In Defense of Military Pay Essay Example For Students

In Defense of Military Pay Essay I was in the Army for more than twenty years, and I can say that joining the military was the best decision I have ever made. There are many differences between military and civilian pay and benefits. The Military gets pay base on your pay grade and time in service, based on a pay scale issued by defense finance and accounting services (DFAS). According to the fiscal year 2014, military pay scale the average enlisted service member E-1 with two years of service in the military is paid $1,532. 00 per month and an E-9 with 10 years of service in the military is paid $4,837. 00. Civilians get paid either hourly or on a salary. When I join the Military was because, of job security, pay, good education benefits and an excellent retirement system, this are just a few of the top reasons I seek federal employment. Others consider government careers because of desirable travel opportunities, training availability, different occupations and the ability to locate jobs nationwide and overseas. One of the benefits Military service member receive is free housing or Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) is an allowance to offset the cost of housing when you do not received government provided housing. Your BAH depend upon your location, pay grade, and if you are married or single, based on a pay scale issued by defense finance and accounting services (DFAS) military pay scale the average enlisted soldier E-1 and E-2 with dependents get paid $2,607. 00 per month, without dependents they get paid $1,956. 00 per month and an E-9 with dependents get paid $3,696. 00 per month, without dependents he gets paid $2,832. 00 per month. This benefits service are for members leaving off post. Single soldiers E-4 and below have to leave in the barracks, they have their own rooms but they have to share kitchen and bathrooms. In the civilian sector most jobs will not offer any additional pay for housing. The second benefit that Military service member receive is Basic Allowance for Subsistence, this allowance is to cover for their meals. This allowance is not intended to cover the cost of meals for family members. Enlisted members with less than 4 months of service used to be paid BAS at a lower rate. That difference was eliminated in 2002. BAS used to be calculated on a daily basis. That means that a person who received BAS got just little bit more during months that had 31 days in them and a little bit less during the month of February. In 2002, congress changed the law so that BAS is a set monthly rate. BAS for enlisted soldiers is $357. 55 a month. Officers get paid $242. 60 a month. In the civilian side jobs don’t offer any additional pay for meals. The third benefit that the Military has is free health care. Military members receive medical, dental and vision care. Military personnel don’t have to put any out of pocket money. In addition, the spouse and dependent children of an active-duty member may also enroll in military Health Care (a small enrollment fee and annual deductible may apply). In the civilian sector healthcare in most jobs is not available until a set amount of time has been worked or you are a full-time employee. The family members are not covered unless health care has been purchased for the additional family member. Vision and dental care has to be purchased through the employer if available or from outside resource. Another benefit that Military has is Military Tuition Assistance. The military tuition assistance is a benefit paid to eligible service member of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard. .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee , .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee .postImageUrl , .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee , .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee:hover , .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee:visited , .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee:active { border:0!important; } .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee:active , .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u4987692d1a8e3e6f0cf7aaa9bb4978ee:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Genetics EssayCongress has giving each service the ability to pay up to 100% for the tuition expenses of its members while they are still on active duty. Army service member have a tuition assistance of $4,500. 00 for fiscal year. Navy service member have 16 semester hours per fiscal year not to exceed $4,000. 00 per fiscal year. Marines TA would be authorized for only one course. Coast Guard have 75% of the tuition assistance not to exceed 187. 50 per credit hour. In addition military spouse can get up to $4,000. 00 for tuition assistance. In the civilian side they have to pay out of pocket to go to school or try to get a grant or loan. In conclusion I think if Military services member would add their basic pay, basic allowance for housing, basic allowance for subsistence, Cost of Leaving allowance and their Military Health Care; they will notice that Military services members are better off than Civilians. I know military service members have to work longer hours 24/7, be on call and sometimes worked on the weekends; but adding all the allowance up, I’m sure military soldiers get a good monthly pay check.

