Psychological Foundations of Education

I cannot claim that I had a perfect School life/experience, but there was an instance that I can account for my being part of the LGBT. This instance happened when I was in Elementary School. I can say that I still don’t know my identity, or at least don’t know the right term to associate with my “gender” or what I feel. So I just act like a normal kid in school, but a bit “sissy” as what they observe in me. Well, I am not closet; however, I did not grow up in a place with kids the same as me, or at least with an adult LGBT. So I felt deep within me that I was different from boys of the same age.

This experience is not about bullying or violence against the LGBT, but my take on the subject I took when I was in Grade 5. Well, Technology and Home Economics gave me a little anxiety because half of the class will be separated. The girls will be taking Home Economics wherein they will learn how to sew, create aprons, etc. While the rest of the boys will be taking Technology where we taught calligraphy, gardening, etc. Compare to the girls’ room, it feels like home, with a faucet, refrigerator, stove, etc. With us, it was with some tools on a long wooden table, a tool cabinet with hammers, etc.

Well, I get just fine don’t worry. Teachers and classmates were normal with me, but I was behind them academically wise. The thing is, the move to separate the girls and boys was a rational thing to do because the curriculum assumed that the boys needed the skills compared to girls. I just felt that my feeling of difference was not taken into consideration.

Fortunately, I managed to get by with the subject and my classmates were kind of supportive of one another. I can say that it helped me get through the adjustment stage.

Incentivization is common in a workplace. Aside from the monthly wage that workers receive, there are other small incentive that the employers provide to motivate people and boost their morale.

There are instances that whenever there’s an overtime – in order to complete a “rush” project – there’s a call to provide a quick incentive such as overflowing food/pizza at the pantry. This is to compensate the sudden rush work being provided. This may work so that our moods may somehow lifted up from the overtime.

However, regular incentivization may lose motivation for some people. Because of repetition, it loses its charm to the recipients. According to Kohn (1993), “Rewards do not create a lasting commitment. They merely, and temporarily, change what we do.” It happens most of the time in the work setup. If there’s a need to do overtime work for two consecutive weeks, even if there’s an incentive, it is no longer appealing. It can work for a few days but there will be a sudden decline of people rendering overtime, even if there’s an incentive, cash, and even extra pay on the monthly wage.

Maslow’s Idea of Self-Actualization has a similar take on Roger’s Self Actualization. Both agreed that it is the peak of oneself by being the best version of oneself. However, the difference maybe in how they view the approach. Maslow is more self-centered, while Rogers’ is more social-centered in a way that the Environment has a factor in achieving the said status (Grin, 2022).

I can say for myself that I can call myself an actualized individual if I feel that I am content and successful in my own definition of success, that is to have a stable career that I like to practice until the time I decide to retire, that I can contribute something to the society, help others in my own little way. With the characteristic of being independent (Cherry, 2019), and feeling fulfilled (McLeod, 2014) is one of the things that I would look for, to say that I am on that level.

There’s a huge impact to see someone we look up to, on our motivation to pursue something in life. This ignites our want to choose the same path as them. There’s this influence in them that makes us want to be like them, at most. They become our role models. For instance, there’s this one person I admire in terms of Yoga, his nae is Patrick Beach, which has quite a follower on instagram as well. Because he shows his advance Yoga skills, it makes me want to really reach his level of flexibility and fitness by also doing yoga at times. As for the immediate circle, such as my colleagues, if I know that they are working, it also makes me work even if at times I feel lazy. Because I need to keep up with the pace so everyone will be on the same page.

Motivation for me, especially role models can be a bias. It depends on who we follow, who we look up to, and in which fields they are specialized. The other successful people may have little to no impact at all. It depends on which message they want to reach the public and if it resonates with me.

References:

Grin, A. (2022, August 1). Maslow and Rogers Similarities and Differences: Theories of Self-Actualization. StudyBay. https://studybay.com/blog/comparison-of-maslow-and-rogers-theories/#:~:text=However%2C%20the%20difference%20between%20Maslow,the%20need%20of%20the%20environment.

McLeod, S. (2014). Carl Rogers’ Humanistic Theory of Personality Development. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/carl-rogers.html

Cherry, K. (2022, April 28). Key Characteristics of a Fully Functioning Person. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/fully-functioning-person-2795197

Cherry, K. (2022, August 14). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-4136760

Cherry, K. (2019, July 17). 9 Characteristics of Self-Actualized People. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/characteristics-of-self-actualized-people-2795963

Cherry, K. (2020, March 4). The Incentive Theory of Motivation. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-incentive-theory-of-motivation-2795382

I was a mother’s boy. Remembering my childhood, many memories were of my mother. Not to discredit my father, of course, there were a fair share of moments with him. But when I was a kid, my mother was hands-on with me.

I remembered some instances when they were kidding me that my mama would be leaving home, and I was crying and looking for her. Then, my father would carry me and will tell me that we will look for her. I believe I have so much attachment to my mother especially.

Also, there was an occasion when someone tried to bully me at school. I told my mother about it. When my mother saw the kid, she just talk to the kid calmly and reminded him to be nice.

That instance stuck with me and somehow brought it with me, especially when dealing with difficult people. I tried my best to be nice and handle things in diplomacy.

