Psychology And Society
Psychology is the scientific study of human
and animal behavior. It is made of
theories and tries to prove why we behave
the way we do, our mental processes,
our emotions, and our actions. In this
writing assignment I will discuss why
some people choose to behave so
outrageous that we see it as abnormal
self-destructive behavior and why
others try to fit in this society and follow
the rules. In the United States
there`s people from all over the world from
different cultures and
traditions. I will give my personal opinion on some of
the issues and
controversies in our country. My first issue is about drugs. Many
people feel
that certain illegal drugs like heroin, marijuana, and cocaine
should be
legalized. I think it`s a crazy idea, people feel that is they
legalize it at
first we would buy it but then we would get bored and the use
will decrease,
but how many lives will be lost? Is it worth taken a chance? I
don`t think
so, tobacco is legal and people don`t get tired of smoking, so if
they
legalized these drugs more and more people will get addicted. The effects
of
any drug depend on several factors like the amount taken the user`s past
drug
experience, the manner in which is taken, and circumstances. Heroin is a
highly
addictive drug derived from morphine, which is obtain from the opium
poppy. It
is a downer that affects the brains pleasure systems and interferes
with the
brains ability to perceive pain. Heroin can be injected into a vein
or a muscle,
smoked in a water pipe, inhale as smoke through a straw or
snorted as powder via
the nose. Cocaine is a powerful central nervous system
stimulant that heightens
alertness, inhibits appetite and the need for sleep,
and provides intense
feelings of pleasure. Cocaine`s short-term effects
appear soon after a single
dose. Marijuana is usually smoked as a cigarette
or in a pipe or a bong. If you
have a job and you are selected for a urine
test marijuana will show up. The
short-term effects of marijuana include
problems with memory and learning,
distorted perception, loss of
coordination, increased heart rate and anxiety.
The long-term effects of
these drugs include slowed and slurred speech,
constricted pupils, droopy
eyelids, impaired night vision, sedation, coma,
addiction, convulsions, heart
failure, paranoia, hallucinations, delusions, loss
of interest in sex,
marijuana even contains some of the same, and sometimes even
more of the
cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco. These drugs can hurt you
and those
who surround you. I don`t understand why would anyone go through the
risk of
dying of overdosed and just the fact of addiction is a nightmare that
many
choose to live every day of their lives. Drugs bring me to my next
issue
which is why some people think that alcohol and tobacco should be
illegal. Let
me start by saying that millions of lives would be safe if
smoking and drinking
was illegal. Is it fair for innocent people to die
because of a drunk driver or
because of second hand smoke? How much do we
value the lives of others and our
own?. You don`t need to drink much alcohol
before your ability to dive becomes
impaired. The more heavily you drink, the
greater the potential for problems at
home, at work, with friends, and even
with strangers. One of my family member
was an alcoholic and I know that they
face a lot of problems like arguments with
the family or friends, loss of
employment due to absences or decreased
productivity, committing or being the
victim of violence and also alcohol can
cause a range of birth defects, the
most serious being fetal alcohol syndrome
F.A.S. (physical abnormalities,
mental impairment). Children born with
alcohol-related birth defects can have
lifelong learning and behavior problems.
Some problems, like those I
mentioned above, can occur after drinking over a
relatively short period of
time. But other problems such as liver disease, heart
disease, certain forms
of cancer, and pancreatitis often develop more gradually
and may become
evident only after long-term heavy drinking. Women may
develop
alcohol-related health problems after consuming less alcohol that men
do over a
short period of time. Some drinkers develop alcoholic hepatitis, or
inflammation
of the liver which can cause death if drinking continues. If
drinking stops,
this condition often is reversible. Alcohol also causes
cirrhosis which is not
reversible and causes death unless you stop and you`re
chances of survival
improve considerably. Moderate drinking can have
beneficial effects on the
heart, especially among those at greater risk of
heart attacks, such as men over
the age of 45 and women after menopause. It
wouldn`t be so bad if alcohol was
illegal and you could only get it like most
legal drugs with a medical
prescription. Long-term heavy drinking increases
the risk for high blood
pressure, heart disease, some kinds of stroke, and
cancer, especially cancer of
the esophagus, mouth, throat, and voice box.
Women are at slightly increased
risk of developing breast cancer if they
drink two or more drinks per day.
Drinking may also increase the risk for
developing cancer of the colon and
rectum. The pancreas helps to regulate the
body`s blood sugar levels by
producing insulin. The pancreas also has a role
in digesting the food we eat.
Long-term heavy drinking can lead to
pancreatitis, or inflammation of the
pancreas. Alcohol had a great effect on
body, and it does more damage than good.
Tobacco is another drug which I
think should be illegal. Tobacco contains
nicotine, an addictive drug that
makes it very difficult for users to quit. One
out of every three smokers
dies from tobacco related disease. The tobacco
industry main targets are
teens, minorities, and women. Nicotine has both
stimulant and depressant
effects upon the body. Stimulation of the central
nervous system may cause
tremors in the inexperienced user, or even convulsions
with high doses.
