Psychology of Self-Management and Brain Anatomy

Managing and Caring for the Self

• Intended Learning Outcomes
  • Understand theoretical underpinnings for managing different aspects of the self
  • Gain and develop new skills for better self-management and behavior
  • Apply new skills for improved quality of life
  • Incorporate psychological insights into personal goal setting, reflecting on the goal-setting process

Major Exterior Parts of the Brain

• Frontal Lobe
  • Thinking, planning, problem-solving
  • Rational and executive control center
• Temporal Lobe
  • Sound and visual recognition
  • Speech center
• Occipital Lobe
  • Interpreting visual presentation
• Parietal Lobe
  • Spatial orientation

Major Interior Parts of the Brain

• Brain Stem
  • Monitors and controls vital body functions (heartbeat, respiration, body temperature, digestion)
  • Houses the reticular activating system (RAS), responsible for alertness
• Limbic System
  • Emotion center of the brain
  • Regulates emotions and motivates behavior
• Thalamus
  • Receives all incoming information (except olfactory)
  • Involves cognitive activities, including memory
• Hypothalamus
  • Monitors internal systems by releasing necessary hormones

Major Interior Parts of the Brain

• Hippocampus
  • Consolidates learning and converts information from working memory to long-term storage
• Amygdala
  • Primarily responsible for regulating emotions, especially fear
• Cerebrum
  • Largest part of the brain (80% of its weight)
  • Controls thinking, memory, speech, and muscular movements
• Cerebellum
  • Monitors impulses from nerve endings in muscles, important for complex motor tasks

Brain Cells

• Nerve cells (neurons): Functional core of the brain and entire nervous system
• Glial cells: Hold neurons together and act as filters, keeping harmful substances out of the neurons

How the Brain Processes Information

• Information Processing Model: Describes how the brain processes information
  • Five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste) receive external stimuli
  • Sensory stimuli become electrical impulses that travel along specific sensory pathways to the brain
  • Sensory information is processed immediately in the sensory register, where it is quickly screened for importance
• Immediate Memory (STM): Data held for a short period (up to 30 seconds)

Information Processing Model (cont.)

• Working Memory (temporary memory): Holds information for a brief period, allowing individuals to build, take apart, or rework ideas
  • Information is drawn from immediate memory or long-term memory

Long-Term Memory (LTM)

• Significant short-term memories transform into long-term memories
• Can be stored over long periods, and allows retrieval after a specific period
• Three types: Explicit (facts and events), Episodic (personal experiences), Implicit (skills and habits)

Hemisphere of the Brain

• Myth: People are either left-brained or right-brained.
• Fact: Most cognitive functions involve both hemispheres
• Left Hemisphere
  • Language comprehension, speech production
  • Logic and analytical thinking
  • Sequencing
  • Fine motor skills
  • Mathematical and scientific skills
• Right Hemisphere
  • Spatial and musical abilities
  • Visual processing
  • Holistic processing
  • Creativity
  • Imagination
  • Emotional processing
  • Gestalt processing

Metacognition and Study Strategies

• Metacognition: Awareness of, understanding, and regulation of one's own thinking and learning. Thinking about thinking.
• Importance of Metacognition
  • Changes fixed versus growth mindset about learning abilities
  • Increases student ownership and control of learning
  • Develops more positive learning attitudes
  • Improves academic and behavioral performance

Components of Metacognition

• Declarative knowledge: Knowledge about oneself, tasks, and strategies
• Procedural knowledge: Knowledge of how to use specific strategies for cognitive tasks
• Conditional knowledge: Knowledge of when and why to use particular strategies

Metacognitive Strategies

• Pre-assessment of content: Evaluating one's knowledge of the content before a learning task
  • Helps gauge existing understanding, identify gaps, and tailor learning strategies accordingly
• Self-assessment or self-regulated learning: Critically evaluating one's ability to manage and control the learning process
  • Reflection on learning habits, strengths, and weaknesses aids in setting realistic goals
• Think Aloud: Verbalizing thoughts, actions, and decision-making processes while engaging cognitively. Enhances self-awareness by monitoring cognitive processes
• Use of Concept Maps: Visually represents relationships between ideas, images, and words
  • Activates prior knowledge, supports problem-solving, enhances understanding, and organises/revises knowledge

Classroom Assessment Tools

• Ticket-Out-The-Door: Students respond to class concepts in the last few minutes
• One-Minute Paper: Students reflect on the most important thing learned during class
• Muddiest Point: Students express what they didn't understand and how to improve understanding.
• Student-Generated Test Questions: Class divides into groups, creating questions and answers for the next test
• Memory Matrix: A two-dimensional chart to compare/contrast concepts.
• KWL Chart: Three charts (Know, Want to Know, Learned) to document existing knowledge, questions and learnings
• Directed Paraphrasing: Students translate learned concepts in simple terms, assess comprehension
• One-Sentence Summary: Students summarize a topic in a single sentence, identifying key features
• Think-Pair-Share: Students think individually, then pair to discuss
• Application Cards: Students apply learned concepts to real-world situations
• Classroom Opinion Polls: Students anonymously respond to questions, expressing opinions about a specific topic

Coping with Stress

• Coping: Cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage, tolerate, or reduce stress
• Types of Coping
  • Problem-focused coping: Addressing the source of stress directly
  • Emotion-focused coping: Managing emotional responses to stress
  • Cognitive coping: Using conscious intellectual activities to manage stress situations

Self-Care and Compassion

• Self-care: Deliberate and conscious behaviors promoting physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
• Self-compassion: Treating oneself kindly in the face of failure, mirroring the care given to loved ones

Components of Self-Compassion

• Self-kindness: Treating oneself with compassion instead of harsh criticism
• Common humanity: Acknowledging shared experiences of suffering
• Mindfulness: Attentively observing thoughts and feelings without judgment

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

• Hierarchy suggests individuals are motivated by a series of needs, ordered hierarchically
• Two categories:
  • Deficiency needs: Physiological, safety, belongingness, and love, esteem
  • Growth needs: Self-actualization (desire to become the best version of oneself)

Social and Cultural Dimensions of Stress

• Social stress: Mental/emotional strain due to adverse or demanding circumstances arising from social relationships

Stress and Sociological Perspective

• Three primary types of suicide, according to Emile Durkheim
  • Egoistic: Detachment or isolation from society
  • Altruistic: Sacrifice for community/higher cause
  • Anomic: Breakdown of social norms and values

Additional Notes

• The presentation also includes:
  • Bandura's Self-Efficacy Theory
  • Sources of self-efficacy (enactive mastery, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasions, emotional & physical states)
  • Self-concept and its components (ideal self, self-image, self-esteem)
  • Dweck's Growth Mindset (fixed vs. growth mindsets)

This quiz explores the concepts of self-management and behavior from a psychological perspective, emphasizing personal goal-setting. It also covers the major external and internal parts of the brain, detailing their functions and significance in human behavior.