Rhetorical Analysis Of Fahrenheit 9 11 Film Studies Essay

Rhetorical Analysis Of Fahrenheit 9 11 Film Studies Essay Michael Moore, a left-wing political crusader, is an American filmmaker. Known for his thought-provoking and unscripted documentaries, Moore takes risks and asks the questions that everyone wants the answers to. Moore is an amazing political commentator and knows exactly how to use the art of language, film, and facts to persuade his audience and to get them to follow in his lead. Released in 2004, Fahrenheit 9/11 is a documentary directed and produced by Moore. This film is a great example of how Moore uses Aristotles three appeals pathos, logos, and ethos to gather information and supporting details to make his point evident. These appeals come together to amplify Moores arguments and support his beliefs on politics. Moore uses these appeals to convince his audiences to agree with him on the controversies that, in his opinion, led to the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. In the film, Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore effectively uses pathos, ethos, and logos as tools to persuade his audience to believe that the Bushs Administration was corrupt. To begin, pathos, meaning to persuade by appealing to what the audience feels and their emotions that are in result of; or in other words, appealing to the audiences sympathies, laughs, and anger that is felt by each person. Pathos is influence by the writers use of rhetoric; meaning, the use of language as a tool to help persuade an audience. This appeal not only grabs an audiences attention emotionally, it also allows them to identify what the writer is feeling and what his beliefs are. The viewer, identifying with the writers take or opinions, is able to use his or her imagination to rationalize what is in front of them and feel even more emotional about the matter. Pathos is very important ingredient to an argument. It is a great attention getter and can really make an argument. First, in attempt to persuade viewers, Moore does a great job of bringing about an emotional response. Pathos is presented as soon as the screen becomes pitch black and the only sound is the noise from September 11, the day planes were taken over by terrorist and crashed into the twin towers, located in New York City. You can hear the horror in the peoples voices and the loud bang from the planes hitting the buildings. This scene was very powerful; it grabbed my attention and did not let go. Moore intention for this scene was to really start the film off. He also used this scene to persuade his audience into feeling what he felt and see how horrible this event truly was. Also, an interview with a woman who lost her husband during the attack on September 11 was another way that Moore used pathos in Fahrenheit 9/11 to convince his audiences. There was a reason that this interview was shot close up, Moore wanted the viewers to see the sadness in the womans eyes, to feel the pain that sh e had felt, and to show the emptiness she had. By showing the widowers emotions in this way, Moore opened the door and collected the viewers sympathy. However, he still left every scene open-ended for the viewers to collect their own opinion on the attack that occurred on that horrific day. Another thing to know when presenting ones opinion is that, in order to have a true argument, a person should demonstrate equality; they should be fair to the other objective view point, and show that there is an understanding of both sides of the argument. This is the second appeal, ethos, a form of persuasion used by Moore to show that he is a fair and knowledge man. Ethos is all about being credible; presenting oneself as a trustworthy person to convince an audience and make an argument applicable; or to show that another person is not credible by using manipulation. When using ethos, the speakers character is really revealed and observed by the audience. It is important to have ethos when making a claim or assuring an argument. In the film, Fahrenheit 9/11, Moore made sure to use ethos so thats his audience would be persuaded to believe his theories. Moore wanted his audience to see how credible his information was and to let them know that he was a trustworthy person; in this case, he wanted the audience to believe he was more trustworthy than President George W. Bush and his Administration. To show that Moore was a credible source and to question Bushs character, Moore used real footage of Bush and the events that was touched upon. He showed the footage of the time when Bush was first told about the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. This footage showed Bushs