Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Research Method in Biological Level of Analysis Psychology Essay Example for Free

Research Method in Biological Level of Analysis Psychology Essay Examine the use of one research method used in the biological level of analysis, including an evaluation of the ethical considerations related to them. The case studies method consists in taking a patient personal history in order to take a diagnosis. It is usually applied in persons that have abnormal characteristics in behaviour, at biological or at cognitive level; it can also be applied to a group of people that are under the same situation. Case study is a long-term research where the patient or the group of people are studied to get into a conclusion. This type of study investigates and recollects qualitative data, such as feelings and experiences. At the same time it also includes quantitative data of measurements such as blood testing, IQ scores and other survey data. An example of case-study method is the Phineas Gage research. Phineas was the man who had an accident and a metal pole entered through its skull. It entered through his left cheek and exited through its frontal lobe. There were many factors that made of this situation really abnormal. Just after the accident Phineas was awake. He lost the vision in his left eye, but in his right eye the vision was perfect. Besides he didn’t suffer any paralysis and had no difficulty with speech or language. However, the doctor noted that his intellectual abilities and his emotional control had been destroyed. Gage had become impatient, indulgent and though he made plans for hi future he could never follow them. He could be described as a child. According to the long-term case study, his frontal lobe provided evidence that the brain affects personality and social behaviour. This is a really important research because it presents one of the biological level of analysis, the one that refers there are biological correlates of behaviour. Here we can see how damaged physiological factor can affect behaviour. Besides it shows us how case studies are really useful, because not all changes in behaviour happen from one day to another. As this study evidenced the process in which the behaviour starts to see affected is a long-term process. Case studies of the brain-damaged patients have led to important findings about the brain. According to the ethics in this type of research, probably there are more negative facts tan positive facts. Case studies researches are not ethical because the patient is treated, observed and examined like it is a completely different person compared to the others. Besides it can invade your personal spaces and take you away some privacy. The researcher gets to know deeply personal information fro the patient, which is not usually shared with other people. Besides, some of this information may be published or at least written up as a research report, in order to be used in a future as valid information in researches, etc. That’s why the identity of the person should be always protected; the researcher needs to cover all the details that could lead others to work out the individual’s identity. In the case of Phineas Gage most of this ethical considerations weren’t taked into count. They didn’t covered up his identity, beside they go into details of his personal life. In conclusion the case studies are really important because are the ones that lead us to conclusions about real life issues and particular problems. The researches done by this method are really accurate and play a really important role in psychology biological level of analysis.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Disorders in Hawethornes The Birthmark Essay example -- essays resea

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story â€Å"The Birthmark† you find a couple fairly prevalent disorders. Although psychology was as of yet not existence, Hawthorne describes them quite well. Alymer suffered from an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, while his actions caused Georgiana to develop a body dysmorphic disorder. Both of which attributed to the eventual demise of Georgiana.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alymer is an older scientist who marries a beautiful woman much younger then himself. Even though Alymer finds his young bride beautiful, he still says that she is â€Å"marked.† Upon Georgiana’s left cheek is a birthmark. The birthmark is small, red, and in the shape of a hand. Alymer believes that this mark takes away from her beauty; even though many other people, men and women alike, thought it to be charming; and those who did not, just â€Å"wished it away.†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However, Alymer could not wish away Georgiana’s birthmark. He even approached her about it being removed- â€Å"Georgiana,† said he, â€Å"has it never occurred to you that the mark upon your cheek might be removed?† â€Å"No, indeed,† said she, smiling; but perceiving the seriousness of his manner, she blushed deeply. â€Å"To tell you the truth it has been so often called a charm that I was simple enough to imagine it might be so.† (Hawthorne 306)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alymer was afflicted with an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. By definition obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is â€Å"A personality disorder characterized by a pervasive preoccupation with orderliness, perfectionism, and interpersonal control [ . . . ].† (Medical Net) Characteristics of this disorder include the following:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  1) Preoccupation with details, rules, lists, order, organization, or schedules.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  2) Perfectionism.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  3) Excessive devotion to work to the exclusion of leisure activities and friendships.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  4) Inability to discard worthless objects of no sentimental value.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  5) Reluctance to delegate tasks or work with others unless everything is done their way.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  6) Miserliness in regard to oneself and others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  7) Rigidity and stubbornness. (Body Image)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Out of all of the abov... ...their diseases, then Georgiana would have lived. If he had not been so obsessive, Georgiana would not have developed BDD. And if she had not tried to make Alymer happy, she would not have allowed him to give her the deathly liquid. Sadly though, even in the end, Alymer shows no true remorse. After Georgiana dies, he gives a â€Å"hoarse, chuckling laugh.† After all, his wife may be dead, but she looks perfect without any blemish upon her face.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Works Cited 1)Hawthorne, Nathaniel. â€Å"The Birthmark.† Sixth Edition The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. Michael Meyers Ed. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin 1996 p.306-16 2)Body Image and Body Dysmorphic Disorder. 2002. 7 Dec. 2003   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.athealth.com/Consumer/disorders/BDDInterview.html . 3)Medicine Net Medical Dictionary. 2003. 7 Dec. 2003   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=21263 . 4)Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, European Description. 1992. 1 Dec. 2003   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  http://www.mentalhealth.com/icd/p22-an05.html .

