Course summary overview and key concepts

Motivation and personal involvement is important in successfully achieving the goals set in mind or in properly answering the tasks set before you. This is why I considered this course with utmost interest and I can now say that it was indeed an enriching experience which contributed to both my understanding of the development of the human intellect and to finding new ways of using knowledge and information for my future academic evolution.

Firstly, the clear and focused structure of the course offered the possibility to address the basic elements of the process of personality evolution, especially by pointing out the role of child and lifespan development and of education in one's personal road to maturity. It is important to understand the theoretical approach of the process of growing up in order to better grasp the positive and negative stands we take in relation to different things. Personally I consider the segment on child and life span development to be extremely useful in my appreciation of the relationship with other members of the society and most importantly with my family environment. It helped me realize the necessary and sometimes difficult transition from a dependent child to an independent adult, passing through all the stages of human development. (Knowels, 1962)

An essential part in the evolution of man is played by education. Although we most often fail to consider the theoretical background of the process, it is vital for its proper understanding to have a clear idea on all of its stages. This is why I found the chapter dealing with conditioning and learning to be extremely useful for imagining the wider aspects of the learning process. The discussions on this matter revolved around the technical process of learning, starting from the basic moment of entering in contact with a new experience up to the point of acknowledging that experience as being a basic element for structuring a new experience. (Conditioning and learning, n.d.) This is why I think that knowing the mechanisms which determine the acquisition of information and of experiences is important, most importantly it gives us the possibility to react with a critical view in respect to our different actions.

The approach of this course has also pointed out the essential fact that we are indeed a sum of our own experiences. Be it that we acquire them through life span development, through a constant contact with information sources or through mere human contact; these experiences are the source of deep emotional feelings which in the end play the role of psychological stimuli. Therefore, it is also important to consider the theoretical background of the mechanisms behind motivation. For instance, there has been the case in which I asked myself the motivation for attending college or desiring to graduate successfully. It is neither a basic need, leading to a matter of choice between life and death, nor an imposed objective, a reaction to a stimulus outside my own system of will. Still, there is a need and desire to study for each exam in order to have good grades and in the end a satisfying result. All this rarely steers questions in the minds of ordinary people; however, these actions are in fact the results of instincts, a certain drive which pushes our will to engage in activities and strive for results. These explanations, no matter how apparently common they would appear, are the applications of theories such as the "instinct theory," the "drive theories" or the "incentive theory" (Motivation and emotion, 2006) which represented the theoretical foundation of the presentation of the mechanism of motivation.

Moreover, emotions are another element which greatly influences our everyday life and we often find ourselves caught in the spur of the moment without any proper consideration for the eventual consequences. It is therefore up for debate the true foundation of emotionally based actions and their exact explanation. Seeing that they deeply impact the course of our actions, it is only natural to try to control their intensity, weak or strong, and the degree of acceptability, pleasant or unpleasant. Having a theoretical insight into the mechanism of their conception can help me manage to control my states of mind and thus react less on impulses and more on judgment. Thus, when a certain process is properly understood, it can be used more efficiently and lead to more appreciated results.

Behavioral science classes have a definite role in helping young individuals to form and transform their own individualities. For me, it was important to get familiar with personality theories in order to better ascertain and evaluate the degree to which every individual is both similar to and distinct from his fellow. For instance, Freud's analytical perspective lead to what today is known as psychoanalysis and which introduced the terms of id, ego and super ego in order to manage a definite perspective look on the human personality. (Boeree, 2006) Applying his theory lead the way for me to explain certain aspects of my behavior and my personality. The conscious, preconscious and unconscious minds are, according to Freud, the basic elements of the human psychic. Taking this into consideration, many of the actions we take everyday can be explained when applying the terms of this theory.

Today's society has developed into an immense pressure supplier, independent of the environments each of us is engaged in. It is already a general fact that from an early age, even children are subject to peer pressure, additional social stress and rarely cope with it in a way as not to affect their future development. (La Greca, 1992) This is why, it is important to understand the basis of this social evolution and to try to reduce its effects and stop its manifestation. Personally, it was useful to see the concepts of development including the factors which lead to stress such as social or other environmental issues, and thus avoid them in order to protect my mental health.

The theoretical approach offered by this course gave me a solid background for striving to improve and practice the notions presented throughout the applicative exercises and practical insight.

One of the major gains from this course was the change in perspective in regard to lifetime learning. Despite the fact that I do value the need of each individual to achieve higher personal standards, I never did consider the process of continuous study to be essential for improving oneself outside and after the college academic studies. However, my perception proves to have been if not wrong, at least incomplete. I came to realize the importance of experience and of the accumulation of knowledge throughout the span of a life time as part of continuous progress. (Buresch, Eiben, Nitschke, and Schut, n.d.) New information becomes the basis for another one, and thus the support for future actions is increased and is given more legitimacy. This in turn helps in making the more appropriate decisions through a wider range of options given by the accumulated knowledge.

Learning does not necessarily mean the direct appeal to course books and traditional specialized literature on each of the matters under discussion. It is undeniable the fact that in order to have an opinion on a subject, it is important to be acquainted with the discussions had on the matter. However, in issues relating to personal abilities or inner analytical capabilities, there are few reliable sources which could influence the core beliefs regarding one's perception of the self. Nonetheless, when attending a course which deals with the analysis of human behavior, the theoretical aspects can unconsciously apply to the personal and intimate analysis one makes in his own mind. Thus, although it starts from a scientific base, I could say that it incite one to go beyond mere abstract aspects of theory and apply the information provided to his person. By experiencing and discussing each point of the theoretical aspects, I did get to know myself better and see both positive and negative sides of my personality. For instance, while discussing Freud's theories, I managed to explain certain emotional manifestations which, up to a point, were not entirely clear. Furthermore, discussions on matters such as child and life span development improved my perception on family relationships and inter-human communication.