reaction; really Bush did not react and instead continued to read to a class that he was visiting that day. This helped manipulate the audience to believe that Bush was not a fit president and had no idea what to do in this situation. Other video that was shown was of Bush in meetings with members of the Bin Laden family. This footage made it ap parent that Bush was fraternizing with the so called, enemy the ones who were believed to be behind the attack. This makes the audience look at Bush in a very poor light and was a tool used to persuade the audience to judge Bushs character based on this fact solely. Moore also used this appeal again when he presented facts about President Bushs National Guard records. Moore showed that Bushs records were tampered with in the beginning to hide a certain name, James R. Bath, a Texas money manager for the Bin Laden family. Bath was just another involvement that connected Bush to the instances with the Bin Ladens. Moore showed what the original and uncensored records looked like before they had been edited. This showed that Moore was fair, but he was also very trustworthy with the information that he was presenting, unlike Bush who did not present accurate records. In the final appeal, reasoning is used to persuade an audience; when a person gives a certain level of value to an argument. Facts and statistics help to gather and conclude the reasoning to support the main idea of an argument. Logos is used when explaining a resulting conclusion of a position, view, or argument; it is used to establish the reasoning and good logic that supports the final conclusion. Finally, in Moores attempt to manipulate and persuade his audiences, Moore uses the appeal logos to show his reasoning and how he has come to think negatively about Bushs Administration and the event of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. Moores first valid point made was about the controversy surrounding Bushs election, and his win over his opponent, Al Gore. Moore believes that the sole reason for Bushs win was due to his help from his political allies along with the help from his friends and family. Moore first presents that Al Gore was initially said to have been the winner over Florida, but then Fox News reporter, John Ellis, Bushs first cousin and the main in charge of the decision desk that night, called the election in favor of Bush. Moore then discusses the other reason for why Bush won the election. Moores reasons were that Bushs brother was the former Governor of Florida, the state in questions and the place that the election controversy was at its most heightened. Also, Bushs chairman of his campaign tabulated the votes and it is a fact that her state hired a company that knocked the votes of African Americans off the record. Moore then touches on the details about the numerous independent investigations that were held and revealed that Gore was the true winner of this election. Stated in the film, Fahrenheit 9/11, Even if numerous investigations prove that Gore got the most votes, it wont matter, just as long as all your daddys friends on the Supreme Court vote the right way. It was evident that the Supreme Court, which consisted of friends of Bushs father, was the true deciders of the winner of this election. One last reason for why Bush became President of Elect was also influenced by the missing senate on the day that the joint session was to verify the election results. Plenty of African Americans attempted to appeal the election results due to overwhelming evidence of misconduct, but no senator was located to sign the objection and com e to the aid of the African Americans. To conclude, Moores film, Fahrenheit 9/11, was a thought-provoking documentary that presented an effective argument that was supported by Aristotles three appeals pathos, logos, and ethos. Pathos was a very effective tool that Moore used multiple times to really sway his audiences in an attempt to get people to really pay attention to what he was saying. For instance, the emotional response that was drawn from the audience was brought about from the scene of the attack on September 11, 2001 was extremely influential on the audience. Continuing, Moores credibility shown through documents and certain facts, along with his laughable manner and tactics used to question Bushs character, was just another form of appeal that Moore used to support his argument. Also, logical reasoning supported Moores point and really helped to move the viewers to make their opinions concerning these political issues. These appeals helped to enhance Moores main view point and helped to convince his audiences that Bushs administration was corrupt.

