Psychology
Psychology in Everyday Life: Human Nature or Human Psychology
Psychology, as a popular academic, scientific and applied discipline, refers to the study of human nature, especially, the mind and its functions. It studies how human beings behave, feel and think. As a multifaceted discipline, it has many sub-fields in areas such as human development and clinical, cognitive and social processes. It discusses specific topics such as self-esteem, positive reinforcement, freewill, memory, belongingness, and so on. In this essay, I would like to discuss the most important concepts that I understand about human nature or human psychology.
Prior to taking this course, part of my human nature (that is, actions and/thought processes) have changed somehow my own understanding and how people behave. Before, I think, feel and act, but I do not have the rationale, various perspectives, and psychological bases about my own or other people’s personality. All I know is that I do what I believed in. It does not matter if other people understand me or not (except for the idea that my friends and those near me understand and will tolerate my behavior). But some things do change when I thought of understanding in depth specific points on human nature or human psychology.
As gleaned from my own fruitful experience, many of the psychology topics discussed to us in class strike and keep on reverberating inside my mind since taking the course. I am able to “catch a reflection of myself in a mirror” that need more than self-informed knowledge about human nature because of human psychological theories and research findings concerning my attitude, disposition, styles, etc. I may have viewed myself in the past as behaving normally out of my nature, whereas in some instances, others may view me differently. Whether they are correct or not, because of the lessons in the class, I learned to be more understanding and tolerant of what I think of as normal.
In terms of the forces that act on me to limit or prevent my freedom of choice, there are those that are rooted in my past. Sometimes, I have guilt feelings, traumatic memories, obligations, bad contracts, unrewarding experiences, punishment, low esteem, and shyness (all of these are part of my nature as a human being). Whenever I have to do the same act all over again, I sometimes feel guilty because of my conscience, upbringing, religious affiliation, societal roles, and other socio-cultural influences where there are either right things to do or not. Most often, I cannot help myself but to yield to my beliefs because it is not just how my brain is wired, but everything that is me is what I had been in the process. The same holds true for a few of the traumatic experiences (e.g., violence, accident) that I had. I need to keep reminding myself that they will not happen again the way they would. Instead, I somehow manage to positively, psychologically consider them as helpful for me to become extra-careful next time.
In line with my present condition, I believe that, internal or external forces acting on my nature as a human being make me to sometimes conform, comply, obey, and do what others do to me. However, I learned from our psychology course that there is a time not to conform or conform depending on a particular situation. When a behavior is for my and/or other people’s wellbeing, as long as, I do not violate anyone’s right, then, it depends whether I should comply or not. Because I have a positive perception of my past and present life, I do have realistic expectations now. I thus base my aspirations with what I have regularly visualize myself of doing and then acting upon them. Even if I have my personal liabilities and responsibilities for my family and myself, I always aim for what is better or best to come. Hence, I feel secured and do not desire other things I may not have. Instead, I value what I have: a loving family, friends, relatives, etc. I do not even fear death because I know at a younger age that it is a part of the natural cycle of life.
As a recap to my experience this semester about the psychology of and in everyday life that I am unaware of prior to taking this course, I believe that I keep on learning new and relevant things that I could use in my dealings with myself and other people. I believe that there is some uniqueness in my human nature that are mostly explainable by human psychology. I may be similar or different in some respects from everyone else, but that is not a reason why I should not be treated equally. Hence, for my part, what I do and what is important is to apply tactfully what I have learned from experience and from this course because I know I can be a better person.
Works Cited
Kalat, J. W. (2013). Introduction to Psychology (10th ed.). California: Wadsworth.
Myers, D. (2011). Psychology in Everyday Life (Second ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.
