77 11.2 Persuasive Speaking
11.2 Persuasive Speaking
Learning Objectives
- Explain how claims, evidence, and warrants function to create an argument.
- Identify strategies for choosing a persuasive speech topic.
- Identify strategies for adapting a persuasive speech based on an audience’s orientation to the proposition.
- Distinguish among propositions of fact, value, and policy.
- Choose an organizational pattern that is fitting for a persuasive speech topic.
We produce and receive persuasive messages daily, but we don’t often stop to think about how we make the arguments we do or the quality of the arguments that we receive. In this section, we’ll learn the components of an argument, how to choose a good persuasive speech topic, and how to adapt and organize a persuasive message.
Foundation of Persuasion
Persuasive speaking seeks to influence the beliefs, attitudes, values, or behaviors of audience members. In order to persuade, a speaker has to construct arguments that appeal to audience members. Arguments form around three components: claim, evidence, and warrant. The claim is the statement that will be supported by evidence. Your thesis statement is the overarching claim for your speech, but you will make other claims within the speech to support the larger thesis. Evidence, also called grounds, supports the claim. The main points of your persuasive speech and the supporting material you include serve as evidence. For example, a speaker may make the following claim: “There should be a national law against texting while driving.” The speaker could then support the claim by providing the following evidence: “Research from the US Department of Transportation has found that texting while driving creates a crash risk that is twenty-three times worse than driving while not distracted.” The warrant is the underlying justification that connects the claim and the evidence. One warrant for the claim and evidence cited in this example is that the US Department of Transportation is an institution that funds research conducted by credible experts. An additional and more implicit warrant is that people shouldn’t do things they know are unsafe.
The quality of your evidence often impacts the strength of your warrant, and some warrants are stronger than others. A speaker could also provide evidence to support their claim advocating for a national ban on texting and driving by saying, “I have personally seen people almost wreck while trying to text.” While this type of evidence can also be persuasive, it provides a different type and strength of warrant since it is based on personal experience. In general, the anecdotal evidence from personal experience would be given a weaker warrant than the evidence from the national research report. The same process works in our legal system when a judge evaluates the connection between a claim and evidence. If someone steals my car, I could say to the police, “I’m pretty sure Mario did it because when I said hi to him on campus the other day, he didn’t say hi back, which proves he’s mad at me.” A judge faced with that evidence is unlikely to issue a warrant for Mario’s arrest. Fingerprint evidence from the steering wheel that has been matched with a suspect is much more likely to warrant arrest.
As you put together a persuasive argument, you act as the judge. You can evaluate arguments that you come across in your research by analyzing the connection (the warrant) between the claim and the evidence. If the warrant is strong, you may want to highlight that argument in your speech. You may also be able to point out a weak warrant in an argument that goes against your position, which you could then include in your speech. Every argument starts by putting together a claim and evidence, but arguments grow to include many interrelated units.
Choosing a Persuasive Speech Topic
As with any speech, topic selection is important and is influenced by many factors. Good persuasive speech topics are current, controversial, and have important implications for society. If your topic is currently being discussed on television, in newspapers, in the lounges in your dorm, or around your family’s dinner table, then it’s a current topic. A persuasive speech aimed at getting audience members to wear seat belts in cars wouldn’t have much current relevance, given that statistics consistently show that most people wear seat belts. Giving the same speech would have been much more timely in the 1970s when there was a huge movement to increase seat-belt use. Many topics that are current are also controversial, which is what gets them attention by the media and citizens. Current and controversial topics will be more engaging for your audience. A persuasive speech to encourage audience members to donate blood or recycle wouldn’t be very controversial, since the benefits of both practices are widely agreed on. However, arguing that the restrictions on blood donation by men who have had sexual relations with men be lifted would be controversial. I must caution here that controversial is not the same as inflammatory. An inflammatory topic is one that evokes strong reactions from an audience for the sake of provoking a reaction. Being provocative for no good reason or choosing a topic that is extremist will damage your credibility and prevent you from achieving your speech goals.
You should also choose a topic that is important to you and to society as a whole. As we have already discussed in this book, our voices are powerful, as it is through communication that we participate and make change in society. Therefore we should take seriously opportunities to use our voices to speak publicly. Choosing a speech topic that has implications for society is probably a better application of your public speaking skills than choosing to persuade the audience that Lebron James is the best basketball player in the world or that Superman is a better hero than Spiderman. Although those topics may be very important to you, they don’t carry the same social weight as many other topics you could choose to discuss. Remember that speakers have ethical obligations to the audience and should take the opportunity to speak seriously.
You will also want to choose a topic that connects to your own interests and passions. If you are an education major, it might make more sense to do a persuasive speech about funding for public education than the death penalty. If there are hot-button issues for you that make you get fired up and veins bulge out in your neck, then it may be a good idea to avoid those when speaking in an academic or professional context
Choose a persuasive speech topic that you’re passionate about but still able to approach and deliver in an ethical manner.
Choosing such topics may interfere with your ability to deliver a speech in a competent and ethical manner. You want to care about your topic, but you also want to be able to approach it in a way that’s going to make people want to listen to you. Most people tune out speakers they perceive to be too ideologically entrenched and write them off as extremists or zealots.
You also want to ensure that your topic is actually persuasive. Draft your thesis statement as an “I believe” statement so your stance on an issue is clear. Also, think of your main points as reasons to support your thesis. Students end up with speeches that aren’t very persuasive in nature if they don’t think of their main points as reasons. Identifying arguments that counter your thesis is also a good exercise to help ensure your topic is persuasive. If you can clearly and easily identify a competing thesis statement and supporting reasons, then your topic and approach are arguable.
Review of Tips for Choosing a Persuasive Speech Topic
- Choose a topic that is current.
- Not current. People should use seat belts.
- Current. People should not text while driving.
- Choose a topic that is controversial.
- Not controversial. People should recycle.
- Controversial. Recycling should be mandatory by law.
- Choose a topic that meaningfully impacts society.
- Not as impactful. Superman is the best superhero.
- Impactful. Colleges and universities should adopt zero-tolerance bullying policies.
- Write a thesis statement that is clearly argumentative and states your stance.
- Unclear thesis. Homeschooling is common in the United States.
- Clear, argumentative thesis with stance. Homeschooling does not provide the same benefits of traditional education and should be strictly monitored and limited.
Adapting Persuasive Messages
Competent speakers should consider their audience throughout the speech-making process. Given that persuasive messages seek to directly influence the audience in some way, audience adaptation becomes even more important. If possible, poll your audience to find out their orientation toward your thesis. I read my students’ thesis statements aloud and have the class indicate whether they agree with, disagree with, or are neutral in regards to the proposition. It is unlikely that you will have a homogeneous audience, meaning that there will probably be some who agree, some who disagree, and some who are neutral. So you may employ all of the following strategies, in varying degrees, in your persuasive speech.
When you have audience members who already agree with your proposition, you should focus on intensifying their agreement. You can also assume that they have foundational background knowledge of the topic, which means you can take the time to inform them about lesser-known aspects of a topic or cause to further reinforce their agreement. Rather than move these audience members from disagreement to agreement, you can focus on moving them from agreement to action. Remember, calls to action should be as specific as possible to help you capitalize on audience members’ motivation in the moment so they are more likely to follow through on the action. There are two main reasons audience members may be neutral in regards to your topic: (1) they are uninformed about the topic or (2) they do not think the topic affects them. In this case, you should focus on instilling a concern for the topic. Uninformed audiences may need background information before they can decide if they agree or disagree with your proposition. If the issue is familiar but audience members are neutral because they don’t see how the topic affects them, focus on getting the audience’s attention and demonstrating relevance. Remember that concrete and proxemic supporting materials will help an audience find relevance in a topic. Students who pick narrow or unfamiliar topics will have to work harder to persuade their audience, but neutral audiences often provide the most chance of achieving your speech goal since even a small change may move them into agreement. When audience members disagree with your proposition, you should focus on changing their minds. To effectively persuade, you must be seen as a credible speaker. When an audience is hostile to your proposition, establishing credibility is even more important, as audience members may be quick to discount or discredit someone who doesn’t appear prepared or doesn’t present well-researched and supported information. Don’t give an audience a chance to write you off before you even get to share your best evidence. When facing a disagreeable audience, the goal should also be small change. You may not be able to switch someone’s position completely, but influencing him or her is still a success. Aside from establishing your credibility, you should also establish common ground with an audience.
Build common ground with disagreeable audiences and acknowledge areas of disagreement.
Acknowledging areas of disagreement and logically refuting counterarguments in your speech is also a way to approach persuading an audience in disagreement, as it shows that you are open-minded enough to engage with other perspectives.
Determining Your Proposition
The proposition of your speech is the overall direction of the content and how that relates to the speech goal. A persuasive speech will fall primarily into one of three categories: propositions of fact, value, or policy. A speech may have elements of any of the three propositions, but you can usually determine the overall proposition of a speech from the specific purpose and thesis statements.
Propositions of fact focus on beliefs and try to establish that something “is or isn’t.” Propositions of value focus on persuading audience members that something is “good or bad,” “right or wrong,” or “desirable or undesirable.” Propositions of policy advocate that something “should or shouldn’t” be done. Since most persuasive speech topics can be approached as propositions of fact, value, or policy, it is a good idea to start thinking about what kind of proposition you want to make, as it will influence how you go about your research and writing. As you can see in the following example using the topic of global warming, the type of proposition changes the types of supporting materials you would need:
- Proposition of fact. Global warming is caused by increased greenhouse gases related to human activity.