Leadership Style of Sir Richard Branson Essay Example

Leadership Style of Sir Richard Branson Essay IT IS VERY COMMON to hear that government would run better if it were more businesslike. I think that is correct. Nevertheless, I will turn the tables on that proposition. I believe that business would benefit from learning some management lessons from a surprisingly gifted governmental executiveRonald Reagan. Those of us who had the good fortune of working for President Reagan witnessed firsthand the effective management style of an unusually successful chief executive. Here are 10 lessons that I learned from observing him in action. Lesson 1: Set Clear and Attainable Objectives, albeit Goals that Seem Difficult to Achieve. In early 1981, President Reagan set his sights on a healthier economy with lower inflation and lower unemployment. The cynics shook their heads. They only thought in terms of a trade-off between more jobs and a slower rise in prices. The cynics were proved to be wrong. Under his leadership, the United States achieved both important objectivesbut not easily. Aside from the substantial cuts in taxes, the adjustments made in economic policy in 1981 and 1982 were initially painful. They especially included a wide variety of spending cuts as well as a tight monetary policy. Nevertheless, those actions led to the longest peacetime expansion in American history. Simultaneously, the escalating double-digit inflation that the Reagan administration faced when we came to Washington has been consigned to the history books. Lesson 2: Choose Subordinates Who Share Your Views and Outlook. Disagreements on details are inevitable among strong-minded people. Nevertheless, the team that Ronald Reagan brought together was united in our dedication to lower taxes, much slower growth in civilian spending, a stronger military establishment, and a less burdensome regulatory system. We will write a custom essay sample on Leadership Style of Sir Richard Branson specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Leadership Style of Sir Richard Branson specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Leadership Style of Sir Richard Branson specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Progress in each of these areas was substantial during his eight years in office. Lesson 3: Give Your People Lots of Leeway and Operating Authority. For example, those of us who put together the budget cuts had full discretion in assembling an ambitious assortment of spending reductions. Subsequently, President Reagan sat down with us and reviewed each significant budget change before making the final decisions. He was anything but a rubber stamp. He did not try to micromanage the decision making within each of our agencies, but he held us accountable for the results. He empowered us to exercise a lot of discretion. For example, one of my first assignments was to perform an audit of the American economy. Nobody in the White House tried to second-guess me. President Reagan made my audit report public at a White House press briefing that we conducted jointly. My report made it clear: the American economy was suffering from a combination of illnesseshigh inflation and low growth as well as high taxation, rising government spending, and excessive regulation. The president left the press conference early, and I quickly learned that the questions would not be limited to the announced topic. After he left, I was asked why the president said he could not find his checkbook. I answered that, personally, I delegated that task to my wife. That is still true. Amid the laughter that followed, I started to answer another question. By the way, I later learned that President Reagan may not have written a lot of checks, but he used good old Treasury currency. He mailed out quite a few $10 and $20 bills in response to some heartrending letters he received. In retrospect, Ronald Reagan was a seasoned executive even before assuming the presidency. He had been the successful governor of our largest state for eight years. Prior to that, he served as president of the Screen Actors Guild. (He loved to point out that he was the only president of the United States who had been head of a labor union. ) In both capacities, he led the organization during periods of great external pressures while effectively dealing with difficult personalities inside the organization. Lesson 4: Strongly Back Your People, Especially When They Are Attacked for Trying to Carry Out Your Policies. Ill give you a very personal example. In public presentation describing the budget problems facing the United States, I had the temerity to suggest that annual Social Security benefit increases (the so-called cost-of-living adjustments, or COLAs) were not part of an insurance program. They were really welfare benefits paid by someone else, in this case the working population. Some member of the Congress was so angry with me that he urged my impeachment. I was very relaxed. The odds were that, if the issue ever did reach the president, he would just have a good laugh. Of course, the threat of my impeachment quickly evaporated. Lesson 5: Use Humor to Good Effect. Yes, Ronald Reagan loved to tell funny stories. One of his favorite ones concerned the boy who was digging through a manure pile. His explanation for that strange action was that there had to be a pony in it somewhere. But usually the presidents purpose for telling a humorous tale was very serious. He was always too polite to tell some boring person to shut up. Rather, he preferred to interrupt by telling a story. When he finished, the discussion would quickly shift to a new subject. On other occasions, when the internal debate was in danger of getting too strident, he would break the tension by telling another funny story. He possessed a deep inventory of humor, much of which drew upon his authentic Irish brogue as well as a fine Italian accent. Thus, it was a real treat just to have a casual meal with him. Lesson 6: Communicate Clearly Both Within the Organization and to the Larger Public. Ronald Reagan truly was the Great Communicator, but the results did not come effortlessly. Let me try to give you an idea of how the process worked. His address to the nation in early February 1981 was going to be the occasion for his publicly laying out what became Reaganomics. The process of writing this important speech revealed much about the man. He assembled a group of his key advisers and speechwriters in his living quarters on the top floor of the White House. (He often said that he lived above the store. ) The first session was devoted to developing the major themes of that first big economic speech. We all had a chance to get our oar in. When the president was satisfied with the results, he adjourned the meeting with the understanding that the speechwriters would work up a rough draft of our common thoughts. The rest of the group polished the speechwriters first draft. The revised draft speech then was sent to the president. He rewrote it in his own language on a yellow pad. Thats why his speeches were so convincing. After his handwritten draft was typed, the whole group reassembled. The president held the master copy and he led us through it paragraph by paragraph to get our comments. On several occasions, I told him that a section was not accurate. He never pulled rank. After all, it was his speech. He always responded the same way, OK, how do I make the point accurately? That is an example of how Ronald Reagan inspired loyalty. The process also showed that his deep personal involvement in writing the major messages was essential to the successful communication of the contents. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At a much later point in his administration, the bureaucrats tried to eliminate the provocative line from his memorable speech in Berlin, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Happily, the speechwriterthe president himselfprevailed. By the way, in comparison I certainly was not a great communicator. Of course, my job required me to make many economic presentations, both in the White House and to a wide array of congressional committees and private organizations. On one occasion, an anonymous colleague circulated a parody of my standard economic briefing to the Cabinet. I dont think I really sounded like that. But here it is so you can judge for yourselves: Economic data show an easing of the rate at which business is easing off. This can be taken as ample proof that theres a slowing up of the slowdown. Now, to clarify that, it should be noted that a slowing up of the slowdown is not as good as an upturn of the downturn. On the other hand, its a good deal better than either a speedup of the slowdown or a deepening of the downturn. Also, it suggests that the climate is about right for an adjustment of the readjustment to interest rates. Now, turning specifically to interest rates, we find a very definite decrease in the rate of increase. This clearly shows there should be a letting up of the letdown. Of course, if the slowdown should speed up, the decrease in the rate of increase would turn into an increase in the rate of decrease. And finally, the inflation of the recession would turn the recession into a depression, while a deflation in the rate of inflation would give the impression of a recession of the depression. Lesson 7: Let Your Staff Do the Worrying; Thats What They Get Paid for. Ronald Reagan took the presidency very seriously. He may have left the Oval Office at 5 p. m. , but he spent hours in the evening reading our reports and memos. I learned that quickly when he called one evening to discuss a memo that I sent him after 5 p. m. More frequently, he would comment on items that some of us had sent him the previous day as he entered the Cabinet room in the morning. Perhaps most important, after making a decision, President Reagan did not stew about it. He quickly went on to the next item of business. Lesson 8: Take an Upbeat and Positive Attitude. That proved to be the key to maintaining internal enthusiasm and generating external support in a period of great policy changes. A dramatic example was provided by President Reagans response to being shot. The momentum of his administration did not falter. In fact, one wisecrack to his wife did more to reassure the concerned public than all of the medical reports, Sorry, honey, I forgot to duck. That was truly grace under pressure. Lesson 9: Distinguish between Opponents and Enemies. To my knowledge, Ronald Reagan never kept an enemies list. That was not in his nature. He did not know how to hate. He also was wise enough to know that todays opponents on one issue may be tomorrows supporters on anotherprovided that you had not treated them as an enemy. Lesson 10: Keep Some Distance from Your Subordinates. The president was very cordial and caring. At times he would chide some of us for working too hard (to put it mildly, we were highly motivated). Nevertheless, he knew that he was not our buddy, but our leader. By the way, it did not take long to realize that, although you may be spending a lot of time in the White House, you were not the president. Many of my briefings to various interest groups followed a fascinating if not humorous pattern (they did not strike me as funny at the time). Typically, I would make a short presentation to people representing business or labor or minorities or other organizations. This was usually followed by vigorous and occasionally hostile questions. At some point, the president would join us. The tone of the meeting quickly changed. The visitors were all smiles. When he asked them for questions, the typical response was to thank him for the visit and to toss a real softball. As soon as he left, however, the group would resume its tough questioning of me. I cannot resist offering another example of the distance between the president and the members of his staff. When he was not using the presidential box at the Kennedy Center, he generously let his associates use this perk. On one occasion, when I wound up sitting in the presidents seat, the audience could not suppress its disappointment when the lights came on. Nevertheless, my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening! It was a great privilege to serve President Ronald Reagan during an important period in American history. I came away with many fond memories. For example, I have a picture with the president and Nancy on which he added a teasing note thanking me for explaining the dismal science to Nancy. (He loved to quote at me Thomas Carlyle, the 19th century British writer who referred to economics as the dismal science. ) Working for Ronald Reagan was anything but dismal. Yes, it was very nice for U. S. News to list me as one of the 30 most influential Americans in 1981 and again in 1982. Of course, I was quickly dropped from the list when I returned to St. Louis in 1983. On that note, also recall the lady who stopped me as I was getting off the elevator of a Washington hotel. This was two weeks after I left the White House. She asked me just one question, Didnt you use to be somebody? Murray Weidenbaum holds the Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professorship at Washington University, where he also serves as the honorary chairman of the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy. In 1981 and 1982 he was President Reagans first chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. In that capacity he helped formulate the economic policy of the Reagan administration and was a key spokesman for the administration on economic and financial issues. During the years 1982-1989 he was a member of the Presidents Economic Policy Advisory Board, Corporate boards he has served on include Beatrice Foods, Contel, May Department Stores, and Medicine Shoppe

CTel Essay Questions and Sample Essays

CTel Essay Questions and Sample EssaysCTel is a great way to help your students build better communication skills. However, this can also be used as a great tool to test their understanding of English grammar. Here are some sample CTel essays to help you get started. They will take less than an hour to complete and they will help you quickly see what they are able to do.English is one of the most widely used languages in the world. Therefore, students are going to be tested about how well they know the language. Students will need to write essays about both positive and negative aspects of the English language. They will be asked to determine if the use of the English language will impact their performance in their studies or career. They will also be asked to try to determine if a new type of English, Modern English, is more appropriate for them.Example - The best way to prepare for a test like this is to choose an example and to then go back and read the sentence and see if you can make it better. How do you do that? Write out another sentence that uses the example and use your editing skills to make it more clear. If you were to miss the first example then you would have the first sentence to go by.Following Examples - There are many ways to follow a set of examples. However, you will be told that the first two or three sentences of each paragraph should be the same. The last thing you want to do is to rewrite all of the sentences in your writing.Close Observation - Students are not going to be asked to create a unique piece of writing. However, they are going to be asked to do close observation of one example. Students will have to identify the most important factors in the example. This will be a very short essay but you will find it challenging and exciting at the same time.Guesses - You will be given examples of how a guess could be made. You are asked to look at the examples from a different perspective and to come up with your own unique answer. Once a gain, it will be a short essay that will test your ability to recognize and create answers for your own examples.Modern English - Students will be asked to write about the different types of English that are commonly used in the United States. They will also be asked to evaluate the various forms of modern English that are currently in use in this country. Students will also need to write about the correct usage of different English forms. This will be a very quick essay that will test your ability to understand and correctly interpret the different types of English that are commonly used in the United States.The lessons will help you to identify and address some of the most common areas that are going to be covered in the CTel module. The examples will be written by professional teachers who are best suited to teach the techniques that are in this module. This will help to ensure that the techniques and strategies used in this module are taught well and effectively.

