Psychology and SuccessChapter 1

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher

© 2010 McGraw-Hill Higher Education. All rights reserved.McGraw-Hill

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Learning Objectives• Define success.• List several personal qualities that help people

to be happy.• Define psychology and cite its four major

goals.• Explain the relationship between thoughts,

feelings, and actions.• Define self, self-image, and identity.

• Describe the components of identity.

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What is Success?

Success: a lifetime of personal fulfillment.

Success Secrets

• Success is a journey, not a destination.

• Money and fame don’t equal success.

Activity 1: What Success Means to You

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Ingredients of Success

1. Self-Awareness Appreciating your personal values, qualities, skills and interests.

2. Self-Direction Setting a goal and working toward it.

3. Self-Esteem Respecting oneself.

4. Positive Thinking Focusing on future possibilities to propel yourself toward your goals.

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Ingredients of Success continued…

5. Self-Discipline Daily personal effort putting your plans into action.

6. Self-Motivation Getting and staying motivated. Moving forward despite fears.

7. Positive Relationships Healthy relationships with friends, family, and co-workers.

Personal Journal 1.1 Ingredients of Success

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Who is a Success?• In society, it is not always obvious who are

truly successful people.

• Role Model Person who has qualities you would like to have.

Success Secrets• Always make time for relationships.• Adults need role models, too.

Activity 2: Role Model

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Success and Happiness• Happiness The natural experience of

winning your self-respect and the respect of others.

• Outside factors—wealth, youth, physical attractiveness, etc., have little effect on happiness.

Success Secret• Create your own opportunities for happiness.

Activity 3: How Happy Are You?

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Positive Qualities• Another way to boost your happiness is to develop

personal qualities that will help you enjoy life and cope with challenges.

• Psychologists have identified the following qualities: ability to love, vocation, courage, trust, optimism, future-mindedness, social skills, aesthetic sensibility, work ethic, honesty, emotional awareness, persistence, forgiveness, creative thinking, spirituality, self-esteem and wisdom.

Success Secret• Try new ways of thinking and doing.

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Understanding Psychology

• Psychology Scientific study of human behavior.

• Behavior Anything that you think, feel or do.

• Goals of Psychology Describe, predict, explain, and (in some cases) change human behavior.

Success Secret• Studying psychology helps you understand

yourself and others.

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Explaining Human BehaviorWhy do people think, feel and act the way they do?

• Nervous system Regulates thoughts, feelings and actions.

• Conscious Mind The part of the brain that controls the mental processes of which we are aware.

• Subconscious Mind The part of the brain that controls the mental processes of which we are not actively aware.

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Thoughts, Feelings, and Actions• Cognition (thought) Mental processing of

information in any form.

• Includes: perceiving, recognizing, remembering, reasoning, solving problems, making decisions, forming concepts, visualizing.

• Emotion (feeling) Subjective feeling accompanied by physical and behavioral changes.

Personal Journal 1.2 Your Thoughts, Feelings, and Actions

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Positive and Negative Emotions.

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Understanding Yourself

• Self Your sense of being a unique, conscious being, the inner core of you.

• Self-Image All the beliefs you have about yourself.

• Areas in which you have self-images include: intellectual ability, competence, creativity, sense of humor, morality, romantic appeal, physical appearance, parental relationships, close friendships, and social acceptance.

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Building A Healthy Self-Image

• A healthy self-image is positive but realistic.

• Makes the best of all the things you do well.

• Is based on who you are right now.

• Does not limit who you will be next week.

• A complex self-image means having a variety of positive ways to see yourself.

Personal Journal 1.3 How Do You See Yourself?

Activity 4: Wheel of Life

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You and Your Social World

• Social Role Norms that define how you are supposed to behave in a given situation.

• Self-Preservation Altering your behavior to make a good impression of others.

Activity 5: Sides of Yourself

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Identity• How you choose to define yourself to the

world.

• Individual Identity The physical and psychological characteristics that distinguish you.

• Relational Identity How you identify yourself in relation to others.

• Collective Identity The sum of the social roles you play and the social groups to which you belong.

Activity 6: Identify Profile

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Culture, Gender and Identity

• Culture – the behaviors, ideas, attitudes, and traditions shared by a large social group, transmitted from one generation to the next.

Western– individualism, Eastern-collectivism

• Gender Role – norms that define how males and females are supposed to behave.

• Gender Bias - treating someone differently or unfairly due to one’s gender.

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Defining Your Role

• Researchers suggest that it is healthiest to have a combination of stereotypically masculine and feminine qualities.

• Some typical qualities: logical, assertive, sensitive, independent, gentle, compassionate.

Success Secret• Don’t put limits on what you can become.