Artifact 5
The Self Across Situations
Five Traits
- Loyal
- Strong
- Confident
- A Good Listener
- Moody
Situation 1:
My boss called a meeting of all employees in our department. He explained to us that we had an event on Saturday and someone needed to work to act as security and to dump the trash after everyone left. After listening to why everyone couldn’t work the 3 to 11 shift, I stepped up and said I would work. I showed all five of my traits in various ways. I was loyal to my boss because I feel that he can depend on me when times are tough. Although I had never worked that shift, I was confident I could do it. Strong and determined to be as good as the men. (I’m the only woman) Listening to the others give excuses just made me that more confident that I could do a good job. Even with all of the confidence, it put me in a mood. I have been overworked lately and we are down one person that helps me so I basically have the whole school to clean, now on top, they want me to work night shift!
Situation 2:
I rode with my daughter for a pre-op appointment. We had a very nice day. We always have a good time when we go places together. We arrived early in Richmond and had a lot of time to spare before her appointment, so we decided to do a little antiquing. I find that four of the five traits played out on this day. I listened to her tell me of her concerns about the surgery, missing work and how she would deal with her children while healing. My daughter can always count on me, I was strong for her, because I knew she was nervous about her upcoming surgery. I told her we will handle whatever God puts in front of us The confidence played hand in hand with the strongness of my being because as long as I knew she would make it through, she did too. My moodiness over things were overshadowed by all the good traits so being moody wasn’t an issue.
Situation 3:
I usually pick two of my grandchildren up from the sitter every afternoon. An hour before I was to leave from work, I get a text message from the oldest granddaughter saying “Can you pick me up at 4;30 from school. Really? Didn’t you know this this morning? Well, I said yes! The moodiness that engulfed me was unreal. I had my evening planned, but no one really seems to care or at least thats how I felt! My loyality and sensitivity always reigns. When I arrived to pick her up my annoyance of the inconvenience of picking her up subsided when I saw her smiling as I pulled up to the pick up loop. She was so happy to see her Nana! (she’s 12, so its a big deal, because often times she is in a mood too) We talked all the way home about her day.
Situation 4:
It is only my husband and me at home now and we often eat out. (probably 5 out of 7 nights) We decided to go to our favorite little italian restaurant. Everyone knows us in our little town, which is at a disadvantage when you are not in the mood to socialize. Tonight was one of those nights. It seemed that everyone wanted to talk to us and I wasn’t in the mood to do so. I completely felt annoyed at everything. I even told my husband. Can we just have one meal in peace? I feel very selfish when I am like this and I’m sure my husband is very annoyed by my moods. It literally drains me of everything and I am not fit to fool with. Tonight, only my characteristic of being moody revealed itself and after writing this, I am not happy with myself at all. That is not who I truly am.
Situation 5:
Part of my job is to be warm and friendly to the students at school. I know some look at me and think, she is just the lady that cleans but to the others that know me, know I am a mother, grandmother, and fellow student. They often come to me for advice or help on an assignment or for personal issue. Today I noticed this gentleman walking around like he was confused and looking for something, so I asked could I help him. He shoves this letter in front of me and says I don’t know where I need to be. After reading the letter carefully, I explained what he needed to do. The expression on his face was worth more than to me than a million dollars. He truly appreciated me taking the time to acknowledge him and to help. You see, today was the last day he was able to sign up for VASAP and he had come to the wrong location. All he really had to do was call the number that was on the paper to set up a meeting. All of what I just described is not my job title, I could have sent him to another person, that would have sent him to another and so on but I didn’t. I was confident enough to point him in the right direction after listening to his problems all the while being loyal to man kind. Aren’t we all suppose to have each other’s backs when the chips are down? I think so.
This assignment overall allowed me to really dig deep and look at myself and see how I react to certain situations and how they effect my mood. Although I am a relatively nice person on the inside, I sometimes have mean thoughts on the inside.