How did pop art challenge beleifs in consumerism Essay -- Essays Paper

How did pop art challenge beleifs in consumerism Introduction: In order to discuss pop art I have chosen to examine the work and to some extent lives of Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol who were two of the main forces behind the American movement. I intend to reflect the attitudes of the public and artists in America at this time, while examining the growing popularity of pop art from its rocky, abstract expressionist start in the 1950s through the height of consumer culture in the 60s and 70s to the present day. Roy Liechtenstein, (fig 1) was born in 1923 into to a middle class Hungarian family living in New York, there was no artists on either side of his family and throughout Liechtenstein’s schooling there were no art classes. He used to paint in oils and draw, sometimes sketching musicians he saw playing in Harlem and the Apollo Theatre as a hobby. It was not until ‘1939’ the summer of his last year at high school that he enrolled in art classes in the Art Students League run by a man called Reginald Marsh. Liechtenstein’s influences regarding his painting style at this time had been the European avant-garde artists such as Picasso. These cubist and expressionist styles were rejected buy by Marsh who favoured painting the masses of New York life such as carnival scenes, boxing matches and the subways catching the detail in fleeting brush strokes, in a non-academic easily recognisable way. This style of recognisable American art that used everyday scenes are dir ectly related to the consumer orientated Pop Art that Liechtenstein was to develop later in his life. Andy Warhol, (fig2) no one, including Warhol him self knows his exact birthday but its thought to be around 1928-1931. Born in Forest city Pennsylvania and christened Andrew Warhola (which he changed in 1949 while living in New York). There are several contradicting stories about his life although he left two autobiographies the factual authenticates are not known, however his parents emigrated to the States from Czechoslovakia in 1909, his father came first to avoid national service and his mother nine years later. His father who worked as a coal minor in West Virginia didn’t play a big role in brining up Warhol, as he was away form home allot. After his death Andrew his mother and his brothers had a very poor existence, during school holidays Andrew sold fruit and helped as a window... ...cles for the American consumer only disconnected from there origins ‘Fig5’. Warhol’s idolisation of the super stars of that era is what set him apart from his contemporaries and immortalised him in popular culture the most famous or these being Marilyn Monroe ‘Fig6’. And this was no accident as his personal goal was to become a star in his own right and he consciously generated a cloak of mystery which made it almost impossible to distinguish the man from the legend â€Å"you can only become famous if everybody is talking about you†(Warhol). Bibliography: All dressed up (the sixties and the counter culture), Jonathon Green, Pimlico 1999. The 50s, Peter Lewis, Book Club Associates, 1978. Fifties source book, Christopher Pearce , virgin imprint W.H Allen & co, 1990 Warhol, Klaus Honnef, Benedikt Taschen Verlag Gmbh, 2000 Lichtenstein, Janis Hendrickson, Benedikt Taschen Verlag Gmbh, 2000 Pop Art, Michael Compton, Feltham-Hamlyn, 1970 Pop as art: a study of the new super realism, Amaya-Mario, London: studio vista, 1965 Pop Art U S A – UK, Japan catalogue committee (isbny8226086), 1987 Cross overs: art into pop/pop into art, Walker John A, London Methuen, 1987

How Toy Story Helps Children Navigate Technology Essay -- Technology

Technology is rapidly growing â€Å"to infinity and beyond† from games to cars, modern technology fully encompasses our daily lives leaving society helpless without it. In the early 90’s, society knows little of how much this new technology eventually influences their children’s lives, so parents portray outwardly no problems with having companies heavily advertising new electronic products to children. The results change the world. Now, technology intertwines with the fast-paced lives of the society, leaving some frustrated parents finding it difficult on ways to teach their children to balance both modern technology and manual labor. Wisely, parents start to rely on the first thing that originally got them into them mess - the magical world of Pixar. The original Toy Story focuses on the societal view of the celebration towards the advancement of technology during the time the movie releases in 1995, which is what society needs at that time. However, by Toy St ory 3(2010), young adults actively disengage in the usage of the consumerism for the latest-and-greatest technology, so the tone of the movie sequel changes. Toy Story 3 actively encourages youth to enjoy the makings of the past without overlooking the new technological advancements. Toy Story, one of the first cartoon using the new animation technology, highlights one boy’s (Andy’s) first experience with technology, Buzz Lightyear, the most popular and advanced toy at that time. Andy is quickly amazed at the impressive high-tech features of Buzz and excited about the technology of Buzz. Andy starts losing his love for his old manual toys like Woody; Woody fears that Buzz is the new favorite toy in Andy’s life. At this time, the society starts to bring the technology into th... ...etc.) Back in 1995 when companies start releasing technology like computers, cell phones, and media players to the general public, Toy Story tries to encourage, introduce, and make technology interesting for kids; allowing them not to be afraid of the inevitable surge of technological advancements late 90s-early 2000s. In today’s modern-life, there is no huge need of encouragement for people to use the technology; although, there is a need to remind society that don’t over let technology overrun your life no matter how useful. Works Cited O'Neill, Charles A. "The Language of Advertising." The Contemporary Reader. By Gary Goshgarian. 9th ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. 146-52. Print. Toy Story 3. Dir. Lee Unkrich. Perf. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. Disney/Pixar, 2010. DVD. Toy Story. Dir. John Lasseter. Perf. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen. 1995, .1995. DVD.

