just because they were born, but the environment in which they are raised also plays a very major part.

There are numerous issues which are taboo in the society we live in, and children born with ambiguous genitalia are no different. Not, perhaps to the society as much, but, to the parents they are born to. The first question asked from parents is about the gender of the child and the ambiguous gender most often proves to be a source of embarrassment for them, which is a natural psychological effect for parents who look forward to or picture a perfect child (Veronique 2007, p 81). The surrogate decision by the parents involves numerous factors the consideration of childs future, financial issues involved and the ethical conflicts.

The main question that arises is why the parents should be given the power to choose instead of the health care team Usually the parents are given the autonomy of decision as they are the ones who were related to the child before the situation. As each case differs medically, decision should be based initially on the medical complications that may arise in the future such as according to the United Kingdom Testicular Cancer Study Group, to prevent malignancy, testes may later need to be removed. Thus, the decision carefully needs to be made with the doctors concerned.

Uncertainty in the future of any surrogate decision, taken by the parents in affirmative or negative, would exist. Bringing up the child in question should be done accordingly, to share the decisions made and how the child is different from the normal male or female sex (Lynn 2000, p 171). If the decision is taken in an affirmative, the positive effects would be as follows Alleviation of social ridicule that the child may face in school and further in high school, confidence about its sexual identity and less financial concerns.

However, its not always about financial concern for the parents. Consideration of the childs feeling holds greater value the following issues do arise when it comes to the decision-making process Transferring agency of decision-making (that may differ from the parents once the child is an adult), affect on relationship with parents and the difference of decision of the child in adulthood (nothing should be done surgically that would be unalterable in future micro-penises should be left in place and ovaries and uterus should not be removed).

If the decision that is taken is against the sex-reassignment procedure at birth, then the parents should take particular care in bringing up the child as such that heshe is able to take a well thought decision whether to have the operation, when ready for it or not to go through the procedure at all. The major advantage is the positive relationship that will be built between the parents and the child as heshe will like the fact that the decision was left for himher to be made instead of being already made for him (John 2000, p 101).

In between the array of factors that is needed to be considered by the parents when making a decision, once of the major factors involved is the cost involved. If the surgery is performed at birth or during infancy then it is justified by the doctors as correction of a necessary birth defect. As an infant, heshe would not need a psychological treatment as well and the medical costs involved would be minimal. When and if left to the future, there would be numerous modus operandi involved under the cosmetic procedure. Moreover, the continuous testosterone injections up to the point of operation and post-operative psychological treatment that is essential for the patient involves major finances, which is not generally covered by insurances due to scarce medical funds.

The major ethical issue that is considered, if the decision is taken in an affirmative, is whether the parents are doing so in order to satisfy their picture of a perfect child that is the child being either a girl or a boy and not respecting the individuality of the child. To prevent this, proper counseling should be given to parents to increase the awareness, provide those further details - the pros and cons of any decision taken and in each case the effect of the decision upon the childs future (Laurie 2009, p 290).

Complete research should be done, related to all the possibilities of gender discrepancies of a child, by the couple wishing to have a child. In consideration of the above facts and recommendations, we notice that sex reassignment operations provide the parents with one more option to choose from. Any decision that maybe adopted would have its positives and negative effects in the future. The main concern is how the parents would bring up the child and establish the trust and explain to the child, the wisdom of the decision taken in light of all the facts involved.