- Proposition of value. America’s disproportionately large amount of pollution relative to other countries is wrong.
- Proposition of policy. There should be stricter emission restrictions on individual cars.
To support propositions of fact, you would want to present a logical argument based on objective facts that can then be used to build persuasive arguments. Propositions of value may require you to appeal more to your audience’s emotions and cite expert and lay testimony. Persuasive speeches about policy usually require you to research existing and previous laws or procedures and determine if any relevant legislation or propositions are currently being considered.
Organizing a Persuasive Speech
We have already discussed several patterns for organizing your speech, but some organization strategies are specific to persuasive speaking. Some persuasive speech topics lend themselves to a topical organization pattern, which breaks the larger topic up into logical divisions. Earlier, in Chapter 9 “Preparing a Speech”, we discussed recency and primacy, and in this chapter we discussed adapting a persuasive speech based on the audience’s orientation toward the proposition. These concepts can be connected when organizing a persuasive speech topically. Primacy means putting your strongest information first and is based on the idea that audience members put more weight on what they hear first. This strategy can be especially useful when addressing an audience that disagrees with your proposition, as you can try to win them over early. Recency means putting your strongest information last to leave a powerful impression. This can be useful when you are building to a climax in your speech, specifically if you include a call to action.
Putting your strongest argument last can help motivate an audience to action.
The problem-solution pattern is an organizational pattern that advocates for a particular approach to solve a problem. You would provide evidence to show that a problem exists and then propose a solution with additional evidence or reasoning to justify the course of action. One main point addressing the problem and one main point addressing the solution may be sufficient, but you are not limited to two. You could add a main point between the problem and solution that outlines other solutions that have failed. You can also combine the problem-solution pattern with the cause-effect pattern or expand the speech to fit with Monroe’s Motivated Sequence. As was mentioned in Chapter 9 “Preparing a Speech”, the cause-effect pattern can be used for informative speaking when the relationship between the cause and effect is not contested. The pattern is more fitting for persuasive speeches when the relationship between the cause and effect is controversial or unclear. There are several ways to use causes and effects to structure a speech. You could have a two-point speech that argues from cause to effect or from effect to cause. You could also have more than one cause that lead to the same effect or a single cause that leads to multiple effects. The following are some examples of thesis statements that correspond to various organizational patterns. As you can see, the same general topic area, prison overcrowding, is used for each example. This illustrates the importance of considering your organizational options early in the speech-making process, since the pattern you choose will influence your researching and writing.
Persuasive Speech Thesis Statements by Organizational Pattern
- Problem-solution. Prison overcrowding is a serious problem that we can solve by finding alternative rehabilitation for nonviolent offenders.
- Problem–failed solution–proposed solution. Prison overcrowding is a serious problem that shouldn’t be solved by building more prisons; instead, we should support alternative rehabilitation for nonviolent offenders.
- Cause-effect. Prisons are overcrowded with nonviolent offenders, which leads to lesser sentences for violent criminals.
- Cause-cause-effect. State budgets are being slashed and prisons are overcrowded with nonviolent offenders, which leads to lesser sentences for violent criminals.
- Cause-effect-effect. Prisons are overcrowded with nonviolent offenders, which leads to increased behavioral problems among inmates and lesser sentences for violent criminals.
- Cause-effect-solution. Prisons are overcrowded with nonviolent offenders, which leads to lesser sentences for violent criminals; therefore we need to find alternative rehabilitation for nonviolent offenders.
Monroe’s Motivated Sequence is an organizational pattern designed for persuasive speaking that appeals to audience members’ needs and motivates them to action. If your persuasive speaking goals include a call to action, you may want to consider this organizational pattern. We already learned about the five steps of Monroe’s Motivated Sequence in Chapter 9 “Preparing a Speech”, but we will review them here with an example:
- Step 1: Attention
- Hook the audience by making the topic relevant to them.
- Imagine living a full life, retiring, and slipping into your golden years. As you get older you become more dependent on others and move into an assisted-living facility. Although you think life will be easier, things get worse as you experience abuse and mistreatment from the staff. You report the abuse to a nurse and wait, but nothing happens and the abuse continues. Elder abuse is a common occurrence, and unlike child abuse, there are no laws in our state that mandate complaints of elder abuse be reported or investigated.
- Step 2: Need
- Cite evidence to support the fact that the issue needs to be addressed.
- According to the American Psychological Association, one to two million elderly US Americans have been abused by their caretakers. In our state, those in the medical, psychiatric, and social work field are required to report suspicion of child abuse but are not mandated to report suspicions of elder abuse.
- Step 3: Satisfaction
- Offer a solution and persuade the audience that it is feasible and well thought out.
- There should be a federal law mandating that suspicion of elder abuse be reported and that all claims of elder abuse be investigated.
- Step 4: Visualization
- Take the audience beyond your solution and help them visualize the positive results of implementing it or the negative consequences of not.
- Elderly people should not have to live in fear during their golden years. A mandatory reporting law for elderly abuse will help ensure that the voices of our elderly loved ones will be heard.
- Step 5: Action
- Call your audience to action by giving them concrete steps to follow to engage in a particular action or to change a thought or behavior.
- I urge you to take action in two ways. First, raise awareness about this issue by talking to your own friends and family. Second, contact your representatives at the state and national level to let them know that elder abuse should be taken seriously and given the same level of importance as other forms of abuse. I brought cards with the contact information for our state and national representatives for this area. Please take one at the end of my speech. A short email or phone call can help end the silence surrounding elder abuse.
Key Takeaways
- Arguments are formed by making claims that are supported by evidence. The underlying justification that connects the claim and evidence is the warrant. Arguments can have strong or weak warrants, which will make them more or less persuasive.
- Good persuasive speech topics are current, controversial (but not inflammatory), and important to the speaker and society.
- Speakers should adapt their persuasive approach based on audience members’ orientation toward the proposal.
- When audience members agree with the proposal, focus on intensifying their agreement and moving them to action.
- When audience members are neutral in regards to the proposition, provide background information to better inform them about the issue and present information that demonstrates the relevance of the topic to the audience.
- When audience members disagree with the proposal, focus on establishing your credibility, build common ground with the audience, and incorporate counterarguments and refute them.
- Persuasive speeches include the following propositions: fact, value, and policy.
- Propositions of fact focus on establishing that something “is or isn’t” or is “true or false.”
- Propositions of value focus on persuading an audience that something is “good or bad,” “right or wrong,” or “desirable or undesirable.”
- Propositions of policy advocate that something “should or shouldn’t” be done.
- Persuasive speeches can be organized using the following patterns: problem-solution, cause-effect, cause-effect-solution, or Monroe’s Motivated Sequence.
References
Bone, J. E., Cindy L. Griffin, and T. M. Linda Scholz, “Beyond Traditional Conceptualizations of Rhetoric: Invitational Rhetoric and a Move toward Civility,” Western Journal of Communication 72 (2008): 436.
Gearhart, S. M., “The Womanization of Rhetoric,” Women’s Studies International Quarterly 2 (1979): 195–201.
Ryan, K. J., and Elizabeth J. Natalle, “Fusing Horizons: Standpoint Hermenutics and Invitational Rhetoric,” Rhetoric Society Quarterly 31 (2001): 69–90.


 From an evolutionary perspective, the reason is obvious—perpetuation of the species. Sexual behavior in humans, however, involves much more than reproduction. This section provides an overview of research that has been conducted on human sexual behavior and motivation. This section will close with a discussion of issues related to gender and sexual orientation.
 As you’ve learned, the hypothalamus plays an important role in motivated behaviors, and sex is no exception. In fact, lesions to an area of the hypothalamus called the medial preoptic area completely disrupt a male rat’s ability to engage in sexual behavior. Surprisingly, medial preoptic lesions do not change how hard a male rat is willing to work to gain access to a sexually receptive female (Figure 1). This suggests that the ability to engage in sexual behavior and the motivation to do so may be mediated by neural systems distinct from one another.
Animal research suggests that limbic system structures such as the amygdala and nucleus accumbens are especially important for sexual motivation. Damage to these areas results in a decreased motivation to engage in sexual behavior, while leaving the ability to do so intact (Figure 2) (Everett, 1990).
Although human sexual behavior is much more complex than that seen in rats, some parallels between animals and humans can be drawn from this research. The worldwide popularity of drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction (Conrad, 2005) speaks to the fact that sexual motivation and the ability to engage in sexual behavior can also be dissociated in humans. Moreover, disorders that involve abnormal hypothalamic function are often associated with hypogonadism (reduced function of the gonads) and reduced sexual function (e.g., Prader-Willi syndrome). Given the hypothalamus’s role in endocrine function, it is not surprising that hormones secreted by the endocrine system also play important roles in sexual motivation and behavior. For example, many animals show no sign of sexual motivation in the absence of the appropriate combination of sex hormones from their gonads. While this is not the case for humans, there is considerable evidence that sexual motivation for both men and women varies as a function of circulating testosterone levels (Bhasin, Enzlin, Coviello, & Basson, 2007; Carter, 1992; Sherwin, 1988).
