The Effects of Media Violence on People

Despite the fact that there is some evidence that, lengthy exposure to violent media increases aggressive behavior in people, this exposure alone cannot cause people to become violent and aggressive for there is no established connection between violent entertainment and violent behavior.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Effects of Media Violence on People specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More On the contrary, there is substantial evidence that violent, belligerent, and emotionally delinquent environments lead to aggressive behavior more than watching violent films does. This may be a contentious issue with numerous people linking violent media to aggressive behavior. Nevertheless, there are other people, as the writer, who think that exposure to violent media alone does not lead to increase in aggressive behavior. I strongly refute the claims that exposure to violent media leads to increase in violent behavior. Fi rst, the research methodologies used to study and analyze the link between violent media exposure and aggressive behavior are more than often flawed. According to Gauntlett, mainstream researchers approach the issue of violent media from the perspective that media causes violence (23). With this ingrained deeply in researchers’ minds, they seek to establish violent reactions only in the context of media consumption. The anticipated results in such a case would obviously place blame increase in aggressive behavior on exposure to violent media. This should not be the case as research should start by focusing on the violence itself; regardless of the cause, and then try to mire its causes. This approach would work better to produce results that are more credible. Moreover, most of the studies focus on children without using controls like adults. Most of these studies seek to qualify a â€Å"barely-concealed conservative ideology† (Gauntlett 45). To complicate the whole is sue, what researchers may consider as ‘violent’ in research premises, may not be violent in context of the viewer. Additionally, the research objects are based on former studies that used blemished methodologies not founded on theory. Supporters of allegations that exposure to violent media leads to aggressive behavior may be quick to point out cases like the media attention generated by Michael Johnson case. It is true that this case attracted much publicity but these critics forget to indicate that this is not always the case. Human beings are not copycats and they will draw a clear line between what is good and bad. It is true that there are copycat violent acts like murder and suicide among others. However, Barker posits that, these copycat violent acts occur mostly in abnormal fostering (56). Research indicates that, raising people in violent or aggressive environments will have great impact in life than mere watching of given movies or listening to some music. The re is enough evidence to show that most of copycat murderers are mentally unstable.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More It beats logic to assume that simply because people have seen violent acts, they will go ahead and commit them. Millions of people watch violent movies all over the world; therefore, if exposure to violent media increases aggressive behaviors then we would have millions of aggressive people world allover. This is not the case and research indicates that, only few people engage in aggressive behaviors as a direct result of watching violent movies. Moreover, people who watch these movies in their childhood grow up to be normal responsible people (Ward 87). Therefore, to claim that exposure to violent media leads to increased aggressive behavior hold no substance to qualify it. People like Elizabeth Newson have drawn a strong link between violent media and viole nt lifestyle. For instance, in 1994, Elizabeth made reported that the movie Child’s Play 3 caused two boys, aged 10, to murder James Bulger. Nevertheless, in response to these allegations, Barker indicates that, Elizabeth’s accounts relied greatly on opinions and press instead of relying on results from an independent research (63). This points out how flawed research on media violence can be. In the murder of James Bulger, there was no evidence that the two boys had watched the alleged film. Unfortunately, after something pops into the media, people accept it without taking a step further to investigate the credibility of the information. Ward posits that, many researches on violent media have failed to establish adverse effects and that most of the hypotheses have proved to be null (12). There are cases whereby people have reacted violently even without watching violent scenes in the media. For instance, after watching the evening news, a father kills his entire fami ly using a gun; he is arrested and brought before the judge; he explains that his actions emanated from the ‘bad’ news he watched. He claims that, the news was too bad that he saw no need of anyone living. Is this case different from any other violent behaviors arising from violent media? The answer is of course no! In this incidence, the man must have been abnormal and his actions cannot be explained entirely under the pretext of ‘bad news’ he watched. Similarly, the few cases of violent behavior arising from watching violent films cannot be explained by the fact that the assailant had watched a violent film. There has to be something more than watching violent films and this is where researchers fail in their work.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Effects of Media Violence on People specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More According to Barker, there are other factors as socio-cultural issu es in criminal cases. These factors cannot be dictated by watching of violent media only. â€Å"We must look beyond a specific film to think about the specific context in which it has been consumed, and the wider social background of the people† (29). We cannot explicitly say that this issue on media can cause or cannot cause aggressive behavior. The best thing is to probe what other factors as social issues make some people perceive and use media in a way that will bring aggression to them. The bottom line is; influence from violent media alone cannot lead to increase in aggressive behavior. To cap it all, the research on violent media is minimal and often utilizes flawed methodologies. Questioning the credibility of these methodologies, Ward said, â€Å"The real puzzle is that anyone looking at the research evidence in this field could draw any conclusions about the pattern let alone argue with such confidence and even passion that it demonstrates the harm of violence on t elevision, in film and in video games† (34). According to Barker, if exposure to violent media leads to increase in aggressive behavior, then America would be a violent state (68) because in contemporary times, the media is littered with violent scenes of sundry and diversity. In the US, crime up surged between 1965 and 1980 and this was attributed to violent media. The authorities responded appropriately and crime rates leveled around 1992. Since then, violent media is allover and there is no equal increase in crime rates. The way out of this long-standing misconception about violent media is to conduct more conclusive research works. Research should be independent and should use credible sources not just opinions and sentiments from the press. Most of the films that are violent have political themes and this may explain in part why many people do not like them. Nevertheless, people should be informed about what is happening around them. In this regard, we should not criminal ize some informative and entertaining sentiments in the media like violent films or movies. Therefore, we can see that, although evidence suggests prolonged exposure to violent media increases aggressive behavior in people, that exposure alone does not cause people to become violent and aggressive for two main reasons. First, there is no established connection between violent entertainment and violent behavior. Additionally, there is enough evidence to show that violent environment leads to violent behaviors more than violent media does.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Works Cited Barker, Mitchell. The Newson Report: a Case Study in Common Sense in III Effects in The Media /Violence Debate. London: Routledge, 2001. Gauntlett, Dean. Ten Things Wrong with the ‘Effects Model’. Approaches to Audiences – A Reader, 1998. Web. Ward, Michael. Video games, Crime Violence, 2007. Web. This essay on The Effects of Media Violence on People was written and submitted by user Kaia Spencer to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