Essay on Masking Poor Communication

Essay on Masking Poor Communication Essay on Masking Poor Communication Essay on Masking Poor CommunicationThe main aims of the assignment are to demonstrate my thoughts on the article â€Å"Masking Poor Communication†, and to use real life example to illustrate them better.The article â€Å"Masking Poor Communication† gave me a new understanding of the issue that miscommunication is a part of human life and that the same words and actions can be understood in different ways by two persons. The article proved that each person has the own way to react and understand the world around; so, miscommunication can negatively impact on relationships between people who are close to each other. According to Dotinga (2011), there exists an opinion that people commonly are sure that it is much easier to communicate with close people that with strangers, but this confidence in the same reactions may lead to the fact that people â€Å"overestimate how well they communicate, a phenomenon we term the closeness- communication bias.†In my own life, th ere was a case of miscommunication with my father. It was several years ago, and it was connected with the fact that we had different views on the same thing. I always considered that the present for birthday should be a surprise; moreover, I was so sure that all people think at the same way that I didn’t ask my father about the present. But, the situation had a bad consequences because my father wanted to receive the one thing and I presented him something quite another, so, he was disappointed by the present. I realized that it is impossible to avoid miscommunication in the future because everything can happen, but I also understood that it is better to ask additional questions and to make the subject of communication more clear than to think that the other person is same to you. Mortensen Ayres (1997) mentioned that all people have their own life experience and were educated in different conditions, so, different points of views are a part of normal communication, and it is always necessary to remember this fact for the purpose to avoid miscommunication with close people.Thus, the moral of the article is to show that nobody can read the thoughts of other person, and taking into account the fact that people can change everyday, we should be ready for these changes and to react on them in fast and adequate way.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Automatic imitation – copying observed actions without intention – is known to occur, not only in neurological patients and those with developmental disorders, but also in healthy, typically-developing adults and children. Previous research has shown that a variety of actions are automatically imitated, and that automatic imitation promotes social affiliation and rapport. We assessed the power of automatic imitation by comparing it with the strength of the tendency to obey verbal commands. In a Stroop interference paradigm, the stimuli were compatible, incompatible and neutral compounds of hand postures and verbal commands. When imitative responses were required, the impact of irrelevant action images on responding to words was greater than the effect of irrelevant words on responding to actions. Control group performance showed that this asymmetry was not due to modality effects or differential salience of action and word stimuli. These results indicate that automatic imitation was more powerful than verbal command. 1 Actions speak louder than words Introduction Even when we do not intend to imitate others, we are inclined to copy their body movements. This tendency, known as ‘mimicry’ or ‘automatic imitation’, was once thought to be confined to patients with frontal brain damage (Lhermitte, Pillon, Serdaru, 1986), atypically-developing individuals (e. g. Charman Baron-Cohen, 1994), ‘savages’ (Darwin, 1989) and nonhuman animals (Thorndike, 1898). More recent research has shown that automatic imitation is also common in healthy, typically-developing adults (e. g. Wallbott, 1991; Lakin Chartrand, 2003; Brass, Bekkering, Wohlschlager, Prinz, 2000) and children (Simpson Riggs, 2007). The purpose of the present study was to estimate the strength of our tendency automatically to imitate the behavior of others by comparing it with the strength of our tendency to do what we are told; to perform actions on verbal command. Most previous research on automatic imitation has been concerned, not with the strength of this tendency, but with its pervasiveness and effects on social attitudes. Carefully controlled laboratory studies have found automatic imitation of facial expressions (e. g. Wallbott, 1991), as well as finger (e. . Brass et al. , 2000), hand (Heyes, Bird, Johnson, Haggard, 2005) and arm movements (e. g. Kilner, Paulignan, Blakemore, 2003). Studies investigating the ‘chameleon 2 Actions speak louder than words effect’ in semi-naturalistic social situations have shown that gestures such as eartouching and foot-wagging are automatically imitated, that this kind of mimicry can occur without the imitator’s conscious awareness, and that it prom otes affiliation and rapport between social partners (e. g. Lakin Chartrand, 2003). Indirect evidence of the pervasiveness of automatic imitation has been provided by functional imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). For example, imaging has shown that the observation of hand, foot and mouth movements activates the same areas of premotor cortex active during their execution (Buccino et al. , 2001). Revealing yet further specificity, the observation of hand and arm movements selectively increases TMS-induced motor evoked potentials from the particular muscles involved in executing these movement (e. g. Strafella Paus, 2000). In behavioral studies, stimulus-response compatibility (SRC) procedures are often used to detect automatic imitation. These procedures provide some indication of the strength of the automatic imitation tendency by showing that it can interfere with performance based on task instructions. For example, Kilner et al. (2003) instructed