Give a life to your friend, it’s free!

Give a life to your friend, it's free! BY wersl 23 Compare and Contrast: Lion and Tiger Lions and tigers are the top two ferocious animals in the big cat family. The lion is known as the â€Å"king of beast â€Å"and the tiger is known as the â€Å"emperor of beast†. Both lions and tigers have many things in common and at the same time they have a number of differences. Lions and tigers belong to the mammalian group and Felidae family. Lions lives in prides and tigers lives alone. They have no predators of their own and reside at the top of their food chain.This essay is going to talk about the physical characteristics, diet, habitat and geographical distribution, reproduction and cross breed. The physical characteristics of a lion is male lion is highly distinctive and is easily recognized by its mane. Lion coloration varies from light buff to yellowish or reddish of the body. The underparts are generally lighter and the tail tuft is black. The color of the mane varies from blond to black. The lion is a carnivore and a hunter. Its legs are short with very powerful muscles. Male lions are 20 to 35% larger than the females and 50% heavier.Each lion has, what are called, â€Å"whisker spots† The pattern formed by this top row of whiskers differs in every lion and remains the same throughout its lifetime. Lions are the second-largest in the cat family (the tiger is the largest). Physical characteristics of a tiger highly distinctive and is easily recognized by its stripes. Tigers are tawny brown in color with dark stripes and whitish. Tigers have rusty-reddish to brown-rusty coats, a fair (whitish) medial and entral area and stripes that vary from brown or hay to pure black.The pattern of stripes is unique to each animal, and thus could potentially be used to identify individuals, much in the same way as fingerprints are used to identify people. This is not, however, a preferred method of identification, due to the difficulty of recording the strip e pattern of a wild tiger. the function of stripes is camouflage, serving to hide these animals from their prey. Tigers have round pupils and yellow irises. Tigers are the heaviest cats found in the wild.The diet for both the lion and the tiger are kind of the same, but they eat different animals because they are not from the same place. Both lion and tiger eats about 15. 4 lbs. of meat per day. A typical diet for a lion will include zebra, giraffe, buffalo, wildebeest, gazelles and impala. Lions are opportunistic and will readily scavenge the kills of cheetahs, leopards, wild dogs and hyenas. A main prey species for a tiger is are deer, buffalo and wild pigs, but they will also hunt fish, monkeys, birds, reptiles and sometimes even baby elephants.Occasionally, tigers kill leopards, bears and other tigers. Both lion and tiger are both meat-loving big cats. Habitat of a lion and a tiger are both different, because they are both from different contents of the world. Lion lives in Rich grasslands of East Africa to sands of Kalahari Desert, South Sahara to South Africa, excluding the Congo rain forest. They avoid dense forests because prey is scarce. Fun fact in the wild, lions live for approximately 12-18 years, while in captivity they can live over 24 years. Fun fact

