Chapter 6 – Learning
Firstly, the classical conditioning applied even before my early stages of learning. It created a positive experience for me during my elementary years since I associated school with having fun with my classmates and teachers. Back then, it was easier for me to deal with school because of the excitement and happiness of seeing my classmates and friends again. The classical conditioning worked by assuring me that school experience is a positive experience. On the other hand, classical conditioning also works when the bell rings and the class is over, it also brings a positive feeling for me since I can go home. It represents a break from school and other school works the ringing of bell signifies that I can rest and do other activities aside from school.
In terms of Operant Conditioning, my academic grades have been depended on my parent’s reaction to them. I always make sure that I study and prepare for my schoolwork in order to receive a positive reaction from my parents. Oftentimes, they give me treats for scoring high grades and allowing me more time out with my friends. This strategy was employed by my parents in the early years of my schooling in order to make me persevere in school. The repeated favorable reactions from my parents from getting high scores in exams and even in my final grades resulted to being more prepared in school. It encourages me to even study better and continuously receive the same reaction to my parents. However, more than the physical treats that I get from them, I am studying hard to make my parents proud of me.
Lastly, Observational Learning also applies even to my recent years in this educational institution. Most of the decisions I do in school are majority based on the experiences shared by my classmates and friends in other classes. I tend to skip going out and partying before the exam in order to ensure that I have a sound mind and physically prepare in the examinations the next day. I saw some of my friends getting low grades when they party or stayed out late at night before an examination day. They have inadequate sleep and little focus even after the next day. As a result, I tried to be disciplined in my schedule by providing enough rest and preparation before the scheduled exam.
Chapter 9 – Development
In terms of development, I can apply the moral development theory of Lawrence Kohlberg with the Level II of Conventional Morality Development, which consists of two stages: Stage 3 Interpersonal Accord and Conformity; and Stage 4 Authority and Social-order Maintaining Orientation (King).
The first stage of the Conventional level includes the individual’s concern over his relationship with the society. It includes conforming to a positive image and evaluating its implication on one’s self. Personally, it already applies to me as an adult. Through my attempt to please the people around me, which include my family, friends and colleagues, I have learned to reevaluate my lifestyle according to their preference. However, this decision does not limit me on my choices as a female. It only guides me on the decisions that I encounter that could minimize the danger of hurting the people who are close to me. For example, whenever I choose new friends, I make sure that their ideals and their action reflects the same sentiments that I have. In this way, I can still manage my reputation on my social circle as well as protect my interest as an individual. Not only do I prefer being friends with people who respects equality and gender-rights but they also need to be sincere to me.
The second stage of Conventional level includes the obedience of the individual in laws and authority. In this Conventional stage, it addresses the formation of morality based on punishable crimes. My personal experience with upholding the obligation of the law occurs when I saw someone shoplifting from a grocery and I tried to alert the staff about the incident. They managed to catch the shoplifter and they even thanked me from my effort to call their attention. In this case, I demonstrated my adherence to the law. Since I know that stealing is a crime, I did not tolerate the action and managed to report it to the affected individuals.
Chapter 12 – Personality
After taking an online personality test based on the “The Big 5” from the website personality-testing.com, the results have closely represents the characteristics that other people say about me. It is also congruent with a personal assessment of myself. “The Big 5” includes the following areas: Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Agreeableness and Openness.
I scored very high on the aspect of Neuroticism (4.5). The score is 94% higher compared to those who took the test. It means that I have stronger tendency to experience negative emotions. I have experienced being depressed before which resulted from a negative experience in my life. Additionally, I tend to be anxious during a time-constraint situation, which causes me to worry a lot. For example, I tend to plan very far ahead of time so that I avoid cramming on my projects and school works. I have observed that I cannot think carefully during a stressful situation because I am used to dealing with them beforehand. Additionally, the pressure of time constraints could severely affect my decision-making skills. I tend to lose focus and direction, which is not favorable given a limited time. Having high Neuroticism shows my lack of emotional control over unpleasant situations. Being depressive has been a constant battle that I undergo every day. However, since I am able to recognize this behavior on myself, I have learned to be more open to other people about my feelings and make them understand the reasons behind the negative emotions. The negative feelings also come from constantly worrying about the future and the different uncertainties. I constantly stress about the things that are beyond my control. Learning these negative qualities could help me improve myself on decreasing the stress level on my life.
Chapter 17 – Health Psychology
In terms of coping strategy that I employ on my life, I use the problem-focused strategies in order to eliminate the source of stress. This type of strategy may not necessarily be more effective than the other coping mechanisms, but I find it easier to solve the problem directly regardless of the hindrances that could minimize the potential of alleviating the stress.
In my academic life, I learned that dealing with the problem immediately could be the source of the solution of the problem. Prolonging of denying the problem may only result to unnecessary stress to me. According to Folkman and Lazarus, problem-focus strategy can be done in three steps such as taking control, information seeking and evaluating the pros and cons. If I have certain assignments or school works that I do not understand, I try to recognize the problem and take the necessary steps to solve them. It may involve doing research online or in the library while I try to recognize different options on the answer. There may be at times different ways of answering some of my assignments. These solutions are verified based on their merits. In addition, solving my personal problems could also employ the problem-focused strategy. Firstly, whenever I have problems with my personal relationships, I try to seek out advice from my friends and relatives. After getting different advice, I try to list different pros and cons to each probable solution or actions that I could take and come up with the most probable solution. I even used pros and cons in deciding the career path and educational skill that I like to take. This method enabled me to come up with my decision to take this course as part of my educational growth.
There has been a beneficial application of the learnings from each of the journal assignment. First, nowadays I have been more observant on other people’s situations that I learned different positive things from their decisions in life. In addition, I also learn to be observant on the mistakes that they commit in order to avoid doing the same in the future. The observational learning has been helpful in my adult years since I try to commit minimal life mistakes because I have the obligation to be a good role model for the young kids that know me.
Second, I have realized that I have a strong inclination to follow rules and authority that I realized that I might be too uptight and people must see me as not being open to try things. Although the Conventional Development allows me to become a law-abiding citizen, it intrinsically prohibits me from thinking outside the box but not to the point of committing crimes and hurting other people. I realize that there should also be an opportunity to challenge the authority and the rules that they imposed instead of simply following them without proper analysis of their basis.
Third, aside from having high level of Neuroticism, I received a low score on the level of my Extraversion (2.0). This result shows my high tendency of being introverted which explain the reasons behind the struggles in communicating with strangers and being open to other people about my feelings and emotions. Being introverted may have its own benefits especially during individual projects where I can focus on myself without the interference of other people. This result also coincides with high score in Neuroticism. I have harder to time in trusting with other people who I tend to bear negative feelings over their intentions. As a result, I worry a lot in different situations. With this observation, I have to learn to be more trusting and allow other people to help me and eventually get to me even better.
Lastly, utilizing problem-focused strategy effectively eliminates the stress in my life by answering them immediately. Having this kind of coping mechanism allows me to resolve my problem immediately. I learned that even though I have a tendency to be an introvert, I have the ability to be direct on my problem and come up with different solutions that could best resolve the stress.
References
King, Laura A. The Science of Psychology. 3rd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2014. Print.
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