People who use tobacco products frequently depend upon it
providing the side
effects, some of them are the stimulation of the memory and
alertness,
alleviation of boredom to help them accomplish certain tasks at
specific
levels of performance. Tobacco is believed to have an addictive
potential
comparable to alcohol, cocaine, and morphine. There are many
associated
health risks. In general, chronic exposure to nicotine maycause
an
acceleration of coronary artery disease, peptic ulcer disease,
reproductive
disturbances, fetal illness and death. Tobacco and its various
components have
been associated with an increased risk for cancer of various
body organs like
cancer of the oral cavity, esophagus, lungs, kidneys,
pancreas, stomach, cervix,
and bladder. Another big problem with smoking is
second hand smoke. Many people
who have never smoked once develop cancer
faster than a regular smoker. Some of
the health risks in children are:
increased frequency of respiratory infections,
asthma, and decreases in lung
function as the lungs mature. We all know there
are many good reasons to stop
smoking or never start. Tobacco can also cause
brain damage, there is strong
link between smoking and strokes; it increases
cholesterol and decreases the
vitamin C levels in your blood. Smokers have a
higher lifetime frequency of
substances abuse, severe depression, anxiety
disorders, and other
psychological problems. Smoking can also make you look
older. Heavy smokers
have nearly five times as many wrinkles as their
non-smoking peers. Since
more people get connected to the Internet every day,
pornography has become a
very discussed issue in our society. Constitutional
rights freedom of speech
and expression do not factor in to the risk of harm
carried by pornography.
There is pornography protected by the First Amendment
and illegal pornography
which is not. Pornography use is a choice, and is like
an addictive drug; a
little can get you hooked and too much can damage your
life. Pornography
aside, sex is selling for businesses that aren`t even selling
sex. The mere
existence of the advertising industry and the billions of dollars
spent on
advertising are proof that visual images persuade. I do think
that
pornography is psychologically and socially harmful and should be
illegal in all
forms. Pornography shapes attitudes and the way people view
relationships and
sex roles, specifically by normalizing aggression towards
women for some men in
sexual and other interpersonal encounters and
increasing the tolerance for
aggression toward women in the larger culture.
Sexual interest and sexual acts
of any kind are mistaken for acts of love.
Sex gives the illusion of being loved
and appreciated. In the absence of
love, people seek intimacy through porn and
sex. Casual sex is portrayed as
exciting and desirable outside of a committed
relationship. Beauty is
measured by proportion of body parts, shaping
unrealistic expectations of
what a woman`s body should look like. Pornography`s
messages about sex and
sexual fulfillment are misleading. Pornography also hurts
kids. Teen
pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases like Aids are
completely
nonexistent in porn, giving a false believe that there is no
adverse
consequences to behaviors depicted in pornography. Teaching that
sexual
experimentation with anyone, anywhere is a major theme considered fun
in
pornography. Pornography teaches that women enjoy being stripped,
forcibly
abused and even raped. Other messages in pornography are drug
addiction,
prostitution, exhibitionism and voyeurism are branded in the minds
of children
as normal behavior. One such message is that women are sex toys
readily
available for sexual fulfillment by anyone and are devoid of value,
worth and
feelings. These messages found to hurt adults have an even greater
impacts on
kids. Child pornography consists of photographs, video tapes,
books, magazines,
and films that depict children in sex acts, all of which
are illegal. Child porn
has become a sophisticated multi-million dollar black
market industry. Hard core
pornography of adults is legal to posses but
illegal to distribute. My last
point of discussion is the choice women have
of abortion. There are for options
when a women is pregnant with a child.
First the option of having and raising
the baby, thus bearing responsibility
if she could have helped conceiving the
child, in cases where the pregnancy
was due to consensual sex. The other option
is to have the child and raise
it, thus showing love to the child where the
woman isn`t responsible for the
pregnancy, she was raped. The third option is to
have the child and gave it
away for abortion, regardless of how the child was
conceived. The last option
is to have an abortion. The morality of abortion
depends upon the nature and
identity of the thing being aborted. I do think that
abortion should be
illegal except in cases where the baby had a defect or the
woman was raped. I
do believe abortion is the taking of a human life, being
morally equivalent
to murder or manslaughter. The issue of the identity of the
unborn (is it
human or not?) is prior logically to the issue of the woman`s
right to
choose. There is no morally relevant difference between a fetus and a
viable
child who is outside the womb. Fist the size of the fetus doesn`t
determine
its humanness; the level of development which would mean that a 25
year old
man is more human than a 13 year old boy; the environment, so if I step
out
of the house, do I become less of a human being? also the degree
of
dependence, appearance and function, many people have hardly any
functional
abilities at all but they are still considered humans. Abortion is
permissible
in the case of rape. Rape is bad. There is no doubt about this.
But if abortion
is taking the life of a human being, then adding murder or
manslaughter to an
already existing rape hardly solves the problem. We have
four logical
possibilities concerning abortion. First the unborn is a human
being and we know
it. Second the unborn is a human being and we do not know
it. Third the unborn
is not a human being and we know it. Fourth the unborn
is not human and we do
not know it. To me abortion turns out to be the
intentional killing of a human
being, which should e considered murder. If
the case abortion is not murder. But
it is not okay either. Abortion turns
out to be manslaughter. For manslaughter
is the unintentional killing of a
human being. What lives in the womb is a real
child, a small person, a human
being essentially like us, in the first phase of
his or her existence. Our
society will never be perfect and I think that`s our
main goal. I have
discuss some of the more controversial issues in our society
today but it is
impossible for everyone to agree on one solution.