Artifact 5

Module 9: Liking, Love, and Other Close Relationships

In this artifact, we were to go through the classified personal ads and get a sense of trends amongst those looking for a romantic partner. Once those characteristics were identified, we were to put the top 3 into a table separated between men and women. I went into this activity expecting to see a certain type of trend and that’s exactly what I found. Men were more about having fun and being attracted to their partner. Whereas, women seemed to be more concerned with finding someone that would care about them and be able to make them laugh. Based on the findings of the ads, it seemed as though men were more interested in the “hookup” whereas, women were more interested in finding a life partner.

I chose this as one of my top artifacts because I enjoyed reading through the personal ads. As someone in a long-term relationship, it’s interesting to see what people are looking for. It also makes me appreciate the fact that I don’t need those personal ads to find happiness and love.

 

Artifact 4

Module 8: Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination

The artifact from this module was very eye-opening. In this artifact, we were to take a list of adjectives/stereotypes and put them with the group that we felt they needed to be with. After that, we were to create a cloud of adjectives that we directly relate to. This activity forced me to step back and take a look at many of the stereotypes across different groups of people. I honestly think the worst part of this activity was the ease it which it was to label each group with their associated stereotype. There are many that I don’t agree with, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. If we all choose to look at these labels for what they are, maybe we can slowly put an end to labeling those that aren’t like us and ultimately become more accepting. Also, the more we grow as a country, the less prejudice and discriminatory we will be (hopefully).

 

Artifact 3

Module 6: The Self

I chose this artifact in my top 5 artifacts because self-reflection is very important to me. In this artifact, we were to come up with a list of personality traits that represent who we are. Then, we were to use specific, real-life, examples of how those traits match who we are. I enjoyed coming up with different personality traits that I feel encompass who I am as a person. Using real life examples really helped to fully connect with the assignment and forced me to look at the not so positive traits as well as the positive ones. Usually, when someone asks you to describe yourself, we choose to highlight the positives but never really want to look into the negatives. I believe that is detrimental in really seeing who you are as a person.

 

Artifact 2

Module 3: Social Psychology

In this artifact, we were to interview a few people to see how they felt about the saying “opposites attract” and “similarity leads to attraction”. I included this in my top 5 artifacts because it was really interesting to find out other people’s views on how we end up being attracted to someone. With my results, I found that most people feel that opposites attract. When asked why they feel that way, the consensus was that if we find someone that is too much like us, we will likely be bored with our relationships. Those that said that similarity leads to attraction stated that it’s important to share common interests to truly connect with someone. Obviously, we all have our own opinions about why we think we are attracted to others, but this artifact proves that we all feel differently about the subject. In my opinion, as long as we are attracted to that person and they bring us happiness, that is all that matters.

Artifact 1

Module 14: Dealing with Adversity and Achieving a Happy Life

I chose this artifact to be in my number one artifact because I consider myself to be a very happy person and I enjoy reflecting about those positive, happy aspects of my life. In this artifact, we answered questions on the Subjective Happiness Scale and then scored the answers to see how happy we are. I scored a 5.5 which is considered high in happiness.

To me, happiness comes from personal success, positive personal experiences, and family. All of those things are present in this photograph. I overcame adversity by being a non-traditional student, I graduated summa cum laude, and have a family that loves me unconditionally. While I’m not perfect, if I ever get to be unhappy, it’s important to step back and self-reflect about all of the things that I have in my life. Sometimes it’s easy to allow negativity to cloud the happiness but self-reflection allows you to focus on the areas in your life that are most important to you.