Artifact 5:

1.   In general, I consider myself:

1                   2                  3                   4               5                   6                   7

not a very                                                                                                                             a very

happy                                                                                                                                   happy

person                                                                                                                                  person

2.   Compared to most of my peers, I consider myself a:

1                   2                  3                   4                   5                   6                   7

less                                                                                                                                      more

happy                                                                                                                                   happy

person                                                                                                                                  person

3.   Some people are generally very happy. They enjoy life regardless of what is going on, getting the most out of everything. To what extent does this characterization describe you?

1                   2                  3                   4                   5                   6                   7

not                                                                                                                                    a

at                                                                                                                                          great

all                                                                                                                                     deal

4.   Some people are generally not very happy. Although they are not depressed, they never seem as happy as they might be. To what extent does this characterization describe you?

1                   2                  3                   4                   5                   6                   7

not                                                                                                                                    a

at                                                                                                                                          great

all                                                                                                                                         deal

 

The mean is 6.5. I am over the average college student’s happiness, actually most of the means presented. I don’t think the SHS truly measures and captures what happiness is and if people truly have it. There are so many different factors that influence people’s lives that influences their happiness. Looking at this little questionnaire, you would assume I’m a pretty happy person. When someone is super smiley and seems always in a good mood, people presume that person is an overall happy person. However, people don’t understand that a front can be put up so others don’t sense anything being wrong.

I chose this image because if you learn to love everything life throws at you and deal with it with headstrong, it will help so much and attribute to your happiness.

I chose this as one of my artifacts because it really spoke to me while doing the quiz and finding the quote. People, along with myself, see someone who is always so happy go lucky and think that their life is all sunshine and rainbows, but it isn’t. It kind of hit me hard when taking this quiz because you would think I’m such a happy person by the looks of it, but when some things don’t go right I get very sad and upset. So life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows for those that ‘seem’ happy.

Artifact 4:

So I wore a large men’s ODU baseball shirt that covered my shorts so it didn’t look like I was wearing pants. I also wore high socks and walked around ODU’s campus, and went to brunch at a restaurant in downtown Norfolk. I looked a mess but on the bright side my makeup and hair was done. Most girls that go to this restaurant tend to dress on the nicer side, meanwhile I looked like I was a shacker. Violating the norm around campus wasn’t too bad, I got a lot of looks from people and got called a “cleat chaser” but nothing worse than that. Violating the norm at the restaurant however, was a whole new feeling of awkward. I was getting stared down by multiple people, people were kind of rude to me, and it made me feel so uncomfortable that I couldn’t eat my food in peace. I gained insight on how people who dress differently than us or not “normal” and how uncomfortable they can be. It’s not right to stare at people just because they don’t dress up to other people’s standards, let them be comfortable in whatever they want to wear. I now know not to judge people in their outfits, even if it isn’t something I would wear.

My friend took a picture of me walking around campus:

I chose this module as one of my artifacts because it really taught me that people, as well as myself, need to mind their own business and just let other people do what they want to do. If some people want to wear oversized t-shirts and high socks that aren’t even to a nice restaurant for brunch, then let them! It should all matter on if that person is comfortable and happy in what they are in.

Artifact 3:

“Self- and Other-Enhancement in Everyday Life”

What possible self-enhancement and other-enhancement strategies could you use in each of the following situations?

1. Meeting your future in-laws for the first time.

Self-enhancement: We may dress a little nicer than we usually do. So if we typically dress in sweatpants and sweatshirts, we may switch it up and wear jeans and a nice sweater.

Other-enhancement: If you tend to curse, clean up your mouth a bit by not cursing. If you’re meeting your future in-laws for the first time, they won’t want their son/daughter dating somebody with a potty mouth.  

2. Going on an interview for an internship.

Self-enhancement: Look presentable. Go buy yourself a new outfit, business professional, to make you feel better. When you feel good you look good.  

Other-enhancement: Practicing conversation in the mirror will help when it comes to interview time. If you practice answering potential questions that may be asked, you’ll feel more confident going into the interview. Also ask the interviewer questions on how they got into that field and why they chose it. What do they like most about it?

3. Going on an interview for graduate school.

Self-enhancement: The same thing with going on an interview for an internship, buy a new outfit you will feel confident in. The interviewers will see how your confidence radiates off you.

Other-enhancement: Try and ask questions about the interviewer. Also, compliment their outfit but in a professional way. Make eye contact with the interviewer to know that you are fully engaged in the conversation, and that they have your full attention-eye contact is key.

4. Meeting your new boss for the first time.

Self-enhancement: If you know you will be meeting your new boss that day, try to spend a few extra minutes in the morning to make sure you look good. With girls, maybe double check your make-up isn’t smudged or clumpy looking, guys, try making sure your hair is groomed nicely. You first impression on your new boss will be a lasting one.

Other-enhancement: Pay a compliment to your new boss and talk about how excited you are to work for them. If they see how eager you are to work for them, they’ll have a self-esteem boost and it’s always good to be on the boss’s good side.  