participants to make sinusoidal arm movements in a vertical plane while observing a model perform the same vertical movements (compatible condition) or sinusoidal arm movements in a horizontal plane (incompatible 3 Actions speak louder than words condition). Although participants were, presumably, equally motivated to obey instructions in the two conditions, their movements showed more, counterinstructional deviation from the vertical plane in the incompatible than in the compatible condition. Other SRC studies have shown that automatic imitation interferes, not only with the spatial properties of movement, but also with its timing. Participants instructed in a simple reaction time (RT) task to open their hand as soon as an observed hand began to move, initiated the opening movement faster when the stimulus hand opened than when it closed (Heyes et al. 2005). Similar studies have shown that automatic imitation can influence the timing of hand and finger movements even when the observed movements are taskirrelevant, i. e. when participants are instructed to respond, not to the observed movements, but to arbitrary stimuli such as digits (Brass et al. , 2000), crosses (Bertenthal et al. , 2006) or colors (Sturmer, Aschersleben, Prinz, 2000 ). As far as we are aware, only one study has explicitly compared the strength of automatic imitation with that of other response tendencies (Brass et al. , 2000). This study found that the impulse to imitate finger movements was stronger than the tendency to respond with finger movements to arbitrary symbols and to static spatial markers. The results were important in providing evidence that automatic imitation is genuinely automatic (i. e. that it occurs contrary to task instructions), and that it is not reducible to spatial compatibility (see also Heyes et al. , 2005; 4 Actions speak louder than words Bertenthal et al. , 2006), but Brass et al. (2000) provided only a very conservative estimate of the strength of automatic imitation. Theories of imitation assume that it is based on stimulus-response connections that are either innate (e. g. Meltzoff Moore, 1997) or the product of long-term learning (e. g. Heyes Ray, 2000). If this is the case, it is not surprising that the tendency to imitate is stronger than the tendency, based solely on task instructions, to respond differentially to symbolic cues. Like imitation, spatial compatibility effects depend on innate or learned response tendencies (Tagliabue, Zorzi, Umilta, Bassignani, 2000). However, Brass et al. s study did not show that automatic imitation is generally stronger than the tendency to respond to the site of stimulation; only that automatic imitation is stronger than spatial compatibility when the spatial cue is smaller and less dynamic than the body movement cue. The present study provided a more stringent test of the strength of automatic imitation by comparing it with that of the tendency to obey verbal commands. Like imitation, verbal command is a common method of instruction in everyday life, and the power of words to evoke actions is a product of deeply engrained mechanisms. Indeed, one theory of imitation, the associative sequence learning (ASL) model (e. g. Heyes Ray, 2000), suggests that the two response tendencies become engrained in the same way; that we learn to imitate through correlated 5 Actions speak louder than words experience of observing and executing action units, just as we learn the meanings of words through correlated experience of the words and their referents. We used a Stroop procedure to compare the strengths of automatic imitation and verbal command. There were four groups of participants. In the focal group (Manual-Auditory), participants were required in each trial to open or to close their hand in response to a compound stimulus. The compound consisted of an image of a hand in an open, closed or neutral posture, and the sound of a word: ‘open’, ‘close’ or a neutral nonword. In one condition, participants were instructed to imitate the action and to ignore the word (action-relevant task), and in the other condition they were told to obey the verbal command and to ignore the action (word-relevant task). In any given trial, the stimulus on the taskirrelevant dimension (the word in the action task, and the action in the word task) was compatible, incompatible or neutral with respect to the stimulus on the taskrelevant dimension. For example, in the action task, an image of an open hand was accompanied equally often by the word ‘open’ (compatible), the word ‘close’ (incompatible) and by a nonword (neutral). If the tendency to imitate is stronger than the tendency to obey verbal commands, then, in this focal group, one would expect the impact on performance of action stimuli in the word task to be greater than the impact of word stimuli in Actions speak louder than words the action task. More specifically, one would expect the compatible taskirrelevant stimulus to speed responding, and /or the incompatible task-irrelevant stimulus to slow responding, more in the word task than in the action task. However, an effect of this kind would not be sufficient to show t hat automatic imitation is stronger than the tendency to obey verbal commands, for two reasons. First, it could be that the action images used in this experiment were more salient or easier to discriminate than the word stimuli. In this case, one would expect action images to be more potent stimuli, not only for automatic imitation, but also for nonimitative responding. To address this issue, we included a second group of participants (Vocal-Auditory) who were presented with exactly the same stimuli as the focal group, action images in compound with word sounds, but they were required to make vocal rather than imitative responses. For example, in the action task, this group said ‘open’ when they saw an opened hand, and ‘close’ when they saw a closed hand. Langton, O’Malley, Bruce (1996, Experiment 5) found that irrelevant gestures affected vocal responses to words to the same extent as irrelevant words affected vocal responses