What is Obamacare and What are the Conflicting Values of the Opposing Sides

What is Obamacare and What are the Conflicting Values of the Opposing Sides The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that is also known as Obamacare is aimed at reducing the cost of healthcare and increasing its accessibility. However, this set of policies can present significant difficulties for nurses who may have to face several ethical dilemmas because of new requirements.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on What is Obamacare and What are the Conflicting Values of the Opposing Sides? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More One of the risks that researchers identify is that many hospitals become underfinanced, yet, the influx of patients will increase (Miller, 2010, p. 33). As a result, nurses will not be able to pay equal attention to the needs of patients. This issue becomes even more important given that America faces a significant shortage of skilled nurses who do not want to work in medical institutions (Aiken, 2007, p. 1299). Thus, nursing professionals may be forced to choose between tw o or even more patients. Some of them may not receive the help that they need as soon as possible. As a result, nursing professionals may have to violate the first provision of their professional code according to which the nurse must â€Å"respect the inherent dignity, worth, and uniqueness of every individual, unrestricted by considerations of social or economic status† (American Nurses Association, 2012, unpaged). This is one of the ethical issues that should not be overlooked and nursing professionals do not want to confront such situations. There is one conflict that may be associated with Obamacare. As it has been said, this legal act is aimed at reducing the cost of healthcare, but this strategy can potentially impair the quality of patient care. It should be noted that nurses and physicians may be asked to operate within a certain budget (Eddlem, 2010, p. 14). The problem is that such limitations on the budget may prevent a nursing professional from practicing evidenc e-based medicine (Eddlem, 2010, p. 14). The main problem is that the performance of a nurse may be assessed according to its cost-efficiency, but not the patient outcome. As a result, medical workers may not be able to provide the care that patients need.Advertising Looking for essay on health law? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The main law that will affect healthcare institutions is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The main purpose of this legal act is to raise the quality of healthcare and reduce the costs related to patient treatment (Newman, 2010, p. 1). However, this legal act does take into account the risks of budget limitations that restrict the decisions of a healthcare professional. Yet, nurses should also adhere to the principles outlined by the American Nurses Association. In some cases, ethical principles and the necessity to reduce costs are not compatible with each other. So, medical w orkers will have to reconcile their ethical principles with new professional requirements. Overall, the attempts to reduce the costs of healthcare should be related to administrative costs, but they must not affect the work of nurses or physicians. They should be able to take decisions that best fit the needs of a patient, rather than budgetary requirements. In this way, they can help medical workers avoid ethical dilemmas. They will not have to discriminate between patients. Therefore, policy-makers should take into consideration the complexity of the healthcare system. The initiatives that the government implements are supposed to address the rising cost of healthcare. However, this policy affected the work of nurses and physicians. This is the main drawback of Obamacare. Reference List Aiken, L. H. (2007). U.S. Nurse Labor Market Dynamics Are Key to Global Nurse Sufficiency. Health Services Research, 42(32), 1299-1320. American Nurses Association. (2001). 2001 Approved Provisions . Web. Eddlem, T. R. (2010). Outcome of Obama Care: Obamas healthcare law has stiff costs and consequences, including less care, skyrocketing insurance premiums, likely national insolvency, and unchecked government powers. New American (08856540), 26(10), 10-15.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on What is Obamacare and What are the Conflicting Values of the Opposing Sides? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Miller, C. (2010). Stand And Fight. New York: Xlibris Corporation. Newman, D. (2010). Accountable Care Organizations and the Medicare Shared  Savings Program. New York: DIANE Publishing.