5. Meeting the classmates who will be working with you on a group project.

Self-enhancement: Look and be organized before meeting with them. If you are organized, you’ll feel organized and feel you can dominate this project and get an A. They’ll see how organized you are and may even compliment you-which can lead to a self-esteem boost.

Other-enhancement: Your classmates will be relying on you to do your part, so if you take control and try planning out what needs to be done will, your partners will feel good knowing they can count on you to do your part.  

6. Meeting a professor for the first time.

Self-enhancement: Make sure you show up to their class on time and to all of them, also don’t miss out on assignments. When you talk to him/her they may compliment you on

how well you are doing in the class. You’ll know your hard work will pay off.  

Other-enhancement: Tell your professor how much you like their class. Many students will complain about a class and the professor, but rarely talk about how much they actually like the professor and the content of the class.

I chose this module because we all enhance ourselves in some way, and this module showed we do it even in the slightest way. We also enhance others around us to possibly boost their confidence or make them feel good. We should all somehow enhance ourselves and others for our happiness and to possibly better ourselves and those around us.

Artifact 2:

Five traits I think that describe me are: caring, honest, loving, funny, and supportive.

Trait 1: Caring

A situation I was caring in, was when one of my roommates was sick, I took care of them even when I didn’t have to. I’m the type of person that will put others before myself and cater to what they need-so my roommate needed soup and crackers? I made the soup for her and brought her the crackers.

Trait 2: Honest

A situation I was honest in also involved my roommate and an outfit she picked out. I’m not the type of person that will lie, especially when it comes to picking out outfits. She chose to go out in something that wasn’t flattering on her at all, and just didn’t match. When I told her I didn’t think it was an outfit she should go for, she saw where I was coming from and we were able to pick out a whole new outfit she could stunt in!

Trait 3: Loving

I’m always a loving person, there’s nothing wrong with giving too much love! A situation I was loving in, was actually when I was on a phone with my mom. She was having a really rough night missing my pup who recently passed away, so I was trying to comfort her and just talk about good memories she had with him. It hurt to hear how sad she was and I just wanted to try to give her as much love as possible over the phone.

Trait 4: Funny

A situation I was so funny in was when me and my friends were roasting each other about stuff we have been through, and I said a funny joke about one of my friends that got our whole group belly laughing. It was one of those jokes that people were laughing but no sound was coming out and they were crying from laughing so hard.

Trait 5: Supportive

I am a pretty supportive person when it comes to things my friends and family love. I support my boyfriend all the time when he has a baseball games. No matter how cold, windy, or scorching hot it is, I’m right there, bundled up or drinking lots of water cheering for him. I don’t see the other guy’s girlfriends sitting out there every single game, and it makes me feel good knowing I support my boy through all types of weather, and when he’s home and on the road.

I chose this module because when I was doing this I was kind of sad, but after I finished I was happy because it made me happy that I could come up with at least five awesome traits to describe me. With those five traits I was able to be quick to think of examples for each one, and they were great examples. This module was a ‘self-enhancement’ and that’s why I chose it, because it made me feel good and proud to show the type of character I have.

Artifact 1:

I interviewed my mom and my boyfriend when it came to similarity leading to attraction and opposites attracting. After listening to them both say why each is true, they both brought up some great points. On similarity leading to attraction, my mom brought up how there would be a comfort zone that would always enable a topic of conversation, while my boyfriend brought up how most people view themselves as attractive so seeing somebody else attractive would peak their interest. When asking them both if they were surprised, they both answered no. My mom’s reasonings were from her personal experience of talking with people with similar interests allowed the conversation to flow better, the ability to talk longer, a possible friendship blossoming, and it’s much easier to be friends with someone similar to you. My boyfriend’s reasonings blended with my mom’s on the sense that people with similarities gave a sense of comfortability, almost like a security blanket. When it came to asking about how opposites attract, it was very interesting to see their reasons for this being true. My mom’s reason of this being true lead to more of somebody being taken out of their comfort zone, trying new things, going on new adventures. If it wasn’t for this person, you may not have experienced new things and it puts more excitement into your life and friendship/relationship. My mom was surprised because of how people can be unsure of the unknown when it comes to somebody who isn’t similar to themselves. Being total opposites can bring up challenges and make conversations or topics awkward. My boyfriend’s reason of opposites attracting leads more to the curiosity aspect of the friendship/relationship because you’re interested to learn more about them and do something out of your comfort zone. He wasn’t surprised when it came to this being true because even if you aren’t an adventurous person, you’re intrigued to learn about and explore someone that is opposite of you.

I chose this module because it really represented the two schools of thought and differences in the generation’s thoughts. This was also important to me because both my mom and boyfriend are two of the most important relationships in my life, so hearing what they had to say while I interviewed them showed that everybody is attracted to different people. There’s always somebody out there for anybody, crazy how life works.