to gestures. Therefore, we expected that, in contrast with the focal group, the performance of the Vocal-Auditory group would be affected equally by irrelevant actions in the word task, and by irrelevant words in the action task. 7 Actions speak louder than words The second issue concerns modality of stimulus presentation. In the focal group, actions were presented visually and words were presented in the auditory modality because those conditions are typical of everyday life. In the course of development, it is likely that simple verbal instructions, consisting of a single word, are more often heard than seen. However, because spoken words unfold over time, whereas images are instantaneously available for processing, auditory presentation of verbal commands could put them at a disadvantage. In other words, if irrelevant actions have a greater impact than irrelevant words in the focal group, this could reflect, not the relative strengths of automatic imitation and verbal command, but faster processing of visual than auditory stimuli. To address this issue we included two further groups in which the word stimuli were written rather than spoken. One of these groups (Manual-Visual) made hand movement responses, and the other (Vocal-Visual) made vocal responses. Thus, there were four groups: Manual-Auditory, Vocal-Auditory, ManualVisual and Vocal-Visual. We predicted that in the focal Manual-Auditory group the effect of irrelevant actions on speed of responding to words would be greater than the effect of irrelevant words on responding to actions. If this asymmetric effect indicates that the automatic tendency to imitate is stronger than the tendency to obey verbal commands, rather than an effect of nonspecific features of the stimuli or stimulus-response mapping, then it should also be present in the Manual-Visual group, but not in the Vocal-Auditory or Vocal-Visual groups. 8 Actions speak louder than words Method Participants Forty-eight right-handed volunteers (15 men, mean age: 22. Â ±7. 5 years) were randomly assigned to one of four groups: Manual-Auditory, Vocal-Auditory, Manual-Visual and Vocal-Visual. All had normal or corrected-to-normal vision and normal hearing. The experiment was carried out with local ethical approval and written consent. Stimuli and Apparatus Warning and imperative stimuli were compounds of hand action s and words with coincidental onsets. Hand actions were life-sized images of postures made by a male right hand, taken from the angle at which one normally views one’s own hand, and presented on a laptop computer screen (60Hz, 400mm, 96DPI) in color on a black background. For the warning stimulus, the hand was in a neutral posture, with the fingers closed and pointing upwards in parallel with the thumb (visual angle: 6. 96Â ° x 13. 33Â °), and was shown for a variable duration between 800ms and 1520ms. For the imperative stimuli, the hand was in an opened (15. 5Â ° x 13. 5Â °), closed (7. 0Â ° x 11. 2Â °) or inverted neutral posture (see Figure 1D for examples), and was shown for 640ms. Word stimuli were either sound files presented via the laptop’s internal speaker (auditory) or superimposed in white 9 Actions speak louder than words nk on the hand stimuli in the centre of the screen (visual; 6. 5Â ° to 7. 1Â ° x 2. 6Â ° to 3. 1Â °). For the warning stimulus, the nonword clepo was presented for 650ms (auditory) or between 800 and 1520ms (visual). For the imperative stimuli, the word ‘open’, ‘close’ or the nonword pocle (see Figure 1C for examples) were presented for 640ms (visual) or between 600ms and 640ms (auditory). The nonwords clepo (warning stimulus) and pocle (neutral stimulus) were phonotactic amalgams of phonemes contained in the two words ‘open’ and ‘close’. Pocle contained the same syllables as clepo, presented in reverse order. For the manual response groups, response onset of opening and closing hand movements was measured by recording the electromyogram (EMG) from the first dorsal interosseus muscle of the right hand (see Heyes et al. , 2005). For the vocal response groups, onset of voice responses was measured via a free-standing electret microphone (Vivanco EM 32, Vivanco-direct. com). The RT interval began with the onset of the imperative stimulus, and ended with EMG onset (manual responses) or the activation of the microphone (vocal responses). Design and Procedure Participants sat at a viewing distance of approximately 700mm from the stimulus presentation screen. For the manual response groups, the participant’s right forearm lay in a horizontal position across his/her body, supported from elbow to wrist by an armrest. The wrist was rotated so that the fingers moved 10 Actions speak louder than words upwards during opening responses, and downwards when closing. Thus, the plane of response movement (up-down) was orthogonal to the plane of action stimulus movement (left-right), controlling for any effects of left-right spatial compatibility. After making each response, participants returned their hand to the neutral starting position; their fingers closed and parallel to the thumb. Each trial began with the presentation of the warning stimulus. After a variable duration it was replaced by the imperative stimulus. Participants were instructed to respond to the imperative stimulus as quickly as possible, without making errors, by opening or closing their hand (manual response groups) or by saying ‘open’ or ‘close’ (vocal response groups) as soon as they saw an open or closed hand posture (action-relevant task), or heard or saw the word ‘open’ or ‘close’ (word-relevant task). They were instructed to ignore the irrelevant dimension. After the presentation of the imperative stimulus, the screen went black for 3000ms before the next trial. Four action-relevant and four word-relevant task blocks of 60 trials were presented in alternating order, counterbalanced between participants. Relevant and irrelevant stimulus compounds were compatible (e. g. an open hand accompanied by the word ‘open’), incompatible (e. g. an open hand accompanied by the word ‘close’) or neutral (e. . an open hand accompanied by the nonword pocle). The six trial types, defined by compatibility (compatible, neutral or 11 Actions speak louder than words incompatible) and relevant stimulus (open or close), were equiprobable and randomly intermixed within each block. Results Mean RTs are plotted as a function of task and compatibility in Figures 1AD. Incorrect responses and RTs less than 100ms or greater than 1500ms were removed (3. 