Monday, January 13, 2020

Principles of beneficence and non-maleficence Essay

_In order to have a common basis of understanding some words need to be defined:_ _BENEFICENCE:_ _The action of helping others and performing actions that would result in benefit to another person._ _NON-MALEFICENCE:_ _The avoidance of causing harm or evil by doing a certain action or by not doing any action at all._ _PHYSICIAN:_ _is a professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments_. _TORT_ : A civil wrong committed against a person or property, excluding breach of contract. BENEFICENCE AND NON-MALEFICENCE As the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence are closely related, they are discussed together in this section. Beneficence involves balancing the benefits of treatment against the risks and costs involved, whereas non-maleficence means avoiding the causation of harm. As many treatments involve some degree of harm, the principle of non-maleficence would imply that the harm should not be disproportionate to the benefit of the treatment. Respecting the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence may in certain circumstances mean failing to respect a person’s autonomy i.e. respecting their views about a particular treatment. For example, it may be necessary to provide treatment that is not desired in order to prevent the development of a future, more serious health problem. The treatment might be unpleasant, uncomfortable or even painful but this might involve less harm to the patient than would occur, were they not to have it. In cases where the patient lacks legal competence to make a decision, medical staffs are expected to act in the best interests of the patient. In doing  so, they may take into account the principles of beneficence and non-maleficence. However, it would be helpful for medical staff in such cases, if the patient lacking capacity had made an advance directive. Nevertheless, as will be seen in the following section on â€Å"the position of advance directives alongside current wishes†, problems may arise when there is a conflict between what a person requested in an advance directive and what in the physician’s view is in their best interests, particularly in cases where it is no longer clear that the person in question would still agree with the decision previously made. Examples of Beneficence: Resuscitating a drowning victim. Providing vaccinations for the general population. Encouraging a person to quit smoking, etc. Examples of Non-maleficence: Stopping a medication that is shown to be harmful. Refusing to provide a treatment that has not been shown to be effective. One of the most common ethical dilemmas arises in the balancing of beneficence and non-maleficence. This balance is the one between the benefits and risks of treatment and plays a role in nearly every medical decision such as whether to order a particular test, medication, procedure, operation or treatment. By providing informed consent, physicians give patients the information necessary to understand the scope and nature of the potential risks and benefits in order to make a decision. Ultimately it is the patient who assigns weight to the risks and benefits. Nonetheless, the potential benefits of any intervention must outweigh the risks in order for the action to be ethical. TORTS Also known as Negligence, the person guilty of committing a tort is called TORTFEASOR. The two types of torts are: _Intentional_: such as ASSAULT (threat or bodily harm to another), BATTERY (An action that causes bodily harm or injury), DEFAMATION OF CHARACTER (An action damaging a person’s reputation by making public statements), FALSE IMPRISONMENT (Intentional and unlawful restraint or confinement of one person by another), FRAUD (Intentional misrepresentation to take advantage of the resources of another person), INVASION OF PRIVACY (An intrusion into a person’s seclusion or private affairs). _Unintentional_: this one is when there is a non intended harm is caused but committed unreasonably or with a disregard for the consequences. There are four elements that make a person eligible for liability. Those elements are known as †THE FOUR D’S OF NEGLIGENCE†, which are: Duty, Derelict, Direct Cause and Damages. A complaint has to include all four elements or the court will not consider the claim. In conclusion, the presence of these two principles is important because, they provide a system of checks and balances for providers and patients in making decisions concerning medical care, and they are necessary to a patient’s autonomy or independence in making his/her own decision.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Effects Of The Dust Bowl On The Southern Plains - 1809 Words

