Responsibility

Responsibility

Responsibility

Introduction

The paper's subject is responsibility. Not social responsibility, which is a separate issue, but personal responsibility. When we take responsibility, we admit we are the ones responsible for the choices we make. We, not other people or events, are responsible for the way we think and feel. It is our life, and we are in charge of it. We are free to enjoy it or disdain it. No, we are not responsible for all that happens to us, but we are responsible for how we think, feel, and act when they happen.

Discussion

Facets of Personal Responsibility

Three major facets of personal responsibility are outlined for the purpose of identifying ethical concerns in health campaigns: attribution of causation, obligation, and agency (Harmon, 1995; Schlenker, Britt, Pennington, Murphy, & Doherty, 1994). Health campaigns may rely on one or all of these facets in their construction of persuasive messages. The discussion of each facet introduces several constructs, each associated with particular ethical concerns. Potentially paradoxical consequences of campaign appeals, associated with attributional processes, are further explicated by relating them to the medieval allegory of the ``Tragedy of the Commons.''

Facet I: Assumptions of Causation and the Attribution of Blame

An appeal to personal responsibility inherently assumes causal connections between people' s deeds and health outcomes, even if this connection is merely implied. For example, saying that one needs to lose weight to prevent cardiovascular disease implies a causal connection between excessive food consumption and illness. Similarly, by saying that people need to be responsible for their health behaviors, we imply that they are culpable for adverse consequences when they do not adopt preventive measures. When personal responsibility is linked to causality one possible implication is that individuals should be held morally, and perhaps legally, accountable for their behavior (Sachs, 1996). This notion of accountability can serve as the basis for the argument that society could be exempt from paying for health care costs resulting from behaviors considered irresponsible, or that individuals deemed irresponsible may be asked to pay higher health insurance premiums (McLachlan, 1995). This view is exemplified in survey findings from a 1991 U.S. Louis Harris poll in which 55% of the respondents were willing to impose higher health insurance premiums on individuals who engage in unhealthy behaviors such as smoking or excessive consumption of alcohol (Blendon, Stelzer Hyams, & Benson, 1993). Dutch panel data similarly found support for individual accountability for copayments associated with behaviors linked to health problems (Stronks, Strijbis, Wendte & Gunning-Schepers, 1997). A British survey found that 42%of the respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that ``people who contribute to their own illness for example, through smoking, obesity, or excessive drinking should have lower priority for their health care than others' ' (Bowling, 1996).

For the purpose of identifying ethical concerns in messages that assume causation, four propositions can be noted. The first is that a person should be held liable for adverse outcomes of activities that may lead to injury or illness only when these ...