Thursday, October 23, 2014

Decison Making and Enlistment


When reading about psychological development in regards to decision making and risk taking I immediately thought of the fact that you can enroll and in fact be deployed in the United States army at 18 and yet, according to our text our ability to make wise decisions does not fully develop until we are, at least 22. I of course support our troops and what they do for us, but question the law surrounding when people are allowed to enlist. There is certainly a plus for the government in allowing such young people to enroll as they are still more prone to risk taking behavior and more subject to “groupthink” which is essential for the comradely of the military. People often point out that it seems absurd that the government allows youth to decide weather or not they want to be subjected to potential death and make decisions about taking human lives before being trusted to be able to make the choice to drink. Definitely the chapter and its assessment of development in regards to thought and decision making sheds some perhaps fearful light on the laws of enlistment.

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