Introduction to Personal Development

• The learner will acquire a basic introduction to psychology and its importance to the study of personal development.
• The learner will share unique characteristics, habits, and experiences relevant to his/her development.
• The learner will evaluate his/her thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
• The learner will show the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in actual life situations.

Introduction To Personal Development

• Personal development is a branch of psychology.
• Development of psychology includes distinctions between personal and human development.

Holistic Development

• Holistic development is the concept of a man as a whole being, meaning wholeness.

Learning Content on Personality

• Some people are interested in someone determining their personality by merely looking at their signature.
• Some people are interested in an individual pointing out their right career path, ascertained by simply asking for their date of birth.
• Humans have been asking questions like: “Why do I think this way?” “Why do I act like this?" "Why does a certain thing interest me while some people don't?”.
• Ancient Greeks explained through myths that emotions are controlled by the gods.
• Aphrodite and Eros incite the feeling of love among humans.
• Mental illness is regarded as arising from the deities' tinkering or manipulation of the human mind.
• Hercules became mad because of goddess Hera's jealousy for Zeus' relationship with hero's mother.
• Heavenly bodies affect one's behavior, according to the ancients.
• The ancients thought that just as the moon causes the changes of tides, it influences moods as well.
• Astrology started from the concept that one's personality is determined by the arrangement of the stars or the alignment of the planets on the time of person's birth.
• Astrology was unable to give an accurate explanation about a person's character.
• Hippocrates, considered the Father of Medicine, proposed that a person's mental condition is physiological, meaning it can be explained through the body.
• Hippocrates believed that inside bodies are liquids that control different emotions, and he called this liquid “humors”.
• Blood makes a person warm, friendly, and even passionate.
• Yellow bile causes a person to become irritable, aggressive, and even angry.
• Phlegm causes a person to be laid back, apathetic or even lazy.
• Black bile makes a person pensive, sad, and depressed.
• The body must always maintain a balanced amount of these liquids, according to Hippocrates.
• Any form of excess or deficiency may cause abnormal behavior, according to Hippocrates.
• In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt set up a laboratory that would study human behavior.
• Introspection is a method that makes it possible to understand a person's behavior by observing one's self through a systematic and scientific process.
• Introspection is considered as the birth of Psychology.
• Human behavior can now be explained in a scientific manner and not as something superstitious.
• Psychology comes from two Greek words.
• Psyche means “the spirit” or “the soul”.
• Logia means “the study of”.
• Psychology is best defined as the study of mental and behavioral process.
• Psychology tries to explain how the mind's internal processes affect our bodies external functions.
• In "General Psychology" by Sevilla et al., the 4 goals of Psychology described:
• Describes behavior - observe human behavior and determine if it is healthy or unhealthy.
• Predicts behavior - predict the possible outcomes or the next action of an individual based on the observed behavior.
• Explains behavior - understand why a certain individual manifests such behavior.
• Controls behavior - if the behavior is healthy what shall we do to maintain it or improve it, or if a person is exhibiting unhealthy behavior, what must be done to correct it.
• Personal Development is a process where one can reflect about himself or herself.
• Personal development helps you have a better understanding and acceptance of yourself.
• Personal development helps you learn, unlearn and relearn values that would make you a better human person.
• Personal development is a continuous process.
• Max Wertheimer, Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Kohler proposed that a person's experience, his behavior and mental processes must not be treated separately.
• Gestalt Psychology explains that a person is defined as whole.

Theories of Human Development

• The learner will discuss the main features of the various theories of human development which affect the adolescence period.
• The learner will analyze situations presented by each theory that lead to greater understanding of the physical and psychosocial changes encountered by adolescents.
• The learner will identify areas of improvement on his/her behavior and determine ways to address them using the different theories of development.

Theories of Human Development

• Sigmund Freud's Psychosexual Theory includes:
  • Structures of Personality like Id, Ego, and Superego
  • 5 Stages of Psychosexual Development
• Alfred Adler's Theory Holistic Development includes:
  • Inferiority feelings and Complex, Compensation and Striving for superiority, superiority complex, birth order and lifestyle
• The Psychosocial Human Development of Erik Erikson includes intergenerational learning.
• Lawrence Kohlberg's Moral Development is a theory.
• Jean Piaget's Cognitive Development is another theory.
• Different psychologists proposed various theories that tries to explain the different stages of development a person undergoes.
• They divided life into courses wherein each course will eventually affect mental process and behavior.
• Scientific studies and theories of human development attempt to understand how humans grow in different aspects: physical, mental, emotional, social, behavioral, and spiritual among others.

Sigmund Freud

• Born in 1856 in the Czech Republic, Freud is well known in the field of psychology.
• Freud founded the Viennese Psychoanalytic Society.
• Freud proposed that our minds has three mental levels: the conscious, preconscious and the unconscious.
• The conscious is the mental level wherein everything is perceived by the senses during time that we are awake.
• The preconscious refers to the bigger segments of our memories that we fail to see or notice during the hours when we are awake.
• The unconscious is the deepest part of the iceberg where all bad memories and experiences are stored.
• Freud also proposed that the mind has three parts:
  • The Id believes that we are subject to pleasure, and always succumb to what is pleasurable.
    • Pleasure Principle enunciates that man is designed to give in to things which are delightful to the senses
    • The Id compels us to defer to pleasure regardless of what the results would be, and it demands immediate gratification.
  • The Ego tells us that we could still achieve pleasure but we could have it in a more acceptable way.
  • The Super Ego are the moral principles that we learn as we grow older and tells us that before we prefer pleasure, we must first analyze if it would be the right thing to do.