Kinsey’s Research
Before the late 1940s, access to reliable, empirically-based information on sex was limited. Physicians were considered authorities on all issues related to sex, despite the fact that they had little to no training in these issues, and it is likely that most of what people knew about sex had been learned either through their own experiences or by talking with their peers. Convinced that people would benefit from a more open dialogue on issues related to human sexuality, Dr. Alfred Kinsey of Indiana University initiated large-scale survey research on the topic (Figure 3). The results of some of these efforts were published in two books—Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female—which were published in 1948 and 1953, respectively (Bullough, 1998).
At the time, the Kinsey reports were quite sensational.  The books, which were filled with statistics and scientific lingo, sold remarkably well to the general public, and people began to engage in open conversations about human sexuality. As you might imagine, not everyone was happy that this information was being published. In fact, these books were banned in some countries. Ultimately, the controversy resulted in Kinsey losing funding that he had secured from the Rockefeller Foundation to continue his research efforts (Bancroft, 2004).
Although Kinsey’s research has been widely criticized as being riddled with sampling and statistical errors (Jenkins, 2010), there is little doubt that this research was very influential in shaping future research on human sexual behavior and motivation. Kinsey described a remarkably diverse range of sexual behaviors and experiences reported by the volunteers participating in his research. Behaviors that had once been considered exceedingly rare or problematic were demonstrated to be much more common and innocuous than previously imagined (Bancroft, 2004; Bullough, 1998).
Link to Learning
Watch this trailer from the 2004 film Kinsey that depicts Alfred Kinsey’s life and research.
Among the results of Kinsey’s research were the findings that women are as interested and experienced in sex as their male counterparts, that both males and females masturbate without adverse health consequences, and that homosexual acts are fairly common (Bancroft, 2004). Kinsey also developed a continuum known as the Kinsey scale that is still commonly used today to categorize an individual’s sexual orientation (Jenkins, 2010).
Masters and Johnson’s Research
In 1966, William Masters and Virginia Johnson published a book detailing the results of their observations of nearly 700 people who agreed to participate in their study of physiological responses during sexual behavior. Unlike Kinsey, who used personal interviews and surveys to collect data, Masters and Johnson observed people having intercourse in a variety of positions, and they observed people masturbating, manually or with the aid of a device. While this was occurring, researchers recorded measurements of physiological variables, such as blood pressure and respiration rate, as well as measurements of sexual arousal, such as vaginal lubrication and penile tumescence (swelling associated with an erection). In total, Masters and Johnson observed nearly 10,000 sexual acts as a part of their research (Hock, 2008).
Based on these observations, Masters and Johnson divided the sexual response cycle into four phases that are fairly similar in men and women: excitement, plateau, orgasm, and resolution (Figure 4).  During plateau, women experience further swelling of the vagina and increased blood flow to the labia minora, and men experience full erection and often exhibit pre-ejaculatory fluid. Both men and women experience increases in muscle tone during this time. Orgasm is marked in women by rhythmic contractions of the pelvis and uterus along with increased muscle tension. In men, pelvic contractions are accompanied by a buildup of seminal fluid near the urethra that is ultimately forced out by contractions of genital muscles, (i.e., ejaculation). Resolution is the relatively rapid return to an unaroused state accompanied by a decrease in blood pressure and muscular relaxation. While many women can quickly repeat the sexual response cycle, men must pass through a longer refractory period as part of resolution. The refractory period is a period of time that follows an orgasm during which an individual is incapable of experiencing another orgasm. In men, the duration of the refractory period can vary dramatically from individual to individual with some refractory periods as short as several minutes and others as long as a day. As men age, their refractory periods tend to span longer periods of time.
In addition to the insights that their research provided with regards to the sexual response cycle and the multi-orgasmic potential of women, Masters and Johnson also collected important information about reproductive anatomy.  Furthermore, they determined that the vagina is a very elastic structure that can conform to penises of various sizes (Hock, 2008).
Link to Learning
Watch the following episode of Crash Course Psychology in which Hank talks about Kinsey, Masters and Johnson, sexuality, gender identity, hormones, and even looks into the idea of why people have sex.
Licenses and Attributions (Click to expand)
CC licensed content, Shared previously
- Sexual Behavior. Authored by: OpenStax College. Located at: https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/10-3-sexual-behavior. License: CC BY: Attribution. License Terms: Download for free at https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction
All rights reserved content
- Let’s Talk About Sex: Crash Course Psychology #27. Authored by: Hank Green. Provided by: CrashCourse. Located at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qymp_VaFo9M&feature=youtu.be&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtOPRKzVLY0jJY-uHOH9KVU6. License: Other. License Terms: Standard YouTube License
phase of the sexual response cycle that involves sexual arousal
phase of the sexual response cycle that falls between excitement and orgasm
peak phase of the sexual response cycle associated with rhythmic muscle contractions (and ejaculation)
phase of the sexual response cycle following orgasm during which the body returns to its unaroused state
time immediately following an orgasm during which an individual is incapable of experiencing another orgasm


Chapter 62: Cross-Cultural Communication
Jason Wrench; Narissra Punyanunt-Carter; and Katherine Thweatt
Learning Objectives
- Explain the importance of cultural intelligence.
- Learn about metacognitive CQ.
- Identify several different ways to create better intercultural interactions.
Become Culturally Intelligent
One of the latest buzz-words in the business world is “cultural intelligence,” which was initially introduced to the scholarly community in 2003 by P. Christopher Earley and Soon Ang. In the past decade, a wealth of research has been conducted examining the importance of cultural intelligence during interpersonal interactions with people from other cultures. Cultural intelligence (CQ) is defined as an “individual’s capability to function effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity.”
Four Factors of Cultural Intelligence
In their original study on the topic, Earley and Ang argued that cultural intelligence is based on four distinct factors: cognitive, motivational, metacognitive, and behavioral dimensions. Before continuing, take a minute and complete the Cultural Intelligence Questionnaire in Table 62.1
Instructions: Read the following questions and select the answer that corresponds with your perception. Do not be concerned if some of the items appear similar. Please use the scale below to rate the degree to which each statement applies to you.
|
Strongly Disagree |
Disagree |
Neutral |
Agree |
Strongly Agree |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
_____1. When I’m interacting with someone from a differing culture, I know when I use my knowledge of that person’s culture during my interactions.
_____2. When I interact with someone from a culture I know nothing about, I have no problem adjusting my perspective of their culture while we talk.
_____3. During intercultural interactions, I am well aware of the cultural knowledge I utilize.
_____4. I always check my knowledge of someone from another culture to ensure that my understanding of their culture is accurate.
_____5. During my intercultural interactions, I try to be mindful of how my perceptions of someone’s culture are either consistent with or differ from reality.
_____6. I pride myself on knowing a lot about other people’s cultures.
_____7. I understand the social, economic, and political systems of other cultures.
_____8. I know about other cultures’ religious beliefs and values.
_____9. I understand how daily life is enacted in other cultures.
_____10. I know the importance of paintings, literature, and other forms of art in other cultures.
_____11. I enjoy reaching out and engaging in an intercultural encounter.
_____12. I would have no problem socializing with people from a new culture.
_____13. Although intercultural encounters often involve stress, I don’t mind the stress because meeting people from new cultures makes it worth it.
_____14. I would have no problems accustoming myself to the routines of another culture.
_____15. I enjoy being with people from other cultures and getting to know them.
_____16. I know how to interact verbally with people from different cultures.
_____17. I know how to interact nonverbally with people from different cultures.
_____18. I can vary my rate of speech if an intercultural encounter requires it.
_____19. I can easily alter my behaviors to suit the needs of an intercultural encounter.
_____20. I can alter my facial expressions if an intercultural encounter requires it.
Scoring:
Add items 1-5 (Intercultural Understanding) = ___________________
Add items 6-10 (Intercultural Knowledge) = ___________________
Add items 7-15 (Intercultural Motivation) = ___________________
Add items 16-20 (Intercultural Behavior) = ___________________
Interpreting Your Scores:
Scores for each of the four factors (intercultural understanding, intercultural knowledge, intercultural motivation, and intercultural behavior) can be added together to get a composite score. Each of the four factors exists on a continuum from 5 (not culturally intelligent) to 25 (highly culturally intelligent). An average person would score between 12-18.
Based on:
Van Dyne, L., Ang, S., & Koh, C. (2008). Development and validation of the CQS: The Cultural Intelligence Scale. In S. Ang & L. Van Dyne (Eds.), Handbook of cultural intelligence: Theory, measurement, and application (pp. 16-38). Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
Table 62.1 Cultural Intelligence Questionnaire
Cognitive CQ
First, cognitive CQ involves knowing about different cultures (intercultural knowledge). Many types of knowledge about a culture can be relevant during an intercultural interaction: rules and norms, economic and legal systems, cultural values and beliefs, the importance of art within a society, etc.… All of these different areas of knowledge involve facts that can help you understand people from different cultures. For example, in most of the United States, when you are talking to someone, eye contact is very important. You may have even been told by someone to “look at me when I’m talking to you” if you’ve ever gotten in trouble. However, this isn’t consistent across different cultures at all. Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Native American cultures often view direct contact when talking to someone superior as a sign of disrespect. Knowing how eye contact functions across cultures can help you know more about how to interact with people from various cultures. Probably one of the best books you can read to know more about how to communicate in another culture is Terri Morrison and Wayne A. Conaway’s book Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More than 60 Countries.