Reflecting back over the pictures, shows me how much people enjoy me. It makes me feel good inside that I make people smile and happy.
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Artifact 4
https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.XgtwANy6Vtruz9fQDd8fBAHaE4&pid=15.1&P=0&w=291&h=193
When I started dating my husband, which was two towns away from where I grew up, he asked me, “ Are you kin to everyone here?” Although it seemed like it to him, I wasn’t actually kin to everyone. Close but not quite. Looking back, no one was really interested in dating me in my small town. Was it that we were all too much alike? Maybe so. I was once told by an old flame from another town years after we had married other people that when we were younger I always intimidated him by my looks and my ways. He had found that extremely attractive but yet scary at the same time. I laughed and couldn’t believe that I intimidated anyone with my looks. I immediately thought of this moment when I read this exercise. With this being said, I did a little survey at work. I work for Building and Grounds for a college in rural Southside Virginia. I am the only female of seven men. I was curious to see if age played a factor in there answers.
The following was asked, “ Why do opposites attract?
David– 20 years old- David said that appearance is what attracted him to his girlfriend. The first thing he saw was breasts and thighs. He didn’t really agree that opposites attract because he felt that he was relatively nice looking to match her beauty. I believe they conformed to one another because of their age. (meeting really young and never experiencing much else)
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–qcYIRWoE–/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/19fo610kjc7sujpg.jpg
Roger-66 years old-Roger said he thought people choose opposites because they want excitement in there life. He said they also want to explore new things.
The following was also asked, “ Why does similarity lead to attraction?
Chad- 35 years old- Chad said that he thinks that people often are attracted to people with similarities because they want someone to share the same likes and dislikes with them. He says that couples feel more comfortable with their own kind and feel safe not venturing out to the wild side.
https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.TL6206yc0top1Pd2D8ChSAHaEK&pid=15.1&P=0&w=311&h=176
Tim– 54 years old- Tim says if you have two similar like minded people, there will be less friction. Less friction would be a more enjoyable relationship.
Robert-71 years old-Robert said he always looked at a woman to see how sexy she was, not necessary caring if she was different to him. If she was, she was. It was all about the beauty. She was who she was and he was who is was.
Mike- 56 years old- Mike told me that he has found he likes woman that are like him. A hunter, a fisherman, laid back. His current girlfriend he has know since she was five. It is just more comfortable.
We laughed while talking about these two topics, often times going off the grid a little. I was surprised at some of their answers. I can understand the concept of similarity, and feel that this route may be for the more settled individual, someone that has sewed their oats, so to speak. Where opposite attractions are for the ones that at one time or another have been attracted to similars but now are testing the waters to the wild side. I want to say that neither finding was surprising to me. Neither is right nor wrong. That is the interesting thing about people, it takes all kinds to make the world turn.
https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.stjZpCAd0MNGQJagGwS-vQHaFg&pid=15.1&P=0&w=233&h=174
Doing this assignment was hilarious. I interviewed people that I work with to get my results. I believe they enjoyed this class as much as I did. At times, it got pretty heated. We would often stray off topic which made it that more interesting. I learned that it depends on what era you were raised has a lot to do with the different outlooks on attraction.
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?
- Meeting your future in-laws for the first time
Self-enhancement: Get hair done, wear makeup, wear girdle, wear perfume
Other-enhancement: Compliment their home or bring flowers to them
- Going on an interview for an internship
Self-enhancement: Iron clothes, wear make up
Other-enhancement:Bring a box of chocolates that you made, research job duties and ask question about program
- Going on an interview for graduate school: Self-enhancement: Get a good night’s rest, wear makeup, dress professional
Other-enhancement: Research program and ask questions pertaining to the program in which you are planning to attend
- Meeting your new boss for the first time
Self-enhancement: Dress professional, wear girdle, act professional
Other-enhancement: Give your future boss all your attention, plenty of eye contact
- Meeting the classmates who will be working with you on a group project
Self-enhancement:Be yourself, dress casual
Other-enhancement:Buy lunch or bring snacks for everyone
- Meeting a professor for the first time
Self-enhancement: Be yourself, relax,
Other-enhancement: Do research on his work and teachings and ask question, let him know the good things you have heard about him or her.