Fast forward to now, I know that I mature and improved my relationship with family, friends, and colleagues. While we may have different beliefs and views of certain things, I can say that I am able to get along just fine with almost everyone. As for myself, I am constantly assessing myself and how I behave. This way, I can determine what went wrong and what to do to improve.

Looking back, I realized there were things that took time for me to understand, and some were just right. I barely recall my kindergarten days. The only thing that I remembered was the Christmas Party and the Graduation party. However, I was fond of my Teacher and assistant teacher back then.

During my first time in Elementary School, I experienced the adjustment stage where I cried and would want my mother to be with me. So there were instances when she was inside the classroom until I get adjusted to the school setup.

As for the lessons, I remembered seeing popsicle sticks, some colorful learning visuals, etc. As I move up the level, the setup become more serious and I suddenly learned much more advanced mathematics, history, and some technical/vocational skills such as basic hammering, doing basic wire knots, etc.

In a general perspective, I would say that what was taught from Kindergarten to High School all fit my cognitive abilities to understand and learn the lesson being taught. From a basic foundation, easy topics and gradually added harder topics that were related to the previous lessons.

Whenever I am talking to my friends while we reminisce about the past and compare how we have changed now, we always blame it on aging. “Signs of aging” is what we always mutter, and we just accept it and laugh it out.

Indeed, many things have changed and improved. Back then, I was not much conscious and just always go with the flow. Whenever my friends would ask me to go out, I am always available. There’s little time to rest. Bar hopping from nighttime to dawn, and even worse up to afternoon!

Not only that, I noticed that I was so into the trend. I guess that’s normal during the teenage to early adulthood stage.

Now that I am in my early 30s, I can say that many things have changed in handling finances, my views about fashion and trends, and my personal choice of hangouts. I am slowly moving to a phase that is more simple and quiet. How I much adore peace!

In our household, I am living with my mother, sibling and my nieces. At times, I always observed my nieces who are in their adolescence stage tend to sleep too late at night and wake up too late. It comes to a point that if we are not waking them up, they may skip lunch and wake up late afternoon!

That specific trait, we sometimes blame on them being glued to phones, especially at night. But, I now understand that it is normal at their age.

While there are many things that are changing with them, understanding the stages of life and human development will make me understand and guide them, especially during their teenage transition.

I always believe that all encounters and experiences were accounted for who I am now. While I do not want to totally ditch nature or biological factors, for me the big chunk of how I view things is credited to my environment, family, education, peers, and experience.

I don’t think of much about the physical aspect that defined who I am today. My father was tall, he was a 6-footer and I somehow got the height from my father. However, I don’t see any essence of my height in my development. Sure, I used my height to my advantage, because that is one thing that they notice about me. Because of that, certain work opportunities were much easier for me than others. However, I do not pay much attention to physical aspects but always credit external factors to who I am today. Physical aspects can be a window to opportunities and how people treat us, but that’s it. There is more to what we see.

As for external factors, I can say that I am more of an independent and resilient type of person. Growing up, I always feel alone because my parents were busy earning money. Plus my siblings were way older than me, so their preferences and wants were different from my age. They also have their set of friends who are way too old for my age. While I still have playmates, whenever they are not around, I am playing alone my toys and sometimes study alone. This kind of experience and environment helps me greatly growing up because I don’t rely much on people or expect anything from anyone. I just do what I suppose to do and move forward.

I am in my early thirties now (chronological) and I can say that my age is the same in biological, psychological, and social aspects. Let me breakdown the following:

Chronological: I am in my early thirties based on my birthdate. Biological: I can say that how my body reacts, and body physique are all like the 30s. I can say this because, I can still have the energy to do the work, but there are a few times that I am starting to experience lower back pain. Maybe it is a sign of aging. Psychological: I can say that I am mature and have views that are just the same as millennials. Learning yet have definite beliefs that I follow on how I view things. Social: I have established friendships in different groups such as school, work ad neighborhood. While I have a few friends, I have tried to make connections and acquaintances in all works of life.

From the beginning, I already know deep within me that everything happens for a reason. What I am now were the results of past experiences, be they good or not. There are lessons that I find beneficial that I always remember.

Today, I can say that I am knowledgeable about skin care products. Because of the products I have tried and tested, many failed. Especially during the pandemic, when I started to get breakouts which were alarming.

Because of this experience, I have consulted a dermatologist to fix the issue. The doctor explained things to me and prescribed some medicine and ointments to fix the problem. Because of this, I have learned more about skincare, and how sensitive skin can be.

I also learned about acne can be hormonal, and can be triggered because of stress and diet.

The healing has put me in a much more confident state. Also, I have noticed that I become more conscious of what I eat and use because it could trigger acne again.

These changes in me were all because of the fear of acne, which affected how I view with food and the things I use on my skin. I become extra careful with everything. Everything I experienced and learned has put me in a state where I am now more aware of what should I take and not to take, for the sake of keeping the acnes at bay.

Realizing that development came from different channels such as education, environment, society, family, emotion, etc., and changes have an effect not only on one aspect can give us a better understanding and perspective of one individual. These can be helpful in how we deal with them.

For instance, my mom loves to watch TV, and even if she is not really watching, she wants to keep the TV on. To understand this, I must understand that she was a baby boomer generation, and in this generation, the TV was first introduced. This may have been linked to the attachment to TV.