The most significant event in my life was when I won in the swimming competition, in the regionals. The competition was stiff, but I managed to defeat my competitors. According to psychology, it has been proven that behaviors are learned. In the case of my competition in swimming, I started learning the act when I was young. This was a hobby at a younger age, but as I grew up, I associated with people who had an interest in the sport and by so doing; I learned to swim through associating with my friends.
According to prominent thinkers, behavioral psychology is learned through behaviors and can occur through associations. This is to say that if people associate with others they tend to assimilate their behaviors and act like their counterparts. Learning can also be acquired through punishment and rewards (Shanks, 1995). Where a person is rewarded for their behaviors, then it is likely that the giver of rewards is encouraging such behavior, and for that the individual keeps doing what they do best and in my case swimming. On the other hand, if the behavior is discouraged through punishment, then the go-getter is likely to stop acting in such a manner as they are afraid of being punished.
In relation to psychodynamic perspective, which deals with getting to understand what, goes on in the human head. It is true to say that my event and the interests, as well as the functioning of the body, drove the experience. Sigmund Feud developed this perspective where few assumptions were driven from the approach. First, it is said that human behavior and feelings are affected by our unconscious motives (Martinez-Pons, 2001). Secondly, the adult behaviors and feelings that we portray are derived from the childhood experiences that we had, and human personality is made up of three parts that are the ego, super ego and the id among other assumptions. Therefore, in relation to the psychodynamic approach or perspective, it is true to say that my experience and my winning in life were shaped by my childhood experiences and interests to want to learn more about swimming.
Learning that may have resulted from my experience in the event is the classical conditioning where, I learnt through associating with my friends at school and the swimming pool. Through association, I got to understand what was interesting in my life and why I had to put an effort to make a significant mark in my life. Operant condition was another learning that was important in my event in that there was a reason why I was involved in the sport, which was getting some outcome from the experience. .
The memory of the event is vivid, and I can see it when I close my eyes, reason being I got so much appreciation from both my parents and the school I was participating in that I will never forget that day. The other why the memory is so vivid is that I was rewarded for what I did, and for that reason I would not want to lose such a memory as it has played a significant role in shaping who I am today. Psychologist says that when people through learning get rewarded for their actions or behaviors they are not likely to forget, or lose the memory of such reward.
References
Martinez-Pons, M. (2001). The psychology of teaching and learning: A three step approach. London [u.a.: Continuum.
Shanks, D. R. (1995). The psychology of associative learning. Cambridge, Angleterre: Cambridge University Press.