The Importance of Work in Society

In order to maintain structure within society there are many intuitions that employed to achieve this goal. Work is an example of responsibly, discipline, and cultural awareness, qualities you will need for your future work life. First, how working teaches you responsibility, while working you have a set schedule that you have to maintain in order to be paid, so missing work means you have a lower paycheck and young teenagers love money and don’t want to miss any paychecks. You are in charge of making all customers leave satisfied with a smile, if you don’t make that happen the company can have bad reviews, which can cause you to be fired. The more you the work the more you will have. Working also teaches you how to value things you have. The reason for this is that you work for the things you have saying you’re not going to work for something and let it go to waste or throw it away. Employers instruct their workers how to respect all costumers and how consumers are the reason, they are in business today, so tasks done to costumer’s satisfaction, with that being said employers drill into your head how to treat other people and how to run a successful business and that with hard work anything is possible. When you first but something with your own money you care about what, and how your money is being spent, also trains you that if what you’re is not of something of value than you really don’t need to have it. We as a community needs to teach our younger children the value of responsibility and discipline which is qualities that you need to have in your everyday life. Schools are biased on teaching you what they want you to know and not what you feel about it. So do not be ignorant to what the schools edify about values of life, learn it own your own.

Ethics in Contemporary Society

Presently, Americans are comfortable relating ethics to individuality. Often times, American citizens expresses their right of freedoms to enhance their own sense of ethics or relativity. In defining relativism, moral principles are a matter of personal feelings and individual preference. As for individual moral relativism, figuring out what is moral and immoral in specific circumstances differs according to the person. On another note, moral relativists have a disbelief in universal truths or common law. This essay will examine and highlight major details about problems surrounding individual moral relativism and cultural moral relativism.It will reflect post-modern and modern methods of belief in order to exhibit its valuableness in ethical decision-making in overcoming problems (Owen, 2011). In particular, it argues that abstract theories of either individual or subjective moral relativism are fruitless for understanding humans. What's more, it tends to limit humans to egocentric people or hamper the development of distinctiveness through division and relativism. It is disputed that innovativeness excludes other styles of understanding. It utters reverence and celebrates the variance; it has rendered the pursuit for any kind of meaning inaudible (Reno, 2012).To bypass these restrictions and to extend the resistance of ethical relativism this article draws substantially from the research of Lawrence Kohlberg. He is a well-known psychologist that is recognized for the moral stages of development. Moreover, his research theory moves closer by claiming cultural relativists are individuals trapped in the conventional stage of ethical development (Garz, 2010).This ethical development model greets and enriches narrative understanding. As this essay continues to explore the world of  ethical/moral relativism, it will summarize topics like cultural moral relativism, individual and subjective relativism. In addition, it will review Kohlberg’s moral stages of development and why he believes that many cultural relativists are trapped in a particular stage. As a final touch, this essay will discuss personal beliefs and experiences in relation to each topic, and why I agree or disagree with these reasoning. What is more moral relativism? Previously moral relativism was defined as being right or wrong, and the second deals with the difference between an objective and a subjective truth.Thinking that ethical truth is biased, moral relativists often react to moral conclusions about homosexual behavior (Klikauer, 2011). To these individuals, the term homosexual is rubbish because everyone's morality is equivalent. In short, nobody has a right to a morality that is incumbent on others. Being objective (individual) honest is recognized as the best choice; however, it is not the easiest decision (Owen, 2011). For example, parents or educators do not chastise students merely for getting their answer wrong in Math problems. For many students, their mistakes would be coherent, not moral.Another example would be a husband beats his wife is simply indecent; therefore, he' is considered as being immoral. Based on Quintelier & Fessler (2012) findings, cultural relativism is considered as an interpretation that all views, customs, and ethics are comparative to the individual within his or her own societal environment. Therefore, individuals put their cultural beliefs at the front of comparative ethical decision-making. Basically, right and wrong are culture-specific; however, what is right in one culture may be considered as corrupt in another culture (Owen, 2011).Being there is no universal code of morality, individuals does not have the right to judge another societal traditions. At the conventional stage of ethical development, each person respects the beliefs of his or her group, family, or nation, as important, despite of the abrupt and apparent concerns (Klikauer, 2011). This stance is not just conformity to subjective expecta tions and social order, but also one of loyalty. According to Kohlberg, cultural relativist is often stuck in this stage due to their beliefs and cultural upbringing. Furthermore, I support this stance for different reasons.For example, I was raised to believe in Christianity is the right path to follow because my parents instill that religion into me as a child. In conclusion, many philosophers have both defended and opposed moral relativism. Recent research argues that normative moral theories should be controlled and explore by psychologists to grasp a more in-depth understanding (Quintelier & Fessler, 2012). Researchers questioned the thought that individuals are or can be moral relativists. If so, can being a moral relativist affect can an individual's moral functioning.This research is underutilized in theorists' normative philosophies of relativism; all together, the pragmatic work is abstractly incoherent (Quintelier & Fessler, 2012). The main objective of this assignment is to assimilate ethical and practical work on limitations about normative relativism. From my perspective, I support the individual and cultural relativity. As an African female, customs, traditions and religions played an essential role in my childhood as well as my growth. Biblical teachings were molded into my mind, heart, body and soul. My grandparents are the root to my development and ethical beliefs.

