American Values

I believe that the concept of humanitarianism is a very noble one, but I think it is rarely found on a day to day basis.  We would all like to think that in certain circumstances that we would step in to help someone in need, but generally speaking as a society I think there is too little of this type of action.  I feel that American regard themselves as a kindly, charitable people. I just don’t agree that we are always ready to come to the aid of the less fortunate or the underdog.  I feel in too many cases out of either fear for our own safety, embarrassment of what others may think, or too busy with our own lives and problems, we just don’t act when we see an instance in which someone may need help.  How many times have you driven past someone in need of help on the highway and done nothing.  Or possibly seen someone treat a child in an abusive manner and done nothing.  Maybe even walked past a homeless person and completely ignored them and purposely looked in the opposite direction to avoid looking at them. In these instances we may think that something should be done, but for the most part we seldom act on this feeling.  So I would have to say that I think we are a society of having compassion at a distance, but very rarely allow ourselves to get close enough to actually be of any great help.

Acquaintance Rape, The Ultimate Betrayal

Ok, to get some feed back and reaction to some research I have been conducting, I have some questions to pose.
First, in a survey of male college students, 51% reported they might rape a woman if assured they would not get caught.

Does anyone feel as though this is an accurate number, and why is this felt one way or the other.

...Second, 90% of sexual assault victims who knew their attacker did not report the attack to the police.

Why do you think this is?

Memory Loss and Imagination

Memory loss linked to loss of imagination

While children can imagine themselves as most anything they can put their minds to, this simple act of make-believe is not always as simple for the elder generations. It has been long shown that the act of recalling memories of events is more difficult for older adults that it is for younger ones. But recent brain imaging studies have shown that people use the same types of mechanisms in the brain that it takes to imagine as it does to remember. What this suggests is that not only can older adults have difficulty with remembering, but with the ability of imagination as well.

Episodic memory is the kind of memory that we recall when we remember past personal events. These are generally more vivid than other types of memory and contain more pieces of information that can be replayed or relived in the mind and center on how you felt. Where as semantic memory, is more about remembering the actual facts.

So with this information, how would a lack of imagination hinder an older adult? Would it necessarily be a deficit in anyway, or is an imagination in later years even a necessity?