With the last assignment being about emotion, I enjoyed taking the EQ quiz. I’ve always liked taking quizzes like that because they tell me more about myself and give me a better understanding of how I handle certain situations and how to become better at regulating my emotions. They call me out in an honest way someone like a friend or family member wouldn’t, but they also give tips and better explain why I am the way I am. I know not all can be accurate, but for the most part, I do resonate with a lot of what they say and I start to see things differently and apply a different perspective when talking to people. When I talk to people now, I often ask questions instead of giving suggestions, because not only do they want to just vent, but by asking them questions, they’re more inclined to answer their own and come to a conclusion about a problem they were having. Usually, (back in high school) my initial reaction was to just tell someone to do something because I was on the outside looking in and I could see what the problem was and for me, it was an easy fix. I’ve started to keep my emotions in check and not react for them as if I was them, and instead just be a talking diary.

Assignment Takeaway 3

Within the last couple of weeks, I enjoyed the module 6 where I had to be conscious of my behavior for a week and write about my traits and how they were seen, how I portrayed them, and how they were accepted by those around me. I think it was important to be self aware and try to see myself as others did by assessing each situation as to how I would accept it if I was in the opposite position. For one of my traits, I wrote about how I cheered up a friend by cracking jokes all night. For her, that helps, she likes when I can make her laugh because it takes her mind off what was making her sad. For me, I like to laugh, but I still like to assess why I’m sad and try to fix that first before I can move on and laugh about something. I realized how other people see me and how I see myself. I’m way harder on myself because I want to push myself to do better, but others see me as comedic relief and happiness, so I can easily give that to them. That assignment made me look at things in a different light and made it easier for me to be more self aware of how I come across. In the past few years, I’ve taken a step back as to how I approach people and situations and make adjustments accordingly. this assignment in particular aided in my journey to further explore what I need to do as far as interpersonal thinking.

Assignment Takeaway 2

For these past few assignments, I would have to say that the last one was my favorite where we had to talk about the meaning of music and relationships. I love listening to music, and often associate songs with people in my life whether the song describes them, they’ve showed me the song, or I’ve heard it when I was with them. At that point, it becomes more than a song to me and is now a memory and more in depth feeling about that person. I enjoy looking deeper into what music means, how the lyrics were written so I know how the artist was feeling when they wrote the song and their thought process by the time it came together. This assignment was more emotional because music can say so much about a person and if someone shows you a song, they either thought it would fit you, or they think of you whenever they hear it, and I take that personal in a good way. I like knowing what the message of the song is that related me to it because it shows how you see me than if you were to just tell me how you feel about me. Applying that to reality makes it more fascinating because I see it as a nonverbal social cue that someone can’t express, but the song can say what they’re trying to.

Assignment Takeaway 1

What I enjoyed most about these past few assignments was the social perception chapter, as well as social cognition. In social cognition where we had to watch that video of scaring ourselves to death, I thought it was interesting how the media plays a big part in basically making us afraid by amping up their facts and/or exaggerations. We look to the media for news and to find out and understand what’s going on in the world, but I don’t feel that we stop to think about if we took one day off from that, we would probably be less scared or worried, and actually be at peace for a moment. We’re so concerned about he nature of our world, that we don’t choose to live in it because we’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop, and taking a look at that assignment put it into perspective for me. I’m an avid social media user, and get about 98% of my information from Twitter. If i were to put my phone down for a day, I most likely wouldn’t know about anything that’s going on, but I also wouldn’t be worried about it because of the lack of media I have.

In social perception, it took me to a place where being observant is more important than being heard in some cases. While doing the “self-enhancement” assignment, I realized how much I pay attention to the facial expressions and body language of people. I’m a very verbal person, and I always stress to people how important it is to either talk to me on the phone or talk to them in person because I like having to read body language, I like knowing the tone in their voice to I can assess how they see the situation at hand, and it gives me their perspective if their words don’t say enough. I found that assignment to be self expressive and thought about myself in those situations and how I would react, or have reacted to them. I’ve thought about the time I met my boyfriends parents, a few job interviews I’ve had, teachers I’ve met, and so on. I enjoy reading through the textbook and applying everything to real life situations to help me better comprehend what I’m reading.

I chose this photo from the famous “Twilight” series, because it speaks to the social perspective view of having a conversation. The fact that they’re both turned toward each other and looking into each other’s eyes tells me that they’re listening intently and want to give full attention to one another despite them eating breakfast. You can feel that they’re in the middle of a serious conversation, but also know they’re clearly not angry.