ATA5:

My takeaway from this assignment, was that not all good deeds are received the same. Meaning, sometimes good deeds can be taken advantage of because they are expected. Maybe I grew up in a cold environment where a good deed was a rare thing, and my perspective is not in line with the norm. Where I come from, any act of kindness, should be taken with humility and gracefulness. On the other hand, my wife grew up in the south, where common courtesy and good deeds run abundant. But regardless of your environment, helping others is the right thing to do. I have learned through my readings that even the loneliness souls can find comfort in those whom they help. It is a part of human nature to naturally want to be accepted. I believe helping others is a quick way to earn others’ trust. Now, if you are religious like I am, you will find doing a service for others is fundamental in a healthy life. Having that ability does as much for the recipient, as it does for the one who is giving it. I have not experienced a revelation from this assignment. This is the manner in which I believe I should had been conducting myself all along.

ATA4:

I enjoy assignment 4 the most so far out of all the assignments. It was especially interesting to see how my wife responded to some of the survey questions. We must had talked for over an hour on how I thought she was cold hearted in some of her responses, but it was all out of fun and that is what makes it truly enjoyable to do. I was not surprised at some of my results in what type of lover I was, but I was surprised with some of my wife’s. Come to find out, that I had the wrong idea of what type of love style she had. In the end we were closer to having the same results. I guess it makes since why we got and stayed together as long as we did. Even though opposite attract, it might not always be applicable when you talk about how one perceives love.

This topic had major relevance to me, because I have been married to my wife for a little less then 3 years. So we are still growing and learning about one another. Perfect way to get a better understanding of one love, is to ask probing questions. The questions didn’t stop at the survey, but some of the survey question caused more genuine questions that help me understand my significant other better. We are able to understand even though we are different people, our values are what drew us together. Well, that and me being the finest man on our Naval ship. This is where we first found out that we love to vacation. The photo below is my wife and I, hanging out in Thailand for our second anniversary.

ATA3:

The most eye opening takeaway I got from Michael Richards’ racial slurs, was the reaction he got from a live audience on “The Tonight Show.” Even if I felt he was guilty of being a hateful man of people of color, I still don’t think he should be laughed at when trying to apologize. As I said in the assignment, in no way am I defending his actions. There is no way we can understand who a person is unless we get to know them, but when a person is mad they tend to show how they truly feel. I think Mr. Richards was out to hurt the people in the audience verbally, and he also allowed the ugly side of him to slip out. That is the curious thing about rage. You become consumed by it momentarily, disregarding all aspects of logic or reasoning. Reflecting on this topic, I try not to judge a person off a single bad moment because I still believe that it’s unfair. Although, I must be mindful to keep a cool head in situations that could cause me to become angry. In a time of social media, people are ready to video tape you at your worst. Be mindful of what you do and keep calm. Easier said then done.

ATA2:

In this assignment I explored the idea of different versions of me depending on situations and groups of people. With that being said, when you are giving off a certain image of yourself to someone, that doesn’t make it any more or less who you truly are. As I have stated in my assignment, I do not act the same around each person. I like to think of it as wearing different “hats.” Each hat reveals a different part of me, but all those hats represent who I am entirely. I am the personal trainer who speaks professionally at all times. I am the husband who attempts to sweet talk his wife, but always seems to fail. I am also the friend who will converse on how many shots we had at the bar, back in college. I no longer look at it as me being fake to myself, but that I am just expressing different levels of certain characteristics, depending on the time, place, or person(s). I think we need to be more accepting of our own individuality and embrace our uniqueness. What makes us truly extraordinary people is how many different types of us we can be.

ATA1:

My takeaway from assignment 1 was, now I understand why and how I make quick decisions. Decision making is not something you think about, unless it is a complex problem that you have an adequate amount of time to solve. For every other situation we use heuristics. Psychology is so fascinating, because it asks the “why and the why not” questions of everyday living. Why do I feel more comfortable with the opinion of an elderly doctor vs a doctor who is young-looking? Why do I think Pepsi is better than an off brand cola that taste the same? It was a learning experience to get a better idea of the different components of heuristics. Going forward, I will make a conscious attempt to utilize these skills, but also remember that there are some draw-backs.