Wednesday, February 8, 2012

THE HUMAN INVINCIBILITY COMPLEX

THE HUMAN INVINCIBILITY COMPLEX

Sky diving, rock climbing, and parkour are all popular extreme sports for those humans who love the rush of death defying activities, also known as adrenaline junkies. The draw of these thrilling sports is understandable; to stare death in the face and come out victorious is both exhilarating and just plain old fun. But is the popularity of these extreme activities an expression of a deeper human flaw? According to Professor David Elkind, a child psychologist, the human perception of invincibility is a normal human development phase. Teens in particular don’t feel that they are susceptible to risky or dangerous behavior. These behaviors include everything from intense participation in sports to committing crimes, to having unprotected sex. Proof of this is quantified in UNICEF’s 2001 report on Teen Births in Rich Nations. In this report, one of the key findings was the teen pregnancy rate for the United States. With a staggering 52.1 out of 1000 girls giving birth while still a teenager, the USA far outnumbers other developed countries when it comes to teen births. Although this phase of invincibility is said to be at its peak during early adolescence, the “it won’t happen to me” mentality can be clearly seen in the habits of many adults in America. One of the most troubling displays of our false perception of invincibility is the prevalence of parents and pregnant women who choose to smoke cigarettes either during pregnancy or in the home after the child is born.

The health risks of smoke, both first and second hand, are outlined in a USNEWS Health video . When smoke is inhaled, the body goes through incredible measures to protect itself. The lining of the throat becomes covered in mucus to protect the lining from harmful toxins in cigarettes. After prolonged exposure to smoke, the body’s natural defenses against infections are weakened. For children in particular smoke exposure is very dangerous because they do not yet have fully developed immune systems and can’t as readily fight infections.

Exposure to secondhand smoke can also affect children in the long term. Parental smoking has been linked to increased probability of obesity in children as well as heart disease later in life. The EPO recently concluded that if a child experiences prolonged secondhand smoke exposure they could develop asthma.

With the health hazards of smoking around children so blatantly advertized in anti-smoking commercials and other media, why do parents still do it? The majority of the parents who smoke in their home would say that they would do anything to protect their children from harm. A classic example of the extreme lengths to which a mother would go to save her child is that of 50 year old Angela Cavalo who lifted a car off of her son who was trapped beneath. Many parents insist that they indeed would do the same. SO why does this parental instinct to protect fail them when it comes to smoking in the home? The magazine Psychology Today had an article on the tendency people have to ignore long term consequences in favor of short term gratification. This could be the way that some parents rationalize risky habits such as smoking near their children. Could the human invincibility complex be outweighing millions of years of evolution and parental instincts?

Posted by Erica Bonnell (1)

7 comments:

  1. It really is interesting how immediate gratification and personal satisfaction have trumped knowledge and common sense in America. We have some of the best medical knowledge available in the world, yet, like you said, mothers still chose to smoke and drink during pregnancy, and expose their young children to secondhand smoke one they are born. We have made great advances in biology and medicine, and have drawn direct links from smoking to lung disease, heart problems, and cancer, yet some people just will not listen. It's one thing to subject yourself to the dangers, but we've learned that secondhand smoke is just as dangerous, so in choosing to smoke, your putting the lives of your family and others around you at risk. It seems that gratification and selfishness might be killing our youth before they are even born.

    Posted by Laura Moro

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    1. I absolutely agree with your last sentence, I think it sums up the current situation with smoking in the home very well. With all of the scientific studies and breakthroughs concerning smoking that have become common knowledge, ignorance is no longer an excuse. Unfortunately however, it seems as though immediate danger must be staring some parents in the face in order for them to act. Long term consequences, while harder to see in the present, will come into effect in the future.

      Posted By Erica Bonnell

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  2. It really is interesting how immediate gratification and personal satisfaction have trumped knowledge and common sense in America. We have some of the best medical knowledge available in the world, yet, like you said, mothers still chose to smoke and drink during pregnancy, and expose their young children to secondhand smoke one they are born. We have made great advances in biology and medicine, and have drawn direct links from smoking to lung disease, heart problems, and cancer, yet some people just will not listen. It's one thing to subject yourself to the dangers, but we've learned that secondhand smoke is just as dangerous, so in choosing to smoke, your putting the lives of your family and others around you at risk. It seems that gratification and selfishness might be killing our youth before they are even born.

    Posted by Laura Moro

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  3. Fascinating subject! Humans do seem to ignore risk in favor of gratification. However, I am not sure the Human Invincibility Complex is why parents smoke when they have kids, why people jump off cliffs or why teenagers get pregnant.

    The cigarette smoking that harms a woman's fetus in juxtaposition to the woman lifting a car off her child is a bit incongruous. Mainly because nicotine is incredibly addictive and as far as I know lifting cars is not! Unless she enjoys smoking while lifting cars... But your point is not entirely lost - both (the cars weight and the cigarettes smoke) harm the child. So, here I think addiction is overriding better judgment and our instincts to protect our children.

    Moving on to cliff jumping and evolution... Why don't chimpanzees sky dive? They lack the intelligence to 'trust' in a parachute. I do not think that chimps lack the ability to derive the same pleasure that humans do from sky diving or cliff jumping - I just think we can stop to enjoy a normally life ending experience because we have faith in our tools to save us from certain death. Therefore, I do not think that we have a complex that allows us to do such things – we are simply evolving in our tool making skills.

    Finally, teenagers get pregnant because they are stupid. There is an evolutionary factor at work here. When we become teenagers we are physically ready to mate (which, in the greater animal kingdom, outside of our moral and social guidelines would be fine) so that we can pass on our genes. But at 16 our brains are not fully developed to grasp consequence and future goals. So, in this instance evolution and instinct wins over our attempts to keep our animal side under wraps.

    Posted by William Mohn

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  4. Erica,
    I was so glad to read this article because i am in the Umass parkour club and it was interesting how accurate the feelings of invinsibility you talk about compares to how i feel when doing parkour. You have to have the mindset that you can do anything to parkour. I think teens and 20 year olds feel the most invinsible because that is the age group when people are the most spry. As for the smoking, i think people who smoke in their children's environment even though they say they would do anything to protect their child is an addiction problem.

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    1. Both you and William Mohn mentioned that smoking is an addiction problem which I definitely agree with. However, it is possible to fight addiction, especially with modern science pumping out nicotine patches and pills. Even with the availability of anti smoking drugs and classes and willpower, some people still choose to smoke around their children. My point was that people don't see, or choose not to see, the consequences of their actions. The mindset of "this feels good now and I don't see any immediate consequence" is how I think people rationalize things like smoking around children and teens having unprotected sex, etc. If every time a parent smoked a child died then I believe no parents would smoke. However, since the consequence is in the future, people don't think it will happen to them.

      Posted By Erica Bonnell

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  5. I completeey agree with this article. I myself am an adrenaline junkie constantly searching for new, crazy things to do to test my boundaries and immediatley receive overwhelming gratifictaion. Yet smoking, especially around children I believe is extremely reckless, unnecessary and should be viewed by everyone as a major issue in this society. How can a parent believe they themselves are responible and setting good examples for their kids if they are exposing them to second hand smoke?

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