I. Reflection on Personality, Human Development and the Self 1. Describe Personality From the class and the tests that I took, I can say that I’ve learned a lot about my personality. The Myers-Briggs test showed that I am intuitive when I gather information. This meant that I tend to focus more on the big picture. This explained why, ever since high school, I asked my teacher why we had to learn a certain topic and how we can use it in our everyday lives in the future. The test also showed that when making decisions, I tended to be a feeling type. This cleared up why when I had to make an important decision, like what course to take and where to study college, I consider how it will affect the people in my life (friends, family, etc.). As to how I approach life, the test showed that I perceiving nature than a judgemental one. This explained why I had little trouble adjusting from my city’s culture to Manila’s culture. Another test that I took, the Rotter’s locus of control scale, explained why I tended to rely on myself than hope that things will get better by itself; I had an internal locus of control. I always knew that I was a very lively and spontaneous person. Having energetic and extrovert friends, I can say my environment affected me a lot in terms of my personality. Although my parents are very serious people, I had not grown up to be the same. Since I am half-Chinese, half-Filipino, I had a sort-of combination between the two cultures. I had a very happy approach to life (Filipino) and tended to show much emphasis on respect (Chinese). I think I have a behavioral approach on psychology because I can honestly say that my upbringing (nurture) affected me more than my heredity (nature)