Motivational CQ
Second, we have motivational CQ, or the degree to which an individual desires to engage in intercultural interactions and can easily adapt to different cultural environments. Motivation is the key to effective intercultural interactions. You can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you are not motivated to have successful intercultural interactions, you will not have them.
Metacognitive CQ
Third, metacognitive CQ involves being consciously aware of your intercultural interactions in a manner that helps you have more effective interpersonal experiences with people from differing cultures (intercultural understanding). All of the knowledge about cultural differences in the world will not be beneficial if you cannot use that information to understand and adapt your behavior during an interpersonal interaction with someone from a differing culture. As such, we must always be learning about cultures but also be ready to adjust our knowledge about people and their cultures through our interactions with them.
Behavioral CQ
Lastly, behavioral CQ is the next step following metacognitive CQ, which is behaving in a manner that is consistent with what you know about other cultures. We should never expect others to adjust to us culturally. Instead, culturally intelligent people realize that it’s best to adapt our behaviors (verbally and nonverbally) to bridge the gap between people culturally. When we go out of our way to be culturally intelligent, we will encourage others to do so as well.
As you can see, becoming a truly culturally intelligent person involves a lot of work. As such, it’s important to spend time and build your cultural intelligence if you are going to be an effective communicator in today’s world.
Engaging Culturally Mindful Interactions
Admittedly, being culturally competent takes a lot of work and a lot of practice. Even if you’re not completely culturally competent, you can engage with people from other cultures in a mindful way.
First, when it comes to engaging with people from other cultures, we need to be fully in the moment and not think about previous interactions with people from a culture or possible future interactions with people from a culture. Instead, it’s essential to focus on the person you are interacting with. You also need to be aware of your stereotypes and prejudices that you may have of people from a different culture. Don’t try to find evidence to support or negate these stereotypes or prejudices. If you focus on evidence-finding, you’re just trying to satisfy your thoughts and feelings and not mindfully engaging with this other person. Also, if you find that your mind is shifting, recognize the shift and allow yourself to re-center on your interaction with the other person.
Second, go into an intercultural interaction knowing your intention. If your goal is to learn more about that person’s culture, that’s a great intention. However, that may not be the only intention we have when interacting with someone from another culture. For example, you may be interacting with someone from another culture because you’re trying to sell them a product you represent. If your main intention is sales, then be aware of your intention and don’t try to deceive yourself into thinking it’s something more altruistic.
Lastly, go into all intercultural interactions with the right attitude. Remember, the goal of being mindful is to be open, kind, and curious. Although we often discuss mindful in terms of how we can be open, kind, and curious with ourselves, it’s also important to extend that same framework when we are interacting with people from other cultures. So much of mindful relationships is embodying the right attitude during our interactions with others.
Overall, the goal of mindful intercultural interactions is to be present in the moment in a nonjudgmental way. When you face judgments, recognize them, and ask yourself where they have come from. Interrogate those judgments. At the same time, don’t judge yourself for having these ideas. If we have stereotypes about another a specific culture, it’s important to recognize those stereotypes, call them out, understand where they came from in the first place, and examine them for factualness.
For example, imagine you’re talking to someone from the Republic of Kiribati. Chances are, you’ve probably never heard of the Republic of Kiribati, but it’s a real country in Oceania. But let’s say all you know about the people from the Republic of Kiribati is that they like European-style football. During your interaction, you say, “So, what’s your favorite football team?” In this moment, you’ve taken the one stereotype you had and used it to help engage in an interaction. However, if the person comes back and says, “I really don’t care. Sports just aren’t my thing.” How do you respond?  That doesn’t make you a bad person, but we must learn from these encounters and broaden our world views. Second, call out the stereotype in your mind. Before that moment, you may not have even realized that you had a stereotype of people from the Republic of Kiribati. Labeling our stereotypes of other people is important because it helps us recognize them faster, the more we engage in this type of mindful behavior. Third, figure out where that stereotype came from. Maybe you had been in New Zealand and saw a match on the television and saw the Kiribati national football team. In that one moment, you learned a tiny bit about an entire country and pocketed it away for future use. Sometimes it’s easy to figure out where our stereotypes evolved from, but sometimes these stereotypes are so ingrained in us through our own culture that it’s hard to really figure out their origin. Lastly, it’s time to realize that your stereotype may not be that factual. At the same time, you may have found the one resident of the Republic of Kiribati who doesn’t like football. We can often make these determinations by talking to the other person.
At the same time, it’s important also to be mindfully open to the other person’s stereotypes of people within your own culture. For example, someone from the Republic of Kiribati may have a stereotype that Americans know nothing about football (other than American football). If you’re a fan of what we in the U.S. call soccer, then you correct that stereotype or at least provide that person a more nuanced understanding of your own culture. Sure, American football still is the king of sports in the U.S., but media trends for watching football (soccer) are growing, and more and more Americans are becoming fans.
Key Takeaways
- Cultural intelligence involves the degree to which an individual can communicate competently in varying cultural situations. Cultural intelligence consists of four distinct parts: knowledge, motivation, understanding, and behavior.
- Having strong intercultural relationships can be very rewarding. When thinking about your own intercultural relationships, some ways to have more rewarding intercultural relationships can include: understanding your own culture better, being interested in other people and their cultures, respecting other people’s cultures, becoming culturally intelligent, tolerating ambiguity during interactions, being aware of and overcoming your own ethnocentrism, and being a good example of your own culture.
Exercises
- The Cultural Intelligence Center has created a widely used 20-item measure for cultural intelligence. Please take a second and complete their measure: Cultural Intelligence Scale (see page 366 in the article). What were your CQ strengths and CQ weaknesses? Where would you most want to improve your CQ?
- Visit the National Center for Cultural Competence. Read some of the material on their website. Look for their ideas and compare to what you’ve learned in this section.
- James L. Mason created a cultural competence tool for service agencies (http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED399684.pdf). Take a look at their tool, which is freely available online. What do you think of their tools for evaluating cultural competence? Do you think cultural competence and cultural intelligence are similar, different, or identical? Why?
 Access for free at: https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/interpersonalcommunication/chapter/6/
Wrench, J., Punyanunt-Carter, N., & Thweatt, K. Improving Intercultural Communication Skills. In Interpersonal Communication. Milne Publishing.
Modifications: Removed chapter references not included in this work, renumbered figures.
Footnotes:


12.1 Why the Private Sector Underinvests in Innovation
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
- Identify the positive externalities of new technology
- Explain the difference between private benefits and social benefits and give examples of each
- Calculate and analyze rates of return
Market competition can provide an incentive for discovering new technology because a firm can earn higher profits by finding a way to produce products more cheaply or to create products with characteristics consumers want. As Gregory Lee, CEO of Samsung said, “Relentless pursuit of new innovation is the key principle of our business and enables consumers to discover a world of possibilities with technology.” An innovative firm knows that it will usually have a temporary edge over its competitors and thus an ability to earn above-normal profits before competitors can catch up.
In certain cases, however, competition can discourage new technology, especially when other firms can quickly copy a new idea. Consider a pharmaceutical firm deciding to develop a new drug. On average, it can cost $800 million and take more than a decade to discover a new drug, perform the necessary safety tests, and bring the drug to market. If the research and development (R&D) effort fails—and every R&D project has some chance of failure—then the firm will suffer losses and could even be driven out of business. If the project succeeds, then the firm’s competitors may figure out ways of adapting and copying the underlying idea, but without having to pay the costs themselves. As a result, the innovative company will bear the much higher costs of the R&D and will enjoy at best only a small, temporary advantage over the competition.
Many inventors over the years have discovered that their inventions brought them less profit than they might have reasonably expected.
- Eli Whitney (1765–1825) invented the cotton gin, but then southern cotton planters built their own seed-separating devices with a few minor changes in Whitney’s design. When Whitney sued, he found that the courts in southern states would not uphold his patent rights.
- Thomas Edison (1847–1931) still holds the record for most patents granted to an individual. His first invention was an automatic vote counter, and despite the social benefits, he could not find a government that wanted to buy it.
- Gordon Gould came up with the idea behind the laser in 1957. He put off applying for a patent and, by the time he did apply, other scientists had laser inventions of their own. A lengthy legal battle resulted, in which Gould spent $100,000 on lawyers, before he eventually received a patent for the laser in 1977. Compared to the enormous social benefits of the laser, Gould received relatively little financial reward.
- In 1936, Alan Turing delivered a paper titled, “On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem,” in which he presented the notion of a universal machine (later called the “Universal Turing Machine,” and then the “Turing machine”) capable of computing anything that is computable. The central concept of the modern computer was based on Turing’s paper. Today scholars widely consider Turing as the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence; however, the UK government prosecuted Turing in 1952 for homosexual acts and gave him the choice of chemical castration or prison. Turing chose castration and died in 1954 from cyanide poisoning.
A variety of studies by economists have found that the original inventor receives one-third to one-half of the total economic benefits from innovations, while other businesses and new product users receive the rest.