Freud's Psychosexual Development

• Using the pleasure principle, Freud said that each stage of development is governed by a specific pleasure point.
• This pleasure point, called the erogenous zone, must be satisfied.
• If a person fails to satisfy or even excessively satisfies this pleasure point it will result to a behavioral problem called fixation.
• Oral Stage (Birth to 18 mos.):
  • At this point an infant's erogenous zone is the mouth.
  • When a child is hungry, he/she relieves the unpleasant feeling of hunger every time he/she is given milk.
  • If at this stage, the erogenous is not fully satisfied, the infant will have oral fixation which involves the mouth like overeating, extreme diets, excessive smoking, gossiping and nail biting among others.
• Anal Stage (18 months to three years):
  • The baby will have a first encounter with discipline.
  • A child will be trained on how he/she urinates and proper bowel movement.
  • This would be the first time the individual will receive praise or reward whenever those actions are done correctly OR experience embarrassment and even punishment if those hygienic routines are executed improperly.
  • The child will notice that the idea of cleanliness and orderliness is measured by how he or she urinates and defecates accordingly.
  • If this stage is not satisfied a child may have an obsession to order, perfection and cleanliness when he/she grows up.
• Phallic Stage (Three to six Years):
  • At this stage a child will start to be introduced to the concept of genders.
  • A boy will realize that he is different from a girl and vice versa.
  • The erogenous zone will now move to the genitals.
  • At this point a young boy develops closeness to his mother, since she can provide him food and care.
  • Freud used the term "Oedipus Complex” to describe this attachment of the boy to his mother.
  • Now the boy will realize that the father also gets the attention of the mother, and would start to imitate the father thinking that by doing so he will also get the attention of the mother.
• Latency (six years to puberty):
  • At this stage, a person will forget about pleasure for the mean time since his mind and body is now focused to study.
  • Notice that at this stage a child is introduced to school or will be allowed to play outside with other children.
  • At this stage also, a child will most likely to have friends of the same gender.
• Genital Stage (puberty to adulthood):
  • At this stage, sexual maturity among teenagers occur, according to Freud.
  • The genitals as a pleasure point is reawakened.
  • This is the time when teenagers will start to have crushes and will have the desire to find intimacy with the opposite gender.
  • Failure to have this stage satisfied may result to behavioral problems that may affect a person's social skills.

Saint Camillus de Lelis

• Saint Camillus de Lelis was a very violent person specially during his younger years.
• After having experienced poverty and sickness he was able to realize that his character is not helping himself or anyone.
• With the spiritual guidance from St. Philip Neri he was able to manage his temper and was even able to establish a religious order that takes care of the sick for free.

Saint Mary of Egypt

• Saint Mary of Egypt lived a very sinful life that there was even an account she 'sometimes even compelled men against their will”.
• She thought that it is very impossible not to give in to her desires.
• After a religious experience and pilgrimage, she made a firm resolution to amend her life

Saint Margaret of Cortona

• Saint Margaret of Cortona was a woman who was also into illicit relationships.
• When she decided to change her ways, she asked the spiritual direction of the Franciscans.

Saint Augustine

• Saint Augustine had a very dark past.
• A slave to vices and sexual sins, he even fathered a child at the age of 17.

Jean Piaget

• Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget breaks the stages of development cognitively, meaning he believes that in different stages of our lives the interaction between our bodies and the things around us develops.
• Piaget divided personality development through the following stages:.
  • Sensory Motor Stage-(birth to 2 years):
    • At this age an individual is able to manipulate objects through the senses only.
    • A child would place a sweet candy on his/her mouth since his/her senses tells him/her that it is sweet.
    • At this stage, a child would measure existence based on the senses as well. If he sees a ball, he knows that there is a ball the moment he sees it. He/she forgets the "idea” of a ball once the ball is already out of his sight.
  • pre-operational stage-(2 to 7 years):
    • a child starts to learn about concepts and ideas.
    • A child starts to learn about the alphabet, identify the basic colors, count from one to ten.
    • At this stage also, the child could only understand things based on his own point of view.
    • A child may thought that giving his/her mother a glass of milk will make her happy since a glass of milk makes the child happy.
  • Concrete-operational stage-(8 to 11):
    • At this point the child can now fully do simple operations and could easily manipulate the things around his/her basing on the concepts that he/she had learned from the second stage.
  • Formal Operational Stage- (11 to 15 years):
    • aside from manipulating object, the child can now use his ability to form abstract ideas.

Alfred Adler

• Alfred Adler was born in 1870 in Vienna and was a contemporary of Freud.
• He was sickly and frail as a child and this experience was manifested in his theories of human development.
• Adler proposed that each child has a feeling of inferiority, which will give the child the necessary motivations to strive to higher level of development.
• Overcoming inferiority will result to striving for superiority in which an individual will try his/her best to achieve perfection, completeness, and excellence.
• This process of overcoming inferiority must be handled well to avoid the following:
  • Inferiority Complex- the feeling of extreme weakness.
  • Superiority Complex- the feeling that one is above the others.
• Alfred Adler is also a proponent of the Birth Order Theory, in which:
  • Only Child- will be pampered or spoiled.
  • First Child- may have a feeling of being dethroned.
  • Youngest Child- often becomes the parents” “favorite”.
  • Middle Child- experiences a strong sense of compensation.