Narrative Essay about Something That Taught Them a Lesson

The purpose and importance of psychology in our life I feel is to remain happy and healthy in all aspects of life. Psychology is the study of people's behavior, performance, and mental operations. Everything I have learned in this course has helped me understand my past a little better because I have learned how the human mind works and operates. I also am now able to explain how I can apply everything I have learned from this class to my future.

When I was 13 and my sister was 9, my dad cheated on my mom causing them to get a divorce. In my adolescence I was just learning about deeper morals and knowing that was a terrible thing he did, it had a huge impact on my sister and me. As a 9-year-old she didn't know too much, but just enough to understand that dad doesn't live at home with mom anymore. For me on the other hand, I knew what was going on. Taking what my dad did to my mother and my sister and me to how it has affected me today I see people differently in different ways. Honestly to me, I have no respect for cheaters. Just because of what my dad put us through and knowing what he was doing really hurt our family.

Growing up, I was a huge daddy's girl and wasn't as close to my mom, but after the divorce, I became much closer and lost touch with my dad for a while. My sister became super depressed and would always bring up having a father in the picture. My dad didn't try to communicate with us for about 3 years, and during those 3 years, my mom took over both parts of the job.

Now being an adult and still growing up, everything that I saw my dad do, makes me very uneasy, and see all men like my dad. My dad has really caused me to have trust issues, and seeing my mom so upset and my sister so depressed because of my dad cheating. I have really set my standards high for a man, and I can't see myself ever lowering them. No one deserves to be treated like that and completely heartbroken or torn from their family.

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I think the three major areas that have stood out to me and that I think have impacted my past are, the science of psychology, Motivation and Emotion, and Psychological Disorders. I think these three will have the biggest impact on my future because they all kind of catch my eye. I think these three are most related to me in some ways than the others.

The science of psychology is such an in-depth topic and really got me thinking. This section was one of my favorite sections to learn about. All the different approaches and how each one works are amazing. I think each person has an individual approach they mostly relate to. I personally relate to the Humanistic Approach. I am one to have positive qualities, look at growth, and want my own freedom (King,2019, p.10). I love to figure things out on my own. I choose my own life, not based on what is around me. I think my personality definitely changes around certain environments, but I like to choose what I do and how I live. I like to look at people’s positive side rather than their negative side.

I also see the behavioral approach as well. A behavioral approach is an approach to psychology emphasizing the scientific study of observable behavioral responses and their environmental determinants (King,2019, p.9). Skinner says that people act by the way they are rewarded and punished. I agree to disagree with Skinner. I believe that it shouldn’t matter how you are rewarded or punished. You should act with good behavior unless you are upset. I don’t think kids should always get rewarded for doing something right. For example, when I was younger and played Little League basketball, it didn’t matter if you were 1st or 5th, you always got a trophy. I think nowadays nothing is fair, and nothing will ever be fair. People are setting their kids up for disappointment later in life. Kids will always be expecting something when they do something good.

Another area that stood out to me was Motivation and Emotion. Motivation is the force that moves people to behave, think, and feel the way they do (King,2019, p.326). There are two different aspects to this area. A need and a drive. A need is a deprivation that energizes the drive to eliminate or reduce the deprivation. (King,2019, p. 327). A drive is an aroused state that occurs because of a physiological need. (King,2019, p.327). I believe there are needs in life and drives in life. A lot of people talk in the form of drive. People say they need this or need that, but it’s more of a drive. People might use sex as a drive. It is something that meets your standards and it gives you just enough to be satisfied. Optimum Arousal Theory is something that is referring to a person’s feelings. When you are excited your arousal, levels are high and when you are bored, they are low. It is the same thing for motivation. When you get excited and want something you are anxious, but when you are unmotivated, it is hard to force yourself to do something. (King,2019, p.327). I think this area will affect my future extremely. I haven’t quite learned the difference between a need and a want. I want things all the time, but I don’t need them. Having the motivation to do things is challenging at times. If I like doing what needs to be done or if I am going shopping or something, I have no problem motivating myself to do it. I think this area will help me a lot with motivating myself to do schoolwork more often and making time to go to work more.

The last area that stood out to me was psychological disorders. Many people look at someone that has a disorder and laughs or make fun of them. Now that I have read and researched how disorders can be dangerous or very serious it has changed how I act around those people. My life has forever changed the perspective of those people. Having a disorder can be very challenging and heartbreaking. I even so think because it's in my family. People that have ASD can’t help that they have it. After having psychology this course makes me want to help them.