The Positive Externalities of New Technology
Will private firms in a market economy underinvest in research and technology? If a firm builds a factory or buys a piece of equipment, the firm receives all the economic benefits that result from the investments. However, when a firm invests in new technology, the private benefits, or profits, that the firm receives are only a portion of the overall social benefits. The social benefits of an innovation account for the value of all the positive externalities of the new idea or product, whether enjoyed by other companies or society as a whole, as well as the private benefits the firm that developed the new technology receives. As you learned in Environmental Protection and Negative Externalities, positive externalities are beneficial spillovers to a third party, or parties.
Consider the example of the Big Drug Company, which is planning its R&D budget for the next year. Economists and scientists working for Big Drug have compiled a list of potential research and development projects and estimated rates of return. (The rate of return is the estimated payoff from the project.) Figure 12.2 shows how the calculations work. The downward-sloping curve (DPrivate) represents the firm’s demand for financial capital and reflects the company’s willingness to borrow to finance research and development projects at various interest rates. Suppose that this firm’s investment in research and development creates a spillover benefit to other firms and households. After all, new innovations often spark other creative endeavors that society also values. If we add the spillover benefits society enjoys to the firm’s private demand for financial capital, we can draw DSocial that lies above DPrivate.
If there were a way for the firm to fully monopolize those social benefits by somehow making them unavailable to the rest of us, the firm’s private demand curve would be the same as society’s demand curve. According to Figure 12.2 and Table 12.1, if the going rate of interest on borrowing is 8%, and the company can receive the private benefits of innovation only, then the company would finance $30 million. Society, at the same rate of 8%, would find it optimal to have $52 million of borrowing. Unless there is a way for the company to fully enjoy the total benefits, then it will borrow less than the socially optimal level of $52 million.
|
Rate of Return |
DPrivate (in millions) |
DSocial (in millions) |
|
2% |
$72 |
$84 |
|
4% |
$52 |
$72 |
|
6% |
$38 |
$62 |
|
8% |
$30 |
$52 |
|
10% |
$26 |
$44 |
Big Drug’s original demand for financial capital (DPrivate) is based on the profits received the firm receives. However, other pharmaceutical firms and health care companies may learn new lessons about how to treat certain medical conditions and are then able to create their own competing products. The social benefit of the drug takes into account the value of all the drug’s positive externalities. If Big Drug were able to gain this social return instead of other companies, its demand for financial capital would shift to the demand curve (DSocial), and it would be willing to borrow and invest $52 million. However, if Big Drug is receiving only 50 cents of each dollar of social benefits, the firm will not spend as much on creating new products. The amount it would be willing to spend would fall somewhere in between DPrivate and DSocial.
Why Invest in Human Capital?
The investment in anything, whether it is the construction of a new power plant or research in a new cancer treatment, usually requires a certain upfront cost with an uncertain future benefit. The investment in education, or human capital, is no different. Over the span of many years, a student and her family invest significant amounts of time and money into that student’s education. The idea is that higher levels of educational attainment will eventually serve to increase the student’s future productivity and subsequent ability to earn. Once the student crunches the numbers, does this investment pay off for her?
Almost universally, economists have found that the answer to this question is a clear “Yes.” For example, several studies of the return to education in the United States estimate that the rate of return to a college education is approximately 10-15%. Data in Table 12.2, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers, First Quarter 2019, demonstrate that median weekly earnings are higher for workers who have completed more education. While these rates of return will beat equivalent investments in Treasury bonds or savings accounts, the estimated returns to education go primarily to the individual worker, so these returns are private rates of return to education.
|
|
Less than a High School Degree |
High School Degree, No College |
Bachelor’s Degree |
|
Median Weekly Earnings (full-time workers over the age of 25) |
$578 |
$739 |
$1,350 |
What does society gain from investing in the education of another student? After all, if the government is spending taxpayer dollars to subsidize public education, society should expect some kind of return on that spending. Economists like George Psacharopoulos have found that, across a variety of nations, the social rate of return on schooling is also positive. After all, positive externalities exist from investment in education. While not always easy to measure, according to Walter McMahon, the positive externalities to education typically include better health outcomes for the population, lower levels of crime, a cleaner environment and a more stable, democratic government. For these reasons, many nations have chosen to use taxpayer dollars to subsidize primary, secondary, and higher education. Education clearly benefits the person who receives it, but a society where most people have a good level of education produces positive externalities for all.
Other Examples of Positive Externalities
Although technology may be the most prominent example of a positive externality, it is not the only one. For example, vaccinations against disease are not only a protection for the individual, but they have the positive spillover of protecting others who may become infected. When a number of homes in a neighborhood are modernized, updated, and restored, not only does it increase the homes’ value, but other property values in the neighborhood may increase as well.
The appropriate public policy response to a positive externality, like a new technology, is to help the party creating the positive externality receive a greater share of the social benefits. In the case of vaccines, like flu shots, an effective policy might be to provide a subsidy to those who choose to get vaccinated.
Figure 12.3 shows the market for flu shots. The market demand curve (DMarket) for flu shots reflects only the marginal private benefits (MPB) that the vaccinated individuals receive from the shots. Assuming that there are no spillover costs in the production of flu shots, the market supply curve is given by the marginal private cost (MPC) of producing the vaccinations.
The equilibrium quantity of flu shots produced in the market, where MPB is equal to MPC, is QMarket and the price of flu shots is PMarket. However, spillover benefits exist in this market because others, those who chose not to purchase a flu shot, receive a positive externality in a reduced chance of contracting the flu. When we add the spillover benefits to the marginal private benefit of flu shots, the marginal social benefit (MSB) of flu shots is given by DSocial. Because the MSB is greater than MPB, we see that the socially optimal level of flu shots is greater than the market quantity (QSocial exceeds QMarket) and the corresponding price of flu shots, if the market were to produce QSocial, would be at PSocial. Unfortunately, the marketplace does not recognize the positive externality and flu shots will go under produced and under consumed.
How can government try to move the market level of output closer to the socially desirable level of output? One policy would be to provide a subsidy, like a voucher, to any citizen who wishes to get vaccinated. This voucher would act as “income” that one could use purchase only a flu shot and, if the voucher were exactly equal to the per-unit spillover benefits, would increase market equilibrium to a quantity of QSocial and a price of PSocial where MSB equals MSC. Suppliers of the flu shots would receive payment of PSocial per vaccination, while consumers of flu shots would redeem the voucher and only pay a price of PSubsidy. When the government uses a subsidy in this way, it produces the socially optimal quantity of vaccinations.
SELF-CHECK QUESTIONS
- Do market demand curves reflect positive externalities? Why or why not?
- Suppose that Sony’s R&D investment in digital devices has increased profits by 20%. Is this a private or social benefit?
- The Gizmo Company is planning to develop new household gadgets. Table 12.3 below shows the company’s demand for financial capital for research and development of these gadgets, based on expected rates of return from sales. Now, say that every investment would have an additional 5% social benefit—that is, an investment that pays at least a 6% return to the Gizmo Company will pay at least an 11% return for society as a whole; an investment that pays at least 7% for the Gizmo Company will pay at least 12% for society as a whole, and so on. Answer the questions that follow based on this information.
Table 12.3 Estimated Rate of Return
Private profits of the firm from an R&D project (in $ millions)
10%
$100
9%
$102
8%
$108
7%
$118
6%
$133
5%
$153
4%
$183
3%
$223
- If the going interest rate is 9%, how much will Gizmo invest in R&D if it receives only the private benefits of this investment?
- Assume that the interest rate is still 9%. How much will the firm invest if it also receives the social benefits of its investment? (Add an additional 5% return on all levels of investment.)


Body Cavities
The body maintains its internal organization by membranes and other structures that separate compartments. The dorsal (posterior) cavity and the ventral (anterior) cavity are the largest compartments of the body, as shown in Figure 2.3.[1] The dorsal (posterior) cavity includes the cranial and spinal (vertebral) cavities. The ventral (anterior) cavity includes the thoracic and abdominopelvic cavities.
In the dorsal cavity, the cranial cavity houses the brain. The brain is protected by the bones of the skulls and the cerebrospinal fluid. The spinal cavity (vertebral cavity) encloses the spinal cord. It is protected by the vertebral column and cerebrospinal fluid. In the ventral cavity, the thoracic cavity is superior in position to the abdominopelvic cavity, and it is enclosed by the rib cage. The thoracic cavity contains the lungs and the heart. The diaphragm forms the floor of the thoracic cavity and separates it from the abdominopelvic cavity. The abdominopelvic cavity is the largest cavity in the body. The abdominopelvic cavity houses the digestive organs, the pelvic cavity, and the reproductive organs. The ventral cavity also allows for significant changes in the size and shape of the organs as they perform their functions. For example, the lungs, heart, stomach, and intestines can expand and contract without distorting other tissues or disrupting the activity of nearby organs.
Let’s break some terms down!
You are seeing a lot of similar terms above in the dorsal cavity. Sow how would they break down?
- Crani/o-= Cranium
- Spin/o- = Backbone, spine
- Thorac/o- = Thorax, chest cavity
- Abdomin/o- = Abdomen
- Pelv/i- = Pelvis, pelvic bones, pelvic cavity
- -al = Pertaining to
- -ic = Pertaining to
View a supplementary YouTube video[2] on body cavities and membranes:
- “Dorsal_Ventral_Body_Cavities.jpg” by OpenStax is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/anatomy-and-physiology-2e/pages/1-introduction ↵
- RegisteredNurseRN. (2019, June 12). Body cavities and membranes (Dorsal, Ventral) - Anatomy and physiology [Video]. All rights reserved. Reused with permission. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GLMjSj4k9U ↵


2.1 Formulas and Formula Auditing Tools
Learning Objectives
- Learn how to create basic formulas.
