I am funny, easy-going, bubbly, outgoing, hard-working person. I love to making people laugh and meeting new people. I enjoy working hard on projects for school and extracurricular activities but I almost always go with the flow and live life. I consider all of these traits to be positive because they’re the traits that have allowed me to make so many friends and be successful in school and FBLA. Being able to go with the flow just helps in general, especially when things don’t necessarily go they I want them to. I also have an analytical personality. I tend to think about things more than most - sometimes things will bother me for a long time before I say they do. This can be good and bad, but most of the time it’s just really annoying. I’m also stubborn. Once I start something I refuse to finish it, no matter how difficult the task, or how much stress it causes me. If I disagree with something – you’ll know it. And if I don’t want to do something, I probably won’t do it unless I have no other choice.
On a scale of 1-10, I would have to say my optimism level is a 7 or 8. I always try to keep a positive attitude about everything and always hope for the best. I think being optimistic is a really good thing. If you’re really pessimistic you may not be willing to try new things because you’re afraid that things won’t turn out well. On the other hand, being too optimistic can cause more disappointment and let-downs when things go bad. Personally, being optimistic plays a big part in my life. Always believing in the best gave me confidence to run for a state office in FBLA when I was a sophomore. I was scared to death to speak in front of 2,000 people but I knew that no matter what I would benefit from doing it. I definitely wouldn’t have made it to being the state president if I didn’t think so optimistically two years ago. Another role optimism plays in my life is more personal. My dad has had a lot of health problems my entire life and was diagnosed with cancer right before school started. It would be easy to be pessimistic, quit hoping that things will get better and I wouldn’t be as disappointed when things get worse, but being pessimistic doesn’t help him feel any better. By having a positive, optimistic outlook, my family has been able to keep going through all of it. Believing that it can get better makes it easier to deal with.
In different situations, I would have to say that my personality is a little bit different. Or at least, I choose to show different sides of my personality in different situations. When I’m spending time with my friends, I tend to say whatever’s on my mind and tell lots of jokes and use sarcasm because I’m comfortable with them. I hardly ever shut up, actually. When I’m talking with someone I’ve just met I can be a little more shy and tone down my personality because situations like that seem to be more awkward. Also, my personality during class or doing homework can be different from my personality when I’m in class or working. In class, I tend to be less talkative and more serious and focused on schoolwork. After class, I like to have fun and be a little more laid-back. Just because I don’t act the same in every situation, I still have the same personality. It’s important to adapt our personalities because there are certain times when it’s appropriate to show different sides of our personality.
Three defense mechanisms that I use are repression, denial, and displacement. Repression is basically forgetting thoughts, memories, or feelings that are unpleasant or threatening. Denial is refusing to recognize information or events that cause anxiety or stress. Right now, I’m kind of going through repression and denial because I have to write a farewell letter for the FBLA members. I keep forgetting that it’s due soon – my teacher and my parents have to keep reminding me to do it. I think I’m forgetting to do it because a large part of me doesn’t want to say goodbye to all of the friends that I’ve been working with for the past four years. I also feel like the final conference in April is still a long way off and that I still have plenty of time, when in actuality I have very little time to get everything finished. On a different note, displacement is expressing aggression on socially acceptable outlets. Whenever I get really angry and I just want to scream, rather than screaming out loud in front of everyone I scream into a pillow because it’s a little less crazy. If I ever want to hit something, I have a punching bag that I hit instead of hitting a person. It’s a much better way to handle anger.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Blog Post #10
In chapter nine, I learned that animals, such as chimpanzees or monkeys, use gestured languages like humans do. In fact, our language probably evolved from gestured communication like this. I find this interesting because I am guilty of constantly “talking” with my hands. (I even use my hands when I’m talking on the phone). According to the book, using gestures makes it easier to talk about things with spatial content and it makes speaking and hearing easier for both people involved in the conversation because being able to visually represent something allows us to form mental pictures more easily than if we relied on words alone. I also thought it was interesting that blind people will also use gestures – even when they believe the person they are talking to is also blind. It makes sense for deaf people to use gestures too – how else would sign language have evolved? I think it is very true that it’s harder to talk with your hands in your pockets.
The textbook defines emotional intelligence as “the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.” I feel that I am more emotionally intelligent than I am creative because I can often recognize the emotions of my friends and family just by looking at them. A lot of times I can have entire “conversations” with them without ever having to say a word but I will still know exactly what they are trying to say. I can read their faces and their eyes to understand if they are happy, sad, confused, upset, angry, or hurt. Keeping one’s own emotions in check is another characteristic of emotional intelligence, Most of the time I can keep my emotions under control too. Even when something really angers me or upsets me I can keep my cool. In stressful situations I can remain calm and solve the problems without letting my emotions get in the way. I think being emotionally intelligent helps me form relationships with others quickly and it makes my relationships stronger because I can usually relate to others easily. I see how beneficial this is – especially because I frequently meet new people and have to work with complete strangers on projects for FBLA. Being able to quickly become friends helps make the work easier.
