Psychology And Society Essay, Research Paper

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 may cause 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.

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