Eula Trixie Denulan

Psych 101 MTh 7:30-9:00

Reflection Paper

1. What personality theory resonated with you the most? Which theory reflects your
personal experience? Explain.
What first came to mind was Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory. His
theory was close to home, I guess. I do believe that behaviors are learned
depending on the circumstance. But Bandura really resonated with his theory. He
clearly emphasized the role of an organism to the resulting behavior. We, as
humans, respond to stimuli in the environment. Since we are all humans, we are
thought to be similar to one another. But Bandura, proved that we may be
biologically similar, we are still different psychologically. We may be given the same
stimulus but we respond to it differently. Personally, I can agree with this theory. For
example, my friend and I went to this ice cream parlor. We both like ice cream but
we have different likes. I may order this, and they may order that.
Bandura’s theory might be what I agree most but I also agree with John
Piaget’s cognitive theory. As a biology student, I have to make a scientific basis to
things. Piaget focused on the biological origin of a child’s learning development. In a
field that works with systematic processes I have to give this theory a recognition.
Most of the theories presented are more involved in the social aspects of one’s
learning. Piaget’s theory focuses more on the biology aspect.
2. How does our discussion on personality change your view about yourself and
others?
We are of different mental capabilities. We may be of similar biological
structure but we behave and think differently. A proof is how diverse humans live. If
we think alike, then the world would be a mess right now. Also, seeing as we think
differently, I can say that we as fellow humans should understand their
circumstances our fellow humans are going through. I realized that knowing and
understanding which standpoint a person is, makes a really big turn to how the world
works. But before understanding others’ perspective, we should learn about
ourselves first. I, myself, still has a lot to learn about my own self. The discussion
with personality theory made it clear that there are still so many things that I do not
know about myself. We may have a different world if only everyone learns to
coordinate and understand how every person is different.
3. What are your key insights/realizations on personality as a whole.
We develop our behaviors because of different circumstances. Many things
influence how we behave/act to something. And this behavior starts at an early stage
of human development. With proper nurturing and guiding one’s development, good
traits may occur in the near future. I mean who knows, right? There is no formula for
proper parenting but if a child could have a better environment to grow up with,
wouldn’t there be order in the community?
When children are taught things, I hope those teachings leave an impact to
the younger ones and, in return, relay those teaching to future generations. In the
end, there are still so many mysteries when it comes to the human mind. Just like
how scientists have only discovered 5% of the ocean’s mysteries, psychologists and
critics alike still are far from revealing the true identity of our minds.