I think the most interesting thing about chapter ten was just learning about all of the different intelligences and the different ways psychologists have discovered to measure intelligences. The methods vary a lot, and I think all of them are accurate to a certain degree but I feel like they also have their faults. Some intelligences could really be considered talents and other intelligences are too broad and include many sub-categories. Personally I think Gardner’s theory is one of my favorites because it includes a variety of different aspects of intelligence and it also allows people to have more than one strong point or a “general intelligence.”
The textbook defines emotional intelligence as “the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.” I feel that I am more emotionally intelligent than I am creative because I can often recognize the emotions of my friends and family just by looking at them. A lot of times I can have entire “conversations” with them without ever having to say a word but I will still know exactly what they are trying to say. I can read their faces and their eyes to understand if they are happy, sad, confused, upset, angry, or hurt. Keeping one’s own emotions in check is another characteristic of emotional intelligence, Most of the time I can keep my emotions under control too. Even when something really angers me or upsets me I can keep my cool. In stressful situations I can remain calm and solve the problems without letting my emotions get in the way. I think being emotionally intelligent helps me form relationships with others quickly and it makes my relationships stronger because I can usually relate to others easily. I see how beneficial this is – especially because I frequently meet new people and have to work with complete strangers on projects for FBLA. Being able to quickly become friends helps make the work easier.
I think the most interesting thing about chapter ten was just learning about all of the different intelligences and the different ways psychologists have discovered to measure intelligences. The methods vary a lot, and I think all of them are accurate to a certain degree but I feel like they also have their faults. Some intelligences could really be considered talents and other intelligences are too broad and include many sub-categories. Personally I think Gardner’s theory is one of my favorites because it includes a variety of different aspects of intelligence and it also allows people to have more than one strong point or a “general intelligence.”
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Blog Post #9
I think our memory makes up a very large portion of who we are. Many of the experiences I have had in my past have had an impact on who I am today, and being able to remember and learn from mistakes has kept me from making them again. Having to start over from scratch every single day would be very frustrating even though I wouldn’t be able to remember it. However, when I think of Clive Wearing, I noticed that he still knew that he loved his wife and he could still remember how to play music. He’s definitely not the same person he was before, but he is just as intelligent and passionate as he was before. The things that truly made an impact on his life, his passions, stay with him. In some ways he is still the same, and luckily for him he can’t remember starting over each day. His wife, however, can. I think it must be extremely hard to see someone you love struggle over and over each day and it must be so heartbreaking to know that the person you love can’t always recall who you are or ever meeting you. It makes me feel so grateful that I can remember the people and experiences in my life – I’ll definitely try to keep myself from taking that for granted.
After this section, I perceive memory much differently. I used to think my memories could be trusted, but after doing some of the exercises I realized that a lot of details can be lost and sometimes our memories can even altered if we’re strongly convinced that something happened in our past. From the exercises, I also realized that what our brain determines important effects memory too. In one activity, I was shown 16 pennies, each one was different and only one was a correct depiction of a penny. It took me five guesses to get the right one. In most cases, people only need to know that a penny is smaller and different colored than other coins – that’s enough for us to distinguish which coin is which and how much its worth. Knowing which direction Abe Lincoln is facing, where the date and text is located, and what is written on the penny is not necessarily essential information so our brain doesn’t feel the need to store it. Obviously, I should not rely on my memory for some information or details.
The most important concept that I learned was that memory is not something that we can just play back over and over – we can “edit” our memories and so can other people. The idea that memory is imperfect has a lot to do with everyday life – I explains why me and my friends recall events differently and why someone can remember a detail that nobody else can. It could be that the rest of us forget a detail that happened to stick out for the other person or that person is incorrect. The point is that you can’t always rely on what you know and remember. Skepticism has its good points.
After this section, I perceive memory much differently. I used to think my memories could be trusted, but after doing some of the exercises I realized that a lot of details can be lost and sometimes our memories can even altered if we’re strongly convinced that something happened in our past. From the exercises, I also realized that what our brain determines important effects memory too. In one activity, I was shown 16 pennies, each one was different and only one was a correct depiction of a penny. It took me five guesses to get the right one. In most cases, people only need to know that a penny is smaller and different colored than other coins – that’s enough for us to distinguish which coin is which and how much its worth. Knowing which direction Abe Lincoln is facing, where the date and text is located, and what is written on the penny is not necessarily essential information so our brain doesn’t feel the need to store it. Obviously, I should not rely on my memory for some information or details.
The most important concept that I learned was that memory is not something that we can just play back over and over – we can “edit” our memories and so can other people. The idea that memory is imperfect has a lot to do with everyday life – I explains why me and my friends recall events differently and why someone can remember a detail that nobody else can. It could be that the rest of us forget a detail that happened to stick out for the other person or that person is incorrect. The point is that you can’t always rely on what you know and remember. Skepticism has its good points.
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