- Understand relative referencing when copying and pasting formulas.
- Work with complex formulas by controlling the order of mathematical operations.
- Understand formula auditing tools.
This section reviews the fundamental skills for entering formulas into an Excel worksheet. The example used for this chapter is the construction of a personal budget. Most financial advisors recommend that all households construct and maintain a personal budget to achieve and maintain strong financial health. Organizing and maintaining a personal budget is a skill you can practice at any point in your life. Whether you are managing your expenses during college or maintaining the finances of a family of four, a personal budget can be a vital tool when making financial decisions. Excel can make managing your money a fun and rewarding exercise.
Open the Data File
- Open the Data file named CH2 Data and use the File/Save As command to save it with the new name CH2 Personal Budget.
Figure 2.1 shows the completed workbook that will be demonstrated in this chapter. Notice that this workbook contains four worksheets. The first worksheet, Budget Summary, serves as an overview of the data that was entered and calculated in the second and third worksheets, Budget Detail and Loan Payments. The second worksheet, Budget Detail, provides a detailed list of all the expenses and the third worksheet, Loan Payments, provides information regarding car payment and mortgage payment amounts. The last worksheet, Prepare to Print, has data that is unrelated to the budget worksheets but will be used in Section 2.4 – Preparing to Print.
Creating a Basic Formula
When formulas and cell references are used Excel will automatically recalculate when data is changed
Formulas are used to calculate a variety of mathematical outputs in Excel and can be used to create virtually any custom calculation required for your objective. Furthermore, when constructing a formula in Excel, you use cell addresses that, when added to a formula, become cell references. This means that Excel uses, or references, the number entered into the cell location when performing the calculation. As a result, when the numbers in the cells that are referenced are changed, Excel automatically recalculates the formula and produces a new result. This is what gives Excel the ability to create a variety of what-if scenarios, which will be explained later in the chapter.
To demonstrate the construction of a basic formula, we will begin working on the Budget Detail worksheet, which is shown in Figure 2.2. To complete this worksheet, we will enter some data, and then create several formulas and functions. Table 2.1 provides definitions for each of the spend categories listed in the range A3:A11. When you develop a personal budget, these categories are defined on the basis of how you spend your money. It is likely that every person could have different categories or define the same categories differently. Therefore, it is important to review the definitions in Table 2.1 to understand how we are defining these categories before proceeding.
Table 2.1 Spend Category Definitions
| Category | Definition |
| Utilities | Electricity, heat, water, home phone, cable, Internet access |
| Cell Phone | Cell phone plan and equipment charges |
| Food | Groceries |
| Gas | Cost of gas for vehicle |
| Clothes | Clothes, shoes, and accessories |
| Insurance | Renter, homeowner, and/or car insurance |
| Entertainment | Activities like dining out, movie and theater tickets, parties, and so on |
| Vacation | Vacation expenses |
| Miscellaneous | Any other spending categories |
The amount of money spent each month for each category, as well as the amount of money spent last year, is already entered into the worksheet. We will write formulas that will calculate the annual (yearly) amount spent, the percent of the total spent each category represents, as well as the percent change from last year’s spending to the current year.
When to use Cell References
Cell references enable Excel to automatically recalculate when one or more inputs in the referenced cells are changed. Cell references also allow you to trace how results are being calculated in a formula. You should never use a calculator to determine a mathematical output and type it into the cell location of a worksheet. Doing so eliminates Excel’s cell-referencing benefits as well as your ability to trace a formula to determine how results are being calculated.
When to use Universal Constants
There will be times when you are writing formulas that you will need to use universal constants, or numbers that do not change, such as the number of days in a week, weeks or months in a year, and so on. For example, if you are calculating the monthly cost of an item when you know the yearly cost, you will always divide by 12 since there are 12 months in a year. In this case, you use the constant of 12 instead of a cell reference because the number of months in a year never changes.
Table 2.2 Excel Mathematical Operators
| Symbol | Operation |
| + | Addition |
| − | Subtraction |
| / | Division |
| * | Multiplication |
| ^ | Power/Exponent |
The first formula will calculate the Annual Spend values. The formula will be constructed so that it takes the values in the Monthly Spend column and multiplies them by 12 (the number of months in a year). This will show how much money will be spent per year for each of the categories listed in Column A. Since the first category is Utilities, we will start by creating the formula to multiply the Monthly Spend amount in B3 by 12. This formula will be created in D3 – the Annual Spend cell for the Utilities category. This formula will be written as: =B3*12
- Switch to the Budget Detail worksheet if needed. Click cell D3.Formulas always start with the equal sign. This signifies to Excel that the contents of the cell should be calculated, not just displayed as basic text or numbers.
- Type an equal sign =
When the first character entered into a cell is an equal sign, it signals Excel to perform a calculation. - Type B3. This adds B3 to the formula, which is now a cell reference. Excel will use whatever value is entered into cell B3 in the calculation.
- Type the * . This is the symbol for multiplication in Excel. As shown in Table 2.2 the mathematical operators in Excel are slightly different from those found on a typical calculator.
- Type the number 12. This multiplies the value in cell B3 by 12. In this formula, a number, or constant, is used instead of a cell reference because it will not change. In other words, there will always be 12 months in a year.
- Press the ENTER key. This enters the formula into the cell.
Figure 2.3 shows how the formula appears in cell D3 before you press the ENTER key. Figure 2.4 shows the result of the formula after you press the ENTER key, as well as the formula bar which displays the formula as it was entered in the cell.
The Annual Spend for Utilities is $3,000 because the formula is taking the Monthly Spend in cell B3 and multiplying it by 12. If the value in cell B3 is changed, the formula automatically produces a new result.
Importance of using cell references in formulas
Relative References (Copying and Pasting Formulas)
Once a formula is typed into a worksheet, it can be copied and pasted to other cell locations. For example, in cell D3 we have calculated the annual spend for the Utilities category, but this calculation needs to be performed for the rest of the cell locations in Column D. Since we used the B3 cell reference in the formula, Excel automatically adjusts that cell reference when the formula is copied and pasted into the rest of the cell locations in the column. This is called relative referencing and is demonstrated as follows:
- Click cell D3.
- Place the mouse pointer over the Auto Fill Handle in the bottom right corner of the cell.
- When the mouse pointer turns from a white block plus sign to a black plus sign, click and drag down to cell D11. This pastes the formula into the range D4:D11.
- Double click cell D6. Notice that the cell reference in the formula is automatically changed to B6.
- Press the ENTER key.
Figure 2.5 shows the results added to the rest of the cell locations in the Annual Spend column. For each row, the formula takes the value in the Monthly Spend column and multiplies it by 12. You will also see that cell D6 has been double clicked to show the formula. Notice that Excel automatically changed the original cell reference of B3 to B6. This is the result of relative referencing, which means Excel automatically adjusts a cell reference relative to its original location when it is pasted into new cell locations. In this example, the formula was pasted into eight cell locations below the original cell location. As a result, Excel increased the row number of the original cell reference by a value of one for each row it was pasted into.
Relative Referencing
Relative referencing is a convenient feature in Excel. When you use cell references in a formula, Excel automatically adjusts the cell references when the formula is pasted into new cell locations. If this feature were not available, you would have to manually retype the formula when you want the same calculation applied to other cell locations in a column or row.
Creating Complex Formulas (Controlling the Order of Operations)
The next formula to be added to the Personal Budget workbook is the percent change over last year (Column F). This formula determines the difference between this year’s Annual Spend values (Column D) and the values in the Last Year Spend column (Column E) and shows the difference in terms of a percentage. This requires that the order of mathematical operations be controlled to get an accurate result.
Excel uses the standard mathematical order of operations, as defined in Table 2.3. When writing complex formulas it is important to remember this order of operations. You want to be sure that your formulas will calculate in the order you intend. To help you remember which operations will be performed first, you can use the acronym PEMDAS.
P – parentheses
E – exponents
MD – multiplication and division
AS – addition and subtraction
Table 2.3 shows the standard order of operations (PEMDAS) for a typical formula. To change the order of operations shown in the table, you can use parentheses to process certain mathematical calculations first.
Table 2.3 Standard Order of Mathematical Operations (PEMDAS)
| Symbol | Order |
| ( ) | Any calculation inside parentheses will be done first. If there are layers of parentheses used in a formula, Excel computes the innermost parentheses first and the outermost parentheses last. |
| ^ | Excel executes any exponential computations next. |
| * or / | Excel performs any multiplication or division computations next. When there are multiple instances of these computations in a formula, they are executed in order from left to right. |
| + or − | Excel performs any addition or subtraction computations last. When there are multiple instances of these computations in a formula, they are executed in order from left to right. |
To create the Percent Change formula, we will need to use parentheses to control the order of the calculations. We need the difference of the two values to be found before the division is done, so we will use parentheses around the subtraction portion of the formula to indicate that calculation needs to be done first. This formula is will be written as =(D3-E3)/E3 and will be entered as follows:
- Click cell F3 in the Budget Detail worksheet.
