Freud

Mr Freud wasn't honored for all the psychoanalyzing that he did until now in modern day. He was studying many different things involving psychology including dreams and the sub-conscience mind. All his research and hard work is being used today to to advance the psychological world. Sex was also something that he studied a lot. He was right that sex drove men and I believe it drives women as well but I don't think Freud mentioned the female part. Freud was very involved in psychology and is really an important person to the psychological world.

Males or Females?

I believe from the discussions yesterday that girls have it harder. They grow up changing all the time. Girls are constantly worried about how they need to be liked by others and how they have to look perfect everyday. They feel that they are constantly being judged by people around them, which is probably true, but it affects them in a way that makes them change to attempt to make everybody like them. They care too much about what others think when they are younger and growing up. Also, once they become teenagers, their parents tell girls they need to become more independent at a time when they need their parents the most. I feel that more is expected out of a girl whereas a guy there is much less expected of them. All around I feel that growing up girls have it much worse than guys.

Birth Order

I am the oldest of two in my family. My younger brother Nick is 16 now and I am 17. My personality is a bit friendlier to most than my brothers. My brother is somewhat a reflection of me since he came after me. I remember growing up and Nick copying me when we were younger but I always hated it. This has to do with birth order. The younger sibling is more likely to be somewhat like the older sibling than not. I can be considered the "tester" since I was the first born; my parents experimented with me to figure out how to sculpt out a good child and it worked for me. I think they worked less on my brother because they figured he would take after me; wrong. My brother has a bad temper and is still very nice but not very sincere all the time. I'm not trying to make myself sound so great, but this is just how I see it. I think the my position of birth order didn't impact me enough. I feel that the younger sibling will typically be cared for more but in my situation, my brother in ways was cared for less. My parents give him everything like most younger siblings but he is not always treated the way I was treated when I was his age. You may think that since I'm only a year and a half older that the gap is too small for there to be a difference, but there is a difference.

Nurture vs. Nature

Examine yourself in the context of the nature vs. nurture debate. Think about your personality characteristics, your likes and dislikes, your strengths and weaknesses. Are you the way you are because of nature (heredity) or nurture (environment, parenting, education, etc.)? If you were to pick a side, which one would win out in your development as a person?

I think I am the way I am because of nurture. I may have genes that gave me my looks and some personality traits but I think that my surroundings have had much more of and impact than anything I've inherited. My characteristics have been molded from the friends I've made and the person that I have become. I have made my own choices based upon my surroundings and friends and who I wanted to be and how I wanted to be seen in the eyes of others. I don't think that I inherited the things I like and dislike. I think that can be credited to what some of my friends like and personal decisions to have certain likes and dislikes for things. My weaknesses and strengths come from how hard I am willing to work and how hard I push myself to be good at something or not care to be good at something and turn that task or skill into a weakness. The people around me and the settings have their impact in who I am because I want to be seen in a higher light to others so in a way my environment sculpts me. Parents have the impact of how hard they push me and how they raise me to act the way I act at times. Education involves friends from school and somebody's friends will always have an impact in how you are as a person.

Stress

a. What are the major causes of stress in your life? What coping strategies do you use, and what could you do to deal with stress more effectively?

Major causes of stress in my life would be due to sports. Sports cause me to have physical stress and wear me down. Soccer is my main sport. I may be the goalie in soccer, but I do run my fair share in a game. Another stressful part of soccer would be the fact that I am a goalie. I can't have a real impact on the offensive side of the game because I am always defending my goal. This frustrates me at times when my team is struggling to score and I can't help them out because its nearly impossible to do without protecting our goal which is my job. Soccer goalie is also stressful in the sense that I am supposed to be a vocal leader on the field since I have the best view of the entire field. So I am consistently screaming to people and giving them directions which believe it or not takes a huge toll on your body stressfully and physically. The strategies I use at times is I just let the team play and don't say anything because we do have a coach that does essentially the same things I do just off of the field and probably better. In order to help myself more, I think I could just let the game play and not get upset if the offense can't pull itself together. It may be painful to watch but as long as I am doing my part, I can't do much more.

b. Examine your film notes and homework notes. After watching the film and reading the article about stress, explain why stress is so dangerous to your health in a variety of ways. Why do you think America leads the world in stress-related diseases?

Stress is very dangerous to ones health. Stress can shut down the immune system mess with chromosomes in your body causing you to age faster. Americans lead the world in stress-related diseases because of how hard we work. I feel like we work much harder then the rest of the world and this may be due to such a terrible economy as of now. I believe that "The American Dream" may also have something to do with the stress; everybody wants to obtain this "American Dream" and for most people I feel that people need to work very hard to get to where they want to be.