Studying Oneself (by KHA)

A human being does not grow up in a vacuum, according to Alfred Knopf. here are
different factors that affect one as a falling piece of paper is pulled by gravity. ! can fairly
enumerate some of those that ! have learned, but that will also result in an incomplete list. "hen
tal#ing about one, we can categori$e a lot of concepts to describe us.
"ho am !% his is a &uestion that is very hard to answer. 'ot because we do not #now
our own selves but rather we see different personality of ourselves when interacting with
different people. ! have observed that ! really do change my attitude and approach especially if
we li#e or disli#e a person. here are different perspectives in which we can define ourselves.
he whole is greater than the sum of its parts. !t is commonly e(perienced and e(plained
by a lot of us including myself. he concept of )estalt psychology or concept gives the idea of
motivation in the sense of *belongingness*. "hen ! wor# in groups, compared to wor#ing by
myself, ! become more confident and assured of our output. Although wor#ing alone would be
less tiring, the idea of someone to depend to is better. his idea of )estalt is one of the few
concepts that are tac#led in the start of psychology. +ut the first comprehensive dynamic theory
of personality came from Sigmund ,reud.
One of the main ideas of ,reud is the importance of early childhood e(periences to our
development. ! can describe the idea as simple at first glance because even though ! have not
read yet about ,reud, ! #now that we are who we are because of our e(periences. +ut the fact
that he focused on the early childhood is very interesting. "hy not adolescence% "hy not
adulthood% why not traumatic e(periences. ! thin# the reason is because it is the time when one
doesn-t #now what is right or wrong yet. "hat we learn became the concept of it. !t is also the
time when we copy other-s actions because we are in the stage that we can easily be influenced.
as ! child, ! grew up seeing my sister and brother given freedom to do anything they want
provided that they have self. control. hey were allowed to go to sleepovers, late.night activities,
etc. And now, after discussing about psychoanalytic theory, ! have reali$ed that ! did the same. !f
my sister and brother abused their freedom, would ! become the same% "ill ! not have self.
control% "ill ! become afraid to be li#e them% hese &uestions support the significance of the
theory. +ut /sychoanalysis, being the first, doesn-t cover all sides of the plate. Here comes the
modern perspective of psychology.
+ehaviorism, it is the science of behaviors that focuses on the observable behavior only.
his means that our behavior is learned. it is li#e saying i #now and can do something because i
learned about them. here are no necessary influences, only the belief that we are ourselves
because of our learned concepts.
"hen ! was in high school, ! had a trip in Hong Kong with my family. !n the city, ! felt
the large difference of our culture from them. here is no occasional laughter or large tal#s in the
streets. he people are very busy with their own business. ! can clearly see how different cultures
brought a different personality for each of us. his e(perience clearly illustrates a socio.cultural
perspective.
Other perspective focuses on biological, cognitive, and evolutionary perspective. hese
are the different concepts that define one.