The Dust Bowl lasted for eight years. The Dust Bowl made simple acts of life hard. Breathing, eating, drinking, and going outside were no longer simple tasks. Children had to wear dust masks to prevent from inhaling the dust. Women hung wet sheets up over the windows to try and stop dirt, to no avail. Farmers just watched as their crops were buried or even flew away. They had no choice in the matter. The Dust Bowl occurred in the 1930s and lasted roughly eight years. The main area of impact was the Southern Plains. The Northern Plains were not affected as much. However the north did receive some dust and droughts. The Dust Bowl did not help the Depression either. It actually lengthened it. The effects of the Depression were felt worldwide. `Many farmers settled in the Southern Plains and started to grow their crops their. The were prosperous for decades. The crops grew extremely well, and the farmers prospered. However when the 1930s hit, so did droughts and clouds of dust. They plag ued nearly seventy-five percent of the U.S. America was already suffering the Great Depression, this played a role in the causing but it was not one of the main reasons. An extended and severe drought dried up all the water in the soil. When the soil was all dried up the dirt became weak and dry. This results in dust. Unusually high temperatures also played a role. The high temperatures contributed in the dry soil creating the dust. Poor agricultural practices and then the resulting windShow MoreRelatedThe Dust Bowl Essay1038 Words   |  5 PagesThe Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was the darkest moment in the twentieth-century life of the southern plains, (pg. 4) as described by Donald Worster in his book The Dust Bowl. It was a time of drought, famine, and poverty that existed in the 1930s. Its cause, as Worster presents in a very thorough manner, was a chain of events that was perpetuated by the basic capitalistic societys need for expansion and consumption. Considered by some as one of the worst ecological catastrophes in theRead MoreThe Struggle Of The 1920s1322 Words   |  6 Pageschanges that had a drastic effect on people across the nation. As the economy began to slow to a halt, millions of people were left broke and without jobs. As the country’s farmers were paralyzed with debt, food prices increased radically (McElvaine). During the mid-1930s, a series of droughts coupled with poor agricultural methods led to years of soil erosion and dust storms known as the Dust Bowl, a catastrophe that destroyed farms throughout the Sou thern Great Plains (Shafer, Low). As a resultRead MoreThe Dust Bowl Essay1436 Words   |  6 PagesOklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico—the Dust Bowl was a time where over 100 million acres of topsoil were stripped from fertile fields leaving nothing but barren lands and piles of dust everywhere (Ganzel). While things were done to alleviate the problem, one must question whether or not anyone has learned from this disaster. If not, one must look into the possibility that the United States may be struck by such a destructive drought as the Dust Bowl, if not a worse one that would leave us withRead MoreThe Dust Bowl1192 Words   |  5 Pagesat a full moon. When he reached his house, his father rushed him inside. The first of many dust storms hit and the period known as the Dust Bowl began. The Dust Bowl was a brutal time period in Midwestern history; farmers were pushed off their land and forced to find new homes in new states. On a website called Drought Disasters, sponsored by Browing University, it was written â€Å"the seeds of the Dust Bowl may have been sown during the early 1920s. However, overproduction of wheat coupled with theRead MoreDust Bowl : The Southern Plains1782 Words   |  8 Pages1.) The documentary, Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s by Donald Worster paints a surreal mosaic of life on the Great Plains during the dirty thirties. He does this by illustrating various causations and correlations as well as specific rural towns in the Dust Bowl that exhibit them, and public institutions whose objective was the restoration of the Great Plains to a fertile state as before the coming of the Capitalistic agriculturist that wreaked havoc on the ecosystem. Worster then usesRead MoreFarming During The Great Depression1210 Words   |  5 Pagesstarting to get better and better. But In the early 1930 s soil was reduced to dust and eroded, because of drought and improper farming practic e. This period of long, stressful farming conditions was known as the Dust Bowl. It led to the increased number of deaths in the 1930’s. The Dust Bowl has some major effects on the U.S. such as death, people unable to pay taxes and people were unable to purchase food. Before the Dust Bowl, life was pretty good. The nation just survived a very deadly influenza epidemicRead MoreThe Most Devastating Dust Storm Ever Essay2029 Words   |  9 PagesThe Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s was one of the worst environmental disasters of the Twentieth Century anywhere in the world (Cook). The Dust Bowl killed many crops and made normal life hard, like breathing, eating, and sleeping. Since it destroyed a large part of agriculture production, it contributed towards the Great Depression (Amadeo). In order for us to better understand what the Dust Bowl was like, one must first look at what this natural disaster was, what the effects of it were, andRead MoreThe Great Depression : The Fall Of A Nation1701 Words   |  7 PagesWithin two weeks stocks dropped to 37% of what they were worth. And even as bad as things got, most people didn’t think that the stock market crash would have an effect on the American economy, but we were in for a wakeup call, and we were soon aware of the full effect it had. The Great Depression started in 1929, and the devastating effect lasted until the late 1930s. Almost all countries saw the prices of their goods drop, almost all countries saw their output shrink, and in almost all countriesRead MoreTaking a Look at the Dust Bowl2293 Words   |  9 PagesThe Dust Bowl, battering the Midwest for nearly a decade with high winds, bad farming techniques, and drought, became a pivotal point in American history. The wind storm that seemed relentless beginning in the early 1930’s until its spell ended in 1939, affected the lives of tens of thousands of Americans and the broader agriculture industry. The catastrophic effects of the Dust Bowl took place most prominently around the Great Plains, otherwise known as the farming belt, including states such asRead MoreWhat Caused The Dust Bowl? Essay2374 Words   |  10 Pagesthe Dust Bowl? One of America’s most beloved books is John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. The book portrays a family, the Joads, who leave Oklahoma and move to California in search of a more prosperous life. Steinbeck’s book garnered acclaim both from critics and from the American public. The story struck a chord with the American people because Steinbeck truly captured the angst and heartbreak of those directly impacted by the Dust Bowl disaster. To truly comprehend the havoc the Dust Bowl wreaked