Social Psychology has been one of the most interesting classes that I’ve taken to date. It was difficult choosing the top three things that I’ve learned so far in this course. With that being said, I decided to take a step back and find the three things that I connected with the most, on a person level. Just as the quote from Anais Nin suggests, we don’t truly see things for what they are, we see them from our own perceptions. I truly believe that the things that mean to most to us, are the things that we carry with us the longest.

The power of the “self”, and knowing who we are as human beings, is one of the most interesting things about this course. Not only did we learn about the self in the module, but I also used that knowledge and applied it to a great deal of work that I did in this class, especially the self-analysis assignment. Self-reflection and looking at who I am as a person was crucial in Blog 3 where we created a musical soundtrack for who we are. Believe it or not, that was a difficult assignment to summarize my life into a group of songs.

Emotional intelligence and self-regulation are next on my list of top things that I’ve learned about in this course. This was a difficult topic to learn about as it is something that I struggle with the most. However, it has helped a great deal in my personal life with becoming more aware of what I’m feeling and why I’m having the feelings that I have. Obviously, Blog 7 was dedicated to this concept 100% as we discussed the results of our emotional intelligence test.

Finally, learning about relationships and why we love the ones that we did is something that I won’t forget. One of my goals for this class was to learn about how and why we make the connections that we do, and this module really allowed me to dive into that thought further. I have been able to use the information that I have learned and reflect on my current relationships. After the style of love assignment, I was able to apply this knowledge to the assignment takeaway regarding my thoughts about the style of love results and what I was able to take away from that assignment as a whole.

While this has been my first major-focused course, I have taken developmental psychology in the past. One of the major topics that we have discussed in this class that was also discussed heavily in Developmental psych was Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Obviously, the development of the mind has everything to do with the way that we think and learn. Therefore, it has a major impact on our social psychology.

This is a very interesting and thought-provoking article. How do people anger and annoy other people? In my opinion, the article takes that thought to another level by asking the same question in a way that separates one gender from another.

Men upset women in the beginning stages of a relationship by leading them on or pretending to be into them emotionally to increase their chances of being with them sexually. Once in a relationship with a woman, a man might do things like talk to other girls in an attempt to make the woman jealous. Ignoring women is also a sure way that men can upset women, regardless of the reasoning behind it (see left photo). In fatherhood, men are known to pretend as if they don’t know what to do as to get away with not doing anything.

Women also use their “powers” to upset and manipulate men. In the beginning stages of a relationship, women pretend to be interested sexually and attempt to lead the man on. This allows the man to feel as though he will be getting what he wants, and the woman remains in control for a short amount of time. Once a woman is in a relationship with a man, she may begin to accuse her partner of cheating or may start to go through the man’s phone in an attempt to catch him doing something he shouldn’t be doing (see right photo). One more way in which women upset men is when they don’t communicate their needs and expect the man to read her mind.

I feel as though, regardless of gender, people manipulate other people to essentially get their way. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. With that being said, I do believe that there is some truth to what this article is suggesting. I do believe that men use their emotional side to get what they want sexually. I also believe that woman use their sexual side to get what they want emotionally.

As a self-declared “emotionally-driven person”, I can honestly say that emotions are incredibly complex. Emotional intelligence can be an intimidating term. However, when you break it down to a simple definition, it can be easier to understand. To me, emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize your emotions, as well as other’s emotions, and manage them appropriately. The managing aspect of emotional intelligence involves self-regulation. It is important to understand and recognize your emotions, but it is arguably more important to be able to regulate and manage them to ensure the outcome that you want. Therefore, in order to improve your emotional intelligence, you must know how to effectively self-regulate.

Personally, I don’t consider myself very high in emotional intelligence. I sometimes allow my emotions to control my behavior without thinking about it. My emotions are strong, and they will overpower my rational thinking in a second. With that being said, I do feel as though I am fully aware of my emotions and am fairly good at analyzing other people’s emotions.

While I don’t feel as though my emotional intelligence is on the high side of the scale, I know that I am actively working on that aspect of my life and I feel as if I have improved. For example, before having children, anger was an emotion that I struggled with. I was not always able to control that emotion and I would frequently lash out at those who I loved most. Now that I have children, I can see the growth that I’ve had in this area. While I still feel angry at times, I am able to step back, think about why I’m feeling the way I’m feeling, understand how my emotions and actions will affect those around me and adjust accordingly. While I recognize my growth in this area, I do also recognize that I am not done learning and growing. There are times when my emotions still take over and cloud my reasoning, but I know that with time, and practice, I can increase my emotional intelligence.

I took the emotional intelligence test provided by Psychology Today. The image below is a snapshot of my results. It is clear that, while I do feel as though I am learning to become more emotionally intelligent, I have some room for improvement.