Unethical practices and behavior in accounting Essay

Unethical practices and behavior in accounting - Essay Example Unethical practices and behavior in accounting Diversified forces, from professions’ external environments, regulate professional practices. In this paper, analyze Beth’s article, ‘Eight years after fact is SOX working? A look at the Brook corporation’, with the aim of identifying situations that may lead to unethical practices and behavior and review effects of Sarbanes-Oxley Act on financial statements. Situations that might lead to unethical practices and behavior in accounting People’s practices and behavior are largely influenced by their environments that can either encourage good practices and behavior or can allow for, and even promote immoral acts among accountants. Opportunities are one of the set of situations that might lead to unethical practices and behavior. Ethics are moral rules and therefore restrain people into conformance to expected practices. It relies on both the level at which such people can be influenced or coerced to acculturate such standards and the effectiveness in p reventing possibilities of unethical practices. Availability of opportunities for unethical practice however challenges these factors because of the involved social aspects of ethics. An individual, based on the possible gain from a practice, may for example choose to utilize an opportunity into unethical practice or behavior for such gains. Opportunities also offer temptation into unethical practices and behavior and may influence an individual to behave unethically against an individual’s intentions (Beth, 2010). Bad ethical examples set by others forms another situation that is likely to lead to unethical practice or behavior in the accounting profession and is majorly influenced by the role and impacts of leadership concepts. ... Environment plays a significant role in influencing a person’s behavior and an environment where unethical practices exist will influence a person into such practices. This influence is particularly effective when senior people in an organization do the undesirable behaviors and practices. While junior employees may not have the authority to stop the practices, frustrations that their seniors are benefiting at their expense are likely to influence them into unethical practices. Bad example set by senior people in an organization also spread to lower levels of the organization’s structure because such leaders lose their moral power and the conscience to condemn unethical practices. Persistent misrepresentation of financial information by an organization’s chief accountant for example sets a bad example to junior accounts officers who may emulate their senior’s behavior (Beth, 2010). Lack of incentives is another situation that may lead to unethical practice s and behavior in accounting. This applies from two perspectives, lack of incentives to facilitate ethical practice, and lack of general employee incentives towards utility and commitment to a workplace. There are avenues to acculturating ethics among people such as training them on the need for ethical practice, creating awareness on possible consequences of unethical practice, and establishing a culture that values ethics. Lack of these factors in an organization may facilitate unethical acts because people will lack knowledge on significance of ethics. General work incentives such as rewards and remunerations, trainings and other offers that promote employee utility at the workplace are also significant to