1%). Figure 1 about here As predicted, in the focal Manual-Auditory group (A) the impact of irrelevant actions on responding to words was greater than the impact of irrelevant words on responding to actions; there was an asymmetry favoring actions over words. This asymmetry was not observed in the Vocal-Auditory group (B), who responded to exactly the same stimuli using vocal responses rather than hand actions, suggesting that the asymmetry was not due to greater salience of the action than of the word stimuli. The asymmetry favoring actions over words was present in 12 Actions speak louder than words the Manual-Visual group (C), who saw rather than heard the word stimuli, indicating that it did not depend on faster processing of visual than auditory stimuli. Providing further confirmation that this asymmetry was not due to nonspecific factors, the Vocal–Visual group (D) showed the reverse asymmetry; irrelevant actions had a lesser effect on responding to words than did irrelevant words on responding to actions. These impressions were confirmed by an initial ANOVA, in which task (action-relevant, word-relevant) and compatibility (compatible, neutral, incompatible) were within-subject factors, and response mode (manual, vocal) and word modality (auditory, visual) were between-subject factors, and by subsequent analyses in which a 23 ANOVA (task x compatibility) was applied to the RT data from each group separately. The initial analysis indicated a significant three-way interaction (task x compatibility x response mode: F(2, 94) = 35. , p lt; . 001), and a nonsignificant four-way interaction (task x compatibility x response mode x word modality: F(2, 94) = 1. 1, p = . 341). The separate analysis of the data from the focal Manual-Auditory group yielded a significant interaction between task and compatibility (F(2, 22) = 20. 8, p lt; . 001), confirming that there was an asymmetry favoring actions over words. This interaction was also significant in the Manual-Visual group (F(2, 22) = 25. 5, p lt ; . 001), but it was 13 Actions speak louder than words bsent in the Vocal-Auditory group (F(2, 22) = 1. 5, p = . 252), and reversed in the Vocal-Visual group (F(2, 22) = 5. 5, p = . 017). In the two groups where there was an asymmetry favoring actions over words, mean RT in the action-relevant task was shorter than in the word-relevant task (Manual-Auditory: F(1, 11) = 48. 7, p lt; . 001; Manual-Visual: F(1, 11) = 172. 3, p lt; . 001). To check whether the action-dominant asymmetry was dependent on this main effect of task on RT, the data from these groups were subjected to bin analyses. For each group, RTs of each participant in each task were divided into five bins of equal size (Ratcliff, 1979). Three quintiles were selected in which, within group, mean RT on neutral trials was approximately equal in action-relevant and word-relevant tasks. The data from these quintiles were subjected to 2x3x3 ANOVAs (task x compatibility x bin). These analyses showed that, in each group, although there was no main effect of task on RT (Manual-Auditory: F lt; 1; Manual-Visual: F(1, 11) = 1. 1, p = . 16), there was a significant task x compatibility interaction (Manual-Auditory: F(2, 22) = 11. 8, p lt; . 001; Manual-Visual: F(2, 22) = 11. 9, p = . 001). Thus, the action-dominant asymmetry observed in the Manual-Auditory and Manual-Visual groups did not depend on faster responding in the action task than in the word task. 14 Actions speak louder than words Discussion Previous research has shown that healthy adult humans have a pervasive and automatic tendency to imitate the actions of others, but this is the first study to provide a stringent test of the strength of this tendency. Using hand actions in a Stroop procedure, the power of actions to elicit imitative responses was compared with the strength of our tendency to obey verbal commands. The results from the focal group, who made manual responses to simultaneously presented actions and spoken words, showed that the impact of irrelevant actions on responding to words was greater than the impact of irrelevant words on imitative responding to actions. The same asymmetry was observed when written, rather than spoken, words were presented, indicating that it was not due to faster processing in the visual modality. The same asymmetry was not observed when participants made vocal, rather than imitative, responses, indicating that the action-dominant asymmetry was not due to greater salience or discriminability of the action images than of the verbal stimuli. Therefore, these findings suggest that the human tendency to imitate is stronger than the tendency to obey verbal commands. Previous studies have indicated that irrelevant actions influence the control of movements made in response to color, spatial and symbolic cues (Sturmer et al. , 2000; Bertenthal et al. 2006; Brass et al. , 2000). The present findings show for 15 Actions speak louder than words the first time that automatic imitation effects occur, not only when the imperative stimuli bear an arbitrary or purely spatial relationship with responses, but also when they are verbal commands; that is, when the relationship between the imperative stimulus and the response is both specific and overlearned. Langton, O’Malley, Bruce (199 6, Experiment 5) used a Stroop procedure to compare the power of actions and words, but they did not examine imitative responding. Instead, they required participants to make vocal responses to directional gestures (a person pointing up, down, left and right) and to their verbal equivalents, and found symmetrical compatibility effects; irrelevant gestures affected vocal responses to words to the same extent as irrelevant words affected vocal responses to gestures. We found the same symmetrical pattern in our Vocal-Auditory group, when participants were making nonimitative responses, but a contrasting pattern, indicating action dominance, when participants were making imitative responses. Thus, comparison of the two studies i) confirms that action dominance is specific to imitation, and ii) indicates that, in the case of nonimitative vocal responding, actions and words have comparable impact both when the action stimuli are pointing gestures and when they are opening and closing hand movements. 