What Is Wrongfulness Equated To Harmfulness?

This paper is a response to an disagreement in the literature regarding the paper A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using College Samples by Rind , Bauserman, & Tromovitch. The article’s focus and the methods used we not received favorably in the psychological community. A rebuttal was soon published questioning the methodology , the findings, and the conclusions of the researchers. After reading the three articles the reaction is the following : Science, morals and emotions have unique definitions and each has a place in the world of psychology , in order to understand the impact they have on society, science must eliminate values and moral judgement and find the facts. As a whole, society can be inhibited …show more content…
Rind et al state that defining this term is is an issue and they discuss the term as a violation of social norms it is abuse if it goes against what is socially acceptable compared to abuse defined as any form of harm done to a child. It is stated that it cannot be assumed that a violation of social norms automatically leads to harm. Is wrongfulness equated to harmfulness? In other words, if you go against social norms does that lead to measurable problematic psychological symptoms ? A true scientist would ask to see the research and a parent would undoubtedly say yes . A parent who is also a scientist is truly challenged and could quite possibly interpret the data in the favor of his moral standings. This mixture of morals and science is the problem that was discussed in the …show more content…
A habit that movie stars and athletic idols participated in , in short a socially acceptable behavior of our society , is now viewed as a fatal habit that endangers oneself and those around you. At first the research was squashed and fabricated because of all of the profit involved in the industry. It wasn't until the non believers challenged the research and the social norm and found that this casual and popular habit a is killing people. Even today with all of the research supporting the need to stop , there are those who still believe that it is okay to smoke. If cultural norms are not eliminated from the research and conclusions are not unbiased and based on the true outcome interpreted in an nonjudgmental way regardless of one's beliefs , the true nature of the scientific research is compromised. This paper is not trying to come close to putting smoking and CSA in the same category . The smoking reference is to make a point that i agree strongly that our societal norms and values need to be put aside when research is being interpreted and discussed . The topic as serious as an adult using a child for sexual pleasure is a serious matter and can be thus charged without question if the research is conducted to support the