Describe and Evaluate Biological Explanations of Depression

Describe and evaluate biological explanations of depression There are many different explanations for depression, including biological. Links have been found between biochemical, genetics and hormonal imbalances with depressed people. In the biochemical explanation, a link has been found between neurotransmitter imbalances and depression. Serotonin is associated with pleasure and mood. Mann et al found impaired transmission of serotonin in people with depression. However Julian disagrees with this statement and says depression may be due to neuron damage rather than a neurotransmitter reduction.The problem with this approach is that it implies correlation and not causation, there may be a link but something else could be causing both depression and low serotonin. There is the chicken and egg problem – does low serotonin cause depression or does depression cause low serotonin? In other areas of psychology low serotonin has been linked with increased aggression and eating disord ers, as well as anxiety. Someone that has low serotonin does not necessarily become depressed. There is also the problem where people are depressed but have normal serotonin levels.This shows that depression is not fully down to biochemical imbalances but other things as well. It is a very simplistic and reductionist model and should only be included as a vulnerability and not the whole answer to depression. Another explanation is a genetic problem. Through many family studies Gershon states there is a clear inheritable component to depression, especially in bipolar disorder. Weisseman et al supports this by saying that for if a child has a parent with depression, the risk of the child having depression is increased by three times compared to the general population.This is a strong finding but as the children share the same environment as their parents, there is a possibility that the child has learnt the behaviour through the social learning theory of imitating and observing and no t through genetics. Kendler et al studied over 15000 twins in Sweden and found that if one twin has depression, there is a 38% chance that the other twin will have it too. This has strong methodology and is supported by many twin studies who have found similar results. On the other hand the twins share the same environment and so environmental influences may still be possible.The results were nowhere near 100% showing that depression is not fully down to genes, the people may have a genetic vulnerability but it takes something to trigger, perhaps. It is also unclear as to how exactly genes play a role in depression, without knowing the exact genes involved. Another way to access the significance of genes is through adoption studies. Wender found that a child is seven times more likely to have depression if the biological parents were depressed and the adoption parents were not.They found little evidence of depression being learnt. However Wender got his information about biological relatives just from hospital records and so there could be error of misdiagnosis or short-term depression only. The knowledge of whether a person has a genetic vulnerability to depression can be useful as the person is able to take preventative measures (change in lifestyle, diet to bring positivity to avoid depression), but it could be fatalistic as they understand they are more likely to become depressed – leading to depression.Diathesis-stress model says that depression can be better understood as an interaction between genes and environmental factors. Carroll found that high levels of the hormone cortisol are found in those suffering from depression and techniques known to suppress cortisol secretion have been found to be successful in depressive patients. However cortisol is released when stressed and so the high levels could be due to the high levels of stress the person has when they are depressed.As depression is twice as common in women as men, it could be due to the differences in sex hormones. Post-natal depression could be due to the high levels of oestrogen and progesterone that are released during pregnancy and then rapidly decrease once the baby is born which may account for an imbalance of hormones. Cooper disagrees with this statement as there was very little difference in the number of women suffering from depression after childhood and a control group of non-pregnant women at the same age.If imbalance of hormones was the cause then most mothers should get this type of illness but it is only a small number that get it. Menopausal depression is where oestrogen levels drop and hormone replacement therapy appears to be affective in treating many (but not all) women who suffer from this type of depression. However this could be due to the negative thoughts of getting older rather than the hormonal imbalance. Through the biological approach there are many possibilities. I think it is a mixture of biological vulnerabilities and stressful env