Self-Esteem, Psychology, and the Recovery Movement - Essay Example

? Final Exam Psychology Essay Cultural Autobiography Growth in a person’s life is normally continuous since as long as a person is alive; he or she continues to learn different lessons of life. Life experiences teach each person different lessons depending on their cultural standards. In my life, I have gone through a lot of situations that have shaped my thinking, my behaviors and my overall judgment of issues. While in high school for instance, I faced different challenges with raising my school fees since my family was not financially stable. I could see children of the rich riding expensive cars and using expensive cosmetics while I did not have any of those luxurious items. These challenges of life taught me to be persistent in life and not to give up due to life’s problems. During holidays while at home, we even went without food at times due to lack of finances. Such situations did not discourage me in life; instead, they encouraged me to work more and more each day in order to have a brighter future. Despite all the challenges that I faced, I grew up a happy person since I had a loving and caring family. My parents were there for me every time despite the tough situations in the family and hence, this influenced my way of thinking. I grew up knowing that money was not the source of happiness in life. I also grew up in a town where respect is only obtained through hard work. This profoundly influenced my life since I grew up knowing that in order to be successful in life I had to work hard. Therefore, the person that I am today is majorly shaped by the different life experiences that I have faced through the life and a stream of events that my family has gone through. My family is one family that has gone through a lot of challenges in life. One memorable event in my family is when my grandfather decided to marry a second wife and the whole family was in chaos. This is because; not a single family member was supporting his idea of a step-grandmother. Everyone thought that the once happy family was about to split. This undoubtedly influenced my way of thinking since; I observed how my grandfather supported his ideas without being shaken. From this story, I also learnt about the importance of family unity and love. Family decisions in my family are usually made by consulting each family member, including the last born of the family. The opinion of each person is considered before making any critical decision concerning the family. In my family, there are no gender differences since each person is respected, and all people are treated equally. However, in school I have noted a number of gender differences, where boys are considered to be more capable as compared to girls. Girls are even discouraged from pursuing some carriers such as medicine and law. However, in my opinion, ladies are equal to males and should be allowed to make their own choices concerning the carriers they intend to pursue. In my community, young people are expected to be hard-working and morally upright. Everyone is expected to enroll in an education institution and study hard. This shapes the lives of many young people since they are forced to work hard in order to meet the expectations of the society. Over the years, my self esteem has grown, and I have leant to value myself. However, I only obtained this sense of self worth after high school. During my school years, I had a significant challenge in socializing with other students since I was always belittling myself. However, after high school my mom helped me gain a sense of self-worth. She taught me that as I was as influential as any other person and; thus I should value myself. This high self-esteem has played a particularly vital role in my life since; I am able to handle different situations without fear or timidity (Ankerberg &Weldon, 113). Essay 2: Who are you in relation to your small group assignments? In school, we are always given topics to discuss among ourselves in small groups in order to generate more ideas as compared to individual work. What I have learnt about working in small groups is that small groups are normally more resourceful than individual work. Working in small groups also helps a person to be more social and understand more than reading on his or her own. In addition, I have also learnt that small groups require cooperation in order to be more successful. In my small group I usually play the role of the secretary and the organizer. I ensure that all the members avail themselves for the group discussions and that they all cooperate during the discussions. This role has helped me to deal with different characters of persons and be more assertive in life. In the future, I would like to be the group leader of my small group. This is in order to organize the group more effectively and ensure that the discussion is successful. In addition, this will also help me to shape my leadership and management skills. Essay3: Two lessons learnt from the Self-Improvement Assignment Self-improvement assists in shaping your overall image in the society. With self-improvement, one earns respect from other people in the society and to become more successful in your social life (Mruk, 67). This is because most people tend to respect what they see. I also learnt that self-improvement helps a person to be more organized in life. Therefore, a self-improved person is more likely to achieve his or her objectives more than a disorganized person (McGee, 245). These lessons will certainly help me in the future since I will focus on ensuring that I am self-improved. I will also device different ways that I can use to achieve my goals and objectives. Essay 4: Cartoon The cartoon is funny because the person in black is already contradicting himself in his answer. The person is also wearing shoes that are bigger than his legs thus making the cartoon appear to be funny. In addition, the cartoon is also made funny by the big bodied person with an extra large nose. The cartoon can be judged as being false since the person in black clothes is claiming to be a non-conformist yet he has already conformed into wearing black. Thus, wearing black is itself conforming. The cartoon can also be said to be true since, every other person could be wearing white and; thus those against conforming decide to wear black (Breckler, Olson & Wiggins, 317). Essay 5: Insights about relationships from the interpreter of maladies short stories Relationships require patience and listening. For a couple to succeed in their relationship, they have to listen to each other and be patience with each other. Twinkle and Sanjeev quarrel over Christian objects due to inability to listen to each other. From Maladies stories we also learn that relationships require honesty and truth. From the interpreter of Maladies, it turns out that Mrs. Das is never truthful to her husband but has affairs outside marriage. However, relationships gravely depend on the fidelity of the partners. Relationships are also based on responsibility and firmness on critical issues. The relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Das is seriously affected by the irresponsibility of Mr. Das (Lahiri, 1). Essay 6: Lessons learnt from Class meetings One lesson I have learnt about myself is that I am brave and outspoken. During class meetings, I do not hold things which I feel ought to be said to the rest of the class. Secondly, I have also learnt that no one likes being embarrassed in front of other people. I have observed that each of my classmates gets unhappy whenever their point is considered ineffective or vague. Thirdly, I have also learnt that a loud and harsh voice does not guarantee attention from the audience. Fourth, I have also learnt that time consciousness is extremely critical to class meeting, and it determines the success of the meetings. Finally, I have also learnt that the extent to which the meeting runs in an organized manner depends on the leader of the meeting. Works Cited Ankerberg, John, and John Weldon. The Facts on Self-Esteem, Psychology, and the Recovery Movement. Eugene, Or: Harvest House Publishers, 2011. Print. Breckler, Steven J, James M. Olson, and Elizabeth C. Wiggins. Social Psychology Alive. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2006. Print. Lahiri, Jhumpa. "SparkNotes: Interpreter of Maladies: Context." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Routledge, 2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2012. McGee, Micki. Self-help, Inc: Makeover Culture in American Life. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. Print. Mruk, Christopher J. Self-esteem Research, Theory, and Practice: Toward a Positive Psychology of Self-Esteem. New York: Springer Pub, 2006. Print. Read More