Question 1
In answering the questions, reference is going to be made from scenario 2 using the information processing theory. According to this theory, the mind of an individual is very important. The information being processed by the mind influences the behaviour of that person. The brain processes a lot of information, and it is very important to maximize the amount of information being processed by the brain. On the other hand, cognitive is the mental process which includes emotions and feelings of an individual. The cognitive concept can be applied in various processes, which include problem solving, language, perception towards someone or something, attention and language.
During the early childhood of Anna, she developed an attitude that being fat is unhealthy. She had a perception that being fat made someone look ugly. The comments made by her mother that she was lazy and fat remained in her mind for a long time. This changed her attitude and her personal development. From the processing theory, information is received through the sensory register. According to Barrick, information received may be either stored in the long term memory or working memory. Information may move from these storage locations due to several factors, which include attention, elaboration, rehearsal and organization. The factors help a person to remember the information they receive every day.
The working memory processes information for a short time period. The working memory processes the information for long periods of time. This is possible where an individual is actively involved in the information. Constant rehearsal, elaboration and organization help the information to move from the working memory to the long term memory. She was concentrating on the information for a very long time. This is what led to Anna even trying to make Jojo thin. According to the theory, cognitive processes and the abilities development are positively related. During the infancy of a child, the child pays attention to most of the things he encounters. Anna developed attention towards fat people. Anna lacked confidence in herself. She thought that she was fat and started taking diet pills in order to get thin. This led to her early pregnancy. She even thought that her son was fat and started feeding him on water and bananas. The child was taken from Anna due to child reject.
Question 2
The social pressure from her mother made Anna develop a bad attitude towards being fat. Her mother at one point described her as lazy and fat. The comments made Anna start engaging in activities which would make her thin. She could get involved in different types of exercises but took less food in order to be thin. She worked hard in class in order to prove to her mother that she was not lazy. The bad attitude led to Anna forcing his son, Jojo to grow thinner. She ignored advice from teachers because she had put it in her mind that Jojo was fat. This resulted to feeding him with water and bananas only. Jojo lost weight rapidly. Anna was later accused of neglect of the child.
Anna did not have self confidence. She feared that she might lack a future partner due to her body size. The lack of confidence in Anna made her start doing activities that are going to please her friends. She was easily influenced by her friends. Her boyfriend told her that she was not going to get someone else unless she had a slim body. Due to lack of confidence, Anna became pregnant because he believed what the footballer told him. She became sexually active in order to make him happy, but this led to her early pregnancy. She also believed that she was ugly, and this contributed to her pregnancy. According to the development theory, the mind of an individual determines the behaviour of the person. Anna believed that what her friends told her was true. She thought about her friends' comments and forgot that she had the duty of making her own decisions.
Anna developed poor eating habits. She thought that the only way to get thin was through eating small amounts of food. She got involved in various exercises. After the exercise, she could take less food and diet pills while still in high school. Anna had set her mind that the only way to slim was through taking less food and engaging in exercises. Poor eating habits lead to developing complications during her pregnancy. To ensure the health of her son, Anna was admitted in a hospital. Anna fed her son on water and bananas only so that he could get thinner. She was later found to be suffering from eating disorders.
Question 3
Anna did not engage in meaningful and creative work. Emotions can be effectively handled through participating in meaningful activities that are going to have an impact on how a person thinks. These activities may involve participating in community organized activities such as helping and supporting the less disadvantaged people. Creativity activities involve doing activities that are challenging like drawing and writing. Anna does not involve herself in meaningful and creative work. She engaged in tedious school activities which were meant to make her thin. She did not try to find out the best means a person can use in order to get thin. She thought that eating was the cause of being fat and reducing the amount of food taken could solve her problem. She was later diagnosed with the problem of food disorder and poor healthy of her son.
Anna lacked confidence and self control in handling her emotions. Having confidence and self control is important in handling emotions. Anna showed a lack of confidence when she was told that she was ugly and had to be sexually active and thin. She undermined herself and thought that she was not beautiful. She also thought that she was fat and lazy as she had been told by her mother. Due to lack of confidence and self control, Anna is suffering from poor health and also her son.
Talking with someone about a particular problem helps to handle emotions. Sharing the problem with someone you trust helps to provide solutions and develop ideas of how to handle such a problem in the future. Anna did not consult anyone on the methods to use in order to be thin. She should have sought help from her friends on how to get thin. Anna should also have listened to Jojo’s teacher when she was contacted because of the loss in weight of Jojo. This has resulted to depression due to a lot of information in her mind which could have been resolved with the help of her friends.
Anna was unable to manage her stress levels. Good stress management is an efficient way of handling emotions. Stress is clearly brought out when Anna was told she was fat and lazy by her mother. When she is told to be sexually active and when she was trying to lose weight quickly after the birth of her son. In all these situations, Anna should have been able to manage her stress by doing the right thing by taking the corrective action. The corrective action may include following the correct procedure to deal with the issues at hand. Failure to manage the stress level led to depression and poor nutrition.
Question 4
Anna should make good use of her leisure time. This involves activities like swimming, talking with friends, reading novels or taking a walk to the beach. The activities help in stress and emotional management. Engaging in such activities enables an individual to relieve some stress and at the same time. Anna can benefit by spending time with people who would advise her on how to manage stress. This can be done during her free time.
Limiting unhealthy mental habits helps to improve on the behaviour of an individual. These habits may involve worrying, tension or fear. Anna had a lot of tension in her. She kept worrying about how to become thin. Fear of being fat lead to her poor nutrition and separation from her son due to negligence. These habits lead to emotions which may cause depression. The habits may be avoided through interaction with other people and sharing of problems with people who you trust. Anna kept wondering about why she was told she was lazy instead of asking her mother.
Engaging in meaningful and useful work would help to improve the parenting styles which are most appropriate in parenting. Such kind of work may involve attending classes on parenting, interaction with other people who are dealing with parenting issues and application of the issues learnt in the real life situations. These activities help to improve the skills of an individual in handling emotions and other problems. Developing a positive attitude towards comments made by friends is a way of ensuring that we improve on our weaknesses. Anna developed a bad attitude towards being fat. She did not even follow the correct procedures in reduction of weight. The bad attitude leads to Anna ignoring Jojo’s teacher on why he was losing weight at a fast rate. She even gave Jojo little food in order to make him thin. Improving on an individual attitude is important in order to improve on the parenting issues.
Getting enough rest and exercise helps to keep the body fit. Exercise helps to remove stress, depression and anxiety. Emotional and good mental health helps to take care of the body. This helps to ensure an individual is emotionally stable.
Having knowledge on good nutrition is important in determining what food an individual would take. An individual who wants to reduce weight is going to know the kind of food to eat. This helps to improve on the nutritional conditions of the individual. Consumption of the correct food helps to improve on the health status of the individuals.
References
Angelakis, D. G. (2006). Quantum Information Processing: From Theory to Experiment. Indianapolis: IOS Press.
Barrick, M. C. (2002). Emotions: Transforming Anger, Fear and Pain: Creating Heart-Centeredness in a Turbulent World. New York: Summit University Press.
Hunt, J. (2008). How to Handle Your Emotions: Anger, Depression, Fear, Grief, Rejection, Self-Worth. : New York : Harvest House Publishers.