16 Actions speak louder than words In a variant of the game ‘Simon says’, played at teatime in Victorian England, children were required to grip the tablecloth when an adult, gripping or releasing the cloth, said ‘Hold tight! ’, and to release the cloth, regardless of the adult’s action, when he said ‘Let go! . Presumably, amusement derived from the fact that, like the participants in the present experiment, children could not resist the influence of automatic imitation, and were therefore compelled flagrantly to disobey the authority of verbal command. However, the results of the present study do not merely vindicate the disobedient behav ior of Victorian children. They show that automatic imitation is much more than a parlour game, or a device that experimental psychologists can use to investigate the processes involved in stimulus-response translation. These findings show that automatic imitation is not only pervasive but also powerful. Even among healthy, typicallydeveloping adults, it is more powerful than the tendency to obey verbal commands. In this context, actions do indeed speak louder than words. 17 Actions speak louder than words References Bertenthal, B. I. , Longo, M. R. , Kosobud, A. (2006). Imitative response tendencies following observation of intransitive actions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 32, 210–225. Brass, M. , Bekkering, H. , Wohlschlager, A. , Prinz, W. 2000). Compatibility between observed and executed finger movements: comparing symbolic, spatial, and imitative cues. Brain and Cognition, 44, 124-43. Buccino, G. , Binkofski, F. , Fink, G. R. , Fadiga, L. , Fogassi, L. , Gallese, V. , Seitz, R. J. , Zilles, K. , Rizzolatti, G. , Freund, H. J. (2001). Action observation activates premotor and parietal areas in a somatotopic manner: an fMRI study. European Jour nal of Neuroscience, 13, 400-404. Charman, T. , Baron-Cohen, S. (1994). Another look at imitation in autism. Development and Psychopathology, 6, 403-413. Darwin, C. (1989). Voyage of the Beagle. London: Penguin Books. 18 Actions speak louder than words Heyes, C. M. , Ray, E. D. (2000). What is the significance of imitation in animals? Advances in the Study of Behavior, 29, 215–245. Heyes, C. M. , Bird, G. , Johnson, H. , Haggard, P. (2005). Experience modulates automatic imitation. Cognitive Brain Research, 22, 233-240. Kilner, J. M. , Paulignan, Y. , Blakemore, S. J. (2003). An interference effect of observed biological movement on action. Current Biology, 13, 522–525. Lakin, J. L. , Chartrand, T. L. (2003). Using nonconscious behavioral mimicry to create affiliation and rapport. Psychological Science, 14, 334-339. Langton, S. R. H. , OMalley, C. , Bruce, V. (1996). Actions speak louder than words: Symmetrical cross-modal interference effects in the processing of verbal and gestural information. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 22, 1357–1375. Lhermitte, F. , Pillon, B. , Serdaru, N. (1986). Human autonomy and the frontal lobes. Part I: Imitation and utilization behavior: a neuropsychological study of 75 patients. Annals of Neurology, 19, 326-334. 19 Actions speak louder than words Meltzoff, A. N. Moore, M. K. (1997). Explaining facial imitation: A theoretical model. Early Development and Parenting, 6, 179-192. Ratcliff, R. (1979). Group reaction time distributions and an analysis of distribution statistics. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 446–461. Simpson, A. Riggs, K. J. (2007). Under what conditions do young children have difficulty inhibiting manual actions? Developmental Psychology, 43, 417-428. Strafella, A. P. Paus, T. (2000). Modulation of cortical excitability during action observation: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study. Neuroreport, 11, 22892292. Sturmer, B. , Aschersleben, G. , Prinz, W. (2000). Correspondence effects with manual gestures and postures: a study of imitation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception Performance, 26, 1746-1759. Tagliabue, M. , Zorzi, M. , Umilta, C. , Bassignani, F. (2000). The role of longterm-memory and short-term-memory links in the Simon effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception Performance, 26, 648-670. 20 Actions speak louder than words Thorndike, E. L. (1898). Animal Intelligence: An Experimental Study of the Associative Processes in Animals (Psychological Review, Monograph Supplements, No. 8). New York: Macmillan. Wallbott, H. G. (1991). Recognition of emotion from facial expression via imitation? Some indirect evidence for an old theory. British Journal of Social Psychology, 30, 207-219. 21 Actions speak louder than words Author note AB is now at Faculte de Psychologie et des Sciences de lEducation, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. 22 Actions speak louder than words Figure caption Figure 1. RTs in compatible, neutral and incompatible trials for word-relevant (solid line) and action-relevant (broken line) task conditions. Results are presented separately for the four different participant groups: (A) ManualAuditory, (B) Vocal-Auditory, (C) Manual-Visual and (D) Vocal-Visual. Vertical bars indicate standard error of the mean. Images show compatible, neutral and incompatible stimulus compounds in action-relevant (Panel C) and word-relevant (Panel D) task conditions for the visual word modality groups (C and D). For the auditory word modality groups (A and B), words were spoken. 23

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