ironments. Describe and Evaluate Biological Explanations of Depression Describe and evaluate biological explanations of depression There are many different explanations for depression, including biological. Links have been found between biochemical, genetics and hormonal imbalances with depressed people. In the biochemical explanation, a link has been found between neurotransmitter imbalances and depression. Serotonin is associated with pleasure and mood. Mann et al found impaired transmission of serotonin in people with depression. However Julian disagrees with this statement and says depression may be due to neuron damage rather than a neurotransmitter reduction.The problem with this approach is that it implies correlation and not causation, there may be a link but something else could be causing both depression and low serotonin. There is the chicken and egg problem – does low serotonin cause depression or does depression cause low serotonin? In other areas of psychology low serotonin has been linked with increased aggression and eating disord ers, as well as anxiety. Someone that has low serotonin does not necessarily become depressed. There is also the problem where people are depressed but have normal serotonin levels.This shows that depression is not fully down to biochemical imbalances but other things as well. It is a very simplistic and reductionist model and should only be included as a vulnerability and not the whole answer to depression. Another explanation is a genetic problem. Through many family studies Gershon states there is a clear inheritable component to depression, especially in bipolar disorder. Weisseman et al supports this by saying that for if a child has a parent with depression, the risk of the child having depression is increased by three times compared to the general population.This is a strong finding but as the children share the same environment as their parents, there is a possibility that the child has learnt the behaviour through the social learning theory of imitating and observing and no t through genetics. Kendler et al studied over 15000 twins in Sweden and found that if one twin has depression, there is a 38% chance that the other twin will have it too. This has strong methodology and is supported by many twin studies who have found similar results. On the other hand the twins share the same environment and so environmental influences may still be possible.The results were nowhere near 100% showing that depression is not fully down to genes, the people may have a genetic vulnerability but it takes something to trigger, perhaps. It is also unclear as to how exactly genes play a role in depression, without knowing the exact genes involved. Another way to access the significance of genes is through adoption studies. Wender found that a child is seven times more likely to have depression if the biological parents were depressed and the adoption parents were not.They found little evidence of depression being learnt. However Wender got his information about biological relatives just from hospital records and so there could be error of misdiagnosis or short-term depression only. The knowledge of whether a person has a genetic vulnerability to depression can be useful as the person is able to take preventative measures (change in lifestyle, diet to bring positivity to avoid depression), but it could be fatalistic as they understand they are more likely to become depressed – leading to depression.Diathesis-stress model says that depression can be better understood as an interaction between genes and environmental factors. Carroll found that high levels of the hormone cortisol are found in those suffering from depression and techniques known to suppress cortisol secretion have been found to be successful in depressive patients. However cortisol is released when stressed and so the high levels could be due to the high levels of stress the person has when they are depressed.As depression is twice as common in women as men, it could be due to the differences in sex hormones. Post-natal depression could be due to the high levels of oestrogen and progesterone that are released during pregnancy and then rapidly decrease once the baby is born which may account for an imbalance of hormones. Cooper disagrees with this statement as there was very little difference in the number of women suffering from depression after childhood and a control group of non-pregnant women at the same age.If imbalance of hormones was the cause then most mothers should get this type of illness but it is only a small number that get it. Menopausal depression is where oestrogen levels drop and hormone replacement therapy appears to be affective in treating many (but not all) women who suffer from this type of depression. However this could be due to the negative thoughts of getting older rather than the hormonal imbalance. Through the biological approach there are many possibilities. I think it is a mixture of biological vulnerabilities and stressful env ironments.