Psychological Analysis of TIME Magazine Cover Stories - Essay Example

Psychological analysis of TIME Magazine cover stories The psychological issues’ affecting the society has changed over the last twenty years. Issues that were of primary importance during the 80’s have been replaced with new ones. Therefore, this paper will explore some of the psychological issues that have been expressed for the last twenty years. Additionally, it will also show how the shifts in critical issues have taken place. Now you have a valuable information about how one of the most popular US magazines covered psychology. Display you findings in a table (10 points). Date, Volume and No. Title of the article Brief Summary of the article April 06, 1981. Vol 117 No. 14 Abortion: The Battle of Life vs. Choice The cover story revolves around women advocating for the government to stop the killing of unborn children. The article explicates how eighty women drawn from the political arena and civil right groups met in Manhattan to raise their concern against pending bills in the Congress that would legalize abortion April 11, 1983. Vol. 121 No. 15 Crashing on Cocaine by Kurt Andersen The cover story article talks of Phil and Rita who wasted their lives after indulging in cocaine. The youngsters are depicted to have wasted their humble lives and lost their jobs as they struggled to come clean from the addiction. The cocaine affected their brains to the extent that they could not do anything constructive. June 6, 1983. Vol. 121 No. 23 Stress: Can we cope? By Claudia Wallis The cover story explicates the manner in which human beings should cope with modern pressures. For instance, it informs people not to sweat over small stuff, and in case they cannot fight them; they should flow and not flee. Aug 15, 1983. Vol. 122 No. 7 What do babies know? By Otto Friedrich The article explores how children can cry because of discomfort. However, upon being comforted by their parents; the crying subsides. The writer is out to explore that children, irrespective of their ages understand the comfort and love given by parents. September 5, 1983. Vol. 122 No. 110 Private Violence by Kurt Andersen The article talks about private violence that goes on in the United States, yet they are not given the attention that they deserve. Kurt mentions that the private violence entails wife beating, child abuse and rape. September 10, 1984. Vol. 124 No. 11 The New Origins of Life, By Claudia Wallis The cover story revolves around the discovery of test-tube babies. It explores the complex ethical and legal issues that they may arise from this discovery. The article also explores the relief of people living with infertility since their problem is on the fast-track to obtaining a solution. November 5, 1984. Vol. 124 No.19 Minding Our Manners by Otto Friedrich The cover story revolves around a man who has an extra-marital affair with another woman of which they have a child. The man is struggling so hard to keep this affair secret from his wife. The wife already knows about the extra marital family, but decides to ignore them. In this story, the writer tries to bring the issue affecting the society in a witty way. December 9, 1985. Vol. 126 No. 23 Children having children by Claudia Wallis The article talks about the challenges of Angie, a fifteen-year-old girl, who has given birth. The teenager explains how it is difficult to manage schoolwork and taking care of the baby. It is stressing for her to change the baby’ diapers, do homework and feed it every time it starts crying. The writer also explicates how teenage fathers’ who impregnate these young girls disappear leaving them to take care of the children alone. September 15, 1985. Vol.128 No.11 Drugs: The Enemy Within by Roger Rosenblatt The article asserts that the enemies of every nation are not their foes; instead they are things that lie within the country’s borders. The writer says that cocaine is one of the deadliest enemies that affects the youths of the United States of America. He explicates how a police officer displays cocaine on a table and equates them to babies laid on christening dresses. In this case, Roger asserts that the drugs issue is becoming a threat to growth and development of the society. May 25, 1987. Vol. 129 No.21 What ever happened to ethics? Looking to its roots by Ezra Bowen This cover article seeks to find out what has gone wrong in the United States ethics. The author raises concern that there is a rot from all sectors of the society, starting from the White House to schools, churches, law firms, industries, just to mention but a few. June 22, 1987. Vol. 129 No. 25 Who’s bringing up the baby? Living: The Child-Care Dilemma by Claudia Wallis The article explores the dilemma that most expectant mothers experience. Claudia explores that most women are faced with the challenge of finding out who will take care of their children after they born. In as much as there is an upsurge of day-care centers; these mothers are shown to have doubts as to whether the child care centers provide conducive environment for their babies. May 24, 1993. Vol. 141 No.21 Kids, Sex and Values How should we teach our kids about sex? By Nancy Gibbs The article questions the manner in which sex education should be administered to teenagers (Gibbs). The writer is critical of giving teenagers sex education pamphlets that focuses on abstinence. Instead, she advocates for an avenue where parents can sit down and have a serious talk on sex. November 30, 2011. Vol. 174 No. 21 The Case against over-parenting The growing backlash against over-parenting by Nancy Gibbs In the article, Nancy explains the reason behind the shift from over-parenting. She asserts that the recession prompted several parents to tone down the activities that they involved their children. May 30, 2011. Vol. 177 No. 22 Sex, Lies, Arrogance: What makes powerful men behave so badly? By Nancy Gibbs The article explores some of the sex scandals that have made powerful men fall from grace to glory. The writer mentions Dominique Strauss, former IMF chief and Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Californian governor as powerful men who are greatly affected by sex scandals. Dominique Strauss face rape charges while Arnold Schwarzenegger publicly accepted to have a child outside wedlock. Analyze this information. How many of these problems refer to cognitive field (sleep, thinking, memory), clinical field (dealing with mental illness or therapy), behavioral field (such as learning, action, decisions, etc.), or learning? (5 points) Coverage over the years laid emphasis on the behavioral field. Most of the articles aimed at explaining people’s actions and decisions regarding the way they lead their lives. In other words, there was emphasis on the behavioral field of psychology. The authors aimed at exposing some the drug-related issues affecting the youth and the society. Drugs abuse among the youth has been a persisting problem up to this moment. On the other hand, most of the cover stories centered on how people handled their family issues and led their lives. Did you find any trend or tendency in the coverage over the years? Which topics are represented more often than others? Are these topics dealing with (1) mostly problems or (2) mostly solutions to these problems? Both? (5 points) The coverage represented the behavioral field to a great depth. It aimed at influencing the public to change their ways that were affecting their lives negatively. For instance, the coverage laid emphasis on drug abuse and family set-ups. The articles on this topic mentioned the problems associated with drug abuse and wrong choices in family set-ups. Additionally, they also gave solutions on how these problems could be solved. Make a conclusion to summarize your findings. What did you learn from this assignment? (5 points) In conclusion, the coverage articles aimed at informing the public on how to take charge of their lives and lead responsible and healthy lives. Most of the coverage articles explained the critical issues that were affecting the society. For instance, they explained the social evils such as drug abuse that was and is still affecting the youth. This assignment was extremely beneficial since it enable me to understand some of the key issues that have affected the society we live in for the past twenty years. In this regard, the knowledge I obtained from this exercise is bound to help me change the way I look at the society; thus, changing my life. Works Cited Gibbs, Nancy. “How Should We Teach Our Kids About SEX?” TIME. 1993. Web. 25 Nov. 2012. from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,978565,00.html Read More