- Type an equal sign =.
- Type an open parenthesis (.
- Click cell D3. This will add a cell reference to cell D3 to the formula. When building formulas, you can click cell locations instead of typing them.
- Type a minus sign −.
- Click cell E3 to add this cell reference to the formula.
- Type a closing parenthesis ).
- Type the slash / symbol for division.
- Click cell E3. This completes the formula that will calculate the percent change of last year’s actual spent dollars vs. this year’s budgeted spend dollars (see Figure 2.6).
- Press the ENTER key.
- Click cell F3 to activate it.
- Place the mouse pointer over the Auto Fill Handle.
- When the mouse pointer turns from a white block plus sign to a black plus sign, click and drag down to cell F11. This pastes the formula into the range F4:F11.
Figure 2.6 shows the formula that was added to the Budget Detail worksheet to calculate the percent change in spending. The parentheses were added to this formula to control the order of operations. Any mathematical computations placed in parentheses are executed first before the standard order of mathematical operations (see Table 2.3). In this case, if parentheses were not used, Excel would produce an erroneous result for this worksheet.
Figure 2.7 shows the result of the percent change formula if the parentheses are removed. The formula produces a result of a 299900% increase. Since there is no change between the LY spend and the budget Annual Spend, the result should be 0%. However, without the parentheses, Excel is following the standard order of operations. This means the value in cell E3 will be divided by E3 first (3,000/3,000), which is 1. Then, the value of 1 will be subtracted from the value in cell D3 (3,000−1), which is 2,999. Since cell F3 is formatted as a percentage, Excel expresses the output as an increase of 299900%.
Do your calculations results make sense?
Take a critical look at the results of your formulas to make sure they make sense. Are you making a $10,000 monthly payment on a 10-year loan that was only $50,000 to begin with? Is the total price for 3 items that cost $10 each coming out to $300 instead of $30?
Check your formulas and functions to make sure they are using the correct cells and calculating in the way you intended. The following video provides some good tips for double-checking your formulas: GCF Learn Free Double-Check Your Formulas
Fixing Formula Errors
Error messages appear fairly commonly in Excel, but that does not mean it is acceptable to leave them in your worksheets. Always resolve any error messages that appear. There are several common error messages in Excel that indicate an issue with a calculation for a formula or function. Click on the cards below to see what each error message means.
Show Formulas
Excel provides a few tools that you can use to review the formulas entered into a worksheet. For example, instead of showing the outputs for the formulas used in a worksheet, you can have Excel show the formula as it was entered in the cell locations. This is demonstrated as follows:
- With the Budget Detail worksheet open, click the Formulas tab of the Ribbon.
- Click the Show Formulas button in the Formula Auditing group of commands. This displays the formulas in the worksheet instead of showing the mathematical outputs.
- Click the Show Formulas button again. The worksheet returns to showing the output of the formulas.
Figure 2.8 shows the Budget Detail worksheet after activating the Show Formulas command in the Formulas tab of the Ribbon. As shown in the figure, this command allows you to view and check all the formulas in a worksheet without having to click each cell individually. After activating this command, the column widths in your worksheet increase significantly. The column widths were adjusted for the worksheet shown in Figure 2.8 so all columns can be seen. The column widths return to their previous width when the Show Formulas command is deactivated.
Auditing Formulas
Two other tools in the Formula Auditing group of commands are the Trace Precedents and Trace Dependents commands. These commands are used to trace the cell references used in a formula. A precedent cell is a cell whose value is used in other cells. The Trace Precedents command shows an arrow to indicate the cells or ranges (precedents) which affect the active cell’s value. A dependent cell is a cell whose value depends on the values of other cells in the workbook. The Trace Dependents command shows where any given cell is referenced in a formula. The following is a demonstration of these commands:
- Click cell D3.
- Click the Trace Dependents button in the Formula Auditing group of commands in the Formulas tab of the Ribbon. A blue arrow appears, pointing to cell F3 (see Figure 2.9). This indicates that cell D3 is referenced in a formula entered in cell F3.
- Click the Remove Arrows command in the Formula Auditing group of commands in the Formulas tab of the Ribbon. This removes the Trace Dependents arrow.
- Click cell F3.
- Click the Trace Precedents button in the Formula Auditing group of commands in the Formulas tab of the Ribbon. A blue arrow with dots in cells D3 and E3, and pointing to cell F3 appears (see Figure 2.10). This indicates that cells D3 and E3 are references in a formula entered in cell F3.
- Click the Remove Arrows command in the Formula Auditing group of commands in the Formulas tab of the Ribbon. This removes the Trace Precedents arrow.
- Save the CH2 Personal Budget file.
Figure 2.9 shows the Trace Dependents arrow on the Budget Detail worksheet. The blue dot represents the activated cell. The arrows indicate where the cell is referenced in formulas.
Figure 2.10 shows the Trace Precedents arrow on the Budget Detail worksheet. The blue dots on this arrow indicate the cells that are referenced in the formula contained in the activated cell. The arrow is pointing to the activated cell location that contains the formula.
Skill Refresher
Trace Dependents
- Click a cell location that contains a number or formula.
- Click the Formulas tab on the Ribbon.
- Click the Trace Dependents button in the Formula Auditing group of commands.
- Use the arrow(s) to determine where the cell is referenced in formulas and functions.
- Click the Remove Arrows button to remove the arrows from the worksheet.
Trace Precedents
- Click a cell location that contains a formula or function.
- Click the Formulas tab on the Ribbon.
- Click the Trace Precedents button in the Formula Auditing group of commands.
- Use the dot(s) along the line to determine what cells are referenced in the formula or function.
- Click the Remove Arrows button to remove the line with the dots.
Key Takeaways
- Mathematical computations are conducted through formulas and functions.
- Always check your formula results to be sure they make numerical sense.
- An equal sign = precedes all formulas and functions.
- Formulas and functions must be created with cell references to conduct what-if scenarios where mathematical outputs are recalculated when one or more inputs are changed.
- Mathematical operators on a typical calculator are different from those used in Excel. Table 2.2 “Excel Mathematical Operators” lists Excel mathematical operators.
- When using numerical values in formulas and functions, only use universal constants that do not change, such as days in a week, months in a year, and so on.
- Relative referencing automatically adjusts the cell references in formulas and functions when they are pasted into new locations on a worksheet. This eliminates the need to retype formulas and functions when they are needed in multiple rows or columns on a worksheet.
- Parentheses must be used to control the order of operations when necessary for complex formulas.
- Do not leave any error messages in worksheets.
- Formula auditing tools such as Trace Dependents, Trace Precedents, and Show Formulas should be used to check the integrity of formulas that have been entered into a worksheet.
Attribution
Adapted from Beginning Excel 2019 and licensed under CC BY.


50 Section 5.1: State and Federal Courts
This disparity occurs because each state has its own court system. No two of the fifty are exactly alike. In addition, the federal government operates courts within each of the fifty states. The vast majority of criminal cases are tried in state courts. Most state court systems and the federal court system can be described as hierarchical or “pyramid shaped.”
Lower Courts
At the bottom of the court hierarchy are the lower courts. The majority of cases heard by these courts are traffic violations and misdemeanor cases. The names vary widely, depending on the state. Municipal courts, police courts, and traffic courts are common examples. There are also many specialized courts at this level. Juvenile courts, for example, often exist at this level.
These courts tend to hear relatively minor matters. Many can, however, sentence violators to jail and impose large fines. Some of these courts also deal with preliminary matters in criminal cases, such as conducting arraignments and preliminary hearings. These felony cases are subsequently transferred to a higher court for trial. Many people-especially those appearing in them-are critical of the “assembly line” justice offered by many municipal courts.
Courts of General Jurisdiction
While the lower courts can only hear nonserious matters, this level of the court system can hear felony cases. Courts of general jurisdiction are the trial courts of record of the state court systems. Generally, these courts operate more formally and professionally than the lower courts. There are fewer of them. The name varies depending on the state; in some states, they are called district courts, and in others, they are called circuit courts. This can be very confusing in states that are the reverse of the federal system (where district courts are trial courts and circuit courts are appellate courts). Only a small fraction of cases filed by prosecutors ever go to full trial in these courts. The vast majority end in a plea bargain.
Courts of Appellate Jurisdiction
When a party is dissatisfied with the results of a trial, then they can appeal to a higher court. Appellate courts mostly hear appeals cases, and are higher up in the court hierarchy. The number of levels of appeals courts depends largely on the population of the state. In states with relatively small populations, the losing party at trial can appeal directly to the state’s highest court, the state supreme court. In larger states, there is usually an intermediate appeals court that lightens the workload of the state supreme court.
The supreme courts usually have a broad discretion in deciding whether to hear a case or not. The judges are free in many circumstances to decide what cases are important, and to only hear those.
The Federal Court System
Federal courts are organized along very similar lines to state courts, although the more general subject matter jurisdiction of federal courts makes them more streamlined that many state systems.
