Author: jmg7218

Humanistic therapy is a very common way to deal with patients. When I would think of therapy, I would usually just think of a person laying down in a chair while the therapist asked them questions. The definition of Humanistic therapy is a mental health approach that emphasizes the importance of being your true self in order to lead the most fulfilling life. It’s based on the principle that everyone has their own unique way of looking at the world. Through psychology, the therapist attempts to make someone feel better about themselves and try to understand their problems and hopefully solve them. 

I have had an experience with this kind of therapy. Back in eight grade I was going through a lot in school. I was recently diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome and I was in denial about it. I did not want to see doctors or anyone to try and figure out what was wrong with me. I was dragged by parents to figure out how I can solve this problem and my mental health was really not good. I got in constant fights with my mom and she suggested that I go to therapy to talk to someone about all my problems and try and calm me down. I agreed and wanted to try it out. I started going to my therapist once a week to talk about everything I had on my mind. Going into it, I really didn’t see how this guy could help me. I will never forget that first day I spoke with him. I was not in a good mood and he started to talk to me about stuff that made me happy. I got into a deep conversation about my favorite T.V show and he noted how excited and pleasant I was acting. He told me whenever I feel like I’m stuck or depressed about having Tourettes that I should remember how I’m feeling right now. That really helped me in the long run. After a whole year of seeing this therapist I can surely say that I would not be who I am today without going to see him. I think that humanistic therapy is a very smart and beneficial way of understanding someone through psychology.

In lecture 12 there was a lot of information about childhood development. One topic we talked a lot about was cognitive development. Cognitive development is the theory of the nature and development of human intelligence founded by psychologist Jean Piaget. What he said was that we all have schemas that help us understand the world around us.  A schema is a cognitive framework or concept that allows one to understand the world around them. Once we develop that schema we can add more experience to it. There are two ways that people absorb knowledge. One is accommodation which we adapt or adjust our schemas to fit new experiences. There is also assimilation where we interpret new information and incorporate it  into our pre-existing ideas or world view.

I have experienced assimilation recently when I arrived here at Penn State. Last summer, I did a college program where I lived at the campus for a few weeks. I took some classes and it gave me a fairly good experience of what college life would be like. I was still curious of what was to come. I believe the schema I had from that experience was to living on my own. Walking to classes, eating in the dining halls, and having my own schedule. With this information in mind, I was assimilating my experience here at PSU. I was not used to a campus this big and being a legitimate enrolled college student. I took in all of the tasks and responsibilities I have being on my own and compared it to the college program I was in and it most definitely prepared me. 

This assimilation makes my schema of living on my own stronger because I have been used to living on my own now for almost 2 months. I believe that as my future here continues I will be very experienced living on my own.

 

Today I am focusing on the modern perspective of social-cultural psychology. In psychology, there are multiple viewpoints and theories on why humans behave the way we do. When studying social cultural psychology, it is hypothesized that the environment an individual is a member of will have an effect on their personality, beliefs, and values. The cultural norms and expectations of others will have a large influence on the behavior of an individual. This could be said about a lot of things. For example, in certain cultures, upon greeting one another some people bow, some kiss cheeks, and some shake hands. It is based on the environment they live in. This theory may be evaluated from personal experiences.

For 16 years, I grew up in a mostly white, upper-middle class neighborhood in New Jersey. The town I was originally from had high taxes, nice neighborhoods, and a well-run administration. The one thing it lacked was diversity in its schools. It was my junior year in high school when my parents decided to move out of the district. My family and I relocated a few towns over and this school district had a larger population of minorities compared to my previous. I soon figured out that the school I was now enrolled in was significantly more “woke”. What it means to be woke is to understand the oppression that others in society go through or simply be “cultured”. Furthermore, my new school had more awareness of social, environmental, and political problems that are occurring today. This was shown through clubs and organizations that were offered at the school as well as the overall beliefs of the student body. I gained more of a grasp of what others that are struggling to go through.

Social cultural psychology ties in with my story. This is shown by the fact that I developed different values from my new environment. Previously, I was merely aware of issues both global and locally, it is once I moved to my new community that I started to become more involved. For example, it was the norm for people in my school to use metal straws. Since everyone had them, this influenced me to get one and support the use of them. Now, I tend to not use plastic straws at all; I involuntarily use metal straws, reusable bags, and save electricity. Also, I do not judge people as much as I did. I feel as if I have become more cultured just being surrounded by more woke people. My new environment has affected my beliefs socially and environmentally. I can truly say that this experience has changed me as an individual and that is why social-cultural psychology is an important study.

Sources:

https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/opinion/woke-mean/

https://www.slideshare.net/kbolinsky/introduction-49481503

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/413205334552386339/