Everyone always need a pep course in how to improve on different things. This assignment was a recap of what my parents taught me on how to be respectful of myself.
I believe the younger generation may have benefited more from this but I feel proud that such things like self-enhancement are still a very important part of how people perceive you.
Artifact 2
Stereotypes
Stereotypes in fact have changed over time. By comparing my adjectives on the worksheet with Katz and Braly and Gilbert’s list of adjectives showed me just how much. As mentioned in the assignment, black stereotype has become more positive over time. In 1933 blacks were considered to be superstitious and lazy, changing to superstitious and musical in 1951. Today I stereotyped blacks as being musical and athletic. I believe, in general, taking all groups in consideration, change has been made due to the fact that people don’t really want to be like the ones before them. They want to do better, so eventually old ways are diminished and new ones are formed. According to my chart, the English have kept a steady rate of change as they are all in favor of tradition and passing their traits down through the ages. With that being said, I predict that too may change as time goes on and a new King is appointed. A new King will bring new ways.
WORD CLOUD THAT PERSONALLY CHARACTERIZES MY GROUP
QUICK TEMPERED
ARTISTIC
IMPULSIVE
FAMILY ORIENTED
INTELLIGENT
SUPERSTITIOUS
This assignment really hit home as far as trying to find adjectives to describe my group. I really don’t have many people that I intertwine with outside of my family. I ended up having to ask my husband for his opinion. I think all in all this assignment made me more aware of what other possibly think of me. Some of the adjective are not so good.
Improving myself is definitely the highlight of this course.
Artifact 1
Aggression
Our perception of behavior, particularly aggression, is a matter of personal opinion, or what we perceive as normal behavior. The questionaire touches base on many aspects and outlooks.
The items I feel that show the most aggression are:
Two wolves fight for the leadership of the pack.
A juvenile gang attacks members of another gang.
A man viciously kicks a cat.
A girl kicks a wastebasket.
Mr. X. a notorious gossip, speaks disparagingly of many people of his acquaintance.
An enraged boy tries with all his might to inflict injury on his antagonist, a bigger boy, but is not successful in doing so. His efforts simply amuse the bigger boy.
A tennis player smashes his racket after missing a volley.
A person commits suicide.
I feel that aggression is sometimes a part of survival as demonstrated in number 16. ( A farmer beheads a chicken and prepares it for supper) His mood is not the result of his actions, he is merely preparing for food to stay healthy. One’s interpretation of aggression is what may be a social norm for them, or what is accepted in society.
https://www.nia.nih.gov/sites/default/files/inline-images/alzheimers-agitation-aggression-inline.jpg
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/h8A9zCewDk1_phUpjTMkNzPlErCCIHCGNJMstcbcZmE00cPyHWZxWAv5e9rX70A-rkiL-Yg8MbMeAI20lrxyiONNwlQXq1nhE3o1DWxt
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTyu1inJOGd0HO58z5G6HsadUN2xo6JW1jca5UL8UfDTL7uCNe3tw
http://i1.wp.com/www.talkingaboutthescience.com/wp-content/uploads/aggression-38687938.jpg
I enjoyed this artifact assignment the most because it combined everything that we had already read in previous assignments and allowed to me to have a more clear understanding that the saying for every action there is a reaction. After doing this assignment, I tend to watch people more closely to see what their reaction will be.
In fact, the assignment made me have a little bit more compassion toward people that seem to be in a bad mood, because I really don’t know why they are acting this way. If they are showing aggression toward me, it may not be entirely my fault. They may be only using it as a defense mechanism.