Touchstone 3.1: Personality Development SCENARIO: Monica is a single mom who has a 16-year-old son named Jordan. Monica and Jordan were close at one point. As of late, Monica has been noticing that Jordan spends a lot of time focusing on what his friends think about him. Without his mother's permission, Jordan recently crawled out of his bedroom window and went to a party when he was supposed to be studying for an exam. Upon his return home, Jordan reeked of alcohol and marijuana and was caught by his mother. Shocked and appalled by her son's recent behavior, she grounded him for two weeks. What advice would you give Monica about her son's recent behavior? ASSIGNMENT: Using what you learned about the adolescent brain and social development, you will answer questions related to this case study assignment below. Your goals are to help Monica understand why her son makes the choices he does and recommend some strategies that may help solve the problem. In order to foster learning and growth, all essays you submit must be newly written specifically for this course. Any plagiarized or recycled work will result in a Plagiarism Detected alert. Review this tutorial for more about plagiarism and the Plagiarism Detected alert: Touchstones: Academic Integrity Guidelines. For guidance on the use of generative Al technology, review Ethical Standards and Appropriate Use of Al. A. Assignment DIRECTIONS: To complete the assignment, you will answer the following four questions in 5-7 sentences each: 1. What happens inside the brain of a teenager that makes it difficult for Jordan to weigh the risks and rewards of his behavior? Describe how the adolescent brain weighs risk and reward. 2. Why does it appear that Jordan values the opinion of his peers more than the opinion of his mother? Explain the psychological concepts that may account for why Jordan places value on his peers' opinions. 3. What advice would you give Jordan's mother, Monica, that would teach him how to make better choices and decisions? Discuss a specific strategy that Monica may implement to help her son make better decisions. 4. If you were in Monica's shoes, how would you feel? Explain why a better understanding of Monica's perspective could result in more constructive advice. Personality Development notes below: 1. Skills in the Unit As you move on with this third unit, you will focus on personality, mental health, and stress. You will explore topics that include personality traits, types, and assessments. Then you will explore psychological disorders related to anxiety and depression. Finally, you will explore how stress impacts health and well- being. As you delve into these concepts, it will be important to keep the 10 skills in mind. The skills develop over time and continue to grow as we put them into practice. While you may not have control over all things related to personality and mental health, you can actively seek to develop the 10 skills. This is something employers look for--the commitment to personal and professional growth. You'll learn why honing those 10 skills starts with an understanding of your personality--who you are. By exploring the connection between who you are and how you cope with the world around you, you'll develop your self and social awareness skill and problem solving skill You'll learn to apply your self and social awareness skills to understanding and overcoming differences in personality. By examining personality, you'll build greater awareness of yourself and others so you can resolve workplace conflicts and more effectively connect with those around you. It's vital information that will help you perform your best no matter what career you pursue. By knowing the facts about mental health, you can ask informed questions and empathize with those who may be facing a mental health challenge. You'll also gain valuable perspective so that you can connect more skillfully with someone who is dealing with a mental health issue a big step towards improving your self and social awareness skill. In particular, we will focus on the following: Problem Solving ● Self and Social Awareness ● ● ● Types of personalities that are best at solving problems What problem solving looks like as you age and grow How perspective impacts finding solutions ● Knowing your personality Connecting with others. Using empathy when dealing with mental health issues Coping with stress Throughout the course, be on the lookout for various call-outs to help you better see the connections between the skills and the course content. 1. Personality Psychology When you think about a person's psychology, what assumptions do you make? Generally, people assume that there's something regular or consistent in a person. They don't constantly change and act differently. Typically a person has a sense of self or a personality. Personality psychology is the study of a person's unique, consistent, and stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving over time. There are three important aspects when we study personality psychology: ● ● A person's personality is unique. This means it differs from person to person. Although traits can be consistent over many people over time, the extent to which that trait is exhibited can vary. Personality is consistent. It's the same, and a person performs similar types of behaviors in different kinds of situations. Personality is stable. It stays the same over time. This is unlike a concept like mood, which can change depending on things that happen to a person. TERM TO KNOW Personality Unique pattern of consistent feelings, thoughts, and behaviors that originate within the individual across time and situations 1a. Character Character is an aspect of psychology which describes what we consider to be desirable or undesirable in a person. Character refers to the parts of personality that are valued or not valued. Personality is descriptive; it tells what a person is like. Character is prescriptive; it says how someone should or shouldn't be. Character is just one aspect of personality and is developed by cultural and social influences. Your character is one of the things employers look for when they interview you. It's not just about whether you can do the work, it's about how you are as a person and if that character will fit it with and complement the other employees. TERM TO KNOW Character Desirable or undesirable aspects of a person; characteristics that a person values or doesn't value 1b. Temperament Temperament is our innate and inherited aspects of personality. Things like how emotional, irritable, or sensitive a person is are part of temperament. While these traits can be developed, they are innate to an individual. Temperament is an aspect of behavioral genetics, which is the study of behaviors and personality that are inherited. These traits are not necessarily situational, which explains why personality can be stable and consistent over time. Temperament Innate and inherited aspects of personality, like emotionality, irritability, or sensitivity Behavioral Genetics Study of the link between personality traits and heredity (genetic instructions) 2. Approaches to Personality Psychology In the field of personality psychology, there are many different approaches, just like the rest of psychology. Biological approaches focus on temperament and how heredity affects personality, while social or sociocultural approaches focus on things like character and the influence of others. There are three approaches that are important to know specifically: Trait Theory Psychodynamic Theory ● ● Humanism Trait theory is the identification of the basic stable and consistent qualities that people show. This is one of the most widely used aspects of personality psychology. It uses personality tests and attempts to break down into single components which make up a person's psychology. Psychodynamic theory emphasizes the importance of the unconscious on personality and temperament. There are several aspects to this theory with ideas developed by several important psychologists: ● ● Sigmund Freud, who theorized on the idea of competing forces and conflicts. Jung, who emphasized the collective unconscious. Humanism involves the discussion of the development of ideas of self. This area focuses on self-esteem and self-concept. It looks at the positive views of self, and how we can achieve the most ideal version of ourselves. Neo-Freudians like Horney and Adler who focus on anxiety and the need for superiority. 3. Personality Assessments Personality psychology is the study of people's individual patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving over time. How do we determine what those patterns are for each person? An assessment, or a test, is a way to help to measure the various different traits and aspects of a person's personality. There are different tests for different kinds of theories. EXAMPLE There could be one test for trait theories, one for psychodynamic, and one for humanistic; however, they could also be applicable to a wide range of theories. Each one of these different types of assessments has different strengths and limitations. Two important assessments are: ● Interviews Direct observations These are two types of assessments that are more qualitative in nature. That means they are based on descriptions and observations themselves, and they are a little subjective. The questions depend more on the subject and on the psychologist, and are not necessarily the same for each person. ● 3a. Interview An interview is a face-to-face conversation that a person has with a psychologist. They are asked questions by a psychologist and share information about their psychological history, their current status, and their personality in general. Interviews can take two different forms: Structured interview, comprising a series of pre-planned questions. Unstructured interview, which is an open and informal discussion. It is more directed by the person that wants to talk about themselves than by the psychologist.