2. The Nature of the Self I can say that I am a very sociable person. Of course, socializing is essential to learn the roles, culture, and norms of a society. However, apart from being a necessity, I take social interactions as something that is entertaining. Having a high degree of openness, agreeableness, and extraversion, I think I am able to interact with other people quite well. Self-esteem is one’s confidence in his/her worth or abilities. Basically, it is how much a person values himself. While, self-efficacy is one’s confidence in his ability to complete tasks and reach goals. A person who has a high self-esteem does not necessarily have a high self-efficacy (and vice-versa). For example, it is possible to a good sense of self-efficacy but low self-esteem. This can usually be seen in perfectionists, where they might feel negative about themselves but see themselves quite capable in certain areas. Increasing one’s self-esteem may come tricky to most. However, there are a number of ways to improve it. One way to improve self-esteem is to eliminate negative self-talk. Negative labels and criticism can damage the self-esteem further. Another way to improve self-esteem is to accept mistakes. It is important that one recognizes that making mistakes is a part of the learning process and, therefore, being human. There are also a number of ways to improve self-efficacy. One is to develop a skill set. Identify what areas need improvement and work on it continuously. Another is to reinforce yourself on the things you do well on. Give yourself some praise in order to improve self-efficacy. 3. Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial stages In Erikson’s psychosocial stages, particularly the stage of identity vs. role confusion, Marcia provides four categories of identity statuses, namely - Identity diffusion, identity foreclosure, identity moratorium, and identity achievement. As of the moment, I can identify myself in the state of Identity Foreclosure. I think so because, first, I have not experienced an identity crisis. I have not questioned who I really am and what/where I want to be in the future. Secondly, I’ve always been used to the idea of living the life my parents have expected for me – studying in a business course, raising a family, and working for the family company. For instance, I do not entertain the idea of shifting so much because I do not see myself studying in another course besides Entrepreneurship/business courses. I think I do not explore other courses because I am committed to the expectations of my parents. First off, I identify myself having a combination of a hardy personality and type B. So, in the future, I see myself having a career that is both challenging and laid back. Before, I wanted a job that wasn’t stressful at all. However, after learning that an optimal amount of stress is needed to function properly (eustress), I no longer consider stress as one of the major factors in choosing my career. I know that stressors will always be present in any career I pursue. Despite this, I plan to have a 90-10 principle, 10% being what actually happens and 90% being how I react to the things that happen. I think it is true that one’s perception of stress does affect how we take the stressor; that we create the stress we go through. After taking the Myers-Briggs Test, I found out that I have an ENFP personality. This personality does best in jobs that are service-oriented and flexible. So, I will probably pursue a career that has a flexible schedule but, at the same time, requires a lot of effort and hard work (having a hardy personality). II. Reflection on Stress 1. Ten Things that put me on stress (Revised) 1) Schoolwork – this is the most stressful for me because my parents expect much from me. They want me to excel and to always come first in any schoolwork. Also, they expect that I put schoolwork as my first priority. * Ways of coping – I talk with my friends and treat myself whenever I do good in my grades (effective) 2) Allocation of money/Savings – This is stressful for me because I haven’t been used to saving my allowance to buy things that I want. In high school, I only needed to ask for money. Now, I need to save up for the things that I want. * Ways of coping – I ask for more money. (Not very affective), Prioritize what I should buy than the things that I want to buy (effective) 3) Friends (Conflicts, Separation) – Because most of my friends are studying back in my hometown, I find it hard to see them regularly. Sometimes conflict arises between my friends and I am compelled to resolve it. * Ways of coping – we talk about it and agree on what to do. (Effective) 4) Homesickness – Being used to always being surrounded by my friends, I desperately miss their usual loudness and energy. * Ways of coping – I chat with them regularly to keep in touch (effective) 5) Not being in the dean's list – I’m used to getting honors in high school (and the money/rewards that come with it) * Ways of coping – I motivate myself and study (effective) 6) Deciding my future – I still have no idea what I want to do when I graduate * Ways of coping – I consult my dad and look for things I am interested in (effective) 7) Being late – I am not used to the long breaks and the traffic in this city. * Ways of coping – I improved my time management (creating a schedule, going to bed earlier) (effective) 8) Traffic – Because Manila’s traffic can be uncontrollable, I find it hard to schedule a time when I want to go out * Ways of coping – I leave earlier (often effective), I accept that traffic will most likely always be present in this city (effective) 9) Physical Appearance – I’m getting more pimples from all the stress from school * Ways of coping – I sleep earlier. (Effective) 10) Not having a dog – Moving away from home, I now live alone in my condo and it gets lonely. I have been asking my dad for a dog to keep me company but he says I should be in the dean's list first. * Ways of coping – I strive to be in the dean's list (effective) 2. What I do to relieve stress Most of the time, I relieve myself of stress by eating, listening to music, hanging out with friends, and generally just having a good time. I think this is effective because I think of myself as an emotion-focused person when coping with stress; I tend to control my emotions when there is a problem. By treating myself with food, music, and company, I keep my emotions in check. However, when there is schoolwork to be done, I tend to shift to a problem-focused person. I deal with the problem itself first. I study and do my homeworks first so I can relax after. 3. Stress Test Results CUSS = 1818 Perceived Stress Scale = 16 Stress Vulnerability Test = 15 Comparing my results to that of my classmates’, I think, even though being exposed to the same stressors (school work), I am not as stressed as they are. 4. Personality and Stress Being a combination of a type B and a hardy personality, I do not get frustrated with the stress that I experience. Since I realized that I change how I cope up with stress depending on the situation, I think my personality also shifts a little. Whenever I do my schoolwork, I tended to be problem-focused. When this happens, I think I have more of a hardy personality because I am hardworking and time conscious. On the other hand, when the situation is about my personal life, (conflicts between friends, family problems, etc.) I become emotion-focused. With moments like these, I think I’m more of a type B because I’m usually pretty relaxed. I don’t necessarily need to fix the problem right away. III. General Reflections on your learnings in Ntropsy One thing that I learned and genuinely found interesting to know was that stress is not necessarily negative. This was something that I really had no idea about until it was brought up in class. Being used to the idea that one should keep away from being stressed, I found it completely enlightening to know that stress is needed for the wellbeing of a person. Another thing that I learned in class was the elements in the attraction of people. I did not know that there are numerous factors to the attraction of a person to another. As a teenager, I thought that attraction between two people lied only on whether or not they were compatible and able to share interest. The factors discussed in class, the mere exposure effect, physical attractiveness, matching phenomenon, reciprocal liking, and reward theory of attraction, emphasized that there is a complexity that lies beneath interpersonal relationships. Lastly, a topic that I had learned much about in class was on the Personality of humans. The types of traits, cardinal and central, gave me an explanation as to why I act a certain way to a person and a different way to others. The tests we took, such as the Myers-Briggs test and the Big Five Inventory, also measured to what degree my personality can be classified into. Of course, everyone’s personality is distinct but it is interesting to know as to what category one’s personality would most likely belong to. As a teenager, college students often question themselves regarding their selves. So, I think the lesson on Marcia’s different identity statuses was a significant topic to tackle. It helped us identify which statuses our selves belonged to (whether identity diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, or identity achievement). Another lesson that helped us identify ourselves more was the lesson regarding personality. This helped us realized whether our personality was more along the lines of a type A, type B, type C, or a hardy. Meanwhile, as a matter of being a student, the lessons on the process of memory and coping with stress really apply to us as well. Through the lessons regarding the process of memory, the students learned tips on how to study better. (Through repetition, applying at least 20 seconds of attention, mnemonics, etc.) The lesson on coping with stress also helped us. Since, schoolwork can get very stressful, learning how to cope with it allowed the students to know whether they are a problem-focused type or an emotion-focused type. http://www.excelatlife.com/articles/selfesteem.htm

Summary of computed scores: CUSS: 1818 Perceived Stress Scale: 16/40 Stress Vulnerability Scale: 15/35

Summary of computed scores: Big Five Inventory: Openness: 37/50 Conscientiousness: 20/45 Extraversion: 33/40 Agreeableness: 30/45 Neuroticism: 21/40 Myers-Briggs Test: ENFP Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale: 15/30 Self-Actualization Test: 40/60 Rotter’s Locus of Control Scale: 9/29 Subjective Happiness Scale: 25/28