U.S. District Courts
In the hierarchy of courts, the trial courts of general jurisdiction are always near the bottom. At the federal level, these workhorses of the court system are the 94 U.S. District Courts. Every state in the United States has at least one district court, and some states have several. According to an annual report entitled Judicial Business of the U.S. Courts (2014), “filings for criminal defendants (including defendants transferred from other districts) fell 3 percent to 91,266 in 2013. This was the lowest total since 2008.” Drug offenses counted for the largest percentage of these filings at around 32% of all criminal cases. Shifts in enforcement strategies have seen a dramatic decline in federal prosecutions for marijuana-related offenses, with an 8% drop in 2013 over the previous year. Immigration, fraud, and firearms related crime made up the bulk of remaining cases.
U.S. Courts of Appeals
Above the federal district courts in the federal court hierarchy are the U.S. Courts of Appeal. They serve mostly to hear appeals from the district courts. Appeals judges do not sit alone when deciding cases, but rather sit in panels of three judges. Rare and important cases are sometimes heard en banc, meaning all of the judges in that circuit hear the case together.
These courts lack the discretion of which cases they hear that the Supreme Court enjoys. The docket of the appeals courts is dictated by the number and types of appeals that are filed. Filings in the 12 regional courts of appeals fell 2 percent to 56,475. Decreases occurred in filings of criminal appeals, appeals of administrative agency decisions, and civil appeals. Growth was reported for prisoner petitions, bankruptcy appeals, and original proceedings (Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, 2014).
The U.S. Supreme Court (USSC)
The U.S. Supreme Court crowns the hierarchy of United States Courts. It hears appeals that come out of both federal and state courts. Considering there are only nine justices, the workload of the Supreme Court is very heavy. The Supreme Court is different than lower level courts in that they exercise certiorari power. This means that the justices get to decide which cases to review and which to pass over. The cases that they do select tend to have very broad national implications. Because the Supreme Court functions mostly as a court of appeals, most of the cases they decide result in a lower court’s decision either being affirmedor reversed.
Problems with the Courts
One of the biggest problems facing the courts today is the high volume of cases. For example, in 2013, combined filings for civil cases and criminal defendants in the U.S. district courts totaled 363,914. According to the Court Statistics Project, over 10.6 million cases were processed in state trial courts in 2009 (the last year for which data is available).
The tough drug sanctions of the recent past caused a steadily increasing caseload for the courts. A majority of state courts are perpetually behind on hearing cases. Accordingly, there has been an increasing interest on both the state and federal level with how to reduce caseloads and speed up the flow of cases.
Reducing Caseloads
Perhaps the most popular effort to reduce caseloads has been the advent of drug courts. A big difference between drug courts and regular courts is that drug courts tend to sentence nonviolent, first-time offenders to drug treatment rather than probation or prison. The main purposes of drug courts are to reduce recidivism and reduce the caseload of the regular courts. The empirical research suggests that drug courts are more effective at reducing recidivism than traditional probation or prison.
Speeding Up Court Processing
When there are too many cases being processed by the courts, the speed at which cases can be processes slows down, sometimes dramatically. This is especially problematic in criminal courts where defendants have a constitutional guarantee of a speedy trial. For this and other reasons, the public is dissatisfied when case resolution becomes a long, drawn-out process.
At the federal level, there has been legislation to force the courts to run faster. The Speedy Trail Act of 1974 sets time standards for two different stages in the federal progression. The law stipulates that the prosecutor has a maximum of thirty days from the time of arrest to arraign a suspect, and an additional seventy days from the indictment to the trial. Every state has followed the federal example by enacting some form of speedy trial law.
The Role of Judges
The many responsibilities of the trial court judge extend throughout the entire criminal court process. From the time of an arrest, judges make critical decisions that have a deep impact on the cases and lives of those accused of crimes. Because they must evaluate probable cause and issue search and arrest warrants, judges are often involved in criminal cases before an arrest takes place. Once the offender is arrested, the judge must decide if bail is to be granted, the amount of bail, rule on pretrial motions made by both the prosecution and the defense, hear pleas, referee trials, and pass sentences. At all stages of the process, the judge must perform a balancing act, protecting the rights of the accused while also protecting the best interest of the public. Appeals court judges have different responsibilities than trial judges. While trial judges are mostly referees in the adversarial battle between prosecution and defense, appeals court judges serve as legal scholars by researching, clarifying, and writing opinions on legal issues.
Federal Judges
Federal judges tend to be the cream of the crop. They tend to come from families with a long history of public service and attend the finest law schools in the world. Some critics argue that those families are also wealthy, and that federal judges are selected from the social and cultural elite and that the process is unfair.
State Judges
State level judges tend to be drawn heavily from whichever political party dominates that particular state. There are a variety of ways that judges are selected, depending on state law. Some states have partisan elections, meaning that candidates for judgeships run under the banner of a particular political party. In other states, judges are elected, but they run as nonpartisan candidates, meaning that they state no allegiance to a particular political party. Some states use an appointment system, where the governor of the state appoints judges. Still other states select judges by legislative appointment. Some states, such as Missouri, use a merit system.
Judicial Decision Making
The very nature of being a judge requires making important decisions. Judges make decisions that have an enormous impact on the lives of defendants. Trial court judges are often called upon to make decisions in an instant, while appeals court judges have more time to ponder weighty issues and seek input from colleagues and staff.
Because of the doctrine of stare decisis, the decisions of judges are tempered by the existing legal landscape. That is, most judges follow precedent when it is available, and try to use the legal logic of past cases to guide them when novel legal questions arise. Political values often come into play, although these are not as readily recognized as is legal tradition.
Judicial Misconduct
Judges have an awesome amount of power, and this power sometimes corrupts. Judges, like other criminal justice professionals, sometimes act in unethical and illegal ways. These inappropriate activities undermine the public confidence in the judiciary and create injustice. Each state has some sort of mechanism in place to deal with unethical conduct by judges. At the federal level, judges can only be removed by impeachment by the Senate.
Judicial Independence
The founding fathers decided early on that the courts should be independent of the other branches of government. There are several reasons for this separation of powers. Perhaps the most important reason for judicial independence is that it allows judges to preside over cases in a just and impartial way. Another important reason is that the courts serve as a check on the power of the executive and legislative branches.
It is a mistake, however, to view the judiciary as completely independent. The other branches of government have the ability to influence the judiciary. The executive often has the power of appointment over judges. The legislative branch has the power of the purse, controlling the budget of the courts. These powers, while significant, are limited. Federal judges, for example, are appointed for life tenure. That means that once appointed by the executive, they cannot be fired. The founding fathers formed government in this way because they understood that a judge fearful of losing his job could not be a neutral and detached magistrate that is willing to rule against the legislative or the executive.
Juveniles and the Courts
Just as with the adult criminal justice system, the courts powerfully influence the juvenile justice system. This is true at both the juvenile court level, and at the appellate level.
Juvenile Courts
Perhaps the most important member of the juvenile justice system is the juvenile court judge. Juvenile judges have the role of a traditional judge, but this role is greatly expanded when a judge presides over a juvenile court. In many jurisdictions, the juvenile judge oversees not only the operations of the juvenile court, but juvenile probation departments as well. In many small jurisdictions, juvenile court judges are responsible for the fiscal management of the courts as well as probation departments.
The beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors of juvenile judges can have an incredible impact on other criminal justice agencies in particular, and the entire community in general. For example, judges that do a poor job of dealing with juvenile delinquency in the schools runs the risk of creating a disruptive and lawless learning environment. At the other end of the spectrum, judges that are overly punitive in their decisions run the risk of violating the doctrine of parens patriae.
Much of what juvenile court judges do can be described as a balancing act. Juvenile judges must ensure that all processes and decisionmaking are carried out in a fair and unbiased manner. They must make sure that all decisions balance the best interests of the juvenile with the best interests of the victim and community. In addition, they must ensure that the constitutional rights of all parties are upheld. While the juvenile justice system is substantially different than the adult system, constitutional guarantees of due process must be upheld in juvenile proceedings. In practice, this requirement creates an often-uncomfortable conflict of adversarial process versus the best interest of the child.
The Supreme Court & Juveniles
Historically, juvenile proceedings rarely made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Starting with the Warren court in the 1960s, however, the Supreme Court handed down several cases that dramatically altered the structure and function of the juvenile justice system.
|
Landmark Court Decisions in Juvenile Justice |
|
| Kent v. United States (1966) | Held that juveniles must be afforded due process rights in court proceedings. |
| In re Gault (1967) | Held that juveniles accused of crimes must be afforded many of the same due process rights as adults. |
| Breed v. Jones (1975) | Held that finding a child delinquent in a juvenile court then trying the child in adult court amounts to double jeopardy. |
| Schall v. Martin (1984) | Held that the preventive detention of a juvenile does not necessarily violate due process. |
| Doe v. Renfrow (1981) | Upheld a lower court decision that a search of schoolchildren for narcotics by a drug dog is not rights violation. |
| New Jersey v. TLO (1985) | Set the evidentiary standard for searches of students by school officials at reasonable suspicion. |
| Qutb v. Strauss (1993) | Held that curfew laws were constitutional because they are designed to protect the community. |
Affirmed, Assembly Line Justice, Certiorari Power, Courts of General Jurisdiction, Doe v. Renfrow (1981), Judicial Independence, Judicial Misconduct, Kent v. United States(1966), Lower Courts, Municipal Courts, New Jersey v. TLO (1985), Police Courts, Qutb v. Strauss (1993), Reversed, Speedy Trial Act of 1974, Traffic Courts, U.